Diggin' Potatoes 1939

Blendon Reed Campbell made this drawing, “Diggin’ Potatoes,” at some unknown date, using pencil on paper. Imagine Campbell there in front of a blank sheet, thinking about the labor of farming, the heft of the soil, the specific way a potato feels in your hand. What details to include, what to leave out? You can see the careful hatching, the delicate gradations he builds up to give weight to the figures and a sense of depth to the field. It feels like he really thought about the weight of work and the human form. The woman bent low, her dress suggesting her movement, and the man standing firm, a gentle stillness to his posture and expression. You get a sense of their bodies, strained but strong, intimately linked to the land. Campbell’s touch here feels like an intimate form of knowledge, a way of honoring everyday work.