Description
Book SynopsisHow one set of anthropological sculptures deeply influenced modern racial perceptions
Trade Review"A provocative new study. . . . Kinkel shows how the images contributed to a contentious and mutating discourse on race through the end of the twentieth century."
Art in America"Kinkel's original research brings to light much archival material, and the amply footnoted text is generously illustrated. . . . Touches on broad themes of racial politics in America."--
Library Journal"Covers every detail concerning Malvina Hoffman's
Races of Mankind--from the artist's career through her extensive preparation to the creation of work and its reception. . . . Recommended"--
Choice"'Races of Mankind' staged some strange scenes from a marriage of arts and anthropology."--
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute"Elegantly written and eminently readable, this work deals with an important and very current topic: the history of the social construction of race. Through the case study of Malvina Hoffman's Races of Mankind sculptures, Marianne Kinkel gives us a compelling example of how race has been imaged in art and in museum displays."--Mary Jo Arnoldi, curator of African ethnology and arts at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
"Sculpture, by virtue of its intimate connection with the human body, was given an authoritative place in the history of racial science, and Hoffman's project is perhaps the single most important example of that peculiar intersection of art and science. This is a fascinating study that reveals much about the persistence and contradictions of racial science in its final phase before genetics would transform biology and demolish race as a scientifically viable category."--Kirk Savage, author of
Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves: Race, War, and Monument in Nineteenth-Century AmericaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Initial Plans for a Physical Anthropology Display 21
2. Malvina Hoffman as Professional Artist 34
3. Producing the Sculptures and Building Consensus 48
4. The Hall of the Races of Mankind 82
5. Life beyond the Field Museum: Exhibiting Statuettes during the 1930s 124
6. Deploying the Races of Mankind Figures during the 1940s 144
Conclusion: Retraction and Redeployment of the Sculptures in Chicago 183
Abbreviations 201
Notes 203
Bibliography 245
Index 263
