6x24 inches
acrylic, watercolor paper, kraft paper on stained maple panel
$525

The Jobs of Yesteryear series combines history and surrealism to tell the stories of obsolete jobs. A contemporary glimpse into the past, these mixed media paintings serve as a reminder of a time and stories long forgotten.

This particular Job of Yesteryear mixed media painting features a newsboy. From the mid-19th to the early 20th century, newsboy or ‘newsies’ were the main means to get a newspaper in the United States. The trend began in 1833 when Benjamin Day, publisher of The Sun, put up a help-wanted ad hoping to hire some unemployed adults to vend his newspaper. Instead, children answered the call and the age fo the newsboy had begun. Newsies were motivated to sell by their inability to return unsold papers and worked long hours to make the meager 30 cents they typically earned in a day. The newspaper vending machine (invented in 1947) and the implementation of child labor laws led to the demise of these young workers’ position.

The Newsboy IV was created with acrylic paint. The long-limbed character was cut from paper and collaged with kraft paper. The Jobs of Yesteryear are thought-provoking conversation pieces that will bring an air of history and whimsy to any room.