Anatomy of a Painting: Honoré Sharrer’s Tribute to the American Working People
An Interactive Highlight
Using this Interactive Tool:
Click on the left, center, or right panels to bring up a new window showing that section of the polyptych in more detail.
Roll over the image to reveal the source materials used by the artist to create the painting.
Honoré Sharrer
Oil on composition board
overall: 38 ¾" x 77 ¼"
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.97
About the Exhibition
Around 1943, artist Honoré Sharrer first conceived of the painting now known as Tribute to the American Working People. The resulting polyptych consists of five panels, each meticulously painted in oil on composition board.
The Archives of American Art acquired Honoré Sharrer’s personal papers in May 2006. The collection is rich with correspondence, lively sketches, and copious amounts of photographs used by the artist to create her work. Much of this material relates directly to Tribute to the American Working People, revealing the artist’s process.
This interactive program, and the exhibition of the same name, offers the rare opportunity to delve further into the creative act, through what is essentially an anatomy of the painting.
The Archives of American Art wishes to thank the Smithsonian American Art Museum for their generous loan of Tribute to the American Working People for this exhibition.
Click here to view a checklist of the items shown in this interactive