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Perhaps influenced by his wife’s sympathies, Hovenden created, over the next decade, several paintings depicting the lives of African Americans in Plymouth Meeting. The model for Dem Was Good Ole Times, for example, was Samuel Jones, a local laborer well-known to Hovenden and the Corson family. In this painting, Jones is shown smoking his pipe and gazing kindly at the viewer. He wears a patched brown jacket and pants and cream-colored vest and shirt. He inclines his head slightly, and his soft white hair stands out in tufts from the side of his head against a dark, neutral background. His banjo rests next to him on a Windsor chair. The artist depicts Jones filling the picture plane and in a slightly raised position so that viewers look up at him, giving the subject of the painting a sense of dignity and stature. A painting entitled I’se So Happy!, 1882, location unknown, shows Jones playing the banjo that lies in wait next to him in this watercolor.
Hovenden executed both oil and watercolor versions of Dem Was Good Ole Times. Art historian H. Nichols B. Clark notes that Hovenden completed the oil first, in 1882, Chrysler Museum of Art, and then followed it with this accomplished watercolor, which he exhibited at the American Watercolor Society in 1882. [1] A review of the oil painting from an exhibition in Baltimore the following May paid tribute to it:
Mr. Hovenden’s figure of the poor old African, in patched and tattered raiment, like unto Joseph’s coat, is unquestionably that precious ornament in these galleries. The lovely spirit of the humble old man, which the painter makes to shine in his dusky, wrinkled face, is a bright example of the highest achievement art can attain, namely, the expression of noble sentiment in human portraiture. When an artist paints a human countenance, aglow with human kindness, suffused with fond memories and tender sympathies, touched with a latent sense of native humor, as withal as true to nature as nature herself, then his works praise him beyond the power of words to tell. [2]
While the reception of these images during Hovenden’s lifetime was clearly positive, modern viewers are often troubled by the image of the “humble,” smiling black man and by Hovenden’s use of slang for the title. Scholar Naurice Frank Woods, Jr., defends Hovenden’s images of blacks in this way: “One only has to look beyond the titles to see that no racial insult was intended. Hovenden sought to capture the intimate, human side of black life; to uplift their image, not tear it down.” Woods also addresses the significance of the banjo in the image, a powerfully emblematic object. An instrument with roots in traditional African music, the banjo was shunned by African Americans after it made its way into minstrel shows, in which white performers in blackface perpetuated racist stereotypes for white audiences. On the topic of Hovenden’s use of the banjo here, as well as the artist’s associations in other paintings of blacks with watermelons and his use of the vernacular titles, Woods writes, “Clearly, ‘Negro dialect,’ the banjo, and the watermelon became so deeply ingrained in American culture as icons of racial inferiority that even when they are presented in a benign fashion, as in Hovenden’s paintings, they evoke strong feelings of distaste. To Hovenden’s credit, he treated these icons with respect and placed them back among African-Americans as an integral part of their heritage.” [3]
Hovenden’s biographer Anne Terhune, however, finds these details more troubling. Discussing Hovenden’s painting I’se So Happy!, as well as a painting of Samuel Jones by the artist’s wife, Terhune asserts, “No doubt Corson and Hovenden were well-intentioned, yet the stereotypes associated with the theme of the banjo and the racist references in the titles carry unsettling connotations, revealing the artists’ patronizing viewpoints.” Regarding the suggestion, in the title, that Jones is nostalgic for a time before emancipation, Terhune points to a story by Hovenden’s contemporary Thomas Nelson Page, in which the phrase “Dem wuz good old times, marster,” refers specifically to the days of slavery. Terhune writes, “Neither Hovenden, who admired the abolitionist John Brown, nor Jones, the artist’s model, could have intended a justification of slavery, as did the Virginia author, yet Hovenden’s title similarly conjures up nostalgic scenes of plantation life. Hovenden’s humane image is at odds with the painting’s title, revealing the artist’s ambivalence toward African Americans as well as his desire to create a work that would appeal to white audiences and buyers.” [4]
The message that Hovenden conveys through the painting—that the black man is happy and content during a time of extreme racial hostility, perhaps even nostalgic for a time during which African Americans were enslaved—stands at odds with modern values in a deeply problematic way. In this beautifully painted image of a smiling African American man, loaded with telling details and titled to evoke longing for the past, Hovenden created an image that embodies the conflicted attitudes of white Americans during the late nineteenth century.
