Family of workers

oil, plywood, 96 x 67.5 cm

Socialist realism was the style imposed on artists during the communist period. However, left-wing political art, different from socialist realism, also existed in the interwar period. From the very beginning, artists with leftist beliefs will choose the working class as the main subject of their work.

A major difference between pre-1940s communist art and socialist realism is that, in the latter phase, workers were represented as glorious heroes, while in the first phase, they were most often represented as oppressed victims, as can be seen in Klein's work.

In the egalitarian spirit of communism, women are also represented as an important component of society, while retaining their maternal role as the main element.

Another major change brought about by socialist realism is - as the name suggests - the return of illusionist forms of representation of space, the textures of objects, and human anatomy. This way of representation was considered more accessible to the general public, as opposed to the modernist, stylized, and geometrized style of the interwar communist artists.

The work presents a dark interior with a family of workers. The two children are shown in bright colors (white and light red ochre), while the woman is wearing a dark blue coat, which seems to blend in with the background. This chromatic resemblance may suggest that the woman is a source of support in the family, working from the background. The seated bent man is rendered in earthy colors, his gaze being directed towards the empty bowl. In the right corner, through the window, one can see a fragment of a winter landscape, a fence and a wooden construction covered with snow. The composition is built in a triangle, provided by the movements of the children and the mother. The eldest girl stretches out to her mother and sister with her hands raised, lightly touching the woman's hand, who, with her right arm, supports her little child, who embraces her, while her left arm rests on her husband's shoulder in a gesture of consolation. These subtle gestures emphasize the strong connection between family members in difficult times. The cat in the lower right corner, with its eyes turned towards its owners, enhances the feeling of intimacy, of love, which is reflected in the characters.

Klein József