"Look!" He Cried, "And Bless the Sight, For that Scar was Won by a..."
"That Scar Was Won by a Slave": A Unique Piece of Illustration Art Kemble, E[dward] W[indsor] [1861-1933]. "Look!" He Cried, "And Bless the Sight, For that Scar was Won by a Slave." [New York], September 1887. Attractively glazed and matted 10-1/2" x 8-1/2" (26.7 x 21.6 cm) pen-and-ink drawing in handsome 16" x 14-1/2" (40.6 x 36.8 cm) wooden frame. A few minor nicks and scratches to frame, a few tiny spots to matte, light uniform toning to image. Overall a crisp, well-preserved piece of original late 19th-century American illustration art. $1,850 * This striking, emotionally charged drawing was executed as an illustration for "De Valley an' de Shadder," a short story by Macon, Georgia author Harry Stilwell Edwards (1855-1938). It was first published in The Century Magazine (January 1888, p. 476) and later reprinted in Edwards' collection Two Runaways and Other Stories (New York: Century Co., 1889, opposite p. 192, where it bears the variant caption, "See, If I Speak Not the Truth!"). While both Edwards' prose and Kemble's illustrations frequently relied on the paternalistic and racial stereotypes standard for Southern literature of the Reconstruction era, Kemble-famed as the original illustrator of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-frequently injected a depth of humanity into his subjects that contrasted with the stock-caricatures of his contemporaries. "Look!" He Cried captures the dramatic climax of the story. In a packed courtroom, General Robert Thomas defends a former slave, Ben Thomas, who stands accused of murdering a vicious local antagonist. To prove Ben's honorable character, the General aggressively bares the defendant's chest to reveal a massive scar-sustained at Gettysburg during Pickett's Charge, when Ben braved battlefield fire to carry the body of his slain master (the General's brother) to safety. Edwards' text captures the exact moment Kemble illustrates: "See if I speak not the truth!" He tore open the prisoner's shirt and laid bare his breast, on which the silent splendor of the afternoon sun streamed. A great ragged seam marked it from left to right. "Look!" he cried, "and bless the sight, for that scar was won by a slave in an hour that tried the souls of freemen and put to its highest test the best manhood of the South." A powerful and visually arresting piece by one of America's fore.
Price: $1,850.00
Book number 69145