Early Morning Work 1940

William H. Johnson made this painting titled 'Early Morning Work.' What I see here is Johnson finding inspiration in the everyday. He celebrates labor and the people who do it. I love his use of color, how the browns and yellows create this warm, earthy palette and how the dark blues are in contrast. But it's his simplification of form that really strikes me. Look at the figures, reduced to these essential shapes, almost like folk art. I'm thinking about how Johnson might have been looking at traditional African art. He flattens the space, emphasizing surface and pattern over depth. He probably wanted to capture the essence of these people. You know, their strength, their dignity, their connection to the land. He's definitely part of a long line of artists who found beauty and meaning in the lives of ordinary people, like Millet or Van Gogh. It's like he's saying, pay attention, there's poetry everywhere, in the simplest of gestures.