Untitled #4 [Red Button]

There is an emotional power in deLappe’s portraits of longshoremen that resonates with the time–1935, a year after the historic maritime strike in San Francisco. This older worker may have gone home to comb his hair and put on a tie before coming in to sit for the portrait. The red button piques our curiosity. Perhaps it is a strike button? Perhaps a pin from Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)? There were a small number of dual-card members who belonged to the IWW and also to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Pele deLappe, watercolor and charcoal, 1935.

See this image in the Art from the Waterfront exhibit