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Edward Mitchell Bannister, Seaweed Gatherers, 1898?, oil on canvas, 25 7⁄8 x 19 7⁄8 in. (65.7 x 50.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Alan and Melvin Frank, 1983.95.149
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Seaweed Gatherers
- Artist
- Date
- 1898?
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 25 7⁄8 x 19 7⁄8 in. (65.7 x 50.6 cm.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of H. Alan and Melvin Frank
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Object — tool — wagon
- Object — tool — rake
- Object — foliage — seaweed
- Figure group — male — full length
- Landscape — coast
- Occupation — farm — harvesting
- Object Number
- 1983.95.149
Artwork Description
This scene of a worker pushing his wheelbarrow is similar to the paintings of French artist Jean-François Millet, whose landscapes celebrated rural scenes and the nobility of peasant life. Edward Bannister praised Millet as “the profoundest, most sympathetic, and deeply religious artistic spirit of our time.” (Hartigan, Sharing Traditions, 1985). Millet’s scenes of peasant life commented on industrialization by showing hardworking country folk, who embodied the moral values that were swiftly fading from urban centers. In Seaweed Gatherers, Bannister positioned his worker in the center of the composition so that he and his cart take on monumental proportions, heightening the viewer’s identification with him.