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Whiskers

Dox Thrash American
Publisher WPA
ca. 1939–40
Not on view
The glow that emanates from Whiskers, a portrait of an unidentified man, is characteristic of Thrash’s work in carborundum mezzotint, a technique he developed while working at the Philadelphia-based printshop of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project. The project was established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal government to provide funding to unemployed artists during the Great Depression. Thrash adapted the mezzotint process, invented in the seventeenth century, by employing the industrial material of carborundum to abrade the metal plate. Working from dark to light, he burnished, or smoothed, the rough surface to form his composition, achieving an impressive tonal range of rich blacks.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Whiskers
  • Artist: Dox Thrash (American, Griffin, Georgia 1893–1965 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  • Publisher: WPA
  • Date: ca. 1939–40
  • Medium: Carborundum mezzotint
  • Dimensions: sheet: 11 7/16 x 8 3/8 in. (29 x 21.2 cm)
    plate: 9 13/16 x 6 7/8 in. (25 x 17.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of the Work Projects Administration, Pennsylvania, 1943
  • Object Number: 43.46.78
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Backyard, Dox Thrash American, Watercolor over graphite on paper
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Evening Tide, Dox Thrash American, Carborundum print
Evening Tide
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Oyster House, Dox Thrash American, Carborundum print
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Dox Thrash
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Industrial Scene..., Dox Thrash American, Lithograph
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