Construction

Having immigrated to the United States in 1921 at the age of 17, Chaim Gross settled in New York City and quickly became immersed in the burgeoning art scene. Commissioned to create an overdoor relief for the new Federal Trade Commission headquarters in 1937, Gross was asked to consider the theme of construction. Surrounded by skyscraper construction day and night in New York City, Gross was immediately drawn to the idea of depicting a pair of welders. This concept evolved in response to the compositional constraints of the panel and Gross’s final design is a crisply angular portrayal of a riveter and his assistant flanking a steel eyebeam, driving the rivets into place.

Born in 1904 in what was then Austria (present-day Poland), Gross began pursuing art at the age of 14, studying in Budapest and Vienna before moving to the United States. Once established in New York City, Gross attended the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and the Arts Student League, and began to exhibit his work in group exhibitions. Throughout the 1930s, Gross was active with the Works Progress Administration, teaching art and completing sculptural commissions for government buildings. In 1974, Gross was honored with a solo exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gross was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1984, and continued sculpting until his death in 1991.