Subway Construction, No. I 1937

Jan Gelb’s lithograph, Subway Construction, No. I, presents us with a monochromatic view of labor at an unseen moment in time. Made with lithographic crayon on a prepared stone, the artist coaxes a full range of tone out of a single material. The soft, almost smudged effect is typical of this process, as are the rich blacks that give the image its powerful chiaroscuro. Gelb clearly relished these qualities, using them to emphasize the contrast between the dark, cavernous construction site, and the figure of the worker. We see him from behind, hand on hip, in a posture that could be interpreted as either exhaustion or watchfulness. Lithography is, in many ways, a democratic medium. Because it relies on chemical reaction rather than the direct cutting of a surface, it allows for an immediacy of expression that is quite different than, say, etching. Gelb’s choice of this technique aligns with his subject matter, turning an eye towards the laborers who built the infrastructure of modern life. It reminds us that every finished structure embodies countless hours of difficult and often dangerous work.