A Sweeper in an Indiana Cotton Mill (Primary Title)
Lewis W. Hine, American, 1874 – 1940 (Artist)
A young boy wears lint-covered, ragged clothing as he momentarily pauses from his task. Hine focuses on the delicate expression of the boy, allowing the lengthy procession of machinery to fade into a blur in the background. Strong diagonal lines of the floorboards and the soaring verticals of the structure’s pylons dwarf the sweeper. This photograph served as the titular image for a National Child Labor Committee pamphlet criticizing Indiana’s lax laws that allowed children to work in dangerous environments where these small workers were expected to clean dangerous machinery, which often maimed them.
Stamp in black ink on verso: "Property of / National / Child Labor Committee".
Inscribed in black ink by photographer's hand at lower left corner, negative number: "211".
Inscribed in graphite by photographer's hand at lower right corner on verso, negative number: "211".
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
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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