Margaret Lowengrund and WPA/Federal Art Project, New York City
The Elevated
1935
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Crayon lithograph with scraping, Sheet: 405 x 582 mm. (15 15/16 x 22 15/16 in.)
Image: 279 x 318 mm. (11 x 12 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
The United States General Services Administration, formerly Federal Works Agency, Works Progress Administration, on extended loan to the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Object Number
L.1943.9.27
This prints offer a view of a transportation system in flux. By the mid-1930s, elevated train lines had dominated New York City’s skyline for over 60 years, blocking out the sun in working-class neighborhoods. By the time Blanche Grambs made this focused study of the elegant, 19th-century ornament on a train platform, “el” lines in the New York City borough of Manhattan were being demolished in favor of an expanded underground subway system. Those same swirls of wrought iron also appear in Margaret Lowengrund’s bird’s-eye view of commuters and passers-by. Taking a different approach, Claire Mahl Moore presented a titanic hand emerging from the city to grasp the elevated train.
Extended Loans IN
Art/Work: Women Printmakers of the WPA
Inscribed: RECTO: LL margin (pencil): 'The Elevated'; LC margin (stamped in black ink): 'FEDERAL ART PROJECT / NYC WPA'; LR margin (pencil): 'Lowengrund'; BR Corner (pencil): '12'; BL Corner on stone: 'ML'. VERSO: UL (pencil): '#1696 - gr. 1'; Lower C: BMA stamp.
Publisher
WPA/Federal Art Project, New York City
2000–2000
Meet WPA/Federal Art Project, New York City
