The Butcher Cart

In The Butcher Cart, George Luks portrayed a dark view of New York street life, acknowledging modern technology and class stratification. An old-fashioned, horse-drawn cart packed with butchered pigs lumbers down a slushy street, steered by a figure hunched over the reins. In contrast to this hardworking man, middle-class urbanites shop and spend money in the background, while an elevated train—a sign of urban progress—runs on raised tracks in the distance. Known for his unromanticized depictions of lower-class communities and crowded open-air markets of lower Manhattan, Luks conveyed the physical energy of the neighborhood through bold, expressive brushwork.