Field Workers

Ellis Wilson, Field Workers, ca. 1948-1951, oil on fiberboard: masonite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.57.31
Copied Ellis Wilson, Field Workers, ca. 1948-1951, oil on fiberboard: masonite, 29 3⁄4 x 34 7⁄8 in. (75.5 x 88.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.57.31

Artwork Details

Title
Field Workers
Artist
Date
ca. 1948-1951
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
29 3⁄4 x 34 7⁄8 in. (75.5 x 88.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Harmon Foundation
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on fiberboard: masonite
Classifications
Keywords
  • Occupation — farm
  • Landscape — farm
  • Figure group — family
  • African American
  • Dress — accessory — hat
  • Landscape — road — path
  • Landscape — plant — tobacco
  • Object — tool — hoe
Object Number
1967.57.31
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1967.57.31

Artwork Description

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