Custom Made 1939

Riva Helfond made this black and white print, likely a lithograph, depicting a woman hunched over her sewing. You can almost hear the rhythmic hum of the sewing machine and feel the quiet concentration in the room. I can imagine Helfond, maybe in her own studio, observing the fall of light and shadow, the textures of fabric and wood, and thinking about how to translate it all onto the stone. What was she thinking as she drew each line, building up the image bit by bit? Did she see her subject as a worker, a mother, a creative soul pouring her heart into her craft? It reminds me of Honoré Daumier’s lithographs, which capture scenes of everyday life with such empathy and depth. Like Daumier, Helfond finds beauty and dignity in the ordinary, elevating it through her art. It's as if she’s saying, "Look closely, there's so much to see, so much to feel, in the world around us." That's what printmaking does, it brings people together across time and space. Helfond is in conversation with Daumier and with us, inviting us to see the world through her eyes, to appreciate the beauty in the everyday, and to find meaning in the act of creation itself.