The artist was struck by a Philadelphia policeman’s reference to Martha Gruening (1889 – 1937) as a “brick in a soft hat” following her arrest and jailing in 1910. Dessel created a series of portraits of Gruening based on this unintended metaphor.
The artist was struck by a Philadelphia policeman’s reference to Martha Gruening (1889 – 1937) as a “brick in a soft hat” following her arrest and jailing in 1910. Dessel created a series of portraits of Gruening based on this unintended metaphor.