Ben Shahn, Miners' Wives
Ben Shahn’s Miners’ Wives is a haunting depiction of the
harsh realities faced by many working class families of the 20th
century. The painting’s title makes the
subject matter obvious at once, though even with a more vague title, one could
still grasp its contents with relative ease.
Shahn’s painting decries the awful fates of both the women and their
husbands. With a single image, he tells
the story of dedicated husbands who go to work each day to endure the harsh,
unsafe conditions of labor in the mines.
The only perceivable end to their dangerous monotony is a work-related
accident that will take their lives.
Simultaneously, and with greater focus, Shahn tells the
story of the miners’ beloved wives.
Afraid, they wait every day, unsure if their husbands will return. Shahn’s greatest evidence of this is the
tortured figure of a woman in the foreground.
Her entire body is cold, all but frozen.
Her eyes are nearly dead, kept alive only by the evidence of recently
fallen tears that have smudged above her cheekbones. Her hands appear clenched, wringing tensely
with nervousness, fear, perhaps even anger.
The woman stands in an all but empty room. This is parallel to the feeling wrought
within her soul whenever her husband parts from her.
In the corner near the door, there is a third story—the
story of the father’s child. The child
is wrapped warm, protected—for now—from the bitter reality of life. But undoubtedly, innocence will wane,
experience to take its place. The child
will one day understand the tears that mother hides behind her turned
shoulder.
Shahn’s painting is simple, yet brilliantly crafted to
capture multiple aspects of a generation’s sadness.