Fabiola Calero
Professor Martha Clark
History 121
November 16th, 2009

AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH IMAGES

[pic]
The Quilting Frolic (1813)

John Krimmel was one of the most famous painters of genre scenes in American history. Krimmel was a German who emigrated to the United States of America in 1809 and soon joined the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Among Krimmel’s well known paintings, there was one called “The Quilting Frolic” which was a particular and unique piece of art. This painting not only reflected how social status was arranged during that time but also reflected a strong hierarchy organization, having whites as the superior image and “blacks” as the inferior one. In this painting, guests are accompanied by a “black fiddler” celebrating the finishing of a quilt. This image has been identified by being very particular due to the physiognomical distortions that it reflects, such as “wide toothy grins and oversized lips”. In this painting the artist shows the differences between “black servants” and their superiors. It reflects their appearance differences such as the way they used to dress up, and it also shows the tasks that they used to perform as well. The little black girl of this picture is the one making sure people is satisfied with tea and the other black servant is the one playing the violin. The way black servants were treated depended on the families who used to own them, sometimes they were nice people, and sometimes not in which