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Job Hunters

Maurice Kish

American Art

On View:
Like many artists at work in the 1930s, Maurice Kish was a labor activist whose subject matter revealed his sympathy for industrial workers. At the time he painted this canvas, Kish was a resident of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He often focused his attention on the massive and filthy coal plants and factories that lined the nearby East River. Here, industrial sites tower over faceless laborers, and all is described in the dull, dark tones indicative of the harsh monotony of their lives.
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
DATES 1932–1933
DIMENSIONS frame: 41 x 35 x 2 in. (104.1 x 88.9 x 5.1 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed lower left: "Maurice Kish"
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 67.181
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold M. Levy
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Maurice Kish (American, born Russia, 1898–1987). Job Hunters, 1932–1933. Oil on canvas, frame: 41 x 35 x 2 in. (104.1 x 88.9 x 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold M. Levy, 67.181. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 67.181_PS20.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 67.181_PS20.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024
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