The Horse Shed Stakes, Free for All

The late nineteenth-century Darktown prints by Currier & Ives depict racist stereotypes that are offensive and disturbing. The Metropolitan Museum of Art preserves such works to shed light on their historical context and to enable the study and evaluation of racism.

In this scene at a harness-racing track, a horse pulling a four-wheeled cart driven by a white man (wearing a long coat and top hat) approach from the right. Surrounding him, eleven caricatured Black (African-American) men -- all wearing unusual caps--compete chaotically to offer their stablehand services. Two men are on the cart flanking the driver as they jostle for his attention, while another runs alongside. At center, five stablehands are on either side of the horse grabbings its reins. Nearby, two men are on the ground in a heap after colliding. At lower right, a rotund man wearing a conical hat --his right hand holding a wisk broom and his left hand on his stomach--stands in amazement as he looks at the commotion. A wisk broom is on the ground --below Thomas Worth's signature (lower left). In the background, three harness racers are racing around the track. Shown in profile in the far right middleground (next to a hexagonal sructure that constitutes part of the entry gate), a white bearded man (wearing a top hat) stands holding a pad of paper and pencil.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907. The artist of this print is Thomas Worth, a prolific nineteenth-century illustrator who excelled at drawing horses and other subjects, many of which were made into lithographs published by Currier & Ives.