Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog number |
P346 |
Artist |
Kainen, Jacob |
Title |
Rooming House |
Date |
1937 |
Object Name |
Lithograph |
Description |
Lithograph by Jacob Kainen (1909-2001) of a sleeping figure seen from behind and a man sitting on a crate. Text from Stephen Coppel, 'The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock', with the assistance of Jerzy Kierkuc-Bielinski, British Museum Press, 2008, no. 80. Kainen made this lithograph while he was employed by the New York City WPA/FAP. The subject of a dingy boarding house on the Lower East Side accorded with his strongly held political beliefs and social concerns provoked by the Depression. The two black men, probably working day and night shifts respectively, share the single iron-frame bed. The room is sparsely furnished - just the bed, a chair, an upturned wooden crate and a standard lamp, with a scroll-like arm, which is the only decorative detail in this bleak image. Kainen worked with tusche and crayon on the stone, scratching into it to underscore the gritty poverty of the scene depicted. The seated figure hunched over his darning, with one foot partially raised in concentration, is keenly observed. |
Medium/Material |
Ink on paper |
Dimensions |
H-10.75 W-13.5 inches |
Exhibition and Publication History |
*"Working Through the Great Depression," February 9 - June, 2009, Godwin-Ternbach Museum, CUNY, A. Winter and M. Simon, Curators. |
Culture |
American |