Lower Third Street, Milwaukee

Joseph Friebert, artist

1908–2002

Lower Third Street, Milwaukee, 1939

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: oil; hardboard; egg tempera

Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 45.7 x 66 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 18 x 26 in

Credit line: Gift of Joseph Friebert

Accession number: 1976.0059

Not on display

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Debut

These three paintings offer distinct perspectives on how built environments shape and reflect our lives. Walter Gay’s plush interior of an English country house painted in bright pastels is in stark contrast with Joseph Friebert’s gritty street scene rendered using a dark, earthy palette. While Gay was a wealthy expatriate living in Paris, Friebert grew up in Milwaukee in a Jewish working-class family and was profoundly influenced by the Socialist ideas of his father, a tailor and a union organizer.

Friebert’s Milwaukee street is empty and dark compared to the colorful Kinshasha street scene painted by Sam Illus. As with other arte populaire or “popular art” works, Illus captures the everyday hardships of poverty and disparities of life on the streets with penetrating honesty.

Debut