Labor Arts: Man Controlling Trade

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

"Man Controlling Trade" is the intriguing name of two massive sculptures standing at the corner of 6th and Pennsylvania in front of the Federal Trade Commission headquarters (across from the Constitution Avenue entrance to the National Gallery West Wing). President Franklin Delano Roosevelt laid the building cornerstone in 1937, expressing hope that the "permanent home of the Federal Trade Commission stand for all time as a symbol of the purpose of the government to insist on a greater application of the golden rule to the conduct of corporation and business and enterprises in their relationship to the body politic." Michael Lantz designed the sculptures - which have become the agency's informal logo -- in the Art Deco style. "In each, a muscular man holds a rearing stallion, symbolizing the enormity of trade and the government in its role as enforcer," according to a US General Services Administration write-up. Above the building's doorways are rectangular panels representing foreign trade, agriculture, shipping, and industry, each executed by a different artist. - report/photo by Chris Garlock. Got LaborArt? Email us at streetheat@dclaborarchives.org if you spot art with a labor or work angle!