The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Print with five black silhouettes against white paper. Furthest left, a figure stands in profile, right hand on hip, a child suckling their breast. Next, a child sits on the back of a four-legged animal, facing the opposite direction it leaps. Next, a figure leaps on one foot, skirts swirling, arms thrown up to the right as their head turns towards our left. Next, a head and hand look up from the lower edge. Finally, a silhouette in a top-hat lifts one leg, holding a smaller silhouette by the neck.

The Means to an End . . .A Shadow Drama in Five Acts

1995

Kara Walker

(American, b. 1969)
America
etching and aquatint
Sheet: 88.5 x 59.2 cm (34 13/16 x 23 5/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1999.93
© Kara Walker
Location: Not on view

Description

In the 1990s, American artist Kara Walker became well-known for using the visual language of the silhouette—an historic form of portraiture popular during the time of slavery in the United States—to create large wall murals featuring imaginary stories of the antebellum South. Her stories are based on stereotypes of plantation life from novels like Gone
with the Wind, but with disturbing or unresolved storylines. This group of etchings functions as one story, titled sheet by sheet like chapters in a historical romance novel: “The Beginning,” “The Hunt,” “The Chase,” “The Plunge,” and “The End.” Designed to provoke viewers, Walker’s work has induced powerful responses. Walker herself has said, “Challenging and highlighting abusive power dynamics in our culture is my goal; replicating them is not.”
  • New Narratives: Contemporary Works on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 19, 2023-April 14, 2024).
    Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 229): May 5, 2009 - September 11, 2009.
  • {{cite web|title=The Means to an End . . .A Shadow Drama in Five Acts|url=false|author=Kara Walker|year=1995|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1999.93