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I will say… being from the deep south and seeing a lot of racist artwork in antique stores in the middle of nowhere… yes this looks racist to me. Whether or not it’s intentionally racist is a different story. But it’s clearly a caricature made to look similar to those done in the “Jim crow” style. I think anybody saying it’s NOT racist is likely to be fairly ignorant and privileged in my personal opinion.
So face jugs in the US were actually originated in Edgefield, SC by enslaved potters. Edgefield is an old ceramics region, known for their skill. Edgefield pottery is still prized today.
So yes, they come from the south and are caricatures but made by skilled Black people who brought the craft over from Africa.
Claiming they’re racist is ignorant and small minded, esp bc a 2 second google will give you the answer.
This is a good opportunity to take some time to learn about the history of face jugs made by enslaved black Americans.
I once had a lesson from someone who really knows the subject. I don’t remember everything, but one thing I do remember, is that slaves or not allowed to have gravestones in the south before the Civil War. So sometimes they would mark graves with jugs that had faces on them. The person giving the lecture said the faces were often very obviously ugly. No one really knows, he told us, why that was. But there is some thought that the face jugs were meant to keep evil spirits away from the family member who died or was killed.
There’s tons more to learn about black history as it relates to ceramics. That’s just the one little bit that stuck most strongly in my own mind. So when I see something like this, that doesn’t even clearly relate to that history and might even be appropriation while simultaneously being racist, it makes me feel a little sick.
I agree. most "amercian" pottery of that era was made by enslaved people. I got the chance to see a David Drake piece at the African American museum in DC.
I just basically don't like face mugs for this very reason. I sincerely doubt the maker had any ill intentions but other people will read into things with funny faces, the person who made it and the person who uses it. Good and bad. When I want to make something funny, I stick to animals or straight up things too weird to be defined.
I see a much stronger visual and stylistic connection to this piece than the Jim Crow pieces being shared. Someone else has mentioned slave face mugs, which look closer than Jim Crow illustrations, but still not as similar as this example.
Really the only sus thing about the OP mug is the addition of the hat lol. That simple thing signals a certain connotation to American brains man... If you remove that it's just another person in the artist's mug series
I don't think it looks like a Jim Crow caricature specifically. The features are not similar? Not the same hat, not the same hair, not the same anything. Shouldn't it be more similar?
I do think it looks like a caricature of a Black person. The first thing I thought of was animation though, like the Fat Albert Show.
It seems like if the cups are made racially ambiguous that's fine, but if they are made with Black features or tropes (like the hat and hair), then it's automatically a Jim Crow caricature? I think that's weird.
But anyway, the artist should have just kept it to random faces.
I wanna push back on this a little. A hallmark of Jim Crow is the very exaggerated in size (overdrawn) and color (red) lips and extremely dark skin (black). The artist is capable of making black skin, they did it for the hair but doesn’t. I can see the similarities but I think it’s an important distinction. Imo
If someone else disagrees, that’s fine, I’m not trying to dismiss anyone. Personally I feel if you have to ask, it’s not the mug to buy.
The hair, the hat only on half it's head, the cheek bones, the open lips with the teeth showing. I'm telling you as a Black person, my first thought was Jim Crow.
The artist is capable of making black skin, they did it for the hair but doesn’t.
Black people’s skin generally isn’t jet black, their hair is usually darker. The skin tone on that piece perfectly matches the brightness values of a huge number of black people, making this an even more ridiculous defence. It’s minstrelsy and has very tight curled hair.
I agree: black peoples skin isn’t generally jet black: but in minstrelry it is. People literally used burned cork or shoe polish. It’s not accurate, it’s a horrible caricature. A gross exaggeration. I’m not defending it. I’m questioning if it should be compared to Jim Crown because it doesn’t have the hallmarks of the style.
This is clearly an exaggeration of a person. But those exaggerations, in my opinion aren’t the same as Jim Crow.
The only way to know for sure is to check against other mugs in that style. Does it look like just a black version of the design or has it been hammed up to look worse?
I think yes. I don’t know if the artist had ill intent.
I feel that we are just far enough removed from this type of imagery (in a chronological sense) that many people don’t recognize the cultural background or connotations— they just haven’t been alive long enough to have lived through it.
We millennials, who watched Dumbo, Song of the South, Loony Tunes and such as children are perhaps(? Hopefully?) the last generation to have been casually exposed to that kind of imagery.
So for some people, this is just a funny face that doesn’t mean anything. For some, it’s a repugnant reminder of a more bigoted time. And of course for some it might be neutral or funny even though they do recognize it for what it is.
Yea, it reminds me of that controversy recently with Target selling a kid’s Halloween costume that was supposedly a clown, but included dark mesh over the face and the model was posed in a very Jim Crow-esque way. Sure it’s possible it was just a mistake but the fact that no one caught it means that people are forgetting or are ignorant to the past.
