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Gerta Overbeck

Man with Wheelbarrow, 1921

Now On View

Description

Maker

Title

Man with Wheelbarrow

Year

1921

Medium

Oil paint on lined brown paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Supports

Dimensions

73.7 x 50.2 cm (29 x 19 11/16 inches) (sheet)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Original--in pencil, LLC:GO

Type

Credit

Pearl and Ernest Nathan Fund and Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

1998.24

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Modern and Contemporary Galleries

A male laborer, perhaps a bricklayer, dominates this expressive work. A woman looking upward and the figure at center seem held back behind barricades.

Gerta Overbeck often depicted modern industry and workers—especially from the perspective of women. World War I (1914–1918) had pushed record numbers of women into jobs typically reserved for men, but even after gaining the right to vote in 1919, German women still struggled for acceptance. This portrayal may plead for the value of women workers or, perhaps more personally, the value of women artists.

Overbeck was an active participant in Hanover’s Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) group. Its members critically confronted the harsh economic realities of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Man with Wheelbarrow with the accession number of 1998.24. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.