New England Factory Life – ​“Bell-Time”, from Harper’s Weekly, July 25,1868

Winslow Homer, New England Factory Life--"Bell-Time", from Harper's Weekly, July 25,1868, 1868, wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian, 1996.63.69
Copied Winslow Homer, New England Factory Life--"Bell-Time", from Harper's Weekly, July 25,1868, 1868, wood engraving on paper, image: 9 1⁄4 x 14 in. (23.5 x 35.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian, 1996.63.69
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Artwork Details

Title
New England Factory Life – ​“Bell-Time”, from Harper’s Weekly, July 25,1868
Artist
Date
1868
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 9 1⁄4 x 14 in. (23.5 x 35.6 cm)
Credit Line
The Ray Austrian Collection, gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian
Mediums Description
wood engraving on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — New England
  • Architecture Exterior — industry — factory
  • Figure group
  • Occupation — industry — manufacturing
Object Number
1996.63.69
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1996.63.69

Artwork Description

In 1868, Winslow Homer took up the subject of people who worked in textile mills. Mill operatives’ activities were organized by bells that rang throughout the day. Before mid-century, Americans viewed factories as places where respectable folk—mostly women—could earn a decent income and make a contribution to the nation’s industrial transformation. By the time Homer created his picture, native-born farmwives and their daughters had long been absent from the mills. Recent immigrants and the desperately poor replaced them at the looms, the only takers for work that offered the barest sustenance.

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