Untitled (Tugboat Tied-up to a Dock at Night) c. 1935 - 1940

Mabel Butensky created this lithograph, titled 'Untitled (Tugboat Tied-up to a Dock at Night)', during a period of immense social and economic change. Born in 1900, Butensky lived through the Great Depression, a time when the American working class faced unprecedented hardship. Here, Butensky presents us with a scene of industrial labor, softened by the quiet solitude of night. There's a lone figure, a worker perhaps, caught in a moment of pause on the deck of a tugboat. The tugboat itself is tethered to the dock, suggesting a temporary stillness in the relentless cycle of work. As a woman artist working in the early to mid-20th century, Butensky had to navigate the male-dominated art world. Her focus on working-class subjects and industrial landscapes could be read as a form of social commentary, a conscious effort to represent the lives and experiences of those often marginalized in mainstream narratives. The print resonates with a quiet, somber beauty, inviting us to reflect on the human cost of industrial progress.