The People Work: Night

1937

Benton Spruance

(American, 1904–1967)

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Culture

America

Medium

lithograph

Support

Medium weight, mould-made wove paper

Measurements

Platemark: 34.6 x 48.1 cm (13 5/8 x 18 15/16 in.); Sheet: 40.8 x 58.2 cm (16 1/16 x 22 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2006.114.4

Catalogue raisonné

Fine and Looney 144

Edition

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

This series of lithographs shows the artist Benton Spruance’s affinity for Mexican mural painting by such artists as Diego Rivera.

Description

These unusual cross-section views of New York City imagine the daily commute in the big city as a beehive or ant colony that never stops. Morning is the subway commute, while Noon presents dock workers on break during a bustling lunch hour. Evening is back to the subway with the buses running overhead. And Night shows workers performing maintenance while others enjoy time off at a bar, only to start all over again the next day. Jammed with commuters both above and below street level, the series highlights the intermingling of strangers that animates urban life.