II. 2002 – 2008 Arbeitswelt in den USA - Tylle, H. D.

es. Workers are shown at the productive center of society, while the unproductive classes can be
seen somewhere on the edge or in the background.
During the height of Belgian industrialization in the latter half of the 19th century depictions of labor
reached a climax that has remained virtually unparalleled. The outstanding artists during this period
were the painter and sculptor Constantin Meunier (1831-1905) as well as Eugène Laermans (1864-
1942), Léon Frédéric (1856-1840) and Cécile Douard (1866-1941). All these artists were united by
their realistic portrayals of the social situation of the working population.
In Germany the first large-scale depiction of modern industry was created by Eugen Napoleon Neureuther
(1806-1882) in 1958 in an anniversary painting for Klett & Comp. in Stuttgart. The painting
was over two meters wide. However, the realistic working scenes were still discretely hidden in
an overall painting that was predominantly decorative and generally more allegorical in character.
Reality-focused paintings of industry in Germany only started with Adolph Menzel (1815-1905) and
Paul Meyerheim (1842-1915). In 1874 and 1875 Paul Meyer created six large format paintings on
copper plates for the Borsig Villa in Berlin, glorifying the production of steam engines and technical
progress in general. At the same time Adolph Menzel worked on his famous “Iron Rolling Mill” (1872-
75) with a width of two and a half meters, a painting that continues to be a widely cited work of art
to the present day. Later, in 2004, a replica was made for the Grohmann Museum, Milwaukee (USA)
by H.D. Tylle.
During the first 20 years of his artistic career Max Liebermann (1847-1935), too, focused much of
his attention on the topic of labor. However, his main interest was no so much in industry but in rural
labor, especially the work of women. Working consciously against the idealizing academism of his
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