Object number2021.16.2
Am I Not a Man?
Date2021
Artist
Jean-Marc Superville Sovak
(Canadian, born 1976)
engraver
Thomas Creswick
(English, 1811-1869)
engraver
James Tilbitts Willmore
(English, 1800-1863)
after a sketch by
William Henry Bartlett
(English, 1809-1854)
CultureCanadian, American
MediumMonoprint on archival inkjet paper
DimensionsImage: 13 x 9 in. (33 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 17 5/8 x 23 3/4 x 5/8 in. (44.8 x 60.3 x 1.6 cm)
Framed: 17 5/8 x 23 3/4 x 5/8 in. (44.8 x 60.3 x 1.6 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, gift of Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson, by exchange
On View
On viewPeriod21st c
Classification(s)
InscribedOn recto, printed lower margin: T. Creswick after a sketch by Mr. Bartlett. 80 MOUNT TOM AND THE CONNECTICUT RIVER J. T. Willmore
ProvenanceFridman Gallery, BeaconVassar Exhibitions
Label TextSovak's monoprint, Am I Not a Man? reworks one of the 19th century's most iconic anti-slavery symbols — the kneeling, chained figure of the British seal Am I Not a Man and a Brother? — as a marriage proposal rather than a gesture of supplication. He inserted this domestic vignette into a reproduction of the plate Mount Tom and the Connecticut River, engraved by Thomas Creswick and James Willmore after a drawing by William Bartlett. In doing so, Sovak imagines a tender moment of love and humanity, set within a landscape that has generally marginalized such visual and historical records.
- Ian Shelley '22, Loeb Post-Baccalaureate Summer Fellow (now Loeb Administrative Fellow)
Description
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge.
To help improve this record, please email
loebcollections@vassar.edu
The Bruce High Quality Foundation
2008
