Camille Pissarro made this lithograph, showing women carrying bundles of sticks through a rural setting, for the French anarchist journal Les Temps nouveaux (The New Times). The politically active Pissarro felt that such idyllic views of pastoral subjects effectively countered the prevailing middle class and its materialistic values. Dressed in simple clothing, the peasants subtly represent the virtues of an honest day’s labor and stand in contrast to France’s increasing industrialization. At the bottom of the sheet, Pissarro inscribed the print to his friend and fellow artist Joseph Delattre.