Peasant Digging 1863

Curator: Welcome. Here we have Jean-François Millet's 1863 woodcut, "Peasant Digging." It's currently housed here at the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: The high contrast immediately creates a stark and somber mood. The figure almost blends into the dark background, which I find quite effective. Curator: Absolutely. Notice how the composition is arranged, emphasizing the figure's bent posture? It uses simplified forms, mostly achieved by cutting away areas from the block, but you sense his labored movement. The lines almost seem to erupt from his form. Editor: It makes you think about the physical demands of farm work and how it shapes the body over time. Woodcuts were accessible and inexpensive so what impact does that accessibility of medium and artistic expression have here? Were the peasant classes who the intended viewership might be? Curator: An excellent point. Millet was quite invested in depicting the working class with dignity, reflecting a growing social consciousness. His woodcuts brought that aesthetic to a broader audience. The very act of carving and printing speaks to a form of manual labor not dissimilar to what's represented in the subject. Editor: It's not romanticized, but neither is it wholly critical. He presents a powerful image of a farmer almost as an object laboring. How does Millet’s method highlight, or potentially mask, issues of labor, and even, possibly, exploitation inherent within the work itself? Curator: It’s interesting how he evokes monumentality without idealizing the figure, don't you think? Despite its relative small scale. Perhaps the contrast enhances this. Editor: Yes, but how does the labor embedded within its artistic production speak to its commentary? This print seems to offer an honest depiction without glossing over social realities, don’t you think? Curator: In considering form, material and audience together, what is ultimately revealed to us is a layered meditation on labor itself. Thank you for joining me today!