Buzzard's Roost Pass, from "Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)"
Artist
Kara Walker
(b. 1969)
Date2005
MediumOffset lithography and silkscreen on Somerset Textured paper
DimensionsSheet Dimension: 39 × 53 in. (99.1 × 134.6 cm)
Frame Dimension: 41 × 55 × 1 3/4 in. (104.1 × 139.7 × 4.4 cm)
Frame Dimension: 41 × 55 × 1 3/4 in. (104.1 × 139.7 × 4.4 cm)
ClassificationsLithograph
Credit LineStephen B. Lawrence and Bette Batchelor Memorial Acquisition Funds
Terms
Object number2019.4.14
DescriptionFrom "Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)"; AP 3/10 (edition of 35 + 10 AP)“The silhouette says a lot with very little information, but that's also what the stereotype does.” — Kara Walker
Although Kara Walker’s silhouettes appear to echo and interact with the illustrations beneath them, there is no clear narrative between the two. Her shadowy figures represent a hidden history running parallel to these published scenes. By imposing the silhouettes over images of soldiers and battles, Walker makes history’s invisible participants visible again—the flat opacity of their forms grab our attention and boldly obscure the subject of the original print. The motivations of her figures remain mysterious and the stories they tell are purposely cryptic, however, even as they force us to confront themes of race, gender, power, and violence.
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