Refinery

Artist: Raymond Steth, American, 1917–1997
Associated: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Washington, D.C., active 1935–1943
Date: c.1938–42
Material: Carborundum etching
made in: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
Classification: Prints
Collection: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: plate: 10 7/8 x 7 5/8 in. (27.6 x 19.4 cm)
sheet: 12 3/8 x 8 7/8 in. (31.4 x 22.5 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 328:1943

NOTES

Raymond Steth is best known for his penetrating images of black life and culture in America. He joined the Philadelphia Graphic Arts division of the Federal Art Project in 1940 and worked closely with Dox Thrash to refine the innovative carborundum printing technique, in which gritty crystals are used to roughen the printing plate before the white areas are scraped from the surface. This industrial scene masterfully reveals the expressive power of the carborundum process. The textured surface and sharp tonal contrasts evoke the bellowing energy of the refinery looming over the workers in the foreground.

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