Francis Berger
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Woman Carrying Faggot

5/28/2019

3 Comments

 
Faggot meaning a bundle of sticks of course. This Mihály Munkácsy painting is among the most reproduced paintings in Hungary and can be found in many homes and state buildings. The original title - Rőzsehordo nő - literally translates to Woman Carrying Faggot.

I am no fan of the language police, but I wish the fine people who translate and print the titles of artworks and books from other languages would take a moment to consider the possible negative connotations of certain words in English - not in an effort to defend certain politically correct sensitivities, but rather to avoid tarnishing a work of art with modern, offensive slang meanings. I mean, just imagine what the average, unsophisticated modern person pictures in their minds when they hear the English title of this painting. On second thought, perhaps it's best not to imagine that at all.

In any event, this iconic painting ranks among Munkácsy's best known works. I am rather fond of it myself. What I admire about the depiction of this peasant woman carrying her bundle of sticks is Munkácsy's seeming refusal to over-romanticize. I have a soft spot in my heart for paintings depicting agrarian and pastoral scenes; however, overtly idealistic depictions of peasants, shepherds, and rural life tend to leave me cold. Luckily, Munkácsy does not indulge in such idealism in this painting. The woman he paints here is strong and healthy, but the expression on her face as she sits resting in the forest reveals a life of hard work and toil. It is not an expression of defeat or suffering, but rather of quiet contemplation during a moment of reprieve from the seemingly endless flow of physical labor marking her life.

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Picture
Rőzsehordó nő (Translated as Woman Carrying Faggot) . Mihály Munkácsy - 1873
3 Comments
William James Tychonievich link
5/29/2019 03:55:15

I once got a strange look from a visitor who saw "The Gay Science" on my bookshelf right next to "Ecce Homo" -- and I don't think it was because she didn't approve of Nietzsche!

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Bruce Charlton
5/29/2019 08:08:39

This excellent picture set me thinking...

There have been times and places where life was - materially speaking - little but toil. Perhaps especially in Asia - where the popualtion was so dense.

My impression is that the greatest happiness for peasants was religion (as we would call it) - and I think that this had affected their entire world picture to an extent that we moderns can only glimpse. So when we look back at their lives, we are (nearly always) doing an inner 'subtraction' of exactly that which made their lives good, we are subtracting exactly that quality in which they so far surpass us.

In sum - I think that the average life of a peasant (most times, most places) was not experienced as being anything like so bad as we suppose; and among the most religious was perhaps greatly superior in happiness to the average modern life.

It was also, of course, far more virtuous - because past people had not adopted moral inversion, and they knew good from evil with far greater accuracy than moderns do.

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Francis Berger
5/29/2019 08:19:58

Those are excellent points, Bruce. I imagine many see only oppression, exhaustion, and suffering when they see an image like this, but I see quiet dignity.

This image reminds me of the old saying, "We each must bear our own cross", which is a rather common saying here in Hungary. It would not be too much of a stretch to claim the woman may even be saying a silent prayer.

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