The Harvest Moon

A group of field workers finish their labour as the harvest moon rises, the men shouldering their scythes and the women carrying the last bundles of corn. Harvest was the busiest and hardest time of the year for farm workers, and they would often continue to gather crops into the night.Mason acknowledges this by showing the rising moon, but he shows rural labour in a very romanticised way. Fluid brushwork and rich colouring emphasise the sheer beauty of the pastoral scene, while suppressing the sense of back-breaking work that was the reality of harvest time.