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Birth of Louis Lozowick
Louis Lozowick is born in the Russian Empire in Ukraine. He attended the Kiev Art School there, moved to the United States, and then traveled across Eurpoe seeking artistic influences. Lozowick is known for his numerous lithographs of modern life in Industrial America. -
Birth of Jolan Gross-Bettelheim
Jolan Gross-Bettelheim is born in 1900 in Hungary. Up until the age of 25, she studied at various art institutions across Europe. In 1925, she relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in the United States with her new husband. While living in the US, she became known for her pieces focusing on working conditions and urban life of Americans during the 1930s, and gave pieces to many organizations, including the Works Progress Administration. -
Birth of Harry Sternberg
Harry Sternberg is born on July 19, 1904 in Manhattan, New York. Sternberg began exhibiting an interest art at a young age, and pursued his passion in art school and throughout his life. He was involved in left-winged politics and focused on depicting labor conditions and life in Industrial America in his artwork. -
Ford begins using assembly line.
In 1913, Ford Motor Company owned by Henry Ford began using one of the first completely organized assembly lines. In the assembly line, each worker performed one job over and over to improve efficiency of the factory and the time it took to complete a part of the car. Ford introducing the assembly line in America is often seen as the start of Industrialization in America of the 20th century. -
Lozowick makes "Minneapolis"
In 1925, Louis Lozowick created "Minneapolis," a lithograph similar in style and appearance to many of his other remembered works. "Minneapolis" focuses on the monotonous and uniform nature of cities and accents the structure of skyscrapers and aspects of building using modern, clean lines. This lithograph reflects Lozowick's Constructivism influences by focusing on the structure of and construction of different aspects of life. -
Lozowick works for New Masses Journal
In 1926, Lozowick began working for the New Masses journal in Europe, a characterically left-winged political journal. While working there, he encountered many artistic influences, of which Constructivism and de Stijl affected him the most. -
Works Progress Administration Established
In 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was established under the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration when Congress passed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. The purpose of the WPA was to provide jobs to the large number of unemployed people during the Great Depression. -
Sternberg makes "Forest of Flame"
In 1939, Sternberg completed his lithograph titled "Forest of Flame." This lithograph depicted a factory in black and white surrounded by smoke created from the factory itself. In this piece, Sternberg shows the monotonous and depressing nature of factories and the negative effects they can have on people and the environment. -
Membership of Labor Unions Increases
Starting in the 1930s, the number of workers involved in labor unions was around 3 million, a significant drop from 5 million in past years. Throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s, a labor movement a well as passing of laws through Congress to help improve the presence of labor unions, helped increase membership to around 9 million workers by the end of the 1930s. -
Gross-Bettelheim finishes "Assembly Line"
In 1943, Jolan Gross-Bettelheim finishes "Assembly Line," a lithograph portraying the nature of factory working conditions during this time in America. The choice of a black and white lithograph with very geometric and repetitive patterns show how Gross-Bettelheim felt that assembly lines and factories were very impersonal and created a negative working environment for workers.
