ARTISTS
Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)
Weisman Art Museum is proud to present the exhibition, Kara Walker: Harper鈥檚 Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated). Kara Walker, born in 1969, is one of the most intellectually provocative and creatively productive artists of her generation. Her groundbreaking work revisits archival material to challenge dominant narratives of American history, exploring race, gender, sexuality, violence, identity, and social justice. Throughout her work in installation, film, drawing, and printmaking, Walker calls up historical imagery and鈥攖hrough redrawing, adding, and complicating existing narratives鈥攃reates startling tableaus meant to prompt thought and reconsideration in her diverse audiences. A California-born, African-American woman who relocated with her family to Georgia as a young adult, Walker鈥檚 work delves deeply into the experience of being Black in the United States, exposing a rich cartography of perception, misperception, and devastating prejudice that is dynamically determined by place, time, and personal perspective. Her visceral artworks have garnered outstanding merit and spurred tremendous controversy from a variety of constituencies.
This exhibition, organized by the New Britain Museum of American Art and The Museum Box, presents Walker鈥檚 print portfolio, Harper鈥檚 Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), 2005. This suite of fifteen large-scale prints considers experiences of racism and violence against African Americans that were absent or only alluded to in dominant historical representations of the Civil War. Shown with Walker鈥檚 series is a group of original Harper鈥檚 Weekly engravings of the Civil War by the New England-born and -based, nineteenth century American realist artist, Winslow Homer (1836-1910). While not all of Walker鈥檚 鈥渁nnotated鈥� works are addressed to Homer works, this pairing of Walker鈥檚 contemporary prints with examples of works from the Harper鈥檚 material that inspired her opens opportunities to consider distinction and connections between the two bodies of work.
Each print in the portfolio includes an enlargement of a woodcut plate from Harper鈥檚 Pictorial History of the Civil War, a two-volume compendium published in 1866 with the intention of narrating events of the war 鈥渏ust as they occurred,鈥� according to the anthology鈥檚 editors. By overlaying silhouette figures, predominantly of African Americans, Walker visually disrupts the original woodcuts, forcing them to confront the people and historical events left out of the 鈥渙fficial鈥� record. In this way, Walker鈥檚 highly charged annotations prepare a space in which to reckon with the reality of racial oppression that persists in the United States today.
Weisman Art Museum is proud to present the exhibition, Kara Walker: Harper鈥檚 Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated). Kara Walker, born in 1969, is one of the most intellectually provocative and creatively productive artists of her generation. Her groundbreaking work revisits archival material to challenge dominant narratives of American history, exploring race, gender, sexuality, violence, identity, and social justice. Throughout her work in installation, film, drawing, and printmaking, Walker calls up historical imagery and鈥攖hrough redrawing, adding, and complicating existing narratives鈥攃reates startling tableaus meant to prompt thought and reconsideration in her diverse audiences. A California-born, African-American woman who relocated with her family to Georgia as a young adult, Walker鈥檚 work delves deeply into the experience of being Black in the United States, exposing a rich cartography of perception, misperception, and devastating prejudice that is dynamically determined by place, time, and personal perspective. Her visceral artworks have garnered outstanding merit and spurred tremendous controversy from a variety of constituencies.
This exhibition, organized by the New Britain Museum of American Art and The Museum Box, presents Walker鈥檚 print portfolio, Harper鈥檚 Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), 2005. This suite of fifteen large-scale prints considers experiences of racism and violence against African Americans that were absent or only alluded to in dominant historical representations of the Civil War. Shown with Walker鈥檚 series is a group of original Harper鈥檚 Weekly engravings of the Civil War by the New England-born and -based, nineteenth century American realist artist, Winslow Homer (1836-1910). While not all of Walker鈥檚 鈥渁nnotated鈥� works are addressed to Homer works, this pairing of Walker鈥檚 contemporary prints with examples of works from the Harper鈥檚 material that inspired her opens opportunities to consider distinction and connections between the two bodies of work.
Each print in the portfolio includes an enlargement of a woodcut plate from Harper鈥檚 Pictorial History of the Civil War, a two-volume compendium published in 1866 with the intention of narrating events of the war 鈥渏ust as they occurred,鈥� according to the anthology鈥檚 editors. By overlaying silhouette figures, predominantly of African Americans, Walker visually disrupts the original woodcuts, forcing them to confront the people and historical events left out of the 鈥渙fficial鈥� record. In this way, Walker鈥檚 highly charged annotations prepare a space in which to reckon with the reality of racial oppression that persists in the United States today.
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