Cultivating Fruit and Equality

Between 1848 and 1849, Robert Duncanson painted seven still-life representations of fruit. This attention to fruit was natural given that Duncanson worked in Cincinnati, a hotbed for horticulture in the mid-nineteenth century. The artist’s romance with fruit painting would have also been strategic given that art patrons in Cincinnati doubled as the city’s leading fruit growers. These same patrons were abolitionists and supporters of greater equality for African Americans, thus deepening the interest in fruit paintings by an African American artist. The relevance of fruit cultivation to broader debates about slavery, race, and identity would have further drawn attention to Duncanson’s paintings. This article examines the many ways that fruit served Duncanson and connected him to local networks invested in art, horticulture, and abolition.