Rag Picker

The subject of rag pickers greatly interested Wood during his stay in Paris in 1859. His first canvas, a female rag picker ("La Chiffoniere", location unknown) was rapidly executed in the last to weeks of January in time for it to be sent to the NAD Annual that year.Wood's diary gives a detailed account of the Academy's painting, his second rag picker, begun soon after the first.Because of difficulty with models and his dissatisfaction with the rendering of articles of clothing, this male counter part took six days longer to finish than the first work.

Wood began the painting on February 7, 1859, working most days that month on his "Chiffonier." He sought out his rag pickers in the Temple quater of Paris and near the Fontaine des Innocents: three different men were paid to model in his studio. Wood was particularly concerned with the goatskin coat, the pile of rubbish, and the background wall, taken from a sketch of a Parisian stableyard. On February 25, he wrote, "Have been remarkably successful in finishing my picture of the chiffonier. It was worried me dreadfully in its progress but has come out bright at last."

Wood apparently reworked his "Rag Picker" in 1872 for a possible sale. In his date book entry for March 15, 1872, he wrote, "sold the chiffonier to smith for #250." The sale did not materialize, however, for the word "Backed out" are written across and on top of this entry. Two weeks later, he submitted the picture as his diploma work. Although not an American subject, it is typical of his posed, single-figure studies of workers and soldiers.