Prince Demah and the Profession of Portrait Painting
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New Perspectives on Portraiture: “Prince Demah and the Profession of Portrait Painting” by Jennifer Van Horn From the Edgar P. Richardson Symposium: New Perspectives on Portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery, Sept. 20, and Sept. 21, 2018 Day 1, Session 1: Materiality and the Profession of Portraiture Jennifer Van Horn Assistant Professor of Art History and History, University of Delaware “Prince Demah and the Profession of Portrait Painting” In “Prince Demah and the Profession of Portrait Painting”, we hear the story of the enslaved artist Prince Demah, who was active in Boston at the end of the 18th century. The merchants who owned Demah billed his talent as an oddity, where witnessing his act of painting was as much a draw as the works themselves. Despite this dehumanizing description of his work, Demah’s presence in the art world destabilized social norms in a daring way. Dr. Van Horn investigates not only the contradictions in his training, but the unique position granted to him by the artist’s seat.