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Artist/Maker
Thomas Nast
(American, born Germany, 1840 - 1902)
Datepublished October 17, 1874
MediumWood engraving on newsprint
DimensionsComposition: 20 × 13 1/2 in. (50.8 × 34.3 cm)
Sheet: 21 1/16 × 15 5/8 in. (53.5 × 39.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Professor Emeritus Jay Williams, Class of 1954
Object number2019.13.255
Not on view
DescriptionCaptioned "This is not the way 'to repress corruption and to initiate the [Blacks] into the ways of honest and orderly government" typeset beneath title in black ink. The aforementioned caption demonstrates the substitution of an obsolete term.
“Throughout his career Nast was a strong advocate of liberty and Justice for all. Therefore he offered many pictures calling for justice, not only for blacks but for Native Americans and the Chinese too.”
(SOURCE: Jay Williams, "Thomas Nast: America in Black and White, 2002)
"Nast depicts a female incarnation of Justice as a strong Warrior to juxtapose the injustices of the White Men’s League. The paramilitary group enacted widespread violence against black and white Republicans in Louisiana and Mississippi between 1874 and 1875. Depicted wearing pointed ‘hive hats’, the southerners clutch muskets and stand over the dead body of an African American man. Justice swings the sword of Law into ranks of White Men's League. Her typical soft, womanly countenance and whimsically flowing hair is replaced by restrained hair and more masculine, angular facial features to substantiate her active role. By illustrating the archetype of Columbia as a symbol of liberty against the White Men’s League, Nast shifts perceptions through emotion and empathy to reflect a national problem."
(SOURCE: Mary Bei Prince, "Thomas Nast's Conception of Nineteenth Century Women", 2019)
Collections
Additional Details
Exhibition History
2002
Clinton, NY (Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Thomas Nast: America in Black and White," November 11, 2002 - January 5, 2003 (cat. no. 102)
Clinton, NY (Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Thomas Nast: America in Black and White," November 11, 2002 - January 5, 2003 (cat. no. 102)
Provenance
2019: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by gift of Jay G. Williams.
Published References
Jay Williams, THOMAS NAST: AMERICA IN BLACK AND WHITE, exh. cat. (Clinton, NY: Emerson Gallery, 2002), p. 7.
Signature
Signed "Th Nast" in block at lower left composition.
Inscribed
Title typeset beneath image in black ink. Page numbers "856" and "857" and publisher typeset above image in black ink.
Thomas Nast
Date: published March 14, 1874
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.234
Thomas Nast
Date: published August 12, 1876
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.335
Thomas Nast
Date: published January 24, 1863
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.28
Leonard Freed
Date: 1979
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2014.7.9
Thomas Nast
Date: published October 3, 1868
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.103
Thomas Nast
Date: published March 6, 1875
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.273
Thomas Nast
Date: published October 28, 1876
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.346
William E. Williams
Date: 2003–4 (printed 2007)
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2008.5.3
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Date: 2018
Medium: Pigment print with silkscreen diamond dust and gold foil
Object number: 2020.1
Thomas Nast
Date: published November 20, 1869
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.111
Thomas Nast
Date: published August 5, 1865
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.71