Picture in Focus: The Day Laborers by James Janknegt

October 31, 2021

Picture in Focus: The Day Laborers by James Janknegt

[The goodman of the house] answered one of [the complaining workers], and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. (Matthew 20:13-16)

Texas-based Artist James Janknegt tells the story of the vineyard laborers in a three-panel painting whose scope and style bring to mind the monumental wall murals of Mexican Social Realist artists like Diego Rivera. The image has a far different impact when the day laborers shed tunics and sandals for blue jeans and baseball caps, recalling, for many of us, the struggle to unionize grape-pickers, led by Roman Catholic Labor Activist Cesar Chavez in the 1960s.  The 1st Century Palestinian vineyard workers may grumble against "the goodman of the house," but he is actually very progressive for his time, paying them a contracted amount rather than an hourly or piece rate. This overly generous gentleman in the immaculate white suit operates with a different standard of fairness. (John Kohan)