New England Factory Life--"Bell-Time", from Harper's Weekly, July 25,1868

Object Details

Artist

Winslow Homer, born Boston, MA 1836-died Prout's Neck, ME 1910

Exhibition Label

In 1868, Winslow Homer took up the subject of people who worked in textile mills. Mill operatives’ activities were organized by bells that rang throughout the day. Before mid-century, Americans viewed factories as places where respectable folk—mostly women—could earn a decent income and make a contribution to the nation’s industrial transformation. By the time Homer created his picture, native-born farmwives and their daughters had long been absent from the mills. Recent immigrants and the desperately poor replaced them at the looms, the only takers for work that offered the barest sustenance.

The Great American Hall of Wonders, 2011

Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian

1868

Object number

1996.63.69

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

Graphic Arts-Print

Medium

wood engraving on paper

Dimensions

image: 9 1/4 x 14 in. (23.5 x 35.6 cm)

See more items in

Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

Department

Graphic Arts

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Topic

Figure group

Occupation\industry\manufacturing

Landscape\New England

Architecture Exterior\industry\factory

Literature\Harper's Weekly

Record ID

saam_1996.63.69

Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk79e0bb1a7-0c26-486d-80ab-da09a6beb774