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Three Lane Traffic

Publisher Published by WPA
1937
Not on view
Gottlieb made this print at the New York Graphic Arts Division, the first of many printshops opened by the Federal Art Project and a breeding ground for the creation of socially conscious prints. The composition is divided into three parts. In the left foreground are striking workers, identifiable by their protest signs, and on the right are pedestrians, hurriedly walking with umbrellas in hand. In the background, sitting inside and protected from the rain, are capitalists—represented by two rotund men in suits—who, in the eyes of the artist, were responsible for the type of labor exploitation being protested on the street before them. Despite the strikers’ dogged determination, both the pedestrians and capitalists meet them with indifference, suggesting how commonplace such events had become.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Three Lane Traffic
  • Artist: Harry Gottlieb (American, Bucharest, Rumania 1895–1993 New York)
  • Publisher: Published by WPA
  • Date: 1937
  • Medium: Lithograph
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 13 1/2 × 17 3/4 in. (34.3 × 45.1 cm)
    Image: 10 1/2 in. × 14 in. (26.7 × 35.6 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift New York City W.P.A., 1943
  • Object Number: 43.33.591
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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