Charcoal burners c. 1880s - 1890s

Rosa Bonheur made this charcoal drawing of laborers at an unknown date. The artwork evokes the realities of rural labor in 19th-century France, but also the symbolic weight that artists and intellectuals often gave to images of workers. Charcoal burners, like those Bonheur depicts, were at the bottom of the social hierarchy. They were poor, uneducated, and often viewed with suspicion by settled communities. As such they became the subject of paintings by artists interested in Realism, a movement that focused on depicting everyday life, especially that of the working class. Bonheur, in particular, found inspiration in rural life. As a woman artist, she faced significant institutional barriers to academic training. She found freedom and success by specializing in animal painting and scenes of the countryside. To understand the imagery fully, we can research the artistic and political context, to find out what kinds of discussions were happening at the time, and what motivated artists to make images that challenged social norms. Only in these ways can we fully understand the role of art in society.