Black Kitchen Ball
From time to time, festive celebrations punctuated the demanding work routine of slaves’ lives. In this 1838 painting, Kitchen Ball at White Sulphur Springs Virginia, African Americans dance to the music of a fiddle and a fife (on the right). Note the light complexions and Europeanized features of the most prominent figures, the result of either racial mixing or the cultural perspective of the artist. The painter, Christian Mayr, was born in Germany in 1805 and migrated to the United States in 1833. After working for years as a traveling portrait painter, Mayr settled in New York City in 1845 and died there in 1850. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. Purchased with funds from the State of North Carolina.