An artwork on Galleree from Cleveland Museum of Art.
About the artwork
The Power of Music1847
William Sidney Mount
Set in rural Long Island before the Civil War, Mount's complex painting presents an African American laborer listening intently to a fiddle tune enjoyed by white men. While a love of music unites the figures in a bond of shared humanity, the two races occupy different spaces--one inside, one outside, both separated by a barn door--effectively symbolizing the pronounced divisions in America at the time.
Mount was an accomplished fiddle player and even patented a new design for the instrument.
oil on canvas
Framed: 67 x 78 x 7.5 cm (26 3/8 x 30 11/16 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 43.4 x 53.5 cm (17 1/16 x 21 1/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
In the quiet outskirts of rural Long Island, the air was thick with the anticipation of change, though the world outside remained largely unchanged. It was before the Civil War, a time when the heartbeats of America pulsed with hope and despair in equal measure. One of the noteworthy tapestries woven from this era is a painting crafted by the attentive hands of a talented artist named Mount.
Picture yourself in a dimly lit barn, its wooden beams worn from years of steadfast service. The scent of hay dances with the sunlit dust motes swirling through the gaps in the walls, while you hear the soft strums of a fiddle echoing through the open door. The melody wraps around you, a familiar embrace, drawing you closer to the heart of the gathering beyond.
In the foreground stands a solitary figure: an African American laborer, his gaze fixed and earnest, a listener caught in the rapture of the music. His skin glows softly against the backdrop of earthy browns and muted hues that define the barn. The fiddle's tune carries stories of longing, joy, and shared moments—an invisible thread stitching together lives that had, under the weight of societal divides, drifted apart.
Yet, the artist's brush wielded more than just color; it illustrated a world divided. The laborer stands outside, dwarfed by the frame of the barn door, while white men revel inside—encased in their own realm of merriment. That splintered threshold captures the essence of America in those fraught years, where the joy of music seemed to transcend racial differences even as the door remained firmly shut between their two worlds.
This moment, encapsulated within the canvas, serves as a poignant reminder of the stark divisions that delineated the lives of its people. It speaks not only to the isolation felt but also to the complexities of their shared humanity. The fiddler’s notes pour out into the ether, whispering tales of unity and separation, beckoning the laborer to feel a connection to those who revel just beyond—still bound by an unyielding divide.
In this reflective scene, Mount's painting reveals much more than just a captured moment; it opens a window to an era steeped in contrasts, encouraging us to ponder the rhythm of history and the dance of human connection amidst the shadows of division.
About the artist
Creating transformative experiences through art “for the benefit of all the people forever.”The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The artworks shared on this platform are sourced from the museum's Open Access data under the CC0 license. No endorsement is implied.Address: 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH, USA 44106
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