Picturing Labor in Nineteenth-Century France

Urbanization and industrialization during the nineteenth century greatly impacted popular notions of work, particularly the contrast between traditional rural labor and new types of work available in cities. In response, French artists increasingly turned to labor as a subject for their figural compositions, updating traditional aspects of labor subjects and realistically portraying contemporary workers. This exhibition of prints and drawings focuses on depictions of labor – both rural and urban, by men and women.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.