Rock Drillers
Medium
Screenprint
Dimensions
Sheet: 17 1/2 × 15 1/4 in. (44.5 × 38.7 cm) Image: 13 1/2 × 13 1/4 in. (34.3 × 33.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of the Work Projects Administration
Accession Number
43.33.946
Tags
Art Historical Context
Harry Gottlieb's *Rock Drillers* (1939) is a dynamic screenprint celebrating the grit and labor of American workers during the Great Depression. Produced the Work Projects Administration (WPA), this bold image captures men operating heavy pneumatic drills, their muscular forms straining against unyielding rock. The composition's stark contrasts and simplified forms evoke the industrial rhythm of construction projects that symbolized national recovery efforts, aligning with the era's Social Realism movement, which highlighted everyday heroes of the workforce. As part of the WPA's Graphic Arts ...