A Surinam Planter in his Morning Dress, plate 10 from the book Narrative of a Five Year's Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam in Guina ... from the year 1772 to 1777 by Captain J.G. Stedman,

printed December 2, 1793

<p>John Gabriel Stedman commissioned the more radical William Blake to depict what he saw on his five-year trip to Suriname. A Surinam Planter in his Morning Dress reveals the ways in which Blake employed visual tropes about power and dominance as they relate to race. This etching depicts what we have come to think of as “normal” plantation life. The planter stands tall, nobly regarding his surroundings. This portrayal accentuates his status and life of leisure. Further, Blake’s use of size unnaturally foregrounds and centers the white male planter, giving us the impression that he is the primary subject of the etching. However, the planter does not tell the full story. Blake’s depiction of the slave woman’s attire and posture subjugates her and fixes her in the motion of labor. We see this in the black female slave’s gaze and positioning. Her positionality foregrounds and centers the white male planter because she is looking to him and for him. Although she is a “subject,” she is not the subject. In a variety of ways, Blake expended more labor constructing whiteness than he did blackness. All of this occurs with the miniscule St. Paul’s church in the background, implying that the institution of the church further augmented the planter’s power. </p> <p><strong>Imani Noelle Ford, Class of 2018<br></strong><br></p>

<p><em>A Surinam Planter in his Morning Dress</em> is the etching by William Blake from John Gabriel Stedman’s <em>Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam</em> that appears in this exhibition. Like <a href="#"><em>A Negro hung alive by the Ribs to a Gallows</em></a>, this etching is based on a drawing by Stedman. According to Stedman, this image depicts the planter taking his morning walk, just after eating breakfast, and overseeing his slaves’ whippings. In the narrative, Stedman meticulously describes the planter’s attire. It would seem that his attire—like his stature in the etching—was integral to Blake’s portrayal of the planter’s power.<br></p> <p>Although the artist etched the black female slave as she approaches her master with his morning wine, Blake’s detailed drawing of the planter gives the impression that he is the primary subject. The planter stands tall and centered as he nobly regards his surroundings. He is exquisitely dressed in his morning trousers, wide-brimmed, ribboned straw hat, ruffled morning shirt, and longline morning coat, accentuating his status and life of leisure. Interestingly, these etchings were heavily disseminated to showcase slavery’s brutality. However, this version, and other variations of this particular etching, both recreates and reinforces the white male planter’s power and status. </p> <p><strong><em>Imani Noelle Ford, Class of 2018</em></strong></p>