Young Negro Worker

Young Negro Worker — Jolán Gross-Bettelheim. c. 1931.

Medium: drypoint. Dimensions: Sheet: 35.9 x 27 cm (14 1/8 x 10 5/8 in.); Platemark: 17.6 x 13.8 cm (6 15/16 x 5 7/16 in.).

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

Hungarian-born Jolán Gross-Bettelheim lived in Cleveland from 1925 to 1937 and worked at a printshop run by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a Depression-era federal program that hired and retained job-seekers on public works and arts projects. Here, she depicted a young Black man taking a break from his labor, probably from one of the many factories or mills in Cleveland’s industrial district. Young Black men migrated to Cleveland from the South in large numbers between 1910 and 1930 seeking work in the city’s booming oil, chemical, steel, and automotive industries.

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.