Workers on the "Silent Highway" 1877

John Thomson's "Workers on the 'Silent Highway'" (1877) captures a moment of quiet labor on the Thames River. Two men, dressed in the working clothes of the time, stand on a barge, their hands engaged in the mundane task of hauling ropes. The industrial background suggests the busy city life, while the men's figures and the image's tonal range evoke a sense of solitude and the unseen forces at play in the Victorian era. This photo, now in the Art Institute of Chicago, is a powerful example of Thomson's influential street photography.