Fiene made a series of paintings, drawings and lithographs
which are based on his travels through Pennsylvania and West Virginia during
the winter of 1935-36. The industrial areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia
are represented in numerous oils, among which are some of his most well-known.
Fiene wrote of the trip, "The increasing snow and atmospheric conditions
[in the Kanawha River valley} enhanced this mountainous coal mining country
with a majestic beauty."

Winter on the River is Fiene's only American Artists Group
print and there were only two lithographs produced from the West Virginia trip.
The American Artists Group (AAG), under the direction of Carl Zigrosser, who
was then working at New York's famed Weyhe Gallery, published ninety-three
prints by over fifty artists in 1936 and 1937. Zigrosser's goal was to
popularize contemporary American art through original prints offered at the low
price of $2.75. The project was also a means to provide income for impoverished
artists during the Depression. The prints were featured in many of the leading
print exhibitions and publications of the period. The lithograph produced from
this image is now in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum, Baltimore Museum
of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pensacola Museum
of Art, San Francisco Fine Arts Museum, Syracuse Museum, Yale University Art
Museum.