Existing comment:
John George Brown
The Longshoremen's Noon, 1879
Poised before plump bales of cotton, these laborers are depicted on their noontime break in various states of repose. The prominent position of The New York Sun suggests that their conversation likely concerned current events, perhaps even their own working conditions. In the late 1870s, a period of significant unrest, an image of dockworkers discussing pressing issues of the day have intimidated American audiences. Yet Brown's artful treatment of his figures -- whom one critic deemed "preternaturally and decorously fresh" -- likely diffused any such threat. |