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The Power of Music

Courtesy of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | Public Domain

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Date

1848

Artist

Alphonse Léon Noël (1807-1884)

Collection

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Image Link

https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/42634/the-power-of-music

Description

William Sidney Mount created the original The Power of Music in 1847 amidst the combative politics of the expansion of slavery.
Set in rural New York, The Power of Music depicts a moment that illustrates race relations in the northern United States. Inside the barn, a young boy plays the fiddle while two white men listen. A black field hand stands apart from this scene, leaning against the barn door as he eavesdrops. His thoughtful smile and attentive gaze suggest musical knowledge and experience, a point reinforced by the similarity between the black man’s curled left hand and the fiddler’s grip around the violin. Though each figure may be enjoying the same music, the barn door separates them.
The Power of Music parallels the widespread belief in the North that free blacks were a part of society but apart from whites. Mount, an admitted slavery supporter, was no civil-rights defender. Interestingly, though, he shows the black field hand with great detail and sympathy, simultaneously promoting the segregation of races and the dignity of African Americans.
Additional Makers: after William Sidney Mount (American, 1807–1868)
Descriptive Medium: Lithograph and watercolor on wove paper

Image Licence

Public Domain

Image Credit

Courtesy of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Location

New York, USA

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Medium

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Music

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© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform

© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform