The Glass Blowers

Seated on wooden stools around a long table, seven men work glass in miniature furnaces, which fill the scene with a warm glow. The men’s coats are hung up in the rear of the dimly-lit workroom, probably in a converted house. The painter uses a simple technique to capture many details of the scene, perhaps based on life observation of a glass workshop in New York City, and to make the viewer wonder at each figure’s individual character and story. The worker in a blue shirt has an anchor tattooed on his hand, which may hint at his former career.