The Wood Sawyer

Charles E. Weir

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Year Painted1842
Collection LinkMuseum
LicensePublic Domain
File Size (Pixels)3094 x 3728
Best Print Size10 x 12
*Max Print Size 22 x 28

*Printing this file larger than the recommended max print size may result in a blurry or pixelated final print.

SUBJECT NOTE: One of only two known works by the artist, “The Wood Sawyer” stands out for its rare, respectful focus on a Black laborer in 19th-century New York. Elegantly dressed, the man may have also worked as a porter, in addition to his wood cutting duties depicted here outside a hotel. Rooting hogs in the background nod to the city’s sanitation struggles. In centering a free Black worker amid the grit of urban life, Weir captured both the labor and the lived reality often left out of American genre painting at the time.

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