When I first received this project, I was quite baffled as to what I should write about. As I attended the art lecture given by Mr. Barney, none of the paintings really jumped out or spoke to me. However, on subsequent visits, The Gleaners began to catch my eye. The Gleaners is a southern art piece by Burton Callicott that emerged during the time of the Great Depression. This piece of artwork simply radiates famine and depression. Famine and poverty were certainly the first two words that popped into my head when I viewed this painting for the first time. The painting has a very gloomy aura about it. The characters in the painting are all emaciated and hunched over, wearing shoddy clothes. I feel a wave of pity wash over me on each viewing of this painting, which I believe is one of the results that Callicott hoped to have from his viewers. Callicott wanted to preserve this tragic time period in history through a work of art showing how common people suffered in their daily life. The painting leaves such a strong impression on my mind simply because the characters in it look so miserable. .
Upon closer observation of the painting, I could begin to pick out details that develop the story the artist is trying to tell. The word "coal" is written on a building in the background. Also, the figures hunched over the train tracks seem to be picking up coal that has fallen off the passing trains. I began to infer that the characters in the painting were being paid a measly wage to pick up coal from the tracks by the building in the background labeled "coal." .
Callicott painted The Gleaners with oil paints. Callicott uses some basic elements of art in The Gleaners. One of the most basic elements that the majority of artists use is a line. Callicott is no exception, for the railroad tracks are a pair of parallel curving lines that run through the middle of the painting. These parallel lines are important, because they are one of the main focuses of the painting.