Evolution of Swing

Artist: Raymond Steth, American, 1917–1997
Associated: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Washington, D.C., active 1935–1943
Date: c.1940–42
Material: Lithograph
made in: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
Classification: Prints
Collection: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: image: 12 1/2 x 16 7/8 in. (31.8 x 42.9 cm)
sheet: 13 x 17 5/8 in. (33 x 44.8 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 327:1943

NOTES

Although Raymond Steth helped to develop carborundum printing, a process in which gritty crystals are used to roughen the printing plate, he preferred to use the more traditional lithographic process for his most ambitious compositions. This large-scale lithographic mural–one of the grandest prints created for the WPA–traces a popular African American music form from its roots on the African continent to its contemporary expression in the urban jazz band.

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