The History of Labor in America

In 1977, Jack Beal completed four canvases for the U.S. Department of Labor’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The massive paintings required the artist’s complete devotion over a span of twenty months. He built a studio next to his home to accommodate the size of the paintings, and enlisted friends and neighbors as models. These same figures appear in multiple paintings, which led Beal to imagine the characters as having a shared family history. Beal’s goal was to depict the history of labor in America with scenes from the past four centuries, and while his paintings depict many different types of labor, they also omit scenes of slavery.

Colonization takes place in the 17th century and shows a family clearing land, cooking, and bartering with two trappers. Settlement shows a more established 18th-century community expanding a building, blacksmithing, and raising livestock. Industry captures the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century in a textile mill, including the use of child labor and those who advocated for and against it. Technology is set in a 20th-century laboratory with technicians, welders, electricians, and scientists. The scientists are trying to restore the damaged environment, and Beal has included a self-portrait in the scientist examining a pine seedling.