untitled (John Brown)

Kara Walker, artist

born 1969

Landfall Press, printer and publisher

active 1970–2004

untitled (John Brown), 1997

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: aquatint; etching; wove paper

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 305 x 229 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 457 x 381 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 12 x 9 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 18 x 15 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 25 x 20 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Mary Kathryn Bangert Memorial

Accession number: 1997.0042

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Narratives of the Soul

Walker investigates issues of race and gender relevant to African American experiences by recontextualizing the imagery and history of slavery. She presents a view of the abolitionist John Brown just before his demise through a more detailed rendering than the silhouette cutout motif for which she is best known. Brown was a controversial figure who used violent methods in his fight against slavery in the mid–19th century. For his killing of five pro-slavery supporters in Kansas and his inciting of a slave insurrection in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, he was tried and found guilty on all counts, and was hanged in 1859.

Exhibition Label:
"A Kansas Arts Sampler," Oct-2004, Kate Meyer
Kara Walker investigates issues of race and gender particularly relevant to the African-American experience by recontextualizing the imagery and history of slavery. Walker presents this version of the abolitionist John Brown through a more intimate and delicate rendering than the silhouette cutout motif for which she is known, a traditionally nineteenth-century method of depiction.