
Railroaders
<p>Siporin studied at SAIC and with Todros Geller in the 1920s. In his art he frequently focused on the disenfranchised; he was also a political activist and a member of the Chicago John Reed Club. In this print created for the WPA, Siporin depicted a group of three railroad workers, a reflection of his interest in workers’ rights. Siporin was also a noted WPA muralist, painting the mural in Chicago’s Lane Tech High School.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1939
- Dimensions
- Image: 56 × 39.5 cm (22 1/16 × 15 9/16 in.); Sheet: 73.7 × 58.2 cm (29 1/16 × 22 15/16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Mitchell Siporin
Artist

Printmaking
Mitchell Siporin was an American painter and muralist active in the postwar period, working primarily in oil and fresco. His compositions engaged with social realism and public narrative, addressing themes of labor, community, and American life through figural work executed in a direct, accessible idiom.
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More by Mitchell Siporin
The Refugees
1939 · Oil on board
Family Portrait
1935 · Lithograph on ivory wove paper
Fisher Folk
1935 · Lithograph on ivory wove paper
Fisher Folk
1935 · Lithograph on ivory wove paper
The Jury
1935 · Ink and pencil on board
The Family
1935 · Lithograph on cream wove paper
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Mitchell Siporin
- Year
- 1939
- Dimensions
- Image: 56 × 39.5 cm (22 1/16 × 15 9/16 in.); Sheet: 73.7 × 58.2 cm (29 1/16 × 22 15/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1939-119208
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





