Three Lane Traffic

Harry Gottlieb|WPA

1937 · Lithograph · Drawings and Prints

Gottlieb made this print at the New York Graphic Arts Division, the first of many printshops opened by the Federal Art Project and a breeding ground for the creation of socially conscious prints. The composition is divided into three parts. In the left foreground are striking workers, identifiable by their protest signs, and on the right are pedestrians, hurriedly walking with umbrellas in hand. In the background, sitting inside and protected from the rain, are capitalists—represented by two rotund men in suits—who, in the eyes of the artist, were responsible for the type of labor exploitation being protested on the street before them. Despite the strikers’ dogged determination, both the pedestrians and capitalists meet them with indifference, suggesting how commonplace such events had become.

Artist

Harry Gottlieb|WPA

Date

1937

Medium

Lithograph

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift New York City W.P.A., 1943