Plowing by Clare Leighton

Plowing 1932

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drawing, print, woodcut

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drawing

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print

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landscape

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woodcut

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surrealism

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genre-painting

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history-painting

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northern-renaissance

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realism

Dimensions: image: 18.7 × 24.8 cm (7 3/8 × 9 3/4 in.) sheet: 24.8 × 32.4 cm (9 3/4 × 12 3/4 in.)

Copyright: National Gallery of Art: CC0 1.0

Clare Leighton created this wood engraving titled "Plowing." A farmer and a team of horses work in the fields, with birds overhead; the cyclical return to the land is as old as civilization itself. Consider the horse, the noble animal, a symbol of power and virility, its presence harking back to ancient friezes and battle scenes where it represented triumph and strength. And yet, here, yoked to the plow, it becomes a symbol of labor, of humanity's dominion over nature. The birds, too, evoke a sense of freedom, contrasting with the toil below. We find them soaring in ancient Egyptian art, representing the soul's journey. This image resonates with a primal connection to the earth. It’s a reminder of the rhythms of life, death, and rebirth, deeply embedded in our collective memory, echoing through the ages. The emotional weight lies in the cyclical nature of life itself.

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