Ivan Le Lorraine Albright was born in Chicago in 1897; he was the son of a painter who had previously studied with Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Albright's father trained him from an early age to draw in the academic tradition, studying models and plaster casts. This, along with his subsequent enrollment in art schools, provided Albright with the foundation for his finely crafted paintings. In 1929, after completing some painting courses at both the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago, Albright earned an honorable mention at the annual exhibition of American art at the Art Institute of Chicago. The success inspired him to continue his artistic career, and in 1927 he and his twin brother Malvin, who specialized in sculpture under the name Zsissly, began living together in a studio in an abandoned church in Illinois, where they worked together for twenty years. (www.cmoa.org)Albright began his career as a realistic painter. However, his painting gradually evolved to incorporate realism with a dark, otherworldly atmosphere. The progression is evident in his painting Among Those Left, done in oil on canvas, measuring 73 x 36 inches, painted in the summers of 1928 and 1929 in his studio in Warrenville. Working with oil paints allows the artist to build colors in layers; this allows the artist to make colors and texture more intense than other mediums. The painting depicts a blacksmith with sad eyes and an expressionless face, wearing rumpled clothes, brandishing tongs and a hammer. Albright's model for the painting was Hugo Kleinwachter, an immigrant blacksmith who spoke little English. The title Among Those Left refers to the disappearance in America of artisans suc...... middle of paper ......the public. In the painting Albright took a literal approach, in the rendering of the shapes he used throughout the canvas. This gives the viewer a realistic perception of what the artist was studying. Since Albright painted him realistically, he must have adequate knowledge of the antimony of the human form and how the muscles would react to the pose he chose for his model. In fact, since it is a piece made by Albright, some anomalies may be found. The most obvious irregularity is the way the artist betrayed the light source. When you first examine the painting, your gaze is immediately drawn to the man's face, then your eyes move along the canvas with your left arm acting as a guide. From there your eyes will move to the man's legs and feet, after which your gaze will move around the wheel back to his face.