Skip to main content

Man and Machine

Collections Menu
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Man and Machine
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Man and Machine

Artist (1910 - 2002)
Dateca. 1939
MediumLithograph
DimensionsImage: 9 3/4 × 12 1/8 in. (24.8 × 30.8 cm)
Sheet: 11 7/16 × 16 in. (29.1 × 40.6 cm)
Framed: 17 3/8 × 19 1/2 × 1 1/8 in.
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2012.24
Signedl.l., in pencil: Ida Abelman
Accession number 2012.24
On View
Not on view
ProvenanceDaniel Lebard, Brussels, Belgium; (Catherine E. Burns, Oakland, CA); purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, Bentonville, AR, 2012
Label TextThe machine dominates the figure in Man and Machine, suggesting that mechanized industry overwhelms human workers. This sentiment provoked many political and social discussions about labor in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s.

Ida Abelman was born in New York City and received her art training there. As an artist with the Federal Art Project, she documented the effects of industry on American society. She was also a member of the American Artists Congress, a political organization formed by artists in 1936 to unite in their common interests, such as protesting war and Fascism, or advocating on behalf of the working class.
Inscribedl.l., in pencil: Ida Abelman
Markingsl.l.: Federal Art Project / NYC WPA [stamp}
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Ida Abelman
1936
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Ida Abelman
ca. 1939
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Carl Hoeckner
1935
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Theo Ballou White
ca. 1930
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Alexandre Hogue
1941
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Leah Balsham
1939
Photography by Edward C. Robison III
Arthur Dove
1922
Photography by Edward C. Robison III
Peter Glenn Oakley
2014
Photography by Edward C. Robison III
Hugo Gellert
1943