Darktown Sociable, A "Fancy Dress" Surprise

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 a Black (African American) opera troupe of five men and two women --dressd in elaborate costume -- rehearsing in a room. They are unaware that two men peek menacingly around the door at left. Just inside the door, a woman (dressed in a blue blouse and a pink tutu skirt adorned with red bows) dances with her arms upraised (one hand holding a tambourine). At center, a standing man --dressed in a red costume, red turban, and grey-purple cape--plays a banjo with a long neck. Behind him, a man, cloaked in green, stands with his bowed head showing the top of his brown brimmed hat. At right, another man in a Zouave costume (with a red vine decorating his pants) strums a banjo and sings. Near the wall at right, a standing couple in Spanish costumes (the woman wearing a green skirt and mantilla-like veil over her red blouse and leggings) converse. In the right foreground, a chubby man (wearing a yellow shirt and red leggings) sits on a wooden stool and plays an accordian; his sheet music is on the floor between his feet, and, at lower right, his hat is on the floor next to a seated black dog. Three lit candles in candlesticks stand on the floor along the bottom of the image. On the wall in the background is a banner with the words "GRAND OPERA". 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.