Drinking Water
- Date
- about 1937
- 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: 13 1/2 × 10 in. (34.3 × 25.4 cm)
sheet: 16 × 11 3/8 in. (40.6 × 28.9 cm) - Credit Line
- Gift of the Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 264:1943
NOTES
Two curious mules seek out a water trough within a landscape of energetic, gestural marks. Chuzo Tamotzu used a lithographic crayon and a scraping tool to mimic ink washes, recalling his study of ink paintings, or sumi-e, in his native Japan. He immigrated to the United States in 1920 and joined New York City’s Federal Art Project in 1935 as one of its first artists. His employment ended in 1937, when American citizenship became a requirement. As Tamotzu later lamented, he was “given the pink slip,” since Japanese immigrants were prohibited from becoming naturalized citizens until 1952.
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