Norman Rockwell's "The Banjo Player".
Posted on 12/29/2005 4:27:16 PM PST by Cagey
WASHINGTON -- Consider the evolution of the humble banjo. It morphed from a hollow gourd, strummed by African slaves, into an elegant toy for Victorian society ladies. Later, it grew into one of the mainstays of bluegrass music.
This story is told in a new exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. "Picturing the Banjo" brings together 72 works of art with a sampling of actual instruments.
Among the artists are Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Thomas Hart Benton and William Wegman. Some of the instruments are themselves elaborate works of art, adorned with inlaid designs and carvings of gargoyles, Masonic emblems and discreet nudes.
Richard Norris Brooke's 1881 "A Pastoral Visit" shows a black family serving a meal to a dignified visiting minister. A banjo is prominent in the foreground.
Norman Rockwell's 1926 "The Banjo Player" depicts an old black man playing the banjo while a white boy, rapt, sits on the floor facing him and keeping time with a couple of sticks.
Curator Leo G. Mazow said the calabash, the gourd from which the original instruments were made, was central to west African life. It could serve as a dipper, a bottle, a pipe or even an oar. The hollow gourd was made into a musical instrument by stretching an animal skin tightly over its opening and adding catgut strings.
Thomas Jefferson, in "Notes on Virginia," wrote of slaves, "The instrument proper to them is the Banjar, which they brought hither from Africa."
A poet of Jefferson's time urged slave owners, "Permit the slaves to lead the choral dance, to the wild banshaw's melancholy sound."
"Some people spoke of the horrific noise," Mazow said, "but people hear what they want to hear."
Women of the "gilded age" in the late 1800s used elegant versions of the banjo to show off their musical skills. Society women plucked banjos with more enthusiasm than their granddaughters could summon to strum guitars.
In the 1890s, one company came out with what it called an "electric" banjo. There was nothing electrical about it at all, said Mazow.
"It was just a fancy word," he said, "the same way later ordinary products were described as 'jet' or `atomic' because it sounded up to date."
Earl Scruggs brought the five-string banjo alive on stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Current banjo masters include Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks and jazz-bluegrass instrumentalist Bela Fleck.
The exhibit can be seen in Washington through March 5. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and U.S. military and $4 for students. It will travel to the Palmer Museum in Philadelphia March 30-June 25, and to the Boston Athenaeum July 26-Oct. 21.
Norman Rockwell's "The Banjo Player".
Cool. What do they say about this century's "evolution" into the three-picked, five-string?
Poing
Some years ago when we visited Appomattox Courthouse, VA, there was a historical marker in the area about the banjo being invented there. I've got a picture of that sign here somewhere if I could ever dig through all the cultch in this house and find it.
Uh, excuse me, but I don't care what others say, I know for a fact that the banjo did not evolve, but is the product of Intelligent Design.
You may have to ping Bela Fleck for the answer.
Another cool thing about banjo's is that most banjo players carry a pistol, legal or not. Not sure why that is.
" Lewis, don't play games with these people."
Evolution? Sorry, but I think this is a verifiable case of Intelligent Design!
Wonderful instrument and I am lucky enough to have grown up in the South a good bit to appreciate the sound. The guitarist in me appreciates the hard work if you play the Flatt and Scruggs style. The neighbor in me is glad mine does not have one. Or bagpipes; loud instrument.
Big news day, huh?
Bump for later read!
And have nicknames that are almost as cool as the ones given blues harmonica players. :-)
Ten minutes of great banjo is wonderful.
One hour of any kind of banjo playing is a provocation to go full-auto with an AK-47 on a sidewalk crowded with pedestrians.
I once attended a private party at which almost everyone present was a famous musician playing a traditional instrument. The late John Hartford was there and terrific on banjo but I would have gone Conan on him and everyone else if I hadn't left after an hour.
Count on it.
A: It means the stage is level.
I guess that means you won't be at the Mummer's Day Parade in Philadelphia this weekend?
The pistol comes from meeting people who are not appreciative of boot stomping, hand clappin', righteous music. Don't ask how I know that.
6 string banjo
12 string banjolin
6/12 string guitar
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