Joe, the Cannibal c. 1937

Edward Strzalkowski made this watercolor and graphite drawing of a marionette. It's rendered with great attention to detail, from the glossy black of the face and hands to the carefully delineated fringe of the character’s leather skirt. While seemingly traditional, the drawing is far from conventional. Strzalkowski does not depict a heroic figure, nor does he draw from conventional portraiture. Instead, he presents a disturbing and stereotypical representation of a Black man as a puppet. The artist clearly had skills as a draughtsman, but he applied these to a truly troubling image, demonstrating how technical facility can be put in service of racist caricature. The visual culture of the 19th and 20th centuries was rife with such negative imagery. By considering the labor and skill involved in creating this image alongside its abhorrent content, we can better understand the pervasiveness of racism in that era, and perhaps in our own.