Uncle Tom and Little Eva

1853

Robert S. Duncanson American, 1821 - 1872

On View

African American, Level 2, West Wing

Uncle Tom and Little Eva: 1 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Title Uncle Tom and Little Eva

Artwork Date 1853

Artist Robert S. Duncanson

Life Dates 1821 - 1872

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 27 1/4 × 38 1/4 inches (69.2 × 97.2 cm) Framed: 32 13/16 × 43 3/4 × 2 1/2 inches, 30 pounds (83.3 × 111.1 × 6.4 cm, 13.6 kg)

Classification Paintings

Department African American Art

Credit Gift of Mrs. Jefferson Butler and Miss Grace R. Conover

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 49.498

Markings

Signed Signed, lower left: R. S. Duncanson 1853

Inscriptions Signed and dated, lower left: R. S. Duncanson 1853

Provenance

1853-1902, commissioned by the Reverend James Francis Conover, Episcopalian minister of Cincinnati, Detroit and elsewhere (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
1902-1949, Conover family (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
1949-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Daily Cincinnati Gazette. March 17, 1853, 2.

Detroit Free Press. April 21, 1853, 21.

Porter, J. 1943, pp. 43-46.

Cavallo. 1950-51, pp. 21-25.

Bulletin of the DIA 30, no. 1 (1950-1951): 21-25, (ill.).

Porter, J. 1951, pp. 128-129, 147.

Art in America 39, no 3 (Oct. 1951): 128-129 (ill.).

Uncle Tom's Centenary Exhibition. Exh. cat., Detroit Public Library. Detroit, 1952, no. 140, p. 47.

Rediscovering the American Painting. Exh. cat., Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati, 1955, no. 29.

Romantic America. Exh. cat., John Herron Art Museum. Indianapolis, 1961, no. 13.

Michigan Art Yesterday and Today. Exh. cat., Flint Institute of Arts. Flint, 1963, cat. no. 7.

The Portrayal of the Negro in American Painting. Exh. cat., Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Brunswick, ME, 1964, cat. no. 30.

Ten Afro-American Artists of the Nineteenth Century. Exh. cat., Howard University. Washington, D.C., 1967, p. 14.

Afro-American Artists 1800-1969. Exh. cat., School District of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1969, no. 74.

Dimensions of Black. Exh. cat., La Jolla Museum of Art. San Diego, 1970, cat. no. 169, p. 66 (ill. p. 64).

Robert S. Duncanson. Exh. cat., Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati, 1972, no. 8, p. 38 (ill. p. 23).

Gibson, A. H. Artists of Early Michigan. Detroit, 1975, p. 95 (ill.).

Duncanson: A British-American Connection. Exh. cat., Museum of Art, North Carolina Central University. Durham, NC, 1984, p. 6, no. 12 (ill.).

Hartigan, L.R. Sharing Traditions, Five Black Artists in Nineteenth-Century America. Exh. cat., National Museum of American Art. Washington, D.C., 1985, p. 57, fig. 13.

The Portrayal of the Black Musician in American Art. Exh. cat, California Afro-American Museum. Los Angeles, 1987, fig. 11, p. 16.

The Color Line: Les artistes africains-américains et la ségrégation, 1865-2016. Exh. cat., Musée du Quai Branly. Paris, 2016 p. 19 (ill.).

Betjemann, Peter. "The Ends of Time: Abolition, Apocalypse, and Narrativity in Robert S. Duncanson's Literary Paintings." American Art (Fall 2017): pp.100-101 (fig. 11).

Pfohl, Katie A., ed. Inventing Acadia: Painting and Place in Louisiana. Exh. cat., New Orleans Museum of Art. New Orleans, 2019, pp. 94-95 (fig. 6), p. 169, pl. 16 (ill.).

Arabindan-Kesson, Anna. "From Poetry into Paint: Robert S Duncanson and the Song of Hiawatha." In Terra Foundation Essays. Vol. 6, Intermedia, Frohne, Ursula, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022, pp. 96-97, no. 6 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

This work is in the public domain.

Robert S. Duncanson, Uncle Tom and Little Eva, 1853, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Jefferson Butler and Miss Grace R. Conover, 49.498.