Bees 1774

This engraving of bees was made by Paul Revere, probably sometime in the 1770s, for the Royal American Magazine. It was made using a technique called engraving, where lines are cut into a metal plate and then printed. The material of the print itself is humble: paper and ink. But what is depicted here is the opposite of humble: the industrious honeybee. The scene suggests an entire social system – one of labor, politics, and consumption. The process required skill and patience, a slow and careful process of translating observation into graphic form. We might even say that Revere, a silversmith by trade, saw something of himself in the honeybee. By focusing on the materiality of the print and its relationship to the subject matter, we can see how the work challenges traditional distinctions between fine art and craft. It prompts us to consider the amount of work involved in both the printmaking process and the bees’ honey production.