Workers of the Soil
| Artist | John Edward Costigan (American, 1888–1972) |
|---|---|
| Title | Workers of the Soil |
| Date | 1932, published 1947 |
| Medium | Etching on paper |
| Dimensions | Image: 8 3/16 × 12 13/16 in. (20.8 × 32.5 cm) Sheet: 11 15/16 × 15 7/8 in. (30.3 × 40.3 cm) |
| Credit Line | Gift of Joan W. & Walter E. Wolf, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 2017.44 |
| This artwork is currently off display. You may be able to see this artwork by filling out an art viewing room request. | |
A family is gathered on a hilltop next to a horse. A man stands with his head back, drinking from a canteen, while a woman sits holding an infant, and a child kneels in front of her. A house is down the hill at left.
While John Edward Costigan's scenes of rural American farmsteads (based on his home in upstate New York) are often linked with the Regionalists and were sometimes reprinted by the Associated American Artists--a publisher promoting that movement--his choice of intaglio technique and darker aesthetic recalls the nineteenth-century Etching Revival and Barbizon School. Despite its apparent realism, his image of workers in a field seems archetypal. The nuclear family suggests the Holy Family's Rest on the Flight into Egypt as rays of light from the sky penetrate the gloom.
| Publisher | Associated American Artists |
|---|
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Workers of the Soil | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2017.44