WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CENTENNIAL ARTS PROJECT

Mission Statement

On June 2, 1915, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enacted a workers’ compensation act “defining the liability of an employer to pay damages for injuries received by an employe in the course of employment.” A historic contract between labor and industry, workers’ compensation provided employers with fixed liability costs and promoted the welfare of workers in a no-fault system. It marked an early thread in the social safety net in a world rapidly moving from an agriculture-based society to mass industrialization at urban centers like Philadelphia.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Act, the Philadelphia Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section commissioned eight paintings with the intent to celebrate labor and industry in Philadelphia. The Centennial Arts Committee was tasked with providing works of art that honor iconic Philadelphia industries, highlight innovation and vision, as well as educate the 21st Century public in how the “City of Brotherly Love” was at one time the “Workshop of the World”.

Unlike one product cities such as Detroit with motor vehicles or Pittsburgh with steel, Philadelphia was noted for the sheer breadth and scope of its manufacturing requiring highly skilled labor. In the first half of the 20th Century, the City was an economic engine and leading producer of clothing, railcars, ships, toys, chemicals, tools, soap and rugs in neighborhood factories from Kensington to Kingsessing. Its universities researched and created the computers that run our society today.

The planned eight paintings represent only a small cross section of the work performed on a daily basis in the past 100 years. The products and industry show the exceptional ability and creativity of industrial titans such as Edward Budd and John Stetson, who created and dominated entire industries. The workers depicted represent our parents and grandparents who toiled in harsh conditions to produce goods that built this country and defended the nation.

As a lesson and reminder of what they created and so we as their successors do not forget, we dedicate these paintings to the men and women of an earlier Philadelphia, and to those who follow in their footsteps.

All paintings are on loan to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Chair(s)

Hon. Catherine T. Surbeck

Workers' Compensation Appeal Board/PA Dept of Labor & Industry
Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
651 Boas Street, Room 832
Harrisburg, 17121
(717) 783-7838

Hon. Scott M. Olin

8241 Brookside Rd
Elkins Park, 19027
215-560-2488

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CENTENNIAL ARTS COMMITTEE

Shaina Anderson-artist; Diane Fenner; Stephen Fireoved; Andrea McCormick; Stacey Merkin; Scott Olin; Alexsis Ouseley; Pamela Santoro; Todd Seelig; A. Michael Snyder; Catherine Tanaka Surbeck; Wendy Smith

PANEL OF HONOR

The Philadelphia Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section Centennial Arts Committee is fully funded by members of the Philadelphia Bar Association. We wish to thank and commend the following sponsors:

• 2009 - “Philadelphia Moves the Nation”- Workers’ Compensation Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association
• 2010 - “Philadelphia Defends the Nation” - the law firm of Freedman and Lorry
• 2011 - “Philadelphia Adorns the Nation” - the law firm of Cipriani and Werner
• 2012 - “Philadelphia Treats the Nation” - the law firm of Steiner, Segal, Muller and Donan
• 2013 - “Philadelphia Amuses the Nation” - the law firm of Batt and Gross; the law firm of Merkin Shotland; the law firm of Terpolilli Sawyer
• 2014 - “Philadelphia Entertains the Nation” - the law firm of Martin, LLC
• 2015 - “Philadelphia Analyzes the Nation” - the law firm of Krasno, Krasno and Onwudinjo
• 2016 - “Philadelphia Heals the Nation” - the law firm of Fenner and Boles; the law firm of Pearson Koutcher;
• 2021 - “Philadelphia, Retailer to the Nation”—Workers’ Compensation Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association; Scott and Patricia Olin