Demolition of Wyck Street 1902

Muirhead Bone made this print of the Demolition of Wyck Street using drypoint. Wyck Street becomes a kind of stage here, as its buildings are theatrically propped up in preparation for their destruction. This urban scene belongs to a longer history of depictions of labor and construction, which became popular in Europe and the United States in the late 19th century, along with the rise of industrialization. Bone made this artwork in Britain, a country that was self-consciously at the center of this global shift in production. Here we see working-class figures, small and toiling, being dwarfed by the buildings that they are tasked with dismantling. Bone’s print speaks to the social and economic transformations that were literally reshaping the urban landscape. Social historians can consult sources such as period newspapers and census records to discover the human impact of this work. Through such research, we can start to understand how these changes affected society.