Mid-day Halt

Haren Das was a prominent printmaker and master of academic naturalism, and unlike his contemporaries who were moving away from realism, he remained faithful to this style throughout his artistic career. Having grown up in a farming community in East Dinajpur (in present day Bangladesh), Das extensively documented rural men and women at work. The abundance and variety of such images hark back to the rhythms of work and leisure that was a part of his childhood. This linocut captures an hour of rest—men and women take shelter under the makeshift shed created out of two bullock-carts carrying bales of hay.