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Vanishing Act

Employing the deceptively traditional print medium of etching (most readily associated with European masters such as Rembrandt), the African American artist Kara Walker loads images set in the Civil War era with grotesque stereotypes and elements of violence that force us to confront the legacy of racism in America. Vanishing Act evokes the racial masquerade of minstrel shows; in Cotton, the South’s main crop becomes a kind of trampoline buffeting the body of a young black woman.


• Artist: Kara Walker, American, born 1969
• Medium: Black ink etching and aquatint on bright white, thick, moderately textured wove paper
• Dates: 1997
• Dimensions: Sheet: 18 x 15 in. (45.7 x 38.1 cm) Image: 11 3/4 x 8 13/16 in. (29.8 x 22.4 cm)
• Signature: Signed lower right in pencil: "KW 97"
• Inscriptions: Inscribed lower left in pencil: "30/35"
• Museum Location: This item is not on view
• Accession Number: 1997.80.1
• Credit Line: Emily Winthrop Miles Fund
• Copyright: © Kara Walker
• Image: Overall, 1997.80.1_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007
Kara Walker (American, born 1969). Vanishing Act, 1997. Black ink etching and aquatint on bright white, thick, moderately textured wove paper, Sheet: 18 x 15 in. (45.7 x 38.1 cm) Image: 11 3/4 x 8 13/16 in. (29.8 x 22.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Emily Winthrop Miles Fund, 1997.80.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1997.80.1_PS1.jpg)