Irwin Hoffman (1901-1989)
The Stoker 1935
etching and drypoint 8 3/4 x 5 3/4, signed
UAM 1992.116

Artists wanted to connect directly to "the people." Hoffman's recollection of the man (recorded much later) is quite neutral: "He was on a cruise shipThe Rotterdam. I took a cruise during the Thirties. This ship was torpedoed by the Germans later of course.... This was the boiler room of the SS Rotterdam that used coal to fire the boilers." The Stoker presents an extremely positive and even heroicized vision of the American worker.