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Young Negro Worker

c. 1931
(American, 1900–1972)
America, 20th century
drypoint
Support: Japanese mold-made wove paper
Sheet: 17.6 x 13.8 cm (6 15/16 x 5 7/16 in.); Platemark: 17.6 x 13.8 cm (6 15/16 x 5 7/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1996.287
Location: not on view
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Description

Hungarian-born Jolán Gross-Bettelheim lived in Cleveland from 1925 to 1937 and worked at a printshop run by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a Depression-era federal program that hired and retained job-seekers on public works and arts projects. Here, she depicted a young Black man taking a break from his labor, probably from one of the many factories or mills in Cleveland’s industrial district. Young Black men migrated to Cleveland from the South in large numbers between 1910 and 1930 seeking work in the city’s booming oil, chemical, steel, and automotive industries.
Young Negro Worker

Young Negro Worker

c. 1931

Jolán Gross-Bettelheim

(American, 1900–1972)
America, 20th century

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