The WPA artist and art deco designer Vladimir Yoffe interrogates the tension between war and peace, past and future in this abstractly inspired gouache artwork dating to the end of World War II. Using collaged imagery, he captures the dizzying speed of production, and the interplay of the industry of militarism and of civilian life. Cars speed down a road beneath an oversized chemical beaker powering a city against a backdrop of tanks and artillery, with a wooden ladder hearkening back to the agrarian past. Today, the Russian/American artist is best remembered for his work for the New Deal Federal Arts Project. His offerings included sculpture and architectural bas relief, and his works were exhibited at The Whitney Museum, The Pennsylvania Academy Of Fine Arts and New York's Metropolitan Museum.
