Drie omnibuspaarden op een plein in Parijs 1897

Pieter Dupont made this print of three horses on a square in Paris, with etching, drypoint and roulette. The development of the omnibus in nineteenth-century Paris was transformative, allowing ordinary people to travel across the city cheaply and easily. In this image, Dupont focuses on the horses that powered these vehicles. We can see the exhaustion in their heavy bodies, the mechanical harnesses, and the stillness of their stance. The romantic view of the city is present only as a blur in the background. The image speaks to the social cost of progress. The image invites reflection on the politics of labor at this time. To understand it better, you might look at the social history of Paris in the late nineteenth century. Consider its rapid modernization, the changing relations between people and animals, and the changing experience of urban space. The meaning of art changes with social and institutional contexts.