Cabbage Field

Like other Cavazos paintings about agricultural work--Fields, The Cherry Pickers Are Working--sweeping vistas evoke underlying, difficult questions about perspective. Here, the curvature associated with panoramic views depicts a long line of cabbages receding into the distance of a farmhouse in the distance. In another direction, a tractor drives down the road of a fruit orchard. In the foreground a woman looks out over the fields, seemingly sharing a viewer's appreciation. This is complicated, however, by three farmworkers toiling below her, and a young child seeking her attention. Another interpretation might have the woman as a kind of Madonna looking over the laborers ... Cavazos' image is quite ambiguous.

Juan Cavazos, from Monterrey Nuevo León, was himself a farm laborer in Western New York who often sketched portraits of his fellow workers. He was encouraged to take studio classes at MollyOlga Neighbord Art Classes, in Buffalo and eventually began showing his paintings, drawings, and sculpture. An exhibit titled "My Journey Through the Fields: The Art of a Migrant Farm Worker" was hosted by SUNY Geneseo in 1989.

Cavazos, Juan

Acrylic painting