Employment of Negroes in Agriculture

Earle Richardson, Employment of Negroes in Agriculture, 1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.183
Copied Earle Richardson, Employment of Negroes in Agriculture, 1934, oil on canvas, 48 x 32 1⁄8 in. (121.8 x 81.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.183
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Employment of Negroes in Agriculture
Artist
Date
1934
Location
Dimensions
48 x 32 1⁄8 in. (121.8 x 81.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Occupation — farm — harvesting
  • Landscape — farm
  • New Deal — Public Works of Art Project — New York State
  • Landscape — plant — cotton
  • African American
Object Number
1964.1.183
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1964.1.183

Artwork Description

A group of Black farmers works barefoot in a Southern cotton field. The monumental figures stand with a quiet pride that transcends their identity as manual laborers. Their forms take up the foreground, confronting the viewers as equals.
 
Artist Earle Richardson was one of only about ten Black artists listed among the thousands of artists employed by the Public Works of Art Project. A native New Yorker, he set this painting in the South to make a statement about his race. 
Richardson and fellow artist Malvin Gray Johnson planned to express more about Black history and promise in a mural series called Negro Achievement, but neither young man lived long enough to complete the project.

Related Books

1934_500.jpg
1934: A New Deal for Artists
During the Great Depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a “new deal for the American people,” initiating government programs to foster economic recovery. Roosevelt’s pledge to help “the forgotten man” also embraced America’s artists. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) enlisted artists to capture “the American Scene” in works of art that would embellish public buildings across the country. Although it lasted less than one year, from December 1933 to June 1934, the PWAP provided employment for thousands of artists, giving them an important role in the country’s recovery. Their legacy, captured in more than fifteen thousand artworks, helped “the American Scene” become America seen.