Harvard Art Museums

The Message

Edward Lamson Henry

Date

1893

Medium

Oil on board

Culture

American

Department

Department of American Paintings, Sculpture & Decorative Arts

Institution

Harvard Art Museums

An accomplished genre painter, Henry traveled across the American South in the 1880s in search of new subjects for his work. He was especially drawn to scenes involving black men, women, and children. His visit came at a moment of intense racial conflict. White legislators were passing the Jim Crow laws that gave rise to segregation, while hundreds of black people were murdered each year in a growing epidemic of lynchings. Henry, who specialized in sentimental depictions of rural life, gives little hint of these realities. This painting of a black boy alongside the carriage of a white woman presents several mysteries. What is the relationship between these two figures? What does the letter in the boy’s hand contain, and who is its recipient? And who are the two onlookers on the far side of the fence?

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