Bound to Shine!! Or a (blacking) Brush on the Road

The late nineteenth-century Darktown prints by Currier & Ives depict racist stereotypes that are offensive and disturbing. The Metropolitan Museum of Art preserves such works to shed light on their historical context and to enable the study and evaluation of racism.

In this print, a Black (African-American) couple race their one-horse wagon between two horse-drawn buggies (each driven by a white man) on a country road. At left, the buggy drawn by two galloping horses, passes (brushes) closely to the Black couple's wagon. The black couple are caricatured with big grins: the woman, wearing a pink and green bonnet, carries a green parasol with trailing pink ribbons, while the man wears a white top hat, a big blue bow tie, a black coat and blue pants.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907. The artist of this print is Thomas Worth, a prolific nineteenth-century illustrator who excelled at drawing horses, horse racing and other subjects, many of which were made into lithographs published by Currier & Ives.