Francis Guy
Winter Scene in Brooklyn

• How can you describe the people in this painting? What do you notice about the ways they are interacting with one another and with the scene? Who is shown to be doing laborious work?
• What time period do you think is being represented here? What makes you say that?

Francis Guy found artistic inspiration in the daily activity of his Brooklyn neighborhood. Here, he depicted specific buildings, people, and even animals as seen from the window of his second-floor residence. Guy paid close attention to the diversity of the neighborhood and how each person contributed to the character of the place, whether socializing, slipping on ice, or cutting wood. A large concentration of Brooklyn’s free African American population lived near this very intersection, where Fulton and James Streets meet Front Street, now located under the Brooklyn Bridge.

• How would you describe the balance of equality in your neighborhood? Has it always been that way? What happens when the meaning of equality changes?
• How are our ideals of equality reflected in our daily lives?