Catalogue Number
NMLH.1994.168.597
Object Name
Poster
Title
The Strike by Robert Koehler
People
Robert Koehler
Events
Haymarket Massacre
Date
1886
Description
This is a print of a painting, 'The Strike', by Robert Koehler, a German painter who spent most of his career in the USA, showing a tense situation during a fictional strike based on the 1877 railway workers strike in Pittsburgh. This painting was painted in 1986 and referenced heavily during the eight-hour day movement that same year, including the mass strike on May 1 and the Haymarket massacre that followed. The painting shows a group of workers confronting a factory owner. The factory owner wears a suit, tie, and top hat and stands looking down on the workers from the top steps of his residence. The workers are wearing flat caps and working clothes, and one of them bends down to pick up a stone, showing how tense the situation is. A woman and two children look on from the side-lines with worried expressions. The factory can be seen in
the background behind the crowd of workers. The painting has been reproduced in a magazine (unknown), the reverse of which features a one page story about hospital workers receiving their pensions and a one-side biography of Robert Koehler and the significance of the painting. The publication looks to be a US one as dollars are used when referring to currency.
Multimedia
