Lewis Wickes Hine

(Am. 1874-1940)

Coal Breakers, 1911

Photograph, framed under glass

The Witkin Gallery label verso

4 3/16" x 6 1/16" sight, 12 9/16" x 14 9/16" framed

Provenance: Private Collection Cumberland Foreside, Maine

Lewis Hine was hired by the National Child Labor Committee in 1908 to document the living and working conditions of workers, including child laborers. Often dressed in disguise, Hine was able to enter factories, farms, mines, and other workplaces as well as the living spaces of American laborers to reveal the conditions and abuses they endured. With extensive handwritten notation, Hine’s photographs remain critical research tools in investigating labor rights and reforms at the turn of the century.