An Amalgamation Waltz
Object Details
- Description
- This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism. Part of series of miscegenation prints done by Clay during 1839, the print depicts a dance in an elegantly furnished ballroom. In the middle of the scene, fashionably dressed, interracial couples are shown dancing. Each consists of a black man and white woman. Along the right wall, several black men ask seated white women to dance. On the left, members of a mixed race couple clasp hands and prepare to kiss. Above these proceedings, music is performed by an orchestra composed solely of white musicians.
- Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail. He was an anti-abolitionist and a racist, as evidenced by his stereotyped depictions of black people. He was also very well versed in creating political cartoons, using caricature, satire, and speech bubbles. He died in December of 1857.
- The work’s publisher, John Childs, was a New York lithographer, artist, and print colorist active between the years 1836 to 1844. For a brief period, he published a quantity of political cartoons, especially in 1840, when he published 34, of which 26 were drawn by Clay.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- Date made
- 1839
- ID Number
- DL.60.3340
- catalog number
- 60.3340
- accession number
- 228146
- maker
- Childs, John
- artist
- Clay, Edward Williams
- Object Name
- Lithograph
- Object Type
- Lithograph
- Physical Description
- ink (overall material)
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- image: 10 1/8 in x 15 in; 25.7175 cm x 38.1 cm
- place made
- United States: New York, New York City
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Clothing & Accessories
- American Civil War Prints
- Art
- Domestic Furnishings
- depicted
- Blacks
- Subject
- Chronology: 1830-1839
- Political Caricatures
- depicted
- Uniforms, Military
- Dancing
- Subject
- Music
- depicted
- African American
- Record ID
- nmah_325555
