Mabel Dwight
American, 1876 - 1955Children’s Clinic, 1936
Not on view
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions9 5/8 × 11 7/8 in.
Gift of Mr. Jack B. Pierson, 1990.4
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mabel Dwight received her formal education at Hopkins School of Art in San Francisco. She studied lithography in Paris, in 1927, and when she returned to New York, she produced prints that depicted everyday life in a humorous or sympathetic manner. Her political beliefs led her to be active in John Reed Clubs. Dwight first won a position with the Public Works Administration (PWA), then worked for the WPA-FAP from 1935 to 1939. Works from this time are not representative of her signature style, lacking sarcasm and wit, but they carry powerful social and political messages.
Dwight’s depiction of a well-baby clinic in this print displays her humanitarian ideals. Healthcare in the early 20th century was different than the system we know today. Prior to the 1920s, healthcare consisted predominantly of private care. In 1921, Congress passed the Maternity and Infancy Act, which established well-baby clinics across the country, providing medical care for welfare families. Although the basic infrastructure for the American healthcare system was in place by the 1920s, healthcare for minorities was not. Medical education was affected by racism, anti-Semitism, and elitism, resulting in segregation by class, gender, and race within medical and health profession schools. Well-baby clinics were typically segregated by ethnicity or race.
