Before Class, American Kitsch

American Kitsch was for the "lower" class, it would look beaten or dirty and supposedly not art but often the idea is "the diamond in the rough". The beauty in something ordinary. Kitsch comes from the German term "Kitschen" which translates to "throwing together a work of art" (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/american_kitsch/29885)

It was in about the 1940s through about the 1960s; this era used a lot of handwritten type of fonts. Often people in American kitsch art had exaggerated expressions and dramatic poses. Exaggeration and overstatements were used in advertisements. Caricatures were common, as were provocative poses. Different product designs were bright and colorful, eye catching and type was stylized with the design.
(http://gds.parkland.edu/gds/!lectures/history/1940/kitsch.html)

Prominent Kitsch artsits are Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish. It stretched as early as the 1930s. (http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/kl/kitsch.html)