Man with Drill

Man with Drill — Charles Turzak. c. 1935.

Medium: woodcut. Dimensions: Sheet: 43 x 33.2 cm (16 15/16 x 13 1/16 in.); Image: 30.6 x 23.5 cm (12 1/16 x 9 1/4 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Turzak was a Chicago printmaker who worked exclusively in relief techniques. Man with Drill is perhaps his most famous image and was inspired by his own experience. After several days of trying to concentrate while a city worker with a drill demolished the street in front of his home and studio, Turzak finally abandoned the premises, deciding instead to sketch the area around Lake Michigan. When the drilling had finished, he returned and began to cut the block for this scene depicting a man with a pneumatic drill. The artist represented the vibrations of the drill with bands of lines that radiate around the figure to the edge of the sheet, capturing the sensation perfectly.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.