American Scene Depression Era New York City Post Office

This is a painting about a man who travels back into the past and engages with a different stage in his life.
Arnold Friedman worked at the New York City Post Office for four decades, and after his retirement, he returned to that bleak world to paint realistic depictions of the regimented life the workers endured each day. In the present work, the disposition of the robot-like figures in an assembly line formation conveys the bleakness of the Depression era. The artist deliberately reduces each mailman to a blue shape while hiding the individual identity. Many have their heads pointing down. His use of unexpected cropping is highlighted in the Supervisor being depicted as a cut-off shape. He is dressed differently and physically separated from the others. Adding to the painting's Modernist sensibility is a paring down of the pictorial elements to their bare essentials.

Arnold Aaron Friedman (American, 1874-1946), "Final Sweep", Oil on Wood Panel, 1935, signed, dated, and inscribed "New York P.O. STA. Y" lower left, Krell International and Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc. labels to verso, giltwood frame. Image: 11.5" H x 26.5" W; frame: 15.25" H x 30" W. Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, 20 June 1985, Lot 229. Hirschl & Adler, New York. From a New York City Collection. Note: Friedman worked for the U.S. Postal Service for over forty years. He was a clerk and Station Y, the branch at 3rd Avenue and East 67th Street. When not performing his clerical duties at the post office, Friedman spent his spare time at his home studio in Queens, painting scenes from his daily routine. The seven works depicting his time at Station Y were executed two years after his retirement. They capture urban life during the Great Depression.