In his first large-scale sketch (1888) for Shearing the Rams, Roberts again focuses on the plight of the worker and presents an expansion of his Sketch of a Shearer. He depicts six men hunched over in a zipper-like pattern extending towards the back of a narrow side room belonging a large shearing shed. By creating such a line, Roberts brings the viewer’s focus on the men’s positions, leaving the subjects of the rest of the painting quite secondary. Furthermore, he orientates the painting so that the viewer is directly in line with the shearers, practically hiding the sheep from view. Were it not for the title of the painting or the presence of a man on the left holding a very large captive sheep waiting to be shorn, it would be difficult to identify the activity of the scene. It is clear from this first sketch that although the sheep industry is the nominal subject, Roberts placed the utmost importance on the working men. They were the structures holding the industry together and the first thing he considered in his art. Moreover, Roberts denies any identifiable features to the shearers in line: few have heads; those that do, lack faces. In such a construction, Roberts dehumanizes the workers, leaving only their back-breaking bodily positions to determine their role in the industry and even in their lives beyond it. As Roberts himself said, the image of “strong masculine labor” (qtd Smith 102) is indeed present, but instead of epitomizing it and glorifying it, it is present at the cost of the livelihood of the working men affected by the dramatic social changes.
The final version of Shearing the Rams (1890) depicts much of the same scene, but the few changes that Roberts did make clearly reflect the labor movement tensions that occupied much of the two years that he spent working on the painting. The hostility had become more heated and the strikes more prolific, so naturally his art followed the sentiments (“Turbulent Times”). He has given 
more definition to the workers themselves, using their clothes in contrast to those of the foreman on the right to label them as the poor, itinerant workers who were highly involved in the Great Strikes. In addition, he has more clearly illustrated the presence of the sheep being shorn. The men’s positions in relation to the painting are just as laborious as in the sketch, but the inclusion of the sheep emphasizes the sheer size ratio between the men and the animals and cultivates a sense of the enormity and difficulty of the manual labor which remained unaided by the workers’ strikes.
But of even greater significance and even more telling of the extensive impact that the labor movement struggles had over every aspect of the shearing industry is the presence and position of the foreman to the right of the shearers. In the first sketch, the foreman in located at the very rear of the room with his back to the viewer, standing up but slightly leaning over a table so that he is almost hidden by the working shearers. He seems to be taking a selectively commanding role, only marginally focusing his attention on the activity of a single man in the background. The shearers do not concern him at the moment; they are busy enough in their own duties. In the final painting, however, Roberts has moved the foreman to practically the very front of the painting, causing him to take a much more imposing position. He squats down against the wall, keeping an ever-watchful eye on the shearers. The foreman is doing no work; in fact, he is the only figure not actively involved in the shearing process. Why would Roberts choose to increase the prominence of such an indolent figure in a study of “strong masculine labor?” The answer lies in the background of social and labor turmoil which surrounds the painting. The two years which Roberts spent completing this painting coincided with the most heated moments of the Great Strike. Afraid that the shearers would gather, rebel and riot against the conditions of their work and the uncooperative, anti-union behavior of those in charge, the foreman clearly takes on a much more active role. Instead of leaning over in the background as he does in the sketch, he is keeping a close eye on the men, careful to prevent any possible radical behavior.
Images:
Roberts, Tom. First Sketch for Shearing the Rams. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Roberts, Tom. Shearing the Rams. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.