The distribution at the Art Union
Monday 20th (January)
Went to school as usual. In the evening attended the distribution
at the Art Union, but did not draw the Greek Slave came home and Mr. Hunt staid
about one hour and then we retired. Before we started for that place we had a little
fuss with regard to Mr. Hunt but I hope it will all pass over.
The Greek Slave is a statue
that has created a furor across America during its 1847 to 1851 tour. More than
one hundred thousand Americans have turned out to view the statue depicting a
young Greek woman, nude, and chained by Turkish captors. Her clothing, a cross,
and a locket are draped beside her (Winterer 165). The statue is neo-classical
in style, posed like the Venus of Knidos, ca.
350-300 B.C., in the Vatican Museum (Roberson and Gerdts 5). The sculptor,
Hiram Powers, originally a resident of Cincinnati, later moved to Italy. He is
“the first international artistic figure of significance from the United
States” (Roberson and Gerdts 1).
Serena doesn’t tell us how she feels about the statue.
Current standards of modesty require ladies to be swathed from head to toe in
yards of fabric. Is Serena embarrassed by the statue of the beautiful young
woman standing before her, chained and completely nude? Or is she able to
consider it objectively as a work of art? Powers realized that the conservative
Americans might be offended by the statue’s nudity. He was careful to present
it as antiseptically as possible. The statue is variously described as clothed
in a “layer of honor,” “clothed all over with sentiment,” and “Naked, yet
clothed with chastity…” (Katz 156). A newspaper article in 1845 states that
“the figure seems to breathe an atmosphere of purity, and to be surrounded by a
halo of virgin innocence; and you gaze on the charms that the artist’s hand has
revealed with feelings of reverence and admiration, unmixed with a thought of
earthly passion” (Cist Miscellany 239).
Serena also doesn’t mention the abolition discussions that
the statue provoked. The statue creates sympathy for the Greeks in their war
for freedom from the Ottoman Turks. It may be easy for white Americans to relate
to the ordeals of the Caucasian Greeks while ignoring the plight of the African
slaves on American soil. But it also may be seen as an anti-slavery statement,
skillfully inverting the symbolism, because showing a black female slave would
have been interpreted as a blatant abolitionist sentiment. The sculpture was
“co-opted by abolitionists” while remaining popular in slave-holding states
(Nelson, Charmaine 173). The British
magazine Punch publishes “The Virginian Slave”, a cartoon showing a statue of an African
slave chained to post that is draped in an American flag. The motto “E Pluribus
Unum” is written across the base of the statue.
Powers’ statue is so popular that he has produced six
full-size replicas, as well as numerous smaller statues, busts, and molds for
“souvenirs” (Roberson and Gerdts 11). The winner of tonight’s lottery will sell
this copy of The Greek Slave to William Wilson
Corcoran. In future years she will grace the grand staircase at the Corcoran
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (Roberson and Gerdts 15).
Father is not happy that Mr. Hunt visits so frequently. He
may be worried by the growing affection of his daughter Libby for the young
man.
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