Waiting for Work

Harry Gottlieb was born in Bucharest, Rumania. After immigrating to America he attended the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, and the National Academy of Design. "Waiting for Work," c.1935 was done while Gottlieb was a member of the Woodstock artist community in New York. Gottlieb was known as one of America's first Social Realist artists and was also possibly a member of the Communist party. While he was part of this party he did, "Waiting for Work," which depicts a social protest. The lithograph depicts, "social protest in the depths of the depression with its unemployed workmen huddled in pain and anger around a winter's fire." I would think this must have been a very powerful image for the time as it still holds some bearing in these harsh economic times. The image gives you the impression of how cold everyone is with their collars popped as they huddle closer and closer to the fire. The gloom on the faces you can see is met with the factory almost lost in the mountainside in the background.