Tribute to the American Working People by Honoré Sharrer (Interpretation and Analysis)

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Tribute to the American Working People
Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum

In honor of Labor Day, today I want to talk about a painting that celebrates the triumphs of America’s working people. Fittingly, that painting is entitled Tribute to the American Working People.

For this piece, Sharrer took inspiration from Renaissance altarpieces, borrowing the five panel form from the traditional Italian style. However, instead of religious figures, Sharrer decided to center ordinary, working people in her monumental painting. In each panel of the painting, Sharrer depicts a scene of ordinary life.

A series of factory workers dominate the central panel, which would usually house an image of a saint in a religious altarpiece. Sharrer probably drew inspiration for these figures from her own experience as a shipyard welder during World War II. While the central panel focuses on work, the side panels capture recreation and domestic life. In these four panels, we see a fair, a school, a farm, and a living room in a working class home. In each of these scenes, Sharrer strives to capture the dignity and vitality of the lives and labors of working people. According to my research, she hoped to use the painting to “to express a sense of humanity.”

In many ways, Tribute to the American Working People is a radical departure from artistic tradition. To place ordinary people in the place of religious figures is a shocking reimagining of the Western visual tradition. However, when the content is examined, Sharrer’s painting is actually representative of the growing power and importance of the working class and middle class. Plus, Tribute to the American Working People is the perfect embodiment of the spirit of labor day.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.

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