The J. Paul Getty Museum

Slaves of General Thomas F. Drayton

Object Details

Title:

Slaves of General Thomas F. Drayton

Artist/Maker:

Henry P. Moore (American, 1835 - 1911)

Culture:

American

Place:

Hilton Head, South Carolina, United States (Place Created)

Date:

about 1862–1863

Medium:

Albumen silver print

Object Number:

84.XM.483.25

Dimensions:

13 × 20.8 cm (5 1/8 × 8 3/16 in.)

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Object Description

This photograph, depicting a large group of slaves, was taken by Henry P. Moore at Hilton Head, South Carolina on the seven-hundred-acre Fish Haul Plantation belonging to Thomas Fenwick Drayton. The plantation was largely dedicated to producing cotton, and fifty-two slaves worked and lived there. Moore's photographs from this period document slaves' living quarters and include images of workers ginning and sorting cotton. This image depicts slaves who were in the process of being freed by the federal government.

Provenance
Provenance
- 1984

Samuel Wagstaff, Jr., American, 1921 - 1987, sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1984.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Grave Testimony: Photographs of the Civil War (January 14 to March 29, 1992)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu), January 14 to March 29, 1992
Hidden Witness: African Americans in Early Photography (February 28 to June 18, 1995)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu), February 28 to June 18, 1995
In Focus: The Worker (November 3, 2009 to March 21, 2010)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), November 3, 2009 to March 21, 2010
The Thrill of the Chase: The Wagstaff Collection of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum (March 15, 2016 to May 7, 2017)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), March 15 to July 31, 2016
  • Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford), September 10 to December 11, 2016
  • Portland Museum of Art (Portland), February 13 to May 7, 2017
Bibliography
Bibliography

Martineau, Paul. The Thrill of the Chase: the Wagstaff collection of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2016), p. 92, pl. 41.