Cast Iron Dobbie: Jockey c. 1939

Paul Poffinbarger made this watercolor drawing of a cast iron lawn ornament called "Cast Iron Dobbie: Jockey." These figures have a complicated history. In the Jim Crow south, white families would often place them on their lawns as a status symbol, evoking the history of enslaved African-Americans who served as stable boys and horse handlers. Their exaggerated features perpetuated racist stereotypes, but some African-Americans embraced the statues as symbols of pride and resistance. Whether Poffinbarger's image critiques these symbols, or reproduces them, is unclear without knowing the specific cultural context in which it was made. Historians can use many resources, from census data, to business records, to publications of the time, to better understand an artwork like this. It’s up to us to look at these sources and understand the changing role of art within its social and institutional contexts.