A Darktown Tournament --Close Quarters

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.　

This print depicts caricatured Black (African American) people. Hanging from the window sill of the wooden house in the background, a sign reads: "A/ WITE WASSHER/ WANTED" [with all the "E"s reversed]. In the foreground, two men are fighting and grappling at each other; their buckets of whitewash are on the ground spilling their contents. Dabs of whitewash are already on each man. At left, one man holds his whitewash brush high in his right hand as he grabs his opponent's head; he is dressed in a red jacket, white shirt, dark striped pants (with patched knees). His red/white checkered cap is in midair. At right, the other man pushes his paintbrush into his opponent's face as he grabs his red jacket with his left hand; he is dressed in a blue jacket and yellow/red-striped pants. His hat is on the ground (lower right corner). From the window, a woman watches and laughs (with her hands on her hips) at the two competing for the whitewashing job; she is wearing a red blouse, with a green bow at her collar, and a yellow kerchief. Approaching from the right, a policeman in a blue uniform with gold buttons, holding a baton, runs towards the fighting pair. In the left background, a boy is laughing as he leans against a corner of the house. The title is imprinted in the bottom margin.


Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), 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 (1824–1895), the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law, was made a business partner. Subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued via their successors until 1907.