Stephen Marc's untitled work is shown as part of the discussion of the Underground Railroad.

A list of events outside the Fredericksburg area, including Northern Virginia, Richmond, Washington and elsewhere.

By PEGGY CARLSON

Date published: 2/14/2008

By PEGGY CARLSON

"At one time there were those who saw slavery and the American plantation as grains of sand around which pearls formed, a luminous jewel of a society that was diverse, just and transcendent. However, the reality of American life is that the plantation was, and remains, an open sore. It continues to sting and stain the society in which it grew."

--Excerpt from "Landscape of Slavery"

My enthusiasm at the chance to review "Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art" was doubled when I learned that accompanying art would be exhibited at the University of Virginia Art Museum in Charlottesville.

The book--edited by Angela D. Mack and Stephen G. Hoffius--is the perfect fusion of art and history on two topics fraught with contradictions since America's beginnings.

Does the word "plantation" bring to mind a large home on beautifully landscaped grounds with the master and his family on the front porch--or the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of enslaved Americans who labored to maintain the plantation and serve the master?

These and other complex issues are presented in this splendid analysis of interpretive response to the plantation--and slavery--in American society.

An entire chapter is dedicated to Mount Vernon: "The Most Famous Plantation of All" deals with the political ebb and flow of connecting Mount Vernon and George Washington with slavery.

Another chapter looks at the plantation in early 20th-century art, with works by Winslow Homer, Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, Thomas Hart Benton and others.

Particularly interesting is the writing on Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind," highlighting the differences in Mitchell's written description of Tara and the screen version that emerged from David O. Selznick's film.

The author notes that "In one publishing blitz and Technicolor fantasy, the complex and troubling truths of plantations were whitewashed with historical romance."

Illustrations from "Uncle Tom's Cabin"; the influence of the 18th-century English landscape tradition in related art; and the importance of slave cabins, grave markers and quilts as "spaces of blackness" also are discussed.

This book will appeal to readers interested in American art, to those interested in American history and to those interested in the study of race relations in America.

Peggy Carlson: 540/374-5400
Email: pcarlson@freelancestar.com

WHAT: "Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art" WHEN: Through April 20, Tuesdays through Sundays, 1-5 p.m. WHERE: University of Virginia Art Museum, 155 Rugby Road, Charlottesville DETAILS: Exhibit items include more than 75 paintings, quilts, fans, pottery, photographs, lithographs, collage, pen-and-ink, linocut on paper and more. A series of informal lunchtime gallery talks will be held at the museum March 12 and 18, April 9 and 16, at 1 p.m. INFO: 434/924-3592 or visit virginia.edu/artmuseum.

Date published: 2/14/2008