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Maquette for "Swing Low"
200722 1/16 x 12 3/16 x 24 in. (56.1 x 31 x 61 cm)
Alison Saar
United States
Object Type:
Sculpture
Medium and Support:
Bronze
Credit Line:
Maurice R. and Maxine B. Forman Fund
Accession Number:
2008.15
Location: Currently on view
Edition: 4/9
Take some time to look at this figure of a woman. Don’t miss the roots that she trails behind her and the faces and objects that are scattered on her skirt. This is a portrait sculpture of Harriet Tubman, the heroic woman who escaped from slavery and yet returned to the South between 1849 and 1860 to lead over seventy slaves to freedom. In later years, she worked alongside Susan B. Anthony to advance women’s right to vote.
Artist Alison Saar was commissioned to create a public sculpture of Tubman for a park at 122nd Street in New York City. MAG’s work is a maquette, or a smaller version. Saar represented Harriet Tubman as a person of great determination and strength, and positioned her as an oncoming train because of her reputation as “the Moses of the Underground Railroad”. Even her petticoat resembles a train’s cowcatcher, pushing aside all obstacles in its path. Roots signify Tubman’s efforts to uproot slavery, and the uprootedness of the slaves who had to leave everything behind. “Swing Low” is a Negro spiritual said to be one of Tubman’s favorites.
[Gallery label, 2008]
Artist Alison Saar was commissioned to create a public sculpture of Tubman for a park at 122nd Street in New York City. MAG’s work is a maquette, or a smaller version. Saar represented Harriet Tubman as a person of great determination and strength, and positioned her as an oncoming train because of her reputation as “the Moses of the Underground Railroad”. Even her petticoat resembles a train’s cowcatcher, pushing aside all obstacles in its path. Roots signify Tubman’s efforts to uproot slavery, and the uprootedness of the slaves who had to leave everything behind. “Swing Low” is a Negro spiritual said to be one of Tubman’s favorites.
[Gallery label, 2008]
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Additional Images
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Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- MAGazine. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery
- Memorial Art Gallery. ARTiculate. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2000--.
- Article Author: Williams, Timothy. Article Title: Why is Harriet Tubman Facing South?. Article Scope: Article. New York Times. New York, NY: New York Times, 1857-. Issue Date: November 13, 2008.
- Sculpture. Washington, DC: International Sculpture Center
- Women Artists at the Memorial Art Gallery. Rochester, NY: Susan B. Anthony Center, University of Rochester, 2017.
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Web Links
See links to web pages and lesson plans
Frederick Douglass
MAG webpage with links to Frederick Douglass and African-American experience resources at MAG
Swing Low : Harriet Tubman Sculpture Dedication
Video of dedication of installation of another maquette of this sculpture at Scripps College.