Tuna Boat at Sea 1907

Maxime Maufra's "Tuna Boat at Sea" captures a slice of maritime life in oil paint. Here, Maufra used brushes loaded with pigment, applying them in distinct, energetic strokes. You can see the texture, the thick impasto building up the surface, creating a tangible sense of the sea's turbulence and the rough-hewn quality of the boat itself. This approach, of course, was a signature of the Impressionists, but here it also serves to underscore the sheer labor involved in fishing. We might think about the socio-economic context that made paintings like this possible. Maufra, safely on shore, romanticizes the fisherman’s toil. The painting becomes a commodity, circulated in the art market, a world away from the cold, hard work of hauling tuna. Maufra, though, by using such physical means, acknowledges that distance, reminding us of the connection between artistic creation and other, less celebrated forms of labor.