James Edward B. Allen glorifies the iron worker balancing precariously above New York City. The sturdy vertical figure among the diagonal lines suggests the skyscraper builder's defiance of the strong pull of gravity. The tiny buildings, rendered lightly in the background, convey a great distance and further dramatize the situation.

A Montana native, Allen studied painting and drawing at the Art Institute of Chicago. Following service in World War I as a fighter pilot, he resumed his career as a commercial illustrator in New York.