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anti_co_onialism_in_africa

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Art in the Colonial Project
Art in the colonial project
Art played a significant role in the colonial project because of the nature of what was being
depicted. Paintings such as the one done by Barker, show a striking image of the times and the
underlying meaning being shown through the characters. Certainly it is an image that could stir
strong emotion for parties of both sides of the situation.
Looking at the painting done by Thomas Jones Barker it is plainly obvious in the positioning of
the people where the power lied within the situation. The image shows the African chief kneeling
before the queen accepting a bible. This is a very accurate depiction of the circumstances at the
time. A Victorian seeing this image would easily be assured of who was in charge at the time.
The suggestion would be that the British Empire were spreading their ways among those who
were less, and that the opposition was obliged to accept the better British ways.
I would not think it would be an easy image by any stretch of the imagination for a Victorian to
imagine the positions in the painting swapped. Because the British were so founded in the idea
that their ways were better, and that it was their job to educate the rest of the world on how to be
as good as they were, a Victorian would have no reason to imagine such a thing. It is notable that
the British people were a proud people and it is not too often proud people put themselves in
positions where they can imagine being the little man in the situation. The idea that the rest of
the world needed saving by the British ideas probably made the idea that the Queen would ever
kneel to an African chief laughable.
The Queen would have been a familiar source of imperialism because she was the face that
others saw to make the decisions. She was far and wide the ruler and the symbol of authority.
Aside from the obvious title, the Queen was depicted everywhere. Her face was on money, her
name on seals of political demands, and her presence was felt wherever the British forces were to
be found. In Barker’s painting there are many men in the room, both behind her and across from
her, seemingly overseeing the exchange. Even with the strong masculine presence in the painting
she is the strong center object of the portrait.
The inferiority of the African in this picture is visually produced in both his posture and costume.
His posture shows him not making eye contact and obviously in a lower position than that of the
queen accepting her exchange. By his positioning, even a glance at this portrait portrays who
held the power in the room. His costume shows his inferiority because of the lack of polish in
comparison to the clothing worn by the queen as well as the rest of the room. Even the other
members of the exchange are standing and appear to be wearing fine tailored clothing. This
suggests that even though he was royalty among his people, he was clearly not “cut from the
same cloth” in this situation.
I would say this painting does correspond to the themes from this week because is correlates to
the ideas introduced in the scramble for Africa. In that discussion we spoke of the British and
other nations rushing to colonize and pass on their ways to the natives of those areas. In this case

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Art in the Colonial Project Art in the colonial project Art played a significant role in the colonial project because of the nature of what was being depicted. Paintings such as the one done by Barker, show a striking image of the times and the underlying meaning being shown through the characters. Certainly it is an image that could stir strong emotion for parties of both sides of the situation. Looking at the painting done by Thomas Jones Barker it is plainly obvious in the positioning of the people where the power lied within the situation. The image shows the African chief kneeling be ...
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