New for Old

New for Old is a color lithograph, showing buildings on a street and a crane-like machine. There are what looks like building materials next to the machine. The buildings’ proportions feel slightly off, just enough where they seem to bend a little. Though the focal point would seem to be the construction, but the viewer does not get a good view of the construction itself, as there is a part of a wall still standing, and a dirt pile where the building materials are, along with the body of the crane machine. There is no movement in the print—no figures actively working on the construction site, or people on the street. The colors are muted yellow and blue, created an aged, washed-out effect on the print. The only dark part of the print is the bottom right corner where the building materials and dirt pile are. The print overall has an unsettling feeling to it, devoid of any living things and its washed-out color. It might suggest that perhaps this construction is not a good thing, because of the dark only around the building materials and the emptiness. It might make the audience wonder what the “old” was that is getting replaced, and what the replacement is. Though when compared to a similar print, Burke’s Delousing, which has a darker atmosphere and connotation to the title (“delousing” meaning to get rid of lice or other parasitic insects), New for Old seems to be a more positive—while still eerie—depiction of change and construction.

About the Artist

A pioneer in screen printing, Leonard Pytlak was born in 1910 in Newark, New Jersey. He attended the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, and the Art Students League in New York. Pytlak specialized in printmaking, both serigraphs and lithographs. He also painted, creating a mural for Greenpoint Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, under the WPA in the 30s. In 1938, he worked for the FAP in New York, in the Graphic Section, part of the silkscreen unit. He was a founding member of the National Serigraph Society and was elected twice as president. He had several solo exhibitions in the 40s, and was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1941 to investigate new techniques in color lithography and serigraphy. He also won awards from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Print Club, the Philadelphia Color Print Society, the Seattle Art Museum, the National Academy of Design, and the Library of Congress. During the 1960s, Pytlak taught drawing, painting, and screen printing, and ran a class for disabled students for the New York State Rehabilitation Department. 108 works at Philadelphia Museum of Art. 22 works at National Gallery of Art. 8 works at The Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1 work at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. 4 works at Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 3 works at Brooklyn Museum. 24 works at Metropolitan Museum of Art. 7 images at FAP.

Pytlak, Leonard (1910–1998)

Singer, Ella (description and biography)

Helquist, Morgan (photography)

New Deal Musueum, Mount Morris NY

Object #FA 84

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Color lithograph

Window: 14 1/4 x 12 1/4 in.
Sheet: 17 x 14 3/4 in.
Mat: 19 1/4 x 17 1/8 in.