Pyromaniac (from Aberrations)

Lamar Baker, Pyromaniac (from Aberrations), ca. 1937, lithograph, 13 ³⁄₄ x 10 ³⁄₄ in. (34.9 x 27.3 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift by exchange from The Columbus Museum, Georgia, 1998.115.9

Artwork Details

Title: Pyromaniac (from Aberrations)
Artist: Lamar Baker
Date: ca. 1937
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 13 ³⁄₄ x 10 ³⁄₄ in. (34.9 x 27.3 cm)
Credit Line: Gift by exchange from The Columbus Museum, Georgia
Mediums Description: lithograph
Classifications: Graphic Arts
Print
Subjects: Occupation — crime — arsonist
Object — written matter — newspaper
Occupation — service — fireman
State of being — phenomenon — dream
Architecture — vehicle — train
Disaster — fire
Figure group — male
Object Number: 1998.115.9
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1998.115.9

Artwork Description

Born and raised in the Deep South, Lamar Baker often illustrated racial and social injustices he had witnessed firsthand. His artistic goal, he said, was to make "social and moral comments by way of the lithographer's art." In his Aberrations series, including Sadist and Pyromaniac, he captures the darker side of humanity he encountered residing in New York from 1935 to 1950. Inspired by surrealism and social realism, these lithographs suggest disturbing and nefarious reveries among seemingly harmless subway riders. Baker's choice of details--a sign for Times Square, an advertisement for Smith Brothers cough drops, and newspapers--ground his scenes in contemporary life, unmasking the perceived degeneracy and depravity of working-class America.