| Creator |
Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher. |
| Contributor |
Printer Hart, Sarah, 1789-1863, publisher. |
| Title |
A dead cut. [graphic] / Clay. |
| Publisher |
[Philadelphia] : [S. Hart] |
| Publisher |
PA. Philadelphia. [1829] |
| Date |
[1829] |
| Physical Description |
1 print: lithograph; sheet 24 x 30 cm (9.25 x 11.5 in.) |
| Description |
Racist caricature portraying a middle-class African American man-woman couple as snobs who slight a working-class African
American man shoeshiner and former acquaintance. Depicts the African American shoeshiner greeting the African American couple
who feign ignorance of the man's acquaintance after their return from "de Springs." The laborer, attired in a rumpled top
hat, torn overcoat with tails, and patched pants holds his rod of boots in his left hand, and uses his right one to grab the
hand of "Cesa." "Cesa," dressed in a flat-top cap, and heavy, long overcoat with handkerchief in the pocket, and plaid pants,
looks suspiciously at their joined hands. He holds a walking stick and his companion's parasol in his other hand. He states
that the shoeshiner has mistaken his identity (You must be mistaking in de person black man!). His companion, her hand around
his elbow, and dressed in a Dunstable bonnet, dark-colored overcoat, and button-down shirtwaist with a collar, agrees. With
her hand placed on her hip and holding a purse, she declares, "What does the imperdent nigger mean?" Figures are depicted
with oversize and exaggerated features.
|
| Notes |
Title from item. |
|
Publication information from duplicate in collection and advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer, December 30, 1829, p.
3. Advertised as entitled "A Dead Cut, or an attempt to slight old Acquaintance."
|
|
Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian Era (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan,
1980), p. 80-81. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O).
|
|
Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia fancy goods store owner and printseller who with her son future Philadelphia publisher
Abraham Hart, assumed publication of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. Sarah Hart solely reprinted the entire series
of 14 prints in 1830. She also published complementary in subject lithographs after the work of Clay during the same period.
|
|
Described in the Daily Chronicle, December 26, 1829, p. 2. |
|
Accessioned 1893. |
|
RVCDC |
|
Description revised 2021. |
|
Access points revised 2021. |
| Subject |
African Americans -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American women -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American women -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African Americans -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Classism. |
|
Couples -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Intersectionality (Sociology) |
|
Middle class -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Racism in popular culture. |
|
Snobbishness. |
|
Working class -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American shoe shiners. |
| Genre |
Caricatures -- 1820-1830. |
|
Lithographs -- 1820-1830. |
| Associated name |
Printer Hart, Sarah, 1789-1863, publisher. |
| Location |
Library Company of Philadelphia| PRINT.| Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [5656.F.39] |
| Accession number |
5656.F.39 |
