Image and Identity

At the 2023 David B. Warren Symposium, six scholars examined the diverse cultures influencing art in the nineteenth century within a national and international context. The resulting symposium papers published in this volume focus on "Image and Identity," exploring the ways images that were created in and of Texas, the Lower South and the Southeast constructed, represented, dismantled, or concealed the identity of the people who lived there. Dr. Tiffany Momon explores the Black presence in decorative arts period rooms. Jessica Brit Ingle discusses the work of nineteenth-century women photographers. Dr. Harry J. Shafer examines the culture of the Mimbres, a prehistoric North American people. Dr. Jennifer Van Horn studies the meaning within portraits of slavery. Two emerging scholars offer fresh perspectives: Laura Ochoa Rincon presents the visual and material culture of women in nineteenth-century San Antonio known as the Chili Queens; and Jouette Travis looks at pre-1900 visual representations of Black, brown, and indigenous cowboys in Texas. Extensively illustrated and documented, these papers contribute important new scholarship in the field of American material culture.