Subway Construction, No. 2 c. 1937

Jan Gelb made this lithograph, Subway Construction, No. 2, at an unknown date. It's all in shades of grey, with dense marks giving volume to the figures, the worker's overalls and the heavy I-beam. You can feel the dust and heat! I think about Gelb at work in the studio, wrestling with that litho crayon or tusche wash. What does he want to say about labor, about the city, about these guys building the subway? He clearly admires the workers, portraying them with respect. I wonder if he ever helped out on a construction site. I imagine he felt for these men. His marks are both sensitive and strong, like the workers themselves. He has captured the grittiness of the setting with a limited palette. This print reminds me of other social realist works by artists like Jacob Lawrence. These artists share a deep sense of humanism. Gelb captures a moment in time but also speaks to broader themes of labor, progress, and the human condition.