Old Kentucky Home

E85299

Old Kentucky Home, originally titled "Negro Life at the South," is an 1859 genre painting by Eastman Johnson depicting African American domestic life in Washington, D.C., often noted for its complex portrayal of race and slavery before the Civil War.


Statements (40)
Predicate Object
instanceOf genre painting
painting
alsoKnownAs Negro Life at the South
artForm oil painting
artHistoricalContext pre–Civil War American art
colorPalette earth tones
countryOfOrigin United States
creator Eastman Johnson
depicts African American domestic life
a backyard scene
a dilapidated house
a mixed‑race woman
a white visitor
children playing
enslaved African Americans
music making
depictsEthnicGroup African Americans
white Americans
depictsPlace backyard of a house in Washington, D.C.
depictsTime antebellum period
genre American realism
hasAuthor Eastman Johnson
hasHistoricalPeriod 19th century
hasPart clothesline
crumbling brick wall
domestic animals
figures gathered in a yard
musical instruments
hasTitle Old Kentucky Home
inception 1859
influencedBy American debates over slavery
languageOfTitle English
locationOfCreation Washington, D.C.
mainSubject everyday life of African Americans
race relations in the antebellum South
slavery in the United States
movement American genre painting
notableFor ambiguous social commentary
complex portrayal of race and slavery before the American Civil War
originalTitle Negro Life at the South

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Negro Life at the South
alsoKnownAs
Old Kentucky Home
hasTitle

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