Required Reading
This week: the unsolved mystery of an 18th-century portrait, journalists leave X en masse, orcas wear “dead salmon hats,” exorbitant college furniture, a puppy art gallery, and much more.
‣ Historians have long debated the intention behind an 18th-century portrait of Afro-Jamaican scholar Francis Williams, and Fara Dabhoiwala writes about his theory for the London Review of Books:
What difference does it make to know that this picture dates from 1760, rather than two or three decades earlier? Quite a lot. It signifies that we are looking at Francis Williams after David Hume’s vicious, racist attack on him in 1753. Williams would have been acutely aware of that intellectual assault: it could not have been more public. The portrait is a rejoinder to it. It demonstrates that its sitter is indeed a ‘man of parts and learning’ – someone of talent and accomplishment in many fields. It was painted just a few months after his poem to George Haldane, with its eloquent arguments about the nobility of Black people and Black minds, and during the period when Williams knew and interacted with Edward Long, a newly arrived young English planter come to seek his fortune in Jamaica.
What is more, the painting represents Francis Williams, himself a planter and slaveowner, at the time of Tacky’s Revolt, the huge uprising of thousands of enslaved people that convulsed Jamaica in 1760. This image was painted while the island was under martial law, and its planters and their free Black Maroon allies were attempting to put down the largest slave rebellion the British Empire had ever seen. There is no trace of this in the painting. No other figures disturb the composition. Through the window everything is calm. But the knowledge of that bloody context reminds us of everything that is omitted from this view, as from any equivalent 18th-century painting – the ‘dark side of the landscape’, in John Barrell’s evocative phrase.
‣ After over a year of research, curator Eva Namusoke has uncovered some 350,000 African artifacts — and human remains — at Cambridge University, Katy Prickett reports for BBC:
The majority of the artefacts were acquired during British colonisation, some gifted, bought, commissioned or excavated - while others were stolen, confiscated or looted.
The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has a gold necklace from Ghana which is thought to have been looted from Asantehene Kofi Karikari’s palace during the Third Anglo-Asante War of 1873-4, while there are 116 objects linked to the British-led punitive campaign and looting of the Benin Kingdom in 1897, in present-day southern Nigeria.
Dr Namusoke said: "I was prepared to find material like this, as it is the case in a lot of museums around the world."
She said the 19th Century scientific method of collecting and colonisation "went very much hand in hand".
‣ Fifteen trans activists staged a bathroom sit-in at the US capitol in protest of a bill that would bar Sarah McBride, the first Congressperson to publicly identify as trans, from using the women's restroom. Lex McMenamin reports for Teen Vogue:
One 25-year-old protester, who goes by Butch Molly, told Teen Vogue before the action, “I'm pretty androgynous, so no matter what bathroom, what locker room I'm in, someone thinks I'm in the wrong room no matter where I am. It's like, how do I piss in public? How do I go outside and live a life? What if I have to go to the bathroom and I'm out doing my errands or whatever? That sh*t really sucks.” Butch Molly was arrested with the other 15 protesters.
Chants also called out the Democratic Party for what trans advocates see as inaction in responding to the well-funded anti-trans propaganda being pushed by conservatives, chanting, “Democrats grow a spine/Trans lives are on the line!”
“In the 2024 election, trans folks were left to fend for ourselves after nearly $200 million of attack ads were disseminated across the United States,” journalist and GLM co-founder Raquel Willis, among those arrested, said. “Now, as Republican politicians, try to remove us from public life, Democratic leaders are silent as hell. But we can’t transform bigotry and hate with inaction. We must confront it head on. Democrats must rise up, filibuster, and block this bill.”
‣ If you haven't made the switch to BlueSky yet, let this be a sign: The European Federation of Journalists has asked reporters to stop posting on X. The London Economic's Jack Peat writes:
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has announced that it will stop publishing content on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, from January 20th, 2025, when Donald Trump will officially become the 47th president of the United States.
The organisation stated that it can “no longer ethically participate in a social network that its owner has transformed into a machine of disinformation and propaganda”.
It joins The Guardian and other European media outlets including Dagens Nyheter, La Vanguardia, Ouest-France and Sud-Ouest in coming off the platform, due to the impact of Musk on the organisation.
The EFJ is the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, representing over 295,000 journalists in 44 countries has announced that it will stop posting content on X.
‣ Over a year after Azerbaijan starved and displaced the Armenian population of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the question of how vital components of cultural life get transformed into museum items is at the center of a December 15 event at the Getty. Read more about the talk and book your free ticket, or set a reminder to tune in virtually, here.
‣ Orcas really do wear many hats! The infamous whales are wearing dead salmons on their heads after almost four decades, and scientists have no clue why. Marina Dunbar has the scoop for the Guardian:
Scientists in Washington state have observed at least one orca balancing salmon on its head, a trend known as the “dead salmon hat”. They spotted the stylish killer whale this autumn in Puget Sound.
It is likely that these marine mammals are not just sporting these hats to look chic for their deep-sea neighbors. These fishy accessories are multipurpose, allowing the wearers to enjoy a snack as they travel along on their oceanic journey.
The strange phenomenon was first documented in 1987, when a female orca was observed to be wearing a salmon hat for nearly the duration of that year. Within a few weeks, two other orcas, creatures known for being highly intelligent and social, began to adopt her unique fashion.
‣ Vito recently became the first pug to win the top award at the National Dog Show, and I'm more emotional than I care to admit. Jackie Northam reports for NPR:
Vito, a small breed dog from Chapel Hill, N.C., craned his neck to look up at his handler, Michael Scott, when the award was announced, as if trying to understand what all the excitement was about. Show judge George Milutinovich, who said Vito had beautiful expression and movement, asked Scott if the pug knew he had won.
"He's very smug," said Scott. "I think he knows."
‣ This rundown of NYU furniture prices sparked a debate, with some people noting that universities typically get discounts. Still, it hurts to see the retail price of designer chairs when dorm beds feel like rickety torture devices from another century and students can't get their basic needs met ...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCcqO10pmV7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
‣ The only stylist you'll ever need:
https://www.tiktok.com/@avivamehta/video/7443987721292401962
‣ Please just give Joe his five stars:
https://www.tiktok.com/@heatherwoah/video/7444260223415504171
‣ I know the Old Masters are shaking in their boots right now:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DC8k068zdHW/?igsh=c3A0bWFmZ3lnaWQw
Required Reading is published every Thursday afternoon, and it is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.
