Untitled (Defenders) · WRSTL PLACE

Item sets: Digital Public History Class; St. Louis Artist Works; St. Louis Artists

Title: Untitled (Defenders)
Description: Luce Center Label
Frederic Jean Thalinger carved this piece around 1940, at the outbreak of World War II. The title clearly refers to the war, but this work is also thought to refer to the great labor strikes of the Depression years. The sculpture shows five huge male figures, whose determined expressions and immovable stances offer a convincing expression of worker solidarity.
Creator: Frederic Jean Thalinger
Subject: Artists; St. Louis Artists; Labor Rights; Frederic Jean Thalinger
Medium: Terra cotta
Date: 1940
Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery
Identifier: 1990.2