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Photography by Dwight Primiano

An Old Roadway

An African American woman traveling alone with a walking stick and pack on her shoulder encounters a young boy tending sheep. Where is the woman going? Or perhaps more telling, where has she been? The scene evokes the migration of Blacks from the South after the end of Reconstruction in 1877. It also reminds viewers of slaves fleeing bondage before and during the Civil War along networks such as the Underground Railroad.

ArtistGeorge Inness(1825-1894)
Dateca. 1880
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions56 1/2 x 80 1/2 x 3 in.
Signedl.l.: G. Inness
Credit LinePromised Gift to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
ClassificationPainting
On ViewNo
An Old Roadway56.5 × 80.5 in.Standard/Movie Poster40 × 27 in.

This artwork's face covers about 4.2× the area of a standard movie poster.Drawn to the same scale.

An Old Roadway by George Inness | Crystal Bridges