Chartwell Notes

Two removalists lift a baby grand piano up six flights of curving stairs. The labour depicted in this video recalls artist Gustave Caillebotte’s depiction of three athletic young men scraping the floors of an inner-city Haussmann apartment in his 1875 painting Les raboteurs de parquet (The Floor Scrapers). Prepared Piano for Movers (Haussmann) was filmed in an apartment building located in the area next to where Caillebotte set his painting.

Angelica Mesiti draws a parallel between depiction of labour in a painting from the 19th century, and the inherent grace and creativity of the men’s labour lifting the preparing the piano. The labour required to lift the piano – even in our post-industrial age – can only be performed by human muscle.

This work was exhibited at the 2013 Auckland Triennial.