Collection of the University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA. Gift of The Gimbel Brothers, Inc.
1959.GIMBEL.36
Contract Miner
1947 (Date created)
October 1 1947 (Date published)
October 1 1947 (Date published)
Oil
Painting
Paintings
36.25 in W
x
50.375 in H
(Frame)
27.25 in W x 42 in H (Object)
27.25 in W x 42 in H (Object)
American
Single miner hand mining coal in mine shaft illuminated by headlamp.
"At various times in his career, Fletcher Martin had depicted the booming American mining industry in a range of media, including murals, in locations throughout the United States. In this painting, he departs from previous works, providing a new view specific to contract mining in Western Pennsylvania. By using geometric shapes - a wooden plank path leading from foreground to mid-ground, and the dynamic sharp angles of the mine shaft - we are immediately drawn to the focal point of Martin's painting. A lone worker, his back turned to us, could easily have merged with his bleak surroundings, were it not for the light on his hard hat pointing him toward some unseen destination. The faceless shadow of this dehumanized man calls our attention to just how common these miners were, barely worthy of individuality. Completely engulfed in a tilting world of support beams and encroaching coal, this solidary miner is all but consumed by the very object he is trying to extract. Martin's work is a forceful. statement on the isolated and hazardous life of a contract miner, the industrial equivalent of a sharecropper." ("SLAG", Fall 2010).
"A contract miner is to the mining industry what the share cropper is to agriculture. He usually operates a small mine under contract with the owner. The work is done by hand, and is more dangerous than that is larger mines due to crudity of equipment and methods of mining. Coal mining in general is hazardous." (D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948)
"A contract miner is to the mining industry what the share cropper is to agriculture. He usually operates a small mine under contract with the owner. The work is done by hand, and is more dangerous than that is larger mines due to crudity of equipment and methods of mining. Coal mining in general is hazardous." (D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948)
In Collection
ca. 1959, University Art Gallery Gift of Mr. Steve Osterweis, President of Gimbel Brothers, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.
ca. 1946-1959, Gimbel Brothers, Inc.
ca. 1946-1959, Gimbel Brothers, Inc.
Catalog of October 1, 1947 (first publication of the paintings)
D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948
R. Gigler, "Pittsburgh's Man of Steel", Pittsburgh Press Roto, August 12, 1979.
O. Francis, "The Saga of Joe Magarac Steelman", Scribner's Magazine, nov. 1931.
Roy Kahn, "Real Pittsburgh: Just an Average Joe", Pittsburgh Magazine, nov. 1985, 17-18.
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Feb. 25, 1948
John Oliver La Gorce, "Artists Look At Pennsylvania", National Geographic Magazine
Catalogue from March 1959 when the collection was presented at the new University Student Union at Pitt (formerly Schenley Hotel).
D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948
R. Gigler, "Pittsburgh's Man of Steel", Pittsburgh Press Roto, August 12, 1979.
O. Francis, "The Saga of Joe Magarac Steelman", Scribner's Magazine, nov. 1931.
Roy Kahn, "Real Pittsburgh: Just an Average Joe", Pittsburgh Magazine, nov. 1985, 17-18.
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Feb. 25, 1948
John Oliver La Gorce, "Artists Look At Pennsylvania", National Geographic Magazine
Catalogue from March 1959 when the collection was presented at the new University Student Union at Pitt (formerly Schenley Hotel).
Please note that cataloging is ongoing and that some information may not be complete.
Corporate commissions
Western Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Industry
Social
Western Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Industry
Social