The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 7, 2026

A horizontal black-and-white photograph depicts a boy with medium-dark skin tone seated at an industrial sewing machine. He looks directly at us, his hands resting on fabric near the needle. A patterned, button-up shirt covers his torso. Behind him, several men with medium-dark skin tones work at long tables. Bright fluorescent tube lights hang above. Fabric scraps and loose threads litter the floor and wooden workbenches.

Child labor is practiced in Brick Lane clothing factories, in spite of controls by authorities, London, England

1973

Leonard Freed

(American, 1929–2006)
America
Vintage gelatin silver print
Image: 15.7 x 23.5 cm (6 3/16 x 9 1/4 in.); Paper: 15.7 x 23.5 cm (6 3/16 x 9 1/4 in.)
Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2015.398
© Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos
Location: Not on view
  • {{cite web|title=Child labor is practiced in Brick Lane clothing factories, in spite of controls by authorities, London, England|url=false|author=Leonard Freed|year=1973|access-date=07 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.398