"Presenting, interpreting, and celebrating the world-renowned and the lesser-known California artists who have uniquely defined and redefined the still life, this volume offers an exploration of the sensual pleasures, the aesthetic challenges, and the intellectual and perceptual associations of a century of art through the prism of a single genre."--BOOK JACKET.

At heart a storyteller, Hansen sought subjects that were broadly consequential, depicting scenes, characters, and activities specific to the Monterey Bay region but that conveyed universal themes of physical labor, hardship, danger, bravery, and loss. He rendered these scenes in oil, on the etching plate, and in watercolor, charcoal, and pastel. Celebrated especially as an etcher, Hansen earned a reputation as one of America's finest practitioners of the medium, which on a national level surpassed his renown as one of California's preeminent painters.

A Powerful examination of labor history in California. Includes full-color and b&w images by Tina Modotti, Richard Correll, Henrietta Shore, Diego Rivera and others.