Artwork Details
63-3/4 x 41-3/4 in.
Accession NumberSupplementing the Eliza M. and Sarah L. Niblack Collection
Copyright(Milwaukee County Institutions, Milwaukee W.P.A. Handicraft Project, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin); purchased by the John Herron Art Institute now the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1939.
A federally funded artists’ relief program, the Works Project Administration’s Federal arts Project (WPA/FAP) followed several less effective efforts to help artists impoverished by the collapse of the art market in the Great Depression. Funded from the fall of 1935 until 1943, it was part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, which created work relief projects throughout the country.
In this block-printed panel, which was probably made as a decorative wall hanging, working men and women are shown in abstracted forms, removed from the normal noise, dirt and sweat of the factory. No social commentary is delivered through the worker, however; his or her relation to the gears and cogs of the machine is aesthetic rather than political.
Content Disclaimer and Usage Rights
Metadata about the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection comes from Newfields’ records and research. In some cases, information may be incomplete and research is ongoing. Newfields’ goal is to have as up-to-date metadata as possible, therefore, this information is subject to change. Newfields collections’ metadata is available under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) waiver, which allows for re-use without legal restrictions.
Artworks that appear in the image file(s) above may be in copyright or have other legal and/or cultural restrictions to their use. For clarity, Newfields does not claim copyright to the image files created by Newfields of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Newfields makes every effort to ascertain the copyright status of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Please refer to the RightsStatements.org statement above for information about the current copyright status of the artwork. Additionally, some artworks may include Local Context’s Notices or Labels that attribute cultural authority of the artwork’s heritage and data.
Additional information about Newfields’ reproduction guidelines can be found in the Licensing Resources.