Witnessing Slavery - Art and Travel in the Age of Abolition

A timely and original look at the role of the eyewitness account in the representation of slavery in British and European art

Gathering together over 160 paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints, this book offers an unprecedented examination of the shifting iconography of slavery in British and European art between 1760 and 1840. In addition to considering how the work of artists such as Agostino Brunias, James Hakewill, and Augustus Earle responded to abolitionist politics, Sarah Thomas examines the importance of the eyewitness account in endowing visual representations of transatlantic slavery with veracity. “Being there,” indeed, became significant not only because of the empirical opportunities to document slave life it afforded but also because the imagery of the eyewitness was more credible than sketches and paintings created by the “armchair traveler” at home. Full of original insights that cast a new light on these highly charged images, this volume reconsiders how slavery was depicted within a historical context in which truth was a deeply contested subject.

O privire la timp si originala asupra rolului relatarii martorilor oculari in reprezentarea sclaviei in arta britanica si europeana Adunand peste 160 de picturi, acuarele, desene si tiparituri, aceasta carte ofera o examinare fara precedent a iconografiei schimbatoare a sclaviei in Marea Britanie si in Europa arta intre 1760 si 1840. In plus fata de modul in care lucrarea unor artisti precum Agostino Brunias, James Hakewill si Augustus Earle a raspuns politicii abolitioniste, Sarah Thomas examineaza importanta relatarii martorilor oculari in dotarea cu veridicitate a reprezentarilor vizuale ale sclaviei transatlantice.