Self Defense
George Henry Yewell
American, 1830–1923

Details
Title
Self Defense
Artist/Maker
George Henry Yewell (American, 1830–1923)
Date
1854
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
21 1/2 x 17 1/4 inches
Credit
Purchase through funds provided by patrons of Collectors Evening 2013
Accession #
2013.3
In Self Defense, a boy prepares a snowball, likely in response to one just launched at him. Yet the painting is not just of child’s play. In the background are advertisements for a notorious lottery scheme, a lowbrow musical rabble rouser, and an announcement for a performance of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the first staging of the play based on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s controversial book. As the boy defends himself against a faceless aggressor, Yewell hints that his viewers must brace themselves in an age of predatory schemers and rising political tension.
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