Attention, Company!
Object Details
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Date
1878
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Object Type
Paintings
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Medium
Oil on canvas
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Dimensions
36 x 28 in.
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Inscriptions
Recto:
signed and dated, u.l.: WMH [monogram] HARNETT \ 1878
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Credit Line
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
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Accession Number
1970.230
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Copyright
Public domain
Object Description
Additional details
Tags
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This 19th-century artist painted a very realistic portrait of a Black boy. In fact, this popular painting style of the period is known as tromp l’oeil, French for “fools the eye,” and the artist’s effort to accomplish this was masterfully achieved. The young boy with chocolate-colored skin, large, dark-brown eyes, and plump lips is shown from about the mid-thigh up as he stands in front of a dark-green, wooden wall covered with torn paper advertisements and carved graffiti. He looks straight ahead at the viewer in an attentive pose with his arms at his sides, imitating that of a soldier. In his right hand, he holds a wooden stick, taller than him, upright like a rifle. A tricorn hat made of newspaper sits on his head at a slight angle so that his black, curly hair can be seen. He wears a long-sleeved, tan coat, fastened at the neck by a thin strip of fabric with silver buttons on each side. The jacket is wrinkled and looks worn, indicated by a patch on his right elbow and the tattered, brown piping along its edges. Under his coat is a gray vest with mismatched buttons and more worn brown piping. The top and bottom buttons of the vest are shiny, smooth brass and the middle button is white, with stitches in the middle holding it in place. Under the boy’s vest is a cream-colored, collarless shirt. The boy's pants match his vest.
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How has the purpose, media, and style of portraits changed and/or stayed the same throughout time?
How has childhood, and the place of childhood in the national imagination, changed throughout time?
How might the background, clothes, facial expression, and body language depicted in a portrait reveal something about the sitter?
How might the style, subject, and depiction of the sitter reveal something about the artist who created the portrait?
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Grades 4–8
Show students the image Attention, Company! and, as a group, discuss the artwork. Who is the boy in the image? What is he doing? Give students a cinquain poem template and have them write a poem using adjectives that describe this boy and verbs that describe things he might do.
All Levels
Activity 1
Provide students with a small printout of the work of art. Students will glue the image to a larger piece of paper and extend the scene using pencils and colored pencils.Activity 2
Using any media that you may be exploring with your students, have students create a portrait of themselves with a game they enjoy. For older students, have them create a portrait of themselves as younger children with a game from their youth. Example: As a child I often had water-balloon fights with my siblings, so my portrait might be me holding a water balloon in front of our brick house near the water hose.
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