Top Man

With a few well-placed lines on a brown-toned background, William Gropper's print Top Man conjures a corpulent man holding a cigar in his right hand while his left firmly grips his lapel. The man's deeply lined face glares at the viewer; a few unruly squiggles denote sparse strands of hair on his head. He is dressed in a three-piece business suit, white shirt, and dark tie; his vest strains to cover his large belly. The man's imposing, indeed intimidating, demeanor conveys his powerful authority; he is much too important to deal with trifling matters and insignificant people. Created in the last decade of the artist's life, Top Man and Titan (TF 2004.17) reveal Gropper's highly developed ability to convey character in his succinct graphic style. His own impoverished working-class childhood and three-decade career as a professional political cartoonist prepared him for biting commentary on wealthy moguls with little regard for the downtrodden.

After creating the image on the plate, Gropper printed it in collaboration with master printer Emiliano Sorini at the latter's New York City print workshop, as demonstrated by his "ES" mark embossed in the margin. This impression is Sorini's printer's proof, an impression separate from the edition of one hundred published by Associated American Artists, a New York gallery.

Sorini, Emiliano. Gropper - Catalogue Raisonné of the Etchings. San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1998. No. 111, p. 111.