DGHM 110: Introduction to Digital Humanities

McGirt's Magazine_1907

Article on cream paper forMcGirt's Magazine The article is as follow: "Negro Artist Busy With Historic Task/Woman's Work Will Show Progress of Race Since the Landing at Jamestown./Government Contract/150 Figures, in 15 Groups, to Occupy Prominent Position at Exposition. After the introduction is a photograph of a drawing of Meta from the side facing left with pinned up hair under a large hat. Pinned to the last page is a newspaper article that goes into her works for the Tercentennial, similar to the article it is pinned to. Article is as follows: "Working from early morning until a late hour each night, a young negro artist, Meta Vaux Warrick, is endeavoring to complete 150 figures, representing the progress of her race from the time of the landing at Jamestown, Va., in 1619 to the present day. The figures are classified in 15 groups and are being made for the United States Government. They will occupy a prominent position in the Negro Building at Jamestown Exposition. The Artist's contract with the Government calls for the completion of the work by May 10. Property backgrounds, ten feet by ten feet, are now being painted in the artist's studio at 210 South Camac street, simultaneously with her work upon the figures, which are to be one-fourth life size. Classified groups and figures are: First. Landing at jamestown: Twenty slaves, five white men. Properties, scenery showing sea, ship, sky and landing; towers, houses and landscape. Figures, 25. Second. Negroes working in a cotton field. Properties, wagon, cotton, baskets. Figures, 10. Third. Slaves escaping, followed by two white men and a bloodhound - the negro hiding behind a clump of bushes and trees, water indicating he has crossed a stream and evaded pursuers on the opposite side. Properties, bushes and trees. Figures, 4. Fourth. Allen beginning the African Methodist Episcopal Church - Negroes worshiping in a blacksmith shop. Properties, anvil, books and furnace. Figures, 8. Fifth. Negro soldiers taking "The Order of the Day." Properties, guns and trees. Figures, 9. Sixth. Negroes protecting white women and children during the Civil War - A tramp soldier attempting to steal a white child; mother about to faint; a negress attendant at her side; a negro attacking the tramp to protect the child. Properties, chair, grass, flowers, trees and scenery. Figures, 5. Seventh. Negroes staring out after their emancipation - Man, homeless, surrounded by his family. Properties, bushes and trees. Figures, 6. Eighth. Negro schoolhouse - Children on their way to school. Properties, schoolhouse, books and trees. Figures, 15. Ninth. Negro farmer gathering his crops. Properties, house, crops and (start of second article) basket, Figures, 5. Tenth. Negro mechanic at work upon an unfinished building. Properties, lumber, house and tools. Figures, 4. Eleventh. Negro banker - interior of the bank, showing tellers or clerks and a depositor. Properties, books, money, desk and papers. Figures, 4. Twelfth. Negro church - Negroes about to enter the building. Properties, scenery, etc. Figures, 15. Thirteenth. Negro at home surrounded by his family; reading to his wife, who is doing embroidery and listening to the story; children playing and listening. Properties, rugs, tables, chairs and pictures on walls. Figures, 6. Fourteenth. Section A - Paul Laurence Dunbar writing verses. Properties, table, tablecloth, chair, pictures, couch and cushions. Figure, 1. Section B - Tanner painting from the model. Properties, easel, canvas, seats and drapery. Figures 2. Section C - Physician operating; nurses in attendance. Properties, stretcher, table, instruments and sheets. Figures, 4. Section D - Douglass delivering an oration. Properties, platform, table, pitcher, benches or chairs; scenery representing part of audence. Figures, 10. Fifteenth - Wilberforce community; students in caps and gowns, representing commencement day. Properties, trees, grass and scenery, including buildings, Figures, 18. Educated in Philadelphia This artist has been at work for several weeks on this task, and is liable to the infliction of penalties by the Government in the form of fines if the work is not completed by the contract date. She received her education in the public schools of Philadelphia and was awarded a scholarship to the School of Industrial Art of the Pennsylvania Museum, where she remained for five years, taking three prizes, among which were the first prize for metalwork design in 1898, and the first prize for modeling in 1899. She has exhibited in the Salon and has held two private exhibitions, one here and the other in Paris, where she studied under several noted men for three years. Her work is most instances has tended toward the gruesome, some of her notable figures being "The Man Eating His Heart Out," which personified loneliness; a second, "Oedipus Tearing His Eyes Out," and a third, "The Thief on the Cross," the latter showing the victim's horrible suffering. Interested in the Gruesome. Discussing this trend of her sculptural work, she said yesterday: 'Since the time I was a child here in Philadelphia, where I was born and have grown up, the gruesome phases of life have interested me. It was not that I searched for it, but simply that it came to mind. I had the habit of imagining the most horrible things and reciting them to my family as if they had actually happened to me. Many times I scared them badly. I suppose there are some who might say that I have a diseased mind.' She laughed heartily at this, and then told of a thought that occurred to her a few days ago with much relish as recalling her youthful fancies. 'It grew out of the murder case in New York and the use of the alienist term 'brain storm,'' she said. 'Remembering what awful pictures my mind conjured up at that time, I wondered and sought to answer my own inquiry whether the prisoner of the present trial ever was the victim of such imaginings as filled my childish head.' No member of her family, according to Miss Warrick, ever showed artistic talent, except a sister, who did not pursue her work beyond the initial stages. The young artist lives at 206 South Twelfth street.

Eph1.41.95

"Negro Artist Busy With Historic Task," McGirt's Magazine, vol 5?, May 1907? (Schomburg)

1907