The Way They Live
Born in Kentucky and raised in West Virginia, Anshutz moved to Brooklyn in 1871. In this painting, the mountain setting may be based on a scene observed on the artist’s travels around West Virginia. Produced after the end of Reconstruction, Anshutz’s depiction of a woman and two children tending a patch of tobacco—a cash crop that could provide some degree of financial independence—suggests a nuanced commentary on their situation. The painting’s title underscores the distance between the presumed White middle-class viewer and the laboring Black subject.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Way They Live
- Artist: Thomas Anshutz (American, Newport, Kentucky 1851–1912 Fort Washington, Pennsylvania)
- Date: 1879
- Culture: American
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 24 x 17 in. (61 x 43.2 cm)
- Credit Line: Morris K. Jesup Fund, 1940
- Object Number: 40.40
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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Thomas Anshutz
ca. 1895
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ca. 1895
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