Work always has been a central construct in the United States,
influencing how Americans measure their lives and assess their
contribution to the wider society. Work also has been valued as the key
element in the philosophy of self-improvement and social mobility that
undergird the American value system. Yet work can also be something
imposed upon people: it can be exploitative, painful, and hard. This
duality is etched into the faces of the people depicted in the portraits
showcased in The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers.
This companion volume to an exhibition at the Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery examines working-class subjects as they appear in
artworks by artists including Winslow Homer, Elizabeth Catlett, Danny
Lyon, and Shauna Frischkorn. This richly illustrated book charts the
rise and fall of labor from the empowered artisan of the eighteenth
century through industrialization and the current American business
climate, in which industrial jobs have all but disappeared. It also
traces the history of work itself through its impact on the men and
women whose laboring bodies are depicted. The Sweat of Their Face is a
powerful visual exploration of the inextricable ties between American
labor and society.
