American Art Collaborative

Gwathmey's career began during the heyday of social realism in the 1930s, and his subsequent work carried with it a range of political and moral comment. His spare, brightly colored paintings combine harsh realities and poetic inner vision in depicting black farmers of the South. "Portrait of a Farmer's Wife" was probably painted around 1951, the year a very similar version, now at the Smithsonian, was executed. Gwathmey's strong outlines and planes of color aptly convey the woman's dignity, particularly in the timeworn face and the gnarled hands resting squarely upon her knees. At her side, a humble pot of flowers resting on a twig table expresses the search for small beauties in a lifetime of hard work.