Jack Savitsky - 'Miners Train' Lithograph
Item Number: 135
Time Left: CLOSED
Description
Lithograph of Jack Savitsky's "Miners Train", signed and dated '80 lower right and numbered 20/300. Railroad scene with a train heading to a factory. 23"h x 29"w. Jack SavitskyÂÂs Miners Train depicts a coal-fired passenger train traveling between Pottsville and Silver Creek, two well-known coal towns in Pennsylvania. Behind the smoky plume of the locomotive stand a blue-gray coal breaker and three mill houses ÂÂ the very houses that make up the paintingÂÂs border. Savitsky conveys the sameness and unending work of the company town through his use of repetitive patterning and decorative elements. However, the lively colors and cheerful rural setting also reflect an energetic spirit within the miner community.
Special Instructions
Jack Savitsky (1910 - 1991) Born in 1910 into a family of nine, 'Coal Miner Jack' Savitsky attained only a sixth grade education. Then he had to go to work, and the only work was the coal mines. He had a strong desire to create pictures and used chalk to make pictures on the walls in the mines. Occasionally he would draw pictures in bars for a pint of whiskey, a pack of cigarettes, or five gallons of gas. After 35 years in the mines and suffering black lung disease, he retired in 1960 and began to draw and paint in earnest.