#  MHC: The Belatedness of Work: Ford Madox Brown and the Problem of Realism | Pamela Fletcher, Bowdoin College 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **September 7, 2017** 

 06:00PM - 06:00PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Barker Center Rm. 133 (Plimpton Room), 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA**  



 

 



 

###  Abstract

 When Ford Madox Brown first had the idea for his self-described “magnum opus” *Work* in 1852, it was a pioneering venture in the painting of modern life; by the time he finished it in 1863 and exhibited it in 1865, interest in this new type of subject matter had grown, flourished and then withered. In this talk, I read *Work* in the light of the history of the Victorian painting of modern life, arguing that in its very belatedness, it offers a meditation not only on the value and meaning of labor in the modern world, but also on the problem of realism itself.



 

 



 

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