Constantin Emile Meunier

Constantin Meunier (1831-1905) was a Belgian sculptor and painter who became one of the principal social-realist artists of late 19th-century Europe. Born in Etterbeek, Belgium, he began studying sculpture at the Brussels Academy at age 14 but abandoned it for painting after encountering Gustave Courbet's The Stone Breakers in 1851. He practiced painting almost exclusively for 30 years.

In the late 1880s, traveling through Belgium's industrial Borinage district, Meunier returned to sculpture with a new focus: the industrial worker. Turning to bronze at age 50, he created the powerful monuments and reliefs for which he's remembered. Works like The Puddler, The Hammerman, and the monumental Monument to Labour elevated dockworkers, miners, and factory laborers to icons of modernity. Our collection includes 4 works at the Art Institute of Chicago.