Urban Poverty

Jobless Man

by Francis Chapin

Chapin, an Ohio native, was trained at the Art Institute of Chicago where he became an instructor in lithography. He spent most of his life in Chicago.  His skills as a printmaker are evident in this depiction of an unemployed man killing time over a cup of coffee at a lunch counter, a scene he no doubt witnessed often in Chicago.

Why do you think Chapin utilized such a rough texture in his print?