(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION) Carte de visite portrait of Sojourne

Sale 2471 - Lot 48

Price Realized: $ 5,500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

"I SELL THE SHADOW TO SUPPORT THE SUBSTANCE" (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Carte-de-visite portrait of Sojourner Truth. Albumen photograph, 3 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches, on original printed mount with caption on recto and her copyright imprint on verso; mount cropped to photo at top edge; crisp and clean image. Michigan, circa 1864-65

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Sojourner Truth (circa 1797-1883) escaped from slavery in 1826 and became one of the most influential orators of the abolitionist movement. She produced and copyrighted a series of carte-de-visite portraits in various poses to support her work--and to maintain control over her image. This seems to have been her favorite portrait, as it appears on a variety of different mounts and was used as the basis for the engraved frontispiece of her 1875 autobiography. Grigsby, Enduring Truths: Sojourner's Shadows and Substance, pages 43, 73-76 and image 55a (this mount).