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The Power of Music

1847
(American, 1807–1868)
America
oil on canvas
Framed: 67 x 78 x 7.5 cm (26 3/8 x 30 11/16 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 43.4 x 53.5 cm (17 1/16 x 21 1/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1991.110
Location: 207 American Realism
Public Domain
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Did You Know?

Mount was an accomplished fiddle player and even patented a new design for the instrument.

Description

Set in rural Long Island before the Civil War, Mount's complex painting presents an African American laborer listening intently to a fiddle tune enjoyed by white men. While a love of music unites the figures in a bond of shared humanity, the two races occupy different spaces--one inside, one outside, both separated by a barn door--effectively symbolizing the pronounced divisions in America at the time.
A painting of four men: three are White and one is African American. The White men are gathered inside a barn to the left side of the painting, with one playing the fiddle. The African American man stands just outside the barn on the right side, leaning against the door.

The Power of Music

1847

William Sidney Mount

(American, 1807–1868)
America

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