{"id":402,"date":"2025-11-28T20:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/?page_id=402"},"modified":"2025-11-28T21:12:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T21:12:17","slug":"banjo-in-art","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/?page_id=402","title":{"rendered":"Banjo in Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Warning: Some of these artworks contain racist caricatures of black people or depict white minstrel performers in blackface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This book entry by Hans Sloane is considered the first ever written and illustrated mention of the banjo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Henry Ossawa Tanner’s 1893 oil painting, “The Banjo Lesson<\/em>“<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jimmy Lee Sudduth’s 1986 mud painting, “Self-Portrait with Banjo”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mary Cassatt’s 1893 print, also titled “The Banjo Lesson”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nicolino Calyo’s 1835 watercolor painting, “Negro Dancer and Banjo Player”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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William Sidney Mount’s 1856 painting, “Banjo Player.” Notably, this painting marks a turn from Mount’s earlier works that depicted Black people in very stereotypical and racist ways.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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D. Morrill’s 1860 painting, “Minstrel Banjo Player,” which depicts a minstrel performer who is presumably a white man in blackface.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Charles Hunt’s 1873 painting, “The Minstrel Show,” which clearly features four white boys in blackface.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Image Citations<\/summary>\n

Blount, Jake. \u201cJail the Zombie: Black Banjoists, Biopolitics, and Archives.\u201d Modern American History<\/em> 7, no. 2 (2024): 301\u20136. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/mah.2024.30<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khalid, Farisa. \u201cHenry Ossawa Tanner, The Banjo Lesson.\u201d September 9, 2016. Accessed September 19, 2025. https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/tanner-banjo\/<\/a>. 

\u200cLee Sudduth, Jimmy. n.d. Self-Portrait with Banjo <\/em>Mixed media: mud, paint, and vegetable matter on board. Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection<\/em>. Accessed October 16, 2025. https:\/\/www.si.edu\/object\/self-portrait-banjo:saam_1997.124.40.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926). The Banjo Lesson<\/em>. c. 1893. Drypoint and aquatint in color on pale blue-green laid paper (with monotype inking), Plate: 11 11\/16 x 9 3\/8 in. (29.7 x 23.8 cm) Sheet: 16 x 10 3\/8 in. (40.6 x 26.4 cm) Mat: 19 9\/16 x 16 1\/2 in. (49.7 x 41.9 cm). Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection. https:\/\/jstor.org\/stable\/community.18127610<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calyo, Nicolino, 1799-1884. Negro Dancer and Banjo Player<\/em>. 1835. Watercolor, 10×14″. https:\/\/jstor.org\/stable\/community.13586570<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mount, William Sidney, 1807-1868. Banjo Player<\/em>. 1856. Suffolk Museum. https:\/\/jstor.org\/stable\/community.13710188<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D. MORRILL (act. ca. 1860), artist. Painting. Minstrel Banjo Player.<\/em> 1860. Oil; Support: Canvas, Height: 59.7 cm (23 1\/2 in); Width: 48.3 cm (19 in). HARTFORD (CT), Wadsworth Atheneum, Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection. https:\/\/jstor.org\/stable\/community.14773833<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HUNT Charles (1803–1877), artist. Painting. The Minstrel Show.<\/em> [18]73. Oil; Support: Canvas., Height: 61 cm. (24 in.).; Width: 91.5 cm. (36 in.). https:\/\/jstor.org\/stable\/community.14777041<\/a>.


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Warning: Some of these artworks contain racist caricatures of black people or depict white minstrel performers in blackface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-402","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":433,"href":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/402\/revisions\/433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyoftech.mcclurken.org\/americanbanjo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}