Details
Creator Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher.
Contributor Hart, Sarah, publisher.
Title Life in Philadelphia. "How you like de new fashion shirt...?" [graphic] / [Clay], fec.
Publisher Philadelphia: Published by S. Hart, 65 So. 3d St
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1830
Date [1830]
Physical Description 1 print: hand-colored etching; sheet 20 x 19 cm (8 x 7.25 in.)
Description Racist caricature ridiculing the 1829 male fashion fad of striped shirts depicting an African American man-woman couple discussing the "new fashion shirt" that he is wearing. In the right, the man stands slightly turned and hands on hips. He is attired in a green waistcoat with tails, a red vest, a blue-striped shirt, black cravat, blue pants, yellow gloves, black shoes, and a neck fob. He holds a black top hat in his left hand. In the left, "Miss Florinda," stands, forward facing, and holding a fan near the right side of her face. She wears a red and green headpiece over her hair that is in a top knot. She is attired in a yellow calf-length, cap sleeved dress with floral details, red trim, and décolleté neckline; white opera gloves; ankle-laced slippers; and jewelry, including earrings, necklace, and bracelets. She holds a handkerchief in her left hand and states that she finds the fashion elegant and how his wearing it within the "Abolition siety" will make him look like "Pluto de God of War!" They stand on a patch of dirt. In classical mythology, Pluto is also the god of the underworld and wealth. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring.
Notes Title from item.
Date inferred from content and name of publisher.
Plate 9 of the series.
The symbol of a key is used in place of the name Clay.
Contains seven lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: How you like de new fashion shirt, Miss Florinda? I tink dey mighty elegum_ I see you on New year day when you carry de colour in de Abolition ‘siety -You look just like Pluto de God of War!
Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia stationer who with her son, Abraham Hart, a future eminent Philadelphia publisher, assumed publication of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She alone reprinted the entire series of 14 prints in 1830.
LCP exhibit catalogue: Made in America p. 29.
Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist in Jacksonian America (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 88-89. (LCP Print Room UZ, A423.O).
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.
Conversation.
Fads -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Middle-class -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Racism in popular culture.
Genre Caricatures -- 1820-1830.
Etchings -- Hand-colored -- 1820-1830.
Printer Hart, Sarah, publisher.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9701.3]
Accession number P.9701.3