Finishing Shells

Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: 20 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches
Signature: Signed in the stone
Artist details: American, 1857 - 1926
Date of impression: 1916
Edition: 50
Reference: Wuerth 434

Joseph Pennell's Finishing Shells breaks the mold of traditional “women’s work” by showing women in an industrial setting. With two years into World War I and two still yet to go, women were a much needed labor force in the factories on the hone front. In Pennell's lithograph, men and women alike labor to make weaponry for the war effort.