Dig

Riva Helfond was a Jewish American artist who was born in Brooklyn, New York. In 1932, she began studying printmaking with Harry Sternberg at the Art Students League while working at a hat factory, barely making ends meet. She was later hired by the College Art Association to teach painting to children at the Madison Square Boys’ Club. A few years later, she joined the Works Progress Administration and was assigned to teach lithography at the Harlem Community Art Center. Among her students were Robert Blackburn, Ernest Crichlow, Carl G. Hill, and Clarence Williams. Although Helfond’s later work became more abstract, during the 1930s and 1940s she produced images of modern life, including scenes of industrial labor and labor protests. Helfond produced “Dig” the same year that she began teaching lithography at the Harlem Community Art Center. The lithograph represents urban excavation and construction, with a large crane at the center of the image. The bold lines and tilted perspective, alongside the blurred figures of the laborers and buildings, create a sense of noisy chaos. Helfond only portrayed the machinery with distinct lines.