Transfer print on board of 19th Century Brazilian Slave Family -1960s
One of a group of three scenes from Brazilian life in the early 19th Century at the height of the slave trade. This image shows a family group of African slaves, a white overseer in the doorway. It is a view entirely sympathetic to their plight. It is labeled "Rugendas... Negros Novos", the name of the artist, and "New Blacks".
Johann Moritz Rugendas (29 March 1802 – 29 May 1858) was a German painter, famous for his works depicting landscapes and ethnographic subjects in several countries in the Americas, in the first half of the 19th century. Rugendas is considered "by far the most varied and important of the European artists to visit Latin America" whom Alexander von Humboldt influenced. Rugendas is also the subject of César Aira's 2000 novel, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter.
This piece and its mates are probably (almost improbably) designer decorator pieces, and definitely of the 1960s sensibility, zeitgeists being what they are. As objects these have a definite mid-century modern vibe.
Measure 14 1/4" x 9"
Its mates are found by typing in P2367 and P2368.