Description
Book SynopsisExplores the theme of race in nineteenth-century transatlantic culture, focusing on how American concepts of race were intertwined with the ongoing cultural exchanges that Americans had with European artistic traditions.
Trade Review“Both a creative and a fastidious scholar, Paul Kaplan aims to shed fresh light on the dialogue concerning race, nationalism, and representation. In this well-argued volume, he deftly weaves together travel writing by Americans abroad becoming aware of Africans in Europe; racial representations by the talented mixed-race Louisiana sculptor Eugène Warburg and the German American painter Emanuel Leutze; a dialogue on racial matters between two major intellectuals, Charles Norton and John Ruskin; and the relevance of the Old European Masters whose racial representations made an impact on African Americans.”
—Patricia Hills,author of Painting Harlem Modern: The Art of Jacob Lawrence
“Kaplan bases his analyses on a prodigious amount of research, and the narratives he distills from an impressive array of primary and secondary sources cohere into a history that constitutes a significant contribution to scholarship.”
—Kathy Edwards ARLIS/NA Reviews
“Brilliantly bringing together sources that are especially revealing counterparts when explored in cultural parallel, this book will be of great interest to those interested in the history of the US and its legacy of racism, as well as in American art and literature of the 19th century.”
—M. R. Freeman Choice
“Contraband Guides reveals new facets of the transatlantic experiences of both White and Black US artists and travel writers, adding greater complexity to a robust and expanding body of scholarship on the topic.”
—Lacey Baradel Canadian Journal of History / Annales canadiennes d’histoire
“The presiding value of Contraband Guides lies in Kaplan’s commitment to providing a broad yet very detailed account of the influences on and impacts of the artists he considers. His analysis of Eugène Warburg exemplifies this commitment and should be required reading for scholars working in a wide variety of fields. Indeed, in addition to providing readers with a wide-ranging visual archive, Contraband Guides offers numerous starting points for scholars of nineteenth-century US cultures, visual and otherwise.”
—Benjamin Fagan American Literary History
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Representations of People of Color in Nineteenth-Century American Accounts of Italian Travel
2. “A Mulatto Sculptor from New Orleans”: Eugène Warburg in Europe, 1853–1859
3. “The Black Man To-day Means Liberty”: African American Figures in the Work of Emanuel Leutze
4. “Something American”: Art and Slavery in the Correspondence of John Ruskin and Charles Eliot Norton
5. Old Masters: The Western Tradition of the Visual Arts in African American Culture in the Civil War Era
6. Contraband Guide: Mark Twain on Race and the Renaissance 207
Notes 225
Bibliography 257
Index
