About the artist:

Isac Friedlander was born in Latvia. In 1912 he went to Italy where he met and worked with Russian artist Maxim Gorky. During this period, he also received his only art training, studying etching, drawing and relief printing at the Academy of Rome. In 1937, he emigrated to New York during the Great Depression. His art during those depression years focused on the lives and sufferings of the downtrodden he found wandering the streets of New York. Friedlander’s woodcuts, wood engravings, and etchings are powerful expressions of the human condition.