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Dressing for the Carnival

Winslow Homer American
1877
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 762
In this painting Homer evoked the dislocation and endurance of African American culture that is a legacy of slavery—specifically the Jonkonnu festival, rooted in the culture of the British West Indies and celebrated by enslaved people in Virginia and North Carolina. After the Civil War, aspects were incorporated into Independence Day events. The painting’s original title was Sketch—4th of July in Virginia. The theme of freedom was particularly relevant in 1877, when Black Americans saw an end to their brief experience of full civil rights after federal troops withdrew completely from the South.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Dressing for the Carnival
  • Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
  • Date: 1877
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 20 x 30in. (50.8 x 76.2cm)
    Framed: 31 9/16 × 41 1/2 × 5 7/8 in. (80.1 × 105.4 × 14.9 cm)
  • Credit Line: Amelia B. Lazarus Fund, 1922
  • Object Number: 22.220
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Annie Lawrie (Sheet music cover), Winslow Homer American, Lithograph
Annie Lawrie (Sheet music cover)
Multiple artists/makers
1850–59
Sunday Morning in Virginia – From the Painting by Winslow Homer in the National Academy of Design (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. XXIV), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
Sunday Morning in Virginia – From the Painting by Winslow Homer in the National Academy of Design (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. XXIV)
Winslow Homer
May 22, 1880
A Quiet Day in the Country (from "Appleton's Journal," Vol. III), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
A Quiet Day in the Country (from "Appleton's Journal," Vol. III)
Winslow Homer
D. Appleton & Co.
June 6, 1870
George Blake's Letter (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. IX), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
George Blake's Letter (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. IX)
Winslow Homer
January 1870
"I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VI), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
"I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VI)
Winslow Homer
September 1868

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