Flute 1860 - 1868

Curator: Let's discuss this elegant piece by Alfred G. Badger, simply entitled "Flute". The photo was captured sometime between 1860 and 1868 and it resides here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Immediately, I’m struck by the cool precision of it, almost detached. The deep blue background makes the silvery metal pop—it feels both futuristic and historical at the same time, like something from a Jules Verne novel. Curator: Indeed, that contrast is significant. Consider that Badger was working during a period of immense technological and social change, right before and after the American Civil War. His crisp focus lends a certain objectivity, even a sense of reverence, to the industrial advancements of the time. We must recognize who had access to these emerging technologies, how they were represented, and whose narratives are silenced as a result. Editor: Hmm, a technological and racial reading is something. I definitely agree about reverence, the guy put it on a pedestal. Like, imagine if it were hanging askew on a wall, next to a broken amplifier... completely changes the read! It might have brought it into today but also ruined the mystery, eh? Curator: The photograph can absolutely be perceived in many divergent manners, yet consider this artwork also highlights the disparity of representation of musical expression among white and black citizens and how even seemingly innocuous objects may tell silent stories of disenfranchisement during that turbulent period in American History. Who were these instruments *really* for, what social aspirations did their owners hold? What did the idea of playing that represent? Editor: Whoa, ok, I dig what you're laying down; this innocent shiny object has some gnarly undertones if you think about it! Music as access, as escape... and who *gets* to escape, right? So good. Curator: Precisely. Seeing it not just as a photograph of a flute, but as a marker of a very complex period of American identity formation invites contemplation, no? Editor: Absolutely, a haunting harmony is in this photograph... Makes me wonder about the flutes unheard, or played in the shadows... Thanks for shedding that light!