Artist: Joseph Hirsch (American, 1910-1981) Title: Lunch Hour Audio: Date: 1942 Dimensions: 9″ x 11 3/4″ Location in Library: Fourth floor Media: Lithograph; works on paper Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. © Artist’s Estate Description: A powerfully expressive draftsman and painter, Hirsch depicted people in ordinary, everyday scenes. In this lithograph, which was the artist’s first, Hirsch’s father, a noted Philadelphia surgeon, posed for the sleeping figure. Hirsch then transformed his father’s figure into a portrait of an African-American youth. Hirsch commented in 1942 that “a re-affirmation by today’s artist of his faith in the common man will be as natural as was the emphasis by El Greco on his faith in the Church.” Related Websites– Joseph Hirsch at the Navy Art Collection – Joseph Hirsch at MoMA – Joseph Hirsch at Smithsonian American Art Museum