Filling the Ice House

Harry Gottlieb, Filling the Ice House, 1934, oil on canvas, 40 ³⁄₈ x 60 ³⁄₈ in. (102.5 x 153.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.19

Artwork Details

Title: Filling the Ice House
Artist: Harry Gottlieb
Date: 1934
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 40 ³⁄₈ x 60 ³⁄₈ in. (102.5 x 153.4 cm)
Credit Line: Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: New Deal — Public Works of Art Project — New York State
Occupation — industry — ice cutting
Figure group — male
Object Number: 1964.1.19
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1964.1.19

Artwork Description

As workers like these knew well, it was cold, hard work filling the icehouses of upstate New York. In January 1934, artist Harry Gottlieb signed on with the PWAP and looked for American workers he could paint near his home in the artists' colony of Woodstock, New York. He found these men harvesting ice off lakes and streams as local men had done every winter since the early 1800s. They sawed the thick layer of natural ice into long strips and then cut off large blocks. As Gottlieb's painting shows, the red-faced workers dressed in warm coats used long hooks and wooden ramps to maneuver the slick, heavy ice into large commercial icehouses where they neatly stacked the blocks. Straw or sawdust packing minimized melting in warm weather. Throughout the year icehouses along the Hudson River stored ice that was shipped by train to New York City. Families and grocers put the ice into insulated iceboxes that kept food from spoiling. Artificial freezing dominated ice production after World War I, and then electric refrigerators became popular. When Gottlieb documented the natural ice business it was gradually melting away.

1934: A New Deal for Artists exhibition label

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Related Books

1934: A New Deal for Artists

During the Great Depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a “new deal for the American people,” initiating government programs to foster economic recovery. Roosevelt’s pledge to help “the forgotten man” also embraced America’s artists. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) enlisted artists to capture “the American Scene” in works of art that would embellish public buildings across the country. Although it lasted less than one year, from December 1933 to June 1934, the PWAP provided employment for thousands of artists, giving them an important role in the country’s recovery. Their legacy, captured in more than fifteen thousand artworks, helped “the American Scene” become America seen.