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

-
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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Le Chat Aux Poissons Rouges by Henri Matisse (Interpretation and Analysis)

-
Image
Le Chat Aux Poissons Rouges Source: Pinterest French artist Henri Matisse is rather famous for his paintings of goldfish. In fact, one of his most famous paintings, entitled Goldfish , depicts several of the aforementioned fish swimming in a bowl. Matisse is one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century. His work is closely associated with the Fauvist movement and is generally characterized by great energy and rich, intense colors. Based on my research , Matisse began painting goldfish after he traveled to North Africa. In Morocco, Matisse observed locals watching goldfish swim in their bowls as they sunk into a meditative state. The fish subsequently became a symbol for this sense of tranquility, coming to represent an idyllic version of the world only accessible through joyous day-dreams. These calming fish are prominent in this painting, which is entitled Le Chat Aux Poissons Rouges (which translates to The Cat With Red Fishes ). However, the serene energy of the fish
Read more

Mural La Plena by Rafael Tufiño (Interpretation and Analysis)

-
Image
Mural la Plena Source: Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico Today I want to chat about a monumental piece of art that I recently had the pleasure of seeing at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. As the name suggests, Mural La Plena is a massive mural, fifteen by thirty feet in size, that was created by Puerto Rican artist Rafael Tufiño to commemorate la plena, a wildly popular genre of music that was born in the city of Ponce around 1900. The mural, which might appear abstract or incomprehensible to a viewer unfamiliar with the subject matter, illustrates the lyrics of popular plena songs. For example, the blue-green figure that dominates the upper half of the mural represents the hurricane from the plena “Temporal,” which mourns the destruction caused by a storm. Plena, as a genre, tells stories. According to my research , the lyrics come from current events, re-telling the stories that affected the lives of the people of Ponce. It began as a way for people of low socio-economic sta
Read more

Five Puerto Rican Artists You Should Know

-
Image
The island of Puerto Rico has a long and vibrant artistic tradition. Western, Indigenous, and African cultures have all left their mark on Puerto Rican art, creating a colorful and unique visual legacy. While Puerto Rican artists have demonstrated their excellence throughout the years— from the creators of the captivating Taino petroglyphs to the sophisticated and subtle works of the Modernist painters—Puerto Rican art has received little attention from art historians and the wider art world. Here are five underappreciated Puerto Rican artists that you should know: 1. José Campeche José Campeche is often known as the first Puerto Rican painter in the Western history of fine arts. He was primarily known for his religious paintings and his portraits of elite Puerto Ricans, and today his work is recognized as some of the finest examples of Rococo art produced in the Americas. Campeche’s personal story is also inspiring. The son of a slave who had purchased his own freedom, Campech
Read more