The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Power of Music
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.
Provenance
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio; (James H. Maroney, Jr., Leicester, VT, and Christie's, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art); The Century Association, New York, NY; Gideon Lee, Jr. [1824-1894], Carmel, NY?; Mrs. Gideon Lee [d. 1870], Geneva, NY, probably by descent to her stepson, Gideon Lee, Jr.; Charles M. Leupp [1807-1859], New York, NY; Laura (Mrs. Gideon) Lee [1800-1870], Geneva, NY, to her son-in-law, Charles M. Leupp
Dimensions
43.4 × 53.5 cm
Movement / Period
Accession No
1991.110
Official Citations
Curatorial Affinity Stream
Continuing the Universe of William Sidney Mount (American, 1807–1868)
American Painting and Sculpture • America • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries
Continuous Discovery