John Steuart Curry (1897-1946)
The Fugitive 1935
lithograph, 12 7/8 x 9 3/8, signed; ed. 25
UAM 1992.80

John Steuart Curry's The Fugitive belongs to a group of prints he devoted to the subject; in these he tells the events leading up to a lynching rather than depicting the horrifying death. Here the victim is a slight figure, hoping to blend into the tree-trunk against which he hides, his pursuers reduced to