Cavalry Tactics, by the Darktown Horse Guards
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 caricatures Black (African American) men, wearing a variety of military uniforms and silly hats; they ride horses and donkeys. The leader, wearing a green jacket decorated in gold braid, rides a white horse. Some riders raise their swords (a few holdng their swords upside down) as they make a "ferocious" charge. In the left foreground, a small Black boy tries to scramble out of the way, but his leg is tangled in his dog's leash. The title is imprinted in the bottom margin.
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.
This print caricatures Black (African American) men, wearing a variety of military uniforms and silly hats; they ride horses and donkeys. The leader, wearing a green jacket decorated in gold braid, rides a white horse. Some riders raise their swords (a few holdng their swords upside down) as they make a "ferocious" charge. In the left foreground, a small Black boy tries to scramble out of the way, but his leg is tangled in his dog's leash. The title is imprinted in the bottom margin.
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.
Artwork Details
- Title: Cavalry Tactics, by the Darktown Horse Guards
- Publisher: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
- Date: 1887
- Medium: Lithograph printed in color
- Dimensions: Image: 9 3/16 × 13 5/8 in. (23.3 × 34.6 cm)
Image and text: 10 3/8 × 13 5/8 in. (26.4 × 34.6 cm)
Sheet: 13 1/2 × 17 3/4 in. (34.3 × 45.1 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of A. S. Colgate, 1952
- Object Number: 52.632.115
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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