Juneteenth and Beyond at the Huntington

David Drake, Storage Jar, 1862. Collection of Kenneth Fechtner. Photo by Linnea Stephan

The Huntington's Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art has remixed its gallery of stoneware vessels to feature the work of enslaved and free African-Americans. The installation includes vessels made in South Carolina's Edgefield district from the collection of Kenneth Fechtner.

The best-known Edgefield potter is David Drake (1800-1865), who signed his work when literacy was a crime. Drake often included poetic inscriptions. The storage jar here has no rhyme, but its signature and date (Sept. 19, 1862) are portentous enough— a year after the First Battle of Fort Sumter started the Civil War.

Thomas W. Commeraw, Jug, about 1797-1819. Collection of Jonathan and Karin Fielding

Thomas W. Commeraw (1771-1823) may have been the first Black American to own a pottery firm. Enslaved by a German-American potter, Commeraw was set free in the latter's will. Commeraw's prominently branded pots were made in Corlears Hook, New York—Manhattan near today's Williamsburg Bridge. 

Unknown (Thomas J. Davies Palmetto Pottery and Fire Brick Company), Face Jug, about 1862-65. Collection of Kenneth Fechtner

Face jugs blend African and European conceptions of caricature and masquerade. This small example is from the Thomas J. Davies Palmetto Pottery and Fire Brick Company, which otherwise produced simple, undecorated wares for Confederate hospitals.

Also in the Huntington's American rooms is a child's desk from 18th century Connecticut or the Hudson River Valley. Made of red-painted white pine, it's a sampler of various types of carved decoration. The enclosed interior is said to retain scribbles from generations of schoolchildren.

The desk is shown with a child's chair (maybe from c. 1800 Pennsylvania) and an amazing Portrait of a Young Boy by Sheldon Peck. The label notes: "There is something uncanny about the knowing gaze of this boy, dressed stiffly in a gray suit, who clutches his schoolroom slate. His piercing stare, pursed mouth, and the scar on his forehead suggest there is more to his story." 

Peck, whose art is prized for its folk candor, was an abolitionist whose Illinois home was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Child's Desk, 1730-50. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, purchased with funds from Jonathan and Karin Fielding

Sheldon Peck, Portrait of a Young Boy, about 1830. Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection

Nari Ward, Anchoring Escapement: Baule, 2018. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

There's an Underground Railroad theme in a contemporary work by Nari Ward, Anchoring Escapement: Baule (2018). The face and hands of a grandfather clock have been replaced with copper nails forming a diamond pattern of "breathing holes," similar to those in the floorboards of the First African Baptist Church, Savannah. The design provided ventilation for those escaping slavery.  

Anchoring Escapement: Baule was offered by Lehmann Maupin at the 2022 Frieze Los Angeles and was acquired by the Huntington last year.