Gent in Tall Hat Addressing Butcher n.d.

Charles Samuel Keene made this drawing, "Gent in Tall Hat Addressing Butcher," using pen and brown ink on paper. The rapidly-laid lines convey the sense of a fleeting moment, and also a social encounter loaded with meaning. The artist's choice of a humble pen and ink medium speaks volumes about the world he represents. The butcher and the gentleman would both have understood something about skilled labor, and the economy that connected them. One produced meat, the other presumably consumed it, perhaps even profiting from its sale. Keene’s pen strokes, though light and airy, deftly sketch out this social reality. The gentleman's confident stance and the butcher's attentive posture reveal their respective roles, a dynamic captured with economic precision. Paying attention to the materials and the making of this image helps us understand how art can reflect the complex relationship between labor, class, and consumption.