Notes:
[1] H. Nichols B. Clark, “Thomas Hovenden, Dem Was Good Ole Times,” American Art Review 5, Issue 6 (Winter 1994), 173.
[2] Quoted in Clark, “Thomas Hovenden,” 98.
[3] Naurice Frank Woods, Jr. “Home, Hearth, and Humanity: The Triumph over Racial Stereotyping of African-Americans in the Genre Paintings of Thomas Hovenden and Henry Ossawa Tanner,” in Anne Gregory Terhune, Sylvia Yount, Naurice Frank Woods, Jr. Thomas Hovenden (1840–1895): American Painter of Hearth and Homeland (Philadelphia, PA: The Woodmere Art Museum, 1995), 72 and 74.
[5] Anne Gregory Terhune, Thomas Hovenden: His Life and Art (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), 108 and 110.
ProvenanceBarbara B. Millhouse, New York. [1]
Notes:
[1] Loan Agreement.
Exhibition History1882
Fifteenth Annual Exhibition of the American Water Color Society
New York, NY (1882)
1994
Thomas Hovenden: Intimate Insights
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA (1/15/1994-2/27/1994)
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas (5/7/1994-8/14/1994)
2006-2007
American Watercolors: 1880-1965
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (7/1/2006-1/15/2007)
2010
Virtue, Vice, Wisdom & Folly: The Moralizing Tradition in American Art
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (11/18/2010-12/31/2010)
Published References
DepartmentCollection of Barbara B. Millhouse
Dem Was Good Ole Times
Artist
Thomas Hovenden
(1840 - 1895)
Date1882
Mediumwatercolor on paper
DimensionsFrame: 26 7/8 × 22 7/8 × 2 1/4 in. (68.3 × 58.1 × 5.7 cm)
Image: 15 1/4 × 11 3/8 in. (38.7 × 28.9 cm)
Signed1882 \ T Hovenden [stylized]
Credit LineCourtesy of Barbara B. Millhouse
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object numberIL2003.1.19
DescriptionShortly after returning from France in 1880, Thomas Hovenden married the artist Helen Corson and settled in her home town of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Corson was a member of the Quaker community in Plymouth Meeting, a group known for their abolitionist stance prior to the Civil War, and the Corson home had been a stop on the Underground Railroad.Perhaps influenced by his wife’s sympathies, Hovenden created, over the next decade, several paintings depicting the lives of African Americans in Plymouth Meeting. The model for Dem Was Good Ole Times, for example, was Samuel Jones, a local laborer well-known to Hovenden and the Corson family. In this painting, Jones is shown smoking his pipe and gazing kindly at the viewer. He wears a patched brown jacket and pants and cream-colored vest and shirt. He inclines his head slightly, and his soft white hair stands out in tufts from the side of his head against a dark, neutral background. His banjo rests next to him on a Windsor chair. The artist depicts Jones filling the picture plane and in a slightly raised position so that viewers look up at him, giving the subject of the painting a sense of dignity and stature. A painting entitled I’se So Happy!, 1882, location unknown, shows Jones playing the banjo that lies in wait next to him in this watercolor.
