Images(5)

Drawing

Object number2016.146.1

Artist Willliam Phoennik

Date1937-1940

MediumPaper; Adhesive tape; Graphite; Colored pencil; Ink

Credit LineTransfer from Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum, Gift of William Phoennik

DescriptionDrawing on sheets of 9.5-inch by 7.375-inch sheets of off-white paper taped together on the reverse with strips of brown adhesive tape. Continuous drawing in graphite and colored pencil depicts scene with many buildings, businesses, factories, mills, railroad tracks, trains, roadways, automobiles, rivers, and boats.DimensionsHeight x Width: 9.5 × 338.75 in. (24.1 × 860.4 cm) [Width is approximate due to paper distortion]
SignedArtist signature on third sheet of paper from the right in the bottom right corner in graphite "Wm. Phoennik".
Handwritten text on the right end's reverse side in blue ink "WILLIAM A. PHOENNIK / 533 ORD. CO."
Historical NotesDrawing/cartoon of Pittsburgh area by Bill Phoennik This drawing was part of a larger collection of cartoon-artwork donated to Soldiers and Sailors by Bill Phoennik, who grew up in Sheraden near McKees Rocks and worked as a cutter at the Second Avenue Strip Mill before serving in World War II. (The other art pieces were all WWII envelopes, so they remain with the collection at Soldiers and Sailors.) As a boy, Phoennik aspired to be a cartoonist, and he drew all the time. This long cartoon probably shows the ride to and from Bill’s home in Sheridan to the mill where he worked. Replicating the machines, trains, bridges, and other buildings he saw in minute detail, the cartoon represents Bill’s depiction of the industrial landscape in which he grew up.

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