William Blake: Brothers' Bones Beside - Catalog - Page 30
After Appom attox
Oil on linen | 24" x 48" | 2025
This painting is a copy of After Appomattox (1870s) by John Adams
Elder, a Confederate veteran and artist trained by Emanuel
Leutze, known for Washington Crossing the Delaware. Elder’s
image became a central Lost Cause icon, later transformed into a
monument honoring Confederate soldiers in Alexandria, Virginia,
until its removal in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.
Here, the original image is copied and layered with fresh-cut
flowers, from Mother’s Day bouquets to art historical references.
This work explores how we confront and inhabit difficult histories.
Rather than reclaim or erase Elder’s image, it responds to it,
“after” as both succession and interruption. The flowers act as a
gesture of mourning and masking, marking the figure without
obscuring its presence, allowing tension between remembrance
and refusal.
The title evokes the aftermath of the Civil War’s official end,
highlighting the ongoing echoes of violence and unfinished
legacies. This painting sits with the weight of history, probing
what painting can still do to hold, challenge, and engage with
the past.. n
28
