| Creator |
Imbert, Anthony, 1794 or 5-1834. |
| Title |
Life in Philadelphia. "How you like de new fashion shirt...?" [graphic]. |
| Publisher |
Philadelphia: Lithy. of Imbert |
| Publisher |
N.Y. New York. 1830 |
| Date |
[ca. 1830] |
| Physical Description |
1 print: hand-colored lithograph; sheet 27 x 19 cm (10.75 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 brown waistcoat with tails, a red vest, a blue-striped shirt, black cravat, tan 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 yellow 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 and white trim, and décolleté neckline; white opera gloves;
ankle-laced slippers; flower-detailed stockings; 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 grass. 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
brown hand coloring.
|
| Notes |
Title from item. |
|
Date inferred from content. |
|
After the work of Edward W. Clay. |
|
Plate 9 of the original series published in Philadelphia. |
|
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!
|
|
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 -- 1830-1840. |
|
Lithographs -- Hand-colored -- 1830-1840. |
| Location |
Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Life in Philadelphia (New York Set) [P.2004.39.2] |
| Accession number |
P.2004.39.2 |