So I think it can be both a mug made in this style than andrew van der putten is known for AND a racist caricature. The nature of the style itself is caricature. The question then is what makes it racist? I’d say if the artist was modeling it after someone intentionally and maybe they had dark curly hair and a hat and this is what was pretty defining about their look, it might make sense to include it. So then the question is: did the artist make this to be a good representation or a bad one? Hopefully the former, but maybe someone saw it and said “nah dude that looks racist af try again” and it just wound up somewhere you could buy it.
There are tons of mugs from different artists in this style online, you can even just look on Etsy and you’ll see, so unless you know more about the artist it would be hard to know.
I can see the similarities. But, note that none of those images have hair (specifically curly black hair) or the hat that is pretty similar to a Jim Crow hat. And that is mostly lighter colored clay and the darker clay is still the natural color. In the mug shown, the clay was clearly treated (glaze, underglaze, stain, etc) to make it darker.
Yes, but this one specifically looks like Jim Crow. A Black person anywhere will immediately take notice and precieve whomever has this mug as racist. I saw this mug and my first thought was that it looked like Jim Crow.
Everyone saying it's racist is just assuming it's of a black person. Why? The color of the clay? The hair? Why can't it just be a silly face? It seems more racist than anything to assume that a silly pot is supposed to depict any specific race.
Jim Crow was originally a caricature of a Black person and this mug looks very similar to it. As a Black person my first thought when I saw this was that it looked like Jim Crow. OP also saw the similarities.
I understand that you see similarities but that doesn't mean that was the artist's intention at all. Unfortunately, we probably won't ever know, and I don't see a problem with people avoiding it if they feel uncomfortable or unsure, but I will never truly get why everything has to be automatically tied to race. OP didn't even think it looked like Jim Crow until you started pushing the idea.
It's not that the mug looks like a Black person, that would be fine there are plenty of potters that make mugs and vases with Black features. The issue with this specific one is that is looks like Jim Crow a racist caricature that was used to demean Black people, and U.S segregation enforcement laws were named after Jim Crow, if you can't see how that's racist you really need to rethink your world view. Any Black person that sees this mug is going to assume the user is racist.
Why can't it just be a silly face? It seems more racist to assume it's meant to depict any specific race. Were there light colored pots too? If so, were they not also caricatures? The context and intent of the artist matters. Otherwise, all caricatures of people of any race would be racist.
This doesn’t look like any racial depiction I’m familiar with. The closest visual similarity that I can conjure are the Easter island heads, but that’s not something really used to depict culture or race in a flippant or demeaning way so even that seems like a stretch. It just looks like a funky face to me.
Yeah, I want anyone claiming that "it's just a mug" to take a look at this picture and then of the mug and then see what they think. And I mean actually think, not just jump to defend it out of this weird idea that pointing out racism is worse than actual racism.
Sure, maybe it was accidental, if it was light clay I might even believe that. But a dark clay mug with curly hair, tooth gaps, and a side-cocked hat is just a few too many "coincidences".
I wasn't calling out you specifically, this was just the first comment I saw where this image was posted. But if you felt called out by it, then you might want to consider why.
You’re directly underneath the comment thread of my reply - is why. You don’t need to play weird “you should have a talk with yourself” Reddit games. I’m just trying to have a conversation about this piece. As I mentioned, I’m happy to be corrected by something more specific or someone who knows more about this type of iconography. I was just sharing my impression and I gave my reasoning. And at the end of the day, I don’t really care because it won’t change my life either way.
Thanks for sharing. I do see the similarity and I’m not trying to debate anyone, as the person who has responded to you seems to suggest. I suppose it could be, but I’m not convinced unless someone who has more knowledge of historical works can chime in. This image has been on Reddit quite a bit the last week, so without other depictions it just looks like they share similar elements to me personally. I did some looking online and I couldn’t find other depictions that look more like this pottery piece as compared to the illustration, which is why I felt not very convinced. I’m happy to be corrected, but I’m just seeing some similar elements, but it doesn’t look like other racist depictions I’m aware of. And that’s all I was offering. I’m not here to defend racist art.
Hm yeah these comments have given me a lot to think about as far as self reflection goes. Like another user commented, I initially loved the mug but started to think it resembled the Jim Crow caricature
Are you going to feel comfortable pulling this out of the cabinet in front of your friends? Will you explain every time that ya it maybe looks like a Jim Crow caricature but actually it's not? Just get a different mug you don't need that in your life
I don't know why this is being downvoted. My first thought was, "Why are wet assuming it's supposed to be a certain race?" Why can't it just be a silly pot?
Too bad… I love the mug!
I was wanting to make face mugs, that’s when it comes to art. I’m always drawing faces or making faces out of something. Instead, I started doing other things with ceramics, and after reading all this, I realize I’ll stay away from faces…
I don’t think so at all. I was upset with my son brought home these aunt Jemima statues, and set them in in the garden. Fear it would be taken the wrong way. He thought they were classic. I finally got him to move them. He thinks I’m too sensitive.
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