Caroline Speare Rohland

Cotton Pickers
1939

A vibrant pastel painting depicting three African American figures in a cotton field. The central figure is a woman in a flowing dress, bent over as she picks cotton, with a wide-brimmed hat shielding her face from the sun. To her left stands a man in a wide-brimmed hat and overalls, looking directly at the viewer, while another man on the right carries a large basket on his back, raising his hand in a gesture that could be interpreted as a greeting or shielding from the sun. The background features a stormy sky and cotton plants, evoking a sense of both the beauty and hardship of rural agricultural life.

A vibrant pastel painting depicting three African American figures in a cotton field. The central figure is a woman in a flowing dress, bent over as she picks cotton, with a wide-brimmed hat shielding her face from the sun. To her left stands a man in a wide-brimmed hat and overalls, looking directly at the viewer, while another man on the right carries a large basket on his back, raising his hand in a gesture that could be interpreted as a greeting or shielding from the sun. The background features a stormy sky and cotton plants, evoking a sense of both the beauty and hardship of rural agricultural life.

Not on view

Date
1939

Classification
Drawings

Medium
Pastel on paper

Dimensions
Sheet: 24 5/8 × 19 3/16in. (62.5 × 48.7 cm)

Accession number
41.12

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase

Rights and reproductions
© artist or artist’s estate

API
artworks/2422

Exhibitions

Benton and America in the 1930s: Works on Paper

May 19–Sept 4, 2004

Caroline Speare Rohland
6 works in the collection

View artist