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Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)
Walker, Kara Elizabeth
American (1969- )
Place made: 
North America; United States; New York; New York City
Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), 2005 plates; 2005 prints
Offset lithography and silkscreen on Somerset textured paper
Purchase with the Susan and Bernard Schilling (Susan Eisenhart, Class of 1932) Fund and the Belle and Hy Baier Art Acquisition Fund
MH 2012.14.1-15

Contemporary artist Kara Walker’s work reminds us of the inherent subjectivity of historical perspective. This work is one of 15 prints belonging to Walker’s powerful series in which she enlarges selected images from two volumes of Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (1866–68) and then “annotates” them by superimposing her signature silhouettes, thereby disrupting the original narrative. Walker inserts issues of racial stereotypes, slavery, gender, and the violence of oppression otherwise absent in these mid-19th century representations.

-Ellen Alvord, Weatherbie Curator of Education and Academic Programs, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (Sept. 2016)

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Events And Links

Kara Walker installation
September 13, 2012  | Gamble Auditorium, Mount Holyoke College
Kara Walker
Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)
Lecture

Exhibition opening and panel discussion with Elizabeth Young, Carl M. and Elsie A. Small Professor of English, Mount Holyoke College; Patricia A. Banks, Associate Professor of Sociology, Mount Holyoke College; John Stomberg, Florence Finch Abbott Director, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum

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Kara Walker
2012
Kara Walker

Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)

Throughout her career, Kara Walker has combined exquisite technique with biting social commentary. Her large-scale print suite Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) is considered by many to be her quintessential work in a multiple format and among the most important...

Read more
 
Kara Walker (American, b. 1969), Exodus of Confederates from Atlanta, from the series Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), 2005
August 31, 2012 to May 26, 2013
Kara Walker

Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)

Throughout her career, Kara Walker has combined exquisite technique with biting social commentary. Her large-scale print suite Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) is considered by many to be her quintessential work in a multiple format and among the most important...

Read more