106

Blanche Grambs

(1916-2010)

Coal Breaker.

Etching and aquatint, circa 1936.
Signed, titled and inscribed "Etching" in pencil, lower margin. Published by the Federal Art Project, WPA, New York, with the ink stamp, lower left.
Plate: 11 7/8 x 14 7/8 in. (30 x 37.9 cm.), full margins.

  • Notes:
    According to Stephen Coppel in American prints from Hopper to Pollock, "At the age of twenty Blanche Grambs who had trained with the leftist printmaker Harold Stenberg at the Art Students League, was one of the youngest artists to join the New York City WPA/FAP in 1936. That year she accompanied Stenberg to the mining town of Lanceford, Pennsylvania, which resulted in a group of gritty aquatints recording the grim, dangerous conditions of the mines and the physical hardships of the miners; these were printed and published by the New York City WPA/FAP. Prints such as these were intended as vehicles to effect social change by raising public consciousness."
  • Condition:
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January 29, 2026 12:00 PM EST
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