#BlackHistory365
#CharlesMcGee

To celebrate Black History Month, I am posting some work of one Black visual artist from history per day.
For February 20th, I am posting work by Charles McGee. (1/2)
#BlackHistoryMonth #CharlesMcGee #painter #muralist #sculptor #DetroitProud
@arnekay.bsky.social @srivas.bsky.social

To celebrate Black History Month, I am posting some work of one Black visual artist from history per day.
For February 20th, I am posting work by Charles McGee. (2/2)
#BlackHistoryMonth #CharlesMcGee #painter #muralist #sculptor #DetroitProud
@arnekay.bsky.social @srivas.bsky.social

A advertisement taken from a larger flyer. The top line, in very heavy type, reads: OTHELLO! The Moor of Fleet Street.

One last #CharlesMcGee post. A play, The Moor of Fleet Street - in which McGee forms the model for the title character - was put on at the Adelphi in 1833. It was loosely based on Shakespeare, and features a range of identifiable London street figures. It is attributed to Charles M. Westmacott.

Phenomenal collection of #CharlesMcGee depictions.

A black and white print, looking up Fleet Street with St Paul's in the distance. On the right is the obelisk at the top of New Bridge Street, with a small figure in front with a hat and broom

#CharlesMcGee depicted by Thomas Shepherd: 'View of Ludgate Hill from Fleet Street', 1830

The full image is on the left, and includes the obelisk on New Bridge Street, with McGee standing in front of it, with text below. There is an image of a broom in the bottom right, with 'His Mark' below. Detail from the central image is on the right

#CharlesMcGee George Cruickshank, A Slap at Slop, 1821. McGee is depicted in front of the obelisk on New Bridge Street. The text on the right claims to by McGee himself (styled MacKey here), and says he is a member of the Constitutional Association.

A busy interior scene, with a varied group of people, all looking more or less poverty struck. A well dressed man in a top hat is in the centre, clucking a barebreasted women under the chin. McGee is sat at a table on the right.

#CharlesMcGee depicted in George Cruickshank's 'Tom and Jerry "Masquerading it" among the cadgers in the "black slums" in the Holy Land', 1821.

A crowded interior scene. The back wall is covered by paitings. Most of the people are Black, including a man standing on a table, and a one legged man playing a violin. A large arrow points out McGee sitting on the right.

#CharlesMcGee depited in George Cruickshank's 'The new Union Club', 1819.

On the right is a etching of a Black man with a white wig, blind in one eye, with a hat held out in his left hand, and a broom in his right. There is modern explanatory text on the left: ‘Charles McGee’, 1817. John Thomas Smith, Vagabondiana: Or, Anecdotes of Mendicant Wanderers through the Streets of London, (1817).

#CharlesMcGee depicted by John Thomas Smith in Vagabondiana in 1817

A wide street scene, with a road headed South. In the centre is an obelisk, with a figure standing in front of it. There are two women engaged in conversation with him.

#CharlesMcGee Rudolph Ackerman's view of New Bridge Street with McGee at the centre - 1812.

A detail from the previous image, showing Charles McGee at the centre, in front of a stone obelisk, his right hand held out towards two women in long 'Empire Line' dresses.

#CharlesMcGee a detail of the group in the foreground.

A wide street scene with an abolisk at the centre, with a group of people - two women and a man, apparently talking to a Black man in a red hat, with a broom in his left hand in the centre.

#CharlesMcGee 's first appearance, in 1809, as a crossing sweeper at the top of New Bridge Street.

A full length portrait of a Black man with white hair standing in front of a cast iron rail. He is wearing a long coat, has a red scarf around his neck, and is holding a hat in his right hand. In his left is a broom

John Dempsey's early 1820s portrait of Charles McGee #CharlesMcGee or McKay - long time crossing sweeper (1809-1854) at the top of New Bridge Street in London.