Label
Label from 2014.Art for Social Change:
Did Schwartz’s skinny miner injure his eye at work? His other eye looks out directly and somewhat pathetically at the viewer. While many social protest artists worked in realist styles, Schwartz often used the vocabulary of Cubism as seen in the compressed space and fragmented, angular forms of this work. The rhythmic repetition of these forms echoes the shapes of the miner’s head and shoulders.
Born in Russia, Schwartz emigrated to the U.S in 1913. He worked for the Chicago branch of the WPA/FAP from 1935-1940. He was politically active at this time and participated in the Chicago Artists’ Committee for WPA Jobs.