Tobogganing on Darktown Hill--An Untimely Move: "Clar de Track."
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 five Black (African American) men and a boy riding a toboggan down a steep, snow-covered mountain slope. They are wide-eyed with shock and surprise as they see a large sow and two piglets dashing across their path directly in front of them, and their toboggan has no way of preventing the impending collison with the animals. The men are wearing colorful outfits. The lead man at the front of the long narrow sled wears a red-fringed jacket and fringed yellow-orange pants. Behind him, a boy wearing a blue jacket is holding onto the back of the second man. Near the rear, a man in a blue jacket (with his winter scarf flying, as is the tassel on his winter hat) raises onto his knees and raises his left arm in alarm; he is behind a man wearing a dark brown jacket and plaid pants. And the last man, who is lying on his stomach so he can steer the toboggan, wears a red/white striped outfit and a flat winter hat with a large pompom. In the right background, there is a row of evergreen trees lining the slope, and another mountain slope beyond. In the lower left foreground, there are leafless, twig-like stems of two bushes. The title and caption are imprinted in the bottom margin.
For the companion print, showing what happened after the toboggan's collision with the pigs, see "Tobogganing on Darktown Hill --Getting a Hist: 'Dar I Knowed It' " (Peters 535, Gale 6547; Metropolitan Museum of Art accession no. 52.632.92).
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 five Black (African American) men and a boy riding a toboggan down a steep, snow-covered mountain slope. They are wide-eyed with shock and surprise as they see a large sow and two piglets dashing across their path directly in front of them, and their toboggan has no way of preventing the impending collison with the animals. The men are wearing colorful outfits. The lead man at the front of the long narrow sled wears a red-fringed jacket and fringed yellow-orange pants. Behind him, a boy wearing a blue jacket is holding onto the back of the second man. Near the rear, a man in a blue jacket (with his winter scarf flying, as is the tassel on his winter hat) raises onto his knees and raises his left arm in alarm; he is behind a man wearing a dark brown jacket and plaid pants. And the last man, who is lying on his stomach so he can steer the toboggan, wears a red/white striped outfit and a flat winter hat with a large pompom. In the right background, there is a row of evergreen trees lining the slope, and another mountain slope beyond. In the lower left foreground, there are leafless, twig-like stems of two bushes. The title and caption are imprinted in the bottom margin.
For the companion print, showing what happened after the toboggan's collision with the pigs, see "Tobogganing on Darktown Hill --Getting a Hist: 'Dar I Knowed It' " (Peters 535, Gale 6547; Metropolitan Museum of Art accession no. 52.632.92).
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: Tobogganing on Darktown Hill--An Untimely Move: "Clar de Track."
- Publisher: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
- Date: 1890
- Medium: Lithograph, printed in color
- Dimensions: Image: 8 7/8 × 13 1/2 in. (22.5 × 34.3 cm)
Image and text: 9 5/8 × 13 1/2 in. (24.4 × 34.3 cm)
Sheet: 13 1/4 × 17 3/4 in. (33.7 × 45.1 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of A. S. Colgate, 1952
- Object Number: 52.632.93
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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