Unnamed Figures

Unnamed Figures, Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North. Across seven long-form essays and several object studies, this publication fleshes out the long history of objects by analyzing how Black representations may have been further marginalized or misconstrued by early American art and material culture. Contributing scholars from different academic fields interrogate the socio-political forces that have undermined or obscured Black stories and reconstruct the contours...
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Unnamed Figures, Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North. Across seven long-form essays and several object studies, this publication fleshes out the long history of objects by analyzing how Black representations may have been further marginalized or misconstrued by early American art and material culture. Contributing scholars from different academic fields interrogate the socio-political forces that have undermined or obscured Black stories and reconstruct the contours of early African American lived experience by mining evidence from visual, material, literary, and archival sources to uncover narratives of Black endurance, agency, and creativity as evinced in various forms of cultural production. A trans-temporal perspective infuses the book with contemporary relevance as essayists consider images and histories not only within the context of their making but also in terms of their significance to present-day readers. The exhibition "Unnamed Figures, Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North" will be on view at the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) from November 15, 2023, to March 24, 2024, and at Historic Deerfield from May 1, 2024, to August 4, 2024. The exhibition explores African American representation in 125 exceptional works of art and material culture produced in New England and the Mid-Atlantic during the long 18th century. Many of the assembled objects feature African American figures in secondary positions to primary white subjects, whereas others wholly eliminate Black presence from the visual landscape of early America.