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UID:1-234@250.mercercountynj.gov
DTSTART:20260423T190000Z
DTEND:20260423T200000Z
DTSTAMP:20260406T145218Z
URL:https://250.mercercountynj.gov/events/the-painters-fire-a-forgotten-hi
 story-of-the-artists-who-championed-the-american-revolution/
SUMMARY:The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Champi
 oned the American Revolution
DESCRIPTION:Revolution Up Close: A Public Lecture Series\nThis lecture seri
 es is presented in connection with Nursery of Rebellion: Princeton and th
 e American Revolution\, an exhibit at the Princeton University Library whi
 ch runs from April 15 to July 12\, 2026. Four recent authors offer new per
 spectives on the American Revolution by zooming in on an individual life\,
  a close-knit community\, or a single document.\n\nFree and open to all\nB
 ooks for sale by Labyrinth Books\n\nSupported by a Special Grant from the 
 Humanities Council’s Ruth and Sid Lapidus ’59 Research Fellowships Fun
 d\nDetails\nTold through the lives of three remarkable artists devoted to 
 the pursuit of liberty\, an illuminating new history of the ideals that fi
 red the American Revolution.\n\nThe war that we now call the American Revo
 lution was not only fought in the colonies with muskets and bayonets. On b
 oth sides of the Atlantic\, artists armed with paint\, canvas\, and wax pl
 ayed an integral role in forging revolutionary ideals. Zara Anishanslin ch
 arts the intertwined lives of three such figures who dared to defy the Bri
 tish monarchy: Robert Edge Pine\, Prince Demah\, and Patience Wright. From
  London to Boston\, from Jamaica to Paris\, from Bath to Philadelphia\, th
 ese largely forgotten patriots boldly risked their reputations and their l
 ives to declare independence.\n\nMostly excluded from formal political or 
 military power\, these artists and their circles fired salvos against the 
 king on the walls of the Royal Academy as well as on the battlefields of N
 orth America. They used their talents to inspire rebellion\, define Americ
 an patriotism\, and fashion a new political culture\, often alongside more
  familiar revolutionary figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Phillis Whea
 tley. Pine\, an award-winning British artist rumored to be of African desc
 ent\, infused massive history paintings with politics and eventually emigr
 ated to the young United States. Demah\, the first identifiable enslaved p
 ortrait painter in America\, was Pine’s pupil in London before self-eman
 cipating and enlisting to fight for the Patriot cause. And Wright\, a Long
  Island–born wax sculptor who became a sensation in London\, loudly advo
 cated for revolution while acting as an informal patriot spy.\n\nIlluminat
 ing a transatlantic and cosmopolitan world of revolutionary fervor\, The 
 Painter’s Fire reveals an extraordinary cohort whose experiences testif
 y to both the promise and the limits of liberty in the founding era.\nAuth
 or\nZara Anishanslin is Associate Professor of History and Art History at
  the University of Delaware. She is the author of the award-winning Portr
 ait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World an
 d has served as a historical consultant for the Philadelphia Museum of Art
  as well as “Hamilton: The Exhibition.”
CATEGORIES:Historical
LOCATION:Robertson Hall\, Arthur Lewis Auditorium\, 20 Prospect Avenue\, Pr
 inceton\, NJ\, 08540\, United States
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 ton\, NJ\, 08540\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Robertson Hall
 \, Arthur Lewis Auditorium:geo:0,0
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