The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers

Exhibition catalogue for the Smithsonian Institution / National Portrait Gallery

Essays by Portrait Gallery Curator of Painting and Sculpture Dorothy Moss, David C. Ward, and John Fagg

From the cover:
The Sweat of Their Face—a title drawn from the biblical judgment that expelled Adam and Eve from Paradise and enjoined them to work and “eat bread / In the sweat of their face”—presents more than a hundred archetypal images of American workers. Portraits of the mill girls and newsboys of early factories and city streets; proud and skilled artisans and craftsmen; strained and anonymous industrial laborers; house staff, field hands, and slaves; and the “gig” workers of the current era are all included in the sweep of this book.

224 pages
9 x 11 inches