Cider Making 1932

Curator: This print before us is entitled "Cider Making," a wood engraving created by Clare Leighton in 1932. The composition pulls us into a rustic scene, starkly rendered in blacks and whites, depicting workers during cider production. Editor: Right, my first thought? It feels heavy, almost industrial, yet it’s about something so traditionally bucolic as cider-making. The shadows are deep, creating a sort of dramatic intimacy. It feels more like a coal mine than an orchard, at first glance. Curator: That’s insightful. Leighton was very much interested in the lives of rural laborers, particularly the often unseen and strenuous labor that underpinned agrarian life during the interwar period. The Art Deco stylization lends a sort of monumentality to their efforts, pushing beyond sentimental pastoral visions. How might class factor into this artwork? Editor: Absolutely, the monumentality serves to highlight that sense of labour, and I would have thought the light and shadows serve to do that as well! It also feels gendered – these spaces and these bodies often speak to very gendered dynamics in rural economies… There’s this tension between idealization of labor and a brutal, stark, somewhat masculine vision of rural activity, but maybe that’s just me… Curator: Not at all! I see that tension too. The simplification of form, the exaggeration even – these all echo the social realism common amongst printmakers responding to the economic realities of the time. The bodies are strong but anonymous; they embody labor, class struggle… perhaps resilience. Editor: You know, resilience is spot on. Even with those oppressive shadows and stark lines, there's this undercurrent of life, of honest labor, which transcends the visual weight. It is not glorifying the lifestyle necessarily, it also feels almost documentary. But one thing I love: even though they're caricatures in a way, these figures command respect! Curator: Agreed. Leighton uses her stylized vocabulary to lend dignity to these workers. She’s asking us to look beyond romantic visions of the countryside and engage with the real lives and labors of rural communities. Editor: So true, it serves as a lovely memento for them! Overall, It's amazing how such a limited palette can tell such a rich, layered story. A tribute, a statement, and a rather gorgeous print all in one.