Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War, (Annotated) by Kara Walker
May 4–August 26, 2012
The large-scale prints in Kara Walker's 2005 portfolio, Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)
, feature her well-known silhouettes printed over reproductions of wood engravings from an 1866 publication, Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War
. In her portfolio, Walker's graphic "annotations" disrupt the historical narrative, exploring issues of race and gender, past and present.
This exhibition places two prints from Walker's 2005 portfolio in dialogue with a selection of 19th-century wood engravings that are contemporaneous with the original Harper's
publication. These Civil War era wood engravings focus on the portrayal of active roles played by African-Americans in the war and provide a historical perspective to Walker's very personal and 21st-century viewpoint
Curated by Rochelle Caruthers, Romare Bearden fellow, and Elizabeth Wyckoff, curator of prints, drawings, and photographs, Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) by Kara Walker
will be on view in Gallery 321 from May 4 through August 26, 2012.
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