The Boston Tea Party
Date1975
Mediumlithograph on paper
DimensionsImage: 27 3/4 × 19 inches (70.5 × 48.3 cm)
Sheet: 34 7/8 × 23 inches (88.6 × 58.4 cm)
Matted: 32 × 40 inches (81.3 × 101.6 cm)
Portfolio/SeriesKent Bicentennial portfolio, "Spirit of Independence"
Credit LineGift of Lorillard, a Division of Loew’s Theatres, Inc.
Object number1977.18
Copyright© Estate of Joseph Hirsch.
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Label TextJoseph Hirsch’s career was marked by his investment in the social realism and commentary of his work which is evident in 'The Bosten Tea Party' where he considers how the event had "the elements of wild paradox: what was outrageous vandalism two centuries ago, we today cherish nationally as a symbol of the free soul. The vigilant activism that has fed the spirit of our forebears is nowhere more tellingly expressed, in my judgment, than in the vents of that December night in Boston harbor." Hirsch studied under George Luks, a member of the “The Eight” in New York, a group of artists who rebelled against the National Academy of Design in 1908 and focused on gritty urban and figurative scenes. Hirsch learned from Luks’s depiction of the everyday. Hirsch worked for the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression and later as an artist-correspondent during World War II.
Text written for the exhibition Spirit of Independence, July 1 - December 1, 2020.Subject MatterBoston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
