Ox Team, Oporto

From the museum

Starting in 1920, Peets was commissioned by the Hispanic Society of America to travel to Portugal and create art reflecting his experience. The artist highlighted the dress and livelihoods of locals, like this person and their oxen. The group likely journeyed to the city from the surrounding countryside, carrying produce and other goods to sell at the market. Peets preferred to create these scenes in oil paint and watercolor, but the society requested that he produce mostly prints, for which he was better known. Peets was a staunch advocate for color etching at a time when some of his American contemporaries viewed it as too commercialized.

The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0