Employment Office
1935–36
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
Plate: 11 × 8 1/2 in. (27.9 × 21.6 cm) Sheet: 13 × 10 in. (33 × 25.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
WPA New York Project, 1943
Accession Number
43.47.218
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Employment Office**, a poignant lithograph by Jolan Bettelheim created between 1935 and 1936, captures the stark realities of the Depression. Produced under the (Works Progress Administration) New York Project New Deal initiative that employed thousands of artists amid widespread unemployment—this print reflects the era's economic desperation. Bettelheim's work likely depicts men and women gathered at an employment office, symbolizing universal struggle for jobs during one of America's darkest periods, when over 25% of the workforce was jobless. As a lithograph, the piece employs a versatil...
About the Artist
Jolan Gross Bettelheim|WPA (American| ) · 1900 | –1972 |
American, Hungary 1900–1972 Budapest|