On the eve of America鈥檚 250th, Defying Empire: Revolutionary Prints from Britain and America explores how eighteenth-century British and American prints shaped public opinion, inviting visitors to visualize a passionate, participatory Revolution.
Drawn from the collections of the Haggerty Museum of Art and the Chipstone Foundation, the exhibition brings together works by eighteenth鈥慶entury Britons and Americans to frame the period as a site of transatlantic political exchange including more than twenty prints on paper, a selection of transfer鈥憄rinted ceramics, and an eighteenth鈥慶entury maple dining table. Visitors will see a creamware jug by Josiah Wedgwood depicting "The Death of General Wolfe," two prints by William Hogarth satirizing a threatened French invasion of England, and Charles Willson Peale's iconic portraits of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.
In the eighteenth century, printed images circulated widely to shape debates over democracy, sovereignty, and nationhood. Cartoons, portraits, and landscapes could elicit responses ranging from admiration to outrage and spur viewers to political action. Works produced on both sides of the issues demonstrate how Britons and Americans differed with one another, and among themselves, over imperial authority and colonial resistance. Defying Empire gathers a cross-section of transatlantic public voices engaging in Revolutionary politics including familiar figures such as George Washington, pro-American British politicians, as well as often-overlooked citizens such as politically active women.
Defying Empire: Revolutionary Prints from Britain and America is curated by J. Patrick Mullins, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History and Public History Director at 黑料论坛, in collaboration with the Chipstone Foundation and coordinated by Jessica A. Cooley, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Curatorial and Teaching Fellow.
This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Chipstone Foundation. Support for this exhibition is generously provided by the John P. Raynor, S.J. Endowment Fund and in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Images: (left) William Hogarth, After, British, 1697 鈥� 1764, Thomas Cook, English, 1744 鈥� 1818, George, George and John Robinson, English, 1722 鈥� 1785, John Wilkes, Esq., 1763 (published, 1800), Engraving, Plate/Block: 14 x 9 3/4 in; Sheet/Paper: 15 x 10 1/8 in, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Pinsof, Collection of the Haggerty Museum of Art, 黑料论坛; (center) Paul Revere, American, 1735-1818 / Henry Pelham, American, 1749-1806, Bloody Massacre 1770, Boston, Massachusetts, Engraving in black with hand coloring in blue, black, red, turquoise, green, brown, purple, orange, and yellow on paper, 10 1/4 x 8 7/8 inches, Collection of The Chipstone Foundation; (right) Philip Dawe, The Bostonians Paying the Excise-Man or Tarring and Feathering 1774, London, England, Mezzotint with engraving in black on paper, 19 3/4 inches, Collection of The Chipstone Foundation
