Kitchen Ball at White Sulphur Springs, Virginia (work of art)
Información sobre la obra de arte
Ideas clave sobre esta obra de arte
- This genre painting depicts Black men and women dancing in the kitchen of a resort.
- White Sulphur Springs is a city in West Virginia. It was a popular summer destination for wealthy white Southerners in the 1800s. Plantation owners often visited the mountain resorts in White Sulphur Springs, to escape the heat and humidity.
- This painting was created during slavery in America.
- The artist depicted each person in the painting as a unique individual in a detailed outfit. Most images of Black people created at the time were racist caricatures. A scene depicting the private lives of Black individuals was rare in the pre-Civil War South.
- Christian Friedrich Mayr was a German-American artist known for his portraits and genre paintings. He also worked in daguerreotype, an early version of photography.
Más información
This rare antebellum scene focuses entirely on a group of African Americans, likely a mix of enslaved people and free Black workers who staffed a resort in what is now West Virginia or accompanied white enslavers who visited. A portraitist turned genre painter, Mayr portrayed each impeccably dressed subject in a remarkably individualized manner, departing from common representations that caricatured Black figures during the period.
Yet, significant questions remain. Is this jovial portrayal only a celebration of Southern Black life, or would it have aligned with anti-abolitionist sentiments that minimized the horrors of slavery? Is Mayr a sympathetic narrator or an interloper, intruding upon a space of Black vitality?
Recursos adicionales
Recursos para los profesores
- Explore a lesson plan based on this painting.
- Read a paragraph about Christian Friedrich Mayr.
- Read an encyclopedia entry about White Sulphur Springs.
- Watch a video about racist caricatures.
Recursos para los estudiantes
- View another painting by Mayr.
- Watch a video about genre painting.
- Watch a video about American slavery.