Private Law and Order Leagues (study for medallion, Medals for Dishonor series)
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@ Smithsonian American Art Museum
Description
In the mid-1930s, Smith began drawings for a series of fifteen relief sculptures he called “Medals for Dishonor,” an ironic reference to the nation’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor. Smith believed that groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the German-American Bund, a pro-Nazi organization, represented fascism in America. In the background of this study, KKK hats mimicking mountains surround a lynching tree, while a cross transforms into a swastika. Although a central theme of this series is women as victims of physical aggression, they do not escape indictment. With her hatchet, Carrie Nation represents the self-righteous zealotry of bigots. Strewn with references to the “wild West,” this vision portrays the horrors of vigilante justice in the guise of law and order.Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009
Image
Felt Tipped Pen And Ink (From Verso) And Pen And Ink On Paper
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Olin Dows
Record Contributed By
Smithsonian American Art MuseumRecord Harvested From
Smithsonian InstitutionKeywords
- African Americans
- Allegory
- Black History
- Civic
- Death
- Execution
- Figure Group
- Flag
- Flags
- Government
- History
- Injustice
- Object
- Other
- Smith, David
- State Of Being
- Study
- United States