The Next Shift
Item
Title
The Next Shift
Creator
Harry Gottlieb
American, 1895–1993
American, 1895–1993
Date
c. 1940
Materials
Screenprint
Measurements
Image: 16-5/8 x 20 in. (42.2 x 50.8 cm), sheet: 18-3/4 x 23-7/8 in. (47.6 x 60.6 cm)
Description
In 1935, after a twelve-year association with Hervey White’s Maverick art colony in Woodstock, New York, Harry Gottlieb moved to New York City to work for the Graphic Arts Division of the WPA’s Federal Art Project. Three years later he was recruited by Anthony Velonis to join the project’s new Silk Screen Unit, which was charged with exploring the potential of using the screenprint—previously employed almost exclusively for commercial purposes—as a means of producing fine art. Gottlieb became fascinated with the medium from the start, and over the next several years he executed screenprints almost exclusively.
Although dated 1936, ostensibly in the artist’s own hand, The Next Shift was undoubtedly pulled several years later. Gottlieb didn’t initiate his earliest experiments with screenprint until he joined the Silk Screen Unit during the final weeks of 1938. His first successful efforts date from 1939; most accounts give this example to the following year.
Although dated 1936, ostensibly in the artist’s own hand, The Next Shift was undoubtedly pulled several years later. Gottlieb didn’t initiate his earliest experiments with screenprint until he joined the Silk Screen Unit during the final weeks of 1938. His first successful efforts date from 1939; most accounts give this example to the following year.
Source
Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University
Identifier
84.16
Rights
This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.