Hovenden executed both oil and watercolor versions of Dem Was Good Ole Times. Art historian H. Nichols B. Clark notes that Hovenden completed the oil first, in 1882, Chrysler Museum of Art, and then followed it with this accomplished watercolor, which he exhibited at the American Watercolor Society in 1882. [1] A review of the oil painting from an exhibition in Baltimore the following May paid tribute to it:
Mr. Hovenden’s figure of the poor old African, in patched and tattered raiment, like unto Joseph’s coat, is unquestionably that precious ornament in these galleries. The lovely spirit of the humble old man, which the painter makes to shine in his dusky, wrinkled face, is a bright example of the highest achievement art can attain, namely, the expression of noble sentiment in human portraiture. When an artist paints a human countenance, aglow with human kindness, suffused with fond memories and tender sympathies, touched with a latent sense of native humor, as withal as true to nature as nature herself, then his works praise him beyond the power of words to tell. [2]
While the reception of these images during Hovenden’s lifetime was clearly positive, modern viewers are often troubled by the image of the “humble,” smiling black man and by Hovenden’s use of slang for the title. Scholar Naurice Frank Woods, Jr., defends Hovenden’s images of blacks in this way: “One only has to look beyond the titles to see that no racial insult was intended. Hovenden sought to capture the intimate, human side of black life; to uplift their image, not tear it down.” Woods also addresses the significance of the banjo in the image, a powerfully emblematic object. An instrument with roots in traditional African music, the banjo was shunned by African Americans after it made its way into minstrel shows, in which white performers in blackface perpetuated racist stereotypes for white audiences. On the topic of Hovenden’s use of the banjo here, as well as the artist’s associations in other paintings of blacks with watermelons and his use of the vernacular titles, Woods writes, “Clearly, ‘Negro dialect,’ the banjo, and the watermelon became so deeply ingrained in American culture as icons of racial inferiority that even when they are presented in a benign fashion, as in Hovenden’s paintings, they evoke strong feelings of distaste. To Hovenden’s credit, he treated these icons with respect and placed them back among African-Americans as an integral part of their heritage.” [3]
Hovenden’s biographer Anne Terhune, however, finds these details more troubling. Discussing Hovenden’s painting I’se So Happy!, as well as a painting of Samuel Jones by the artist’s wife, Terhune asserts, “No doubt Corson and Hovenden were well-intentioned, yet the stereotypes associated with the theme of the banjo and the racist references in the titles carry unsettling connotations, revealing the artists’ patronizing viewpoints.” Regarding the suggestion, in the title, that Jones is nostalgic for a time before emancipation, Terhune points to a story by Hovenden’s contemporary Thomas Nelson Page, in which the phrase “Dem wuz good old times, marster,” refers specifically to the days of slavery. Terhune writes, “Neither Hovenden, who admired the abolitionist John Brown, nor Jones, the artist’s model, could have intended a justification of slavery, as did the Virginia author, yet Hovenden’s title similarly conjures up nostalgic scenes of plantation life. Hovenden’s humane image is at odds with the painting’s title, revealing the artist’s ambivalence toward African Americans as well as his desire to create a work that would appeal to white audiences and buyers.” [4]
The message that Hovenden conveys through the painting—that the black man is happy and content during a time of extreme racial hostility, perhaps even nostalgic for a time during which African Americans were enslaved—stands at odds with modern values in a deeply problematic way. In this beautifully painted image of a smiling African American man, loaded with telling details and titled to evoke longing for the past, Hovenden created an image that embodies the conflicted attitudes of white Americans during the late nineteenth century.
Notes:
[1] H. Nichols B. Clark, “Thomas Hovenden, Dem Was Good Ole Times,” American Art Review 5, Issue 6 (Winter 1994), 173.
[2] Quoted in Clark, “Thomas Hovenden,” 98.
[3] Naurice Frank Woods, Jr. “Home, Hearth, and Humanity: The Triumph over Racial Stereotyping of African-Americans in the Genre Paintings of Thomas Hovenden and Henry Ossawa Tanner,” in Anne Gregory Terhune, Sylvia Yount, Naurice Frank Woods, Jr. Thomas Hovenden (1840–1895): American Painter of Hearth and Homeland (Philadelphia, PA: The Woodmere Art Museum, 1995), 72 and 74.
[5] Anne Gregory Terhune, Thomas Hovenden: His Life and Art (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), 108 and 110.
ProvenanceBarbara B. Millhouse, New York. [1]
Notes:
[1] Loan Agreement.
Exhibition History1882
Fifteenth Annual Exhibition of the American Water Color Society
New York, NY (1882)
1994
Thomas Hovenden: Intimate Insights
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA (1/15/1994-2/27/1994)
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas (5/7/1994-8/14/1994)
2006-2007
American Watercolors: 1880-1965
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (7/1/2006-1/15/2007)
2010
Virtue, Vice, Wisdom & Folly: The Moralizing Tradition in American Art
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (11/18/2010-12/31/2010)
Published References
Status
Not on view
Object/Object
