Details
Creator McGreer, John, 1839-1908.
Contributor Eytinge, Solomon, 1833-1905, artist.
Printer Cartoon Printing Co., publisher.
Title [Photographic reproductions of the Cartoon Printing Co. series after the 1878 Harper’s Weekly "Blackville" series “The Twins”] [graphic]/ McGreer.
Publisher Chicago, Ill.: Cartoon Printing Co., 1881
Publisher ILL. Chicago. 1881
Physical Description 9 photographs on card mount: albumen ; mounts 11 x 17 cm (4.5 x 6.5 in.)
Description Photographic reproductions of drawings based on a racist series of African American caricatures originally created for Harper's Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." The African American figures are depicted with exaggerated features and mannerisms. Includes "No. 1 The Flirtation" showing the "Twins" meeting their suitors; "No. 2 The Introduction" showing the "Twins" being formally introduced to their suitors; "No. 3 The Courting" showing the "Twins" being courted together; "No. 4 The Proposal" showing the "Twins"suitors proposing to them in different manners; "No. 5 The Duel" showing the "Twins" suitors preparing to duel with guns; "No. 6. The Wedding" showing the "Twins" dual wedding; "No. 8 Return from the Honeymoon Tour" showing the "Twin" couples promenading in town; "No. 9 Coming Events" showing the town doctor and the husbands of the "Twins" racing down a dirt road on donkey back; and "No. 10 The Event Or Where '2 Pair is Better Than 4 of a Kind'"showing the arrival of the "Twins" twins.
Notes Title supplied by cataloger.
Date from copyright statement on four of the original drawings in the series: Copyrighted 1881 John McGreer, Chicago, Ill.
Name of artist stamped on versos: McGreer Chicago.
Series missing No. 7. The Wedding Feast.
Name of publisher inscribed on four of the original drawings in the series (No. 2-3, 6, and 9).
Inscribed on two of the original drawings in the series (No. 2 and 8): Remodeled from sketch in Harpers Weekly or Reproduced from sketch in Harpers Weekly by the Cartoon Printing Co. Chicago.
Inscribed on one of the original drawings in the series (No. 3): Reproduced from sketch by Sol Eytinge in Harpers Weekly by the Cartoon Printing Co. Chicago.
Purchased with the Davida T. Deutsch African American History Fund.
Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 52.
John McGreer (1833-1905) was a dime museum painter, landscape artist, and cartoonist. He worked in Chicago after 1870 and was a partner in the novelty and satire printing firm Cartoon Printing Co., later Cartoon Publishing Co., by the early 1880s. In 1897, he patented statuettes of African American caricatures for use as cardholders. He resided in New York and was noted as a landscape artist at the time of his death in 1908.
See Shawn Michelle Smith, Photography on the Color Line: W. E. B. DuBois, Race, and Visual Culture (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), 82-86.
RVCDC
Description revised 2022.
Access points revised 2022.
Subject African Americans -- Clothing & dress.
African Americans -- Social life and customs.
African American children -- Caricatures and cartoons.
African American couples -- Caricatures and cartoons.
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons.
African American mothers -- Caricatures and cartoons.
African American parents -- Caricatures and cartoons.
African American physicians -- Caricatures and cartoons.
African American women -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Betrothal.
City & town life.
Courtship.
Dueling.
Etiquette.
Families.
Marriage.
Race relations.
Racism in popular culture.
Twins.
Weddings.
Genre Albumen prints -- 1880-1890.
Genre photographs -- 1880-1890.
Reproductions -- 1880-1890.
Satires (Visual works) -- 1880-1890.
Associated name Printer Cartoon Printing Co., publisher.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| photo - 5 x 7 - Unid. - Events [P.2017.26.1-9]
Accession number P.2017.26.1
P.2017.26.2
P.2017.26.3
P.2017.26.4
P.2017.26.5
P.2017.26.6
P.2017.26.7
P.2017.26.8
P.2017.26.9