Moaney Boy on the Stairs
1930
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
30” x 24”
This arresting portrait of a younger member of the Moaney family perched on the back steps of the Pickbourne Farm kitchen near Tunis Mills on the Eastern Shore. In this finished oil painting, as well as in the preparatory drawings, the artist seems to be working out the relationship between herself and a child whose mother works in service for her family. The resulting trust and patience granted to the artist by the young child is a testament to their genuine relationship, and the boy’s sense of peace and inner security in his environment. His large, earnest eyes directly engage the viewer, while the full-length portrait shows his tiny frame and small booted feet resting on the step below him. He is shown in a sweater and collared shirt, contented, clean, and well fed—a stark contrast to the racist depictions of wildly unkempt black children by many of the artist’s contemporaries.