Timbering

Artist: Beatrice Mandelman, American, 1912–1998
Associated: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Washington, D.C., active 1935–1943
Date: c.1939
Material: Crayon and tusche lithograph, with scraped highlights and wiping
made in: New York, New York, United States, North and Central America
Classification: Prints
Collection: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: image: 8 5/8 x 13 3/8 in. (21.9 x 34 cm)
sheet: 10 3/8 x 16 in. (26.4 x 40.6 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 217:1943

NOTES

Two men work deep underground on the dangerous yet essential task of timbering, or constructing and reinforcing a mine’s wooden tunnel. Beatrice Mandelman printed this highly textured lithograph on the Graphic Arts Division printing presses in New York City. Its subject matter recalls the months she spent in 1938 teaching at the newly opened, Federal Art Project-supported community art center in the mining community of Butte, Montana. Born to Jewish immigrant parents from whom she learned progressive values, Mandelman embraced printmaking as a means of raising awareness of political and social issues.

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