Daniel Ralph Celentano
Strike Breakers — social realism, Great Depression
c. 1934

Name: Strike Breakers — social realism, Great Depression
Brand: Daniel Ralph Celentano
Price: 2200 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Daniel Ralph Celentano, Untitled (Strike Breakers) pencil, c. 1934. Signed, lower right. A fine, social-realist drawing, on cream wove paper, with margins (1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches), in good condition. Image size 12 x 15 inches; sheet size 14 7/8 x 18 1/2 inches. Matted to museums standards, unframed. ABOUT THE IMAGE The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), often referred to as the Wagner Act, was passed by Congress on July 5, 1935. It established the right to organize unions. The Wagner Act was the most important labor law in American history and earned the nickname "labor's bill of rights." Before the law’s passage, employers had the liberty to spy upon, question, punish, blacklist, and fire union members. In the 1930s, workers began to organize in large numbers. A great wave of work stoppages in 1933 and 1934 included citywide general strikes and factory occupations by workers. Hostile skirmishes erupted between workers bent on organizing unions, and the police and hired security squads backing the interests of factory owners who opposed unions. ABOUT THE ARTIST Daniel Celentano (1902-1980) was born in New York, the fifth of fifteen children of Neapolitan immigrants. He lived most of his life in the uptown Manhattan area known as 'Italian Harlem', and much of his work chronicles the events and people of that neighborhood. At the age of twelve, Celentano became the first pupil of renowned American Scene painter Thomas Hart Benton and later assisted Benton in the execution of several murals. The two artists remained friends throughout their lives. By sixteen, Celentano had won several scholarships, one of which enabled him to study for three years at the Cape Cod School of Art under Charles W. Hawthorne. Other grants came from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, and the National Academy of Design. Celentano began showing his work in New York City in 1930 when he participated in an exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz's Opportunity Gallery. His success there was followed by exhibitions at other New York galleries and participation in major museum annuals, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Carnegie Institute. Celentano showed six paintings at the Art Exhibition by the Staff Artists of the American Museum of Natural History. In 1936 the Carnegie Institute and the Chicago Art Institute bought works by Celentano exhibited at Walker Galleries. The Whitney Museum of American Art followed suit the next year, purchasing Celentano's entry ‘First Born’ in the museum's biennial exhibition. The Walker Galleries gave Celentano his first one-person exhibition in 1938. Celentano joined the mural division of the WPA, where he created murals for the Queens Borough Public Library, Flushing Branch (’Commerce’, 1936), and P.S. 150 in Queens (’Children in Constructive Recreation and Cultural Activity’, 1940). In 1938 he won a commission through the Treasury Department to execute the mural, ‘The Country Store and Post Office’, for the U.S. Post Office in Vidalia, Georgia. With the outbreak of World War II, Celentano joined the art department of the Grumman Aircraft Corporation, Long Island, where he executed a mural entitled ‘The Flight of Man’, which depicts the advancement of transportation and communications from ancient times to present. The mural is now at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island. Daniel Celentano's work can be found in many museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and High Museum of Art.

Creator:

Daniel Ralph Celentano (1902-1980, American)

Creation Year:

c. 1934

Dimensions:

Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 15 in (38.1 cm)

Medium:

Pencil

Movement & Style:

American Realist

Period:

1930-1939