Interior of a Farm House in Maine 1865

Eastman Johnson painted this scene of a farmhouse interior in Maine using oil on canvas. The artist's technique here appears straightforward, and the painting has a rather unvarnished, matter-of-fact quality. But look closer, and you’ll see that the woman is engaged in an activity—likely sewing, perhaps mending—that is itself an important subject. We see this kind of domestic labor less and less today, as clothing and other textiles are produced remotely, far from our daily lives. The warm hearth and colorful quilt are reminders of a time when survival depended on the manual dexterity of everyone in the family, including women. The artist's own dexterity with his brush is undeniable; the handling of light across the floor, the way the outdoor world is framed through the window—these are impressive. But it is the humble, handmade nature of the scene itself that is most compelling. It reminds us that art and craft, like our work and leisure, are never that far apart.