Going Home c. 1960

Fred Rosebury's print 'Going Home' presents a stylised, colour-block image of a solitary worker trudging wearily from the factory, or perhaps the docks. It’s difficult to precisely date, but we can be sure that it was made in Britain at some point in the mid-20th century. Rosebury's stark, simplified visual language recalls the inter-war woodcuts of artists like Edward Wadsworth. These artists sought to capture the mechanised forms of the modern industrial landscape, as well as the alienation it produced. The faceless worker is dwarfed by the architecture, the dehumanising effect of industry made palpable by the flat planes of colour. This print invites us to think about the relationship between art and labour, as well as how our institutions—museums, galleries, and art schools—contribute to the history of British art. To understand this work better, you might research the history of British printmaking, or explore archives related to the social history of labour in Britain.