Stump-Pulling Scene

In this unusual genre scene, a group of spectators watch professional stump pullers at work. As mundane as the task might now appear, this labor had deep cultural importance. Land was thought to be improved in the transition from forest to field; cleared acreage was productive and profitable in ways that wooded tracts were not. The camera’s rather distant perspective provides a sense of geographic context, implying the expanse of tillable land beyond the picture’s edges. Interestingly, the subtly undulating band of figures in the picture’s mid-ground echoes the welcoming contours of the land itself.