I visited on a Sunday. Sunday's are free admission. I was wearing a T-shirt that a friend from Australia had given me last November during a visit to the states. It's red with an amazing Aboriginal inspired design on it. I had just walked through the doors of the North Entrance into the cavernous Fusco Grand Hall with it's multi-story floor to ceiling windows on either end and a relatively tiny round information desk midway in on the right. Sitting behind the desk was a svelte, young Black man with a mid-height crew cut low fade who top was dyed blond. He look up to see who was entering and before I could even make eye contact, he called out, "Oh My God! I love your shirt!" Clearly an amazing visit was now ordained.
Lets begin this visit in a small gallery just off the grand hall. Gallery A is home to maybe 8-10 beautiful portraits by some of America's most celebrated 18th century artists like Benjamin West. The first two that caught my attention (and I've seen them all a dozen times before) on this visit were by Bass Otis (1784-1861) of the married couple, Calvin and Priscilla Cobb-Smith. They were painted in 1824. The accompanying text describes the couple, who lived in the Mississippi territory/state, as being "plantation owners".
Plantation Owners! How innocuous such a declaration has been for a very long time. The museum has owned the portraits since 1973. They are really amazing works, but a very talented artist. And yet...I am no longer looking at a benign couple from the early part of the 19th century who owned a plantation from which they derived great wealth that enabled them to travel and afford the luxury of the attentions and talents of a gifted artist; I am looking at two people who enslaved other human beings...
"Priscilla Cobb Smith" 1824
Otis Bass (1784-1861)
"Calvin Smith" 1824
Otis Bass (1784-1861)
It is the only certain fact that can be ascertained from the paintings. I so wanted to go back to the sweet young man at the information desk and engage him in a conversation about this--I wasn't brave enough.
"Absalom Jones" 1810
Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825)
"George Washington" circa 1825-30
Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860) OR Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)
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