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Field Workers

Object Details

Exhibition Label
A lush jungle of flowering tobacco plants provides the backdrop for a family of field hands who walk in frieze-like procession along a rough dirt path. The hoes and head coverings convey the nature of their toil in the heat of a late summer sun, yet their upright postures and steady gait suggest liveliness. Faces are hidden in shadow and bodies are defined by unmodulated shapes of the brightly colored clothing. Field Workers speaks eloquently to the condition of a particular family's life -- and by extension to the lives of all who toil on the land.
African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2016
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artist
Ellis Wilson, born Mayfield, KY 1899-died New York City 1977
Date
ca. 1948-1951
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation
Medium
oil on fiberboard: masonite
Dimensions
29 3/4 x 34 7/8 in. (75.5 x 88.6 cm.)
Type
Painting

Featured In

  • 1948: A Year in the Colletions
  • Labor Day
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