id:			161329
accession number:	1999.93
share license status:	Copyrighted
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1999.93
updated:		2022-01-04 17:28:16.382000

The Means to an End...A Shadow Drama in Five Acts, 1995. Kara Walker (American, b. 1969). Etching and aquatint; sheet: 88.5 x 59.2 cm (34 13/16 x 23 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1999.93

title:				The Means to an End...A Shadow Drama in Five Acts
title in original language:	
series:				
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creation date:			1995
creation date earliest:		1995
creation date latest:		1995
current location:		
creditline:			John L. Severance Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	America, 20th century
technique:	etching and aquatint
department:	Prints
collection:	PR - Etching
type:		Print
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Kara Walker (American, b. 1969)  - artist

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measurements: Sheet: 88.5 x 59.2 cm (34 13/16 x 23 5/16 in.)
state of the work:	
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inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 229): May 5, 2009 - September 11, 2009.

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PROVENANCE

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digital description: 


wall description: 
The Means to an End is a panorama that reads like chapter headings in a historical romance novel: "The Beginning," "The Hunt," "The Chase," "The Plunge," and "The End." The characters are antebellum stereotypes-slave and master or mistress, adult and child-each depicted in the style of 19th-century silhouettes. These generalized black shadows allow Walker to distance the explicit aggression portrayed in the scene and to equalize the actors, underscoring the notion that the weak accept the strong with benign passivity. As an African American artist, Walker has been criticized for her imagery, but she explains, "Illicit sex and violence are suggested as a means by which freedom was attained . . . [A] lot of it comes from the perspective of the self-made slave/mistress. It's history three times removed from me."
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