In response to a comment yesterday, I wrote:
… when you have art that is created, not out of interpretation of real events, but based on how an artist imagines an historical person may have reacted in an unreal or imagined scenario, then you have an “imagined presentation.” Is it, at that point really historical art, or over the top in speculation? The fact of the matter is that some of those who view the art may well see it as something depicting a real event (and thus, like it or not, this is “imagined memory”). This has implications on down the road; both in the way that the “beholders” interpret the art and the way that they [again, the “beholders”] convey meaning in what they relate to others about the particular historical character in the imagined art and about “imagined events.”
My focus was on historical personalities…real people…in imagined scenes. I wasn’t even thinking of how fictional characters portrayed in art might influence minds in an equally powerful way. Actually, it’s funny, but for some reason I was thinking about Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the stereotypes that it generated in the minds of readers. No, it isn’t wall art (though the many covers created for the book over time might be considered works of art), but for some reason the book just came to mind. Then, this evening, while I was looking online for some early Civil War artwork (in preparation for another post), I found a book (“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” as Visual Culture, by Jo-Ann Morgan) that focuses specifically on stereotypes generated as a result of the book and how the subsequent fall-out in art (among other things) was nearly as significant as the book. The description follows:
By personalizing the experiences of American slaves, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a profound effect on public attitudes toward slavery on the eve of the Civil War, but Stowe’s narrative was not the whole story. Jo-Ann Morgan now reveals how prints and paintings of Uncle Tom and other characters in the novel also shaped public perceptions and how this visual culture had its own impact on history.
Through illustrations in various editions of the book, advertisements for stage productions, paintings of favorite scenes, and even sheet music for Tom-inspired songs, Stowe’s work took on a visual as well as a textual existence. Morgan explores the rich visual discourse generated by Uncle Tom’s Cabin within the context of evolving social conditions and political events of nineteenth-century America to show how images associated with the text came to have lives of their own.
Although Uncle Tom is a recognized icon of American culture, this is the first book to concentrate on the visual discourse involving the character, interpreting a period of American sociocultural history that has been neglected by art historians. Morgan shows how these iconic images offered the country a means of both representing and reinventing its slave past. By examining illustrations by Hammatt Billings and George Cruikshank and the work of painters such as Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and Thomas Satterwhite Noble, she breaks down boundaries between high art and popular culture to demonstrate how these distinctions helped validate the views of elite producers of culture.
Morgan argues that the popularity of Uncle Tom’s Cabin made it dangerous to prevailing attitudes and the institutional structures kept in place by them, as pictures joined words to challenge patriarchy. She shows how subsequent visual strategies were used to coax the subversive potential of Stowe’s work back within accepted boundaries, as imaging of black people was involved in a cultural backlash against decades of abolition propaganda. Pictures of figures once read as sympathetic were redefined into an alternative propaganda to reinforce white supremacy and put limits on African Americans’ access to citizenship after emancipation.
Despite the simultaneous existence of an urban-based, business-class clientele for paintings and a more popular audience for book illustrations, show posters, and sheet music, Morgan shows that representations of blacks tended to reinforce social hierarchies and protect established regimes. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” as Visual Culture is a compelling reexamination of an American icon—and a persuasive case study in how representations of African Americans change in response to social and political agendas.
Now, I just found this book online tonight, so apart from the description, I can’t vouch for the content, but the argument appears to be sound. Since the artwork that sprang from a book reflected stereotypes, what stereotypes are formed (or have the potential for being formed) from “imagined memory” of the Civil War reflected in contemporary works of art?
caswain01
November 14, 2008
Robert, have you ever looked over Jack Kirby’s “Media Made Dixie”? Some of the same thoughts – spanning from DW Griffin through Little Orphan Annie, out to the Beverly Hillbillies and the Dukes of Hazzard…..
Consider that “Birth of a Nation” had a telling effect on the popular imagination in its day, in some contemporary accounts, transforming Northerners into staunch “Southern partisans.” Not only affecting the accepted interpretations of the Civil War but also reconstruction, and if I may, race relations.
Fast forward into the late 60s, 70s and early 80s. The “pop culture” exhibited examples of a “redeemed” south. Aside from the aforementioned Hillbillies and Duke boys, we saw examples from film, TV, and music of Southerners degaussed somewhat of the racial tensions, but still embracing those icons of southern heritage – the flag, Marse Robert, and mint julep.
Even in the 1990s, when were were all supposed to be beyond that regional divide, we had the two great media influences in recent memory – “The Civil War” by Ken Burns and “Gettysburg.” While both separated from the cloud of the Lost Cause dogma (and were roundly criticised in some circles for it), neither divulged the full rank and file of the stereotypes. In fact, Burns was able to graft “Ashokan Farewell” into our collective memories! (ironically as the back setting to a last letter from a Union officer…. How many Southern heritage web sites are running that MIDI today?)
And don’t get me started about DW Griffin’s R.E. Lee compared to Sheen’s R.E. Lee……You don’t have the blog space for it!
cenantua
November 14, 2008
Craig, No, I haven’t seen that book before and will have to see if it is available in the univ. library. In looking back at television as a reflection of perceptions in pop culture, I remember a good deal of this (from “Granny’s” reaction to the actor playing Gen. Grant in Bev. Hillbillies to the Dukes of Hazard)… and, yes, you are absolutely right about how Ashoken Farewell in KB’s “The Civil War” has slipped into “memory” as a “song from the war.” My personal favorite experience in this respect was a visit to Gettysburg not long after the same-named movie made its big splash. I was on Little Round Top near the 20th Me. Monument when a lady asked her husband why Kilrain’s name wasn’t on the monument – ugghhhh!
Jo-Ann Morgan
November 20, 2008
Hello,
I was Googling to find out if or not a recent publicity release had made it into circulation when I was surprised to find your site with mention of my book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin as Visual Culture,” (Missouri, 2007). Thanks for noticing it. I write to offer my email and invite you to communicate if you like. The book just won a 2008 Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Nonfiction, which is delightful to me since I am an art historian. I’ll be going to Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, WV to receive the prize and speak on March 6, 2009.
cenantua
November 20, 2008
Hello!
How delightful to hear from you! I really need to purchase a copy of your book now! As you can see in my post, my finding your book was purely accidental, but I can see how your thesis applies to various forms of art (among other things) and their influence in popular memory. Thanks again and congratulations! Robert