Sledgehammers

Sybil Andrews

1933 · Color linocut on Japanese paper · Drawings and Prints

Andrews worked as a welder constructing airplanes during World War I. Sledgehammers was based on a memory from this time of seeing blacksmiths at the forge. In this vividly colored linocut, she extended and contoured the men’s bodies to convey a feeling of monumentality and eliminated the anvil, metal, and anything that might detract from the image of pure physical force. Arms and hammers appear as a single instrument of power, and the sensation of repeated blows and coiled energy radiates across the surface. The circular formation and rendering of force and motion reveal the ongoing influence of Futurism. By the time Sledgehammers was made, machines had largely replaced many traditional tools and practices, such as those depicted here, yet Andrews presents her laborers as representative of modernity.

Artist

Sybil Andrews

Date

1933

Medium

Color linocut on Japanese paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Leslie and Johanna Garfield Gift, Lila Acheson Wallace, Charles and Jessie Price, and David T Schiff Gifts, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, Dolores Valvidia Hurlburt Bequest, Peco Foundation and Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2019