Sheep-shearing 

James Ward created this pencil sketch, Sheep-Shearing, sometime in the early 19th century. The artist employed the humblest of means—graphite on paper—to capture a pivotal moment in the seasonal cycle of rural life. Pencil is a direct medium, unforgiving in a way, as every mark is immediately and permanently laid down. Yet it also allows for nuance, with subtle gradations of tone achievable through changes in pressure. Here, Ward’s lines vary from faint to assertive, quickly outlining the forms of men and animals, and indicating the weight and texture of the sheep’s wool. Sheep-shearing itself is hard labor, the result being a raw material with immense potential. In Ward’s time, wool was the engine of British capitalism, spun and woven in factories that remade the landscape and redefined the nature of work. By depicting this scene, Ward reminds us of the fundamental connection between hand labor, the material world, and the social transformations of his era. It is a connection easy to overlook, but essential for understanding the time.