Friday, August 29, 2025 – ART OF LABORERS TO CELEBRATE LABOR DAY
Labor in Art.
Let’s Celebrate Labor Day
Helicline Fine Art
Friday, August 29, 2025
Issue # 1522
As we head into the Labor Day Weekend we have labor on our minds. People at work. Labor has long been at the heart of modern art, nowhere more so than in the powerful WPA era, when artists set out to honor the dignity, strength, and resilience of working people.
And because labor comes in many forms, our final featured piece today shifts from the job site to the stage: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, captured in an iconic drawing by Al Hirschfeld. With a few elegant lines, Hirschfeld shows us a different kind of work – the art of performance, the labor of grace.
This lithograph offers a glimpse into our next exhibition: HIRSCHFELD: STROKES OF GENIUS. We can’t wait to share the exciting details next week.
This Labor Day, we celebrate the art of work — in every form. Scroll down to see how artists have captured its power and beauty across time.
Let’s talk about art.
Keith Sherman
Gerrit Beneker (1882 – 1934)
Constant Driving Will Win the War
30 x 40 inches
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated 1918 lower right
Sybil Andrews CPE (British/Canadian, 1898-1992)
“The New Cable,” 1931
12 x 16 1/2 inches
Color linocut
Signed, titled, inscribed ‘Second State’, and numbered 13/60 in pencil
Framed: 19 x 24 inches
Harry Gottlieb (1895 – 1982)
Glassblowers
13 x 18 inches mixed media
Signed and dated ’32 lower right
Harold Haydon (1909 – 1994)
History of the US Postal Service
21 x 25 inches
oil on canvas, c. 1938
Mervin Jules (1912 – 1994)
The Tailor
9 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches
Oil on masonite, c. 1930s
Signed lower right
George Pearse Ennis (1884 – 1936)
Forging a Gun Tube #1
46 x 37 inches, 1918
Signed lower right
George Pearse Ennis (1884 – 1936)
Forging a Gun Tube #1
46 x 37 inches, 1918
Signed lower right
Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003)
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Lithograph on heavy paper, 1989
Sight: 22 x 17 inches
Framed: 34 x 29 inches
Signed lower right, numbered 89/175 lower right
OUR QUEENS BUS ROUTES ARE CHANGING THIS
SUNDAY, AUGUST 31ST
WE HAVE POSTED THE NEW ROUTE MAPS ON THE BACK OF THE CHAPEL BUS SHELTER
TO SEE INDIVIDUAL ROUTE DETAILS GO TO:
https://www.mta.info/schedules/bus/queens
PHOTO OF THE DAY
STOP BY OUR VISITOR CENTER FOR
YOUR NEW RTIHS TEE SHIRT (ADULT SIZES)
Credits
Hello@HeliclineFineArt.com
212-204-8833
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Copyright © 2025 Roosevelt Island Historical Society, All rights reserved.Our mailing address is:
rooseveltislandhistory@gmail.com
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