Laundry Worker (Primary Title)
Lewis W. Hine, American, 1874 – 1940 (Artist)
By 1913 Hine and the National Child Labor Committee had gained much attention by reproducing many of the artist’s photographs in national publications and exhibitions. As evident in his early images from Ellis Island, Hine particularly deplored the abject conditions in which recent immigrants, especially children, were forced to labor. For Hine, the promise of a new life and hope for prosperity in a new nation were displaced by the long hours, poor wages, and dangerous conditions of the jobs many were forced to take. Such a scene is depicted in Laundry Worker, where a young girl works next to a hot, hazardous steam press.
Gift of Betty Stuart Goldsmith Halberstadt and Jon Halberstadt
The Likeness of Labor, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, October 17, 2015 - April 10, 2016
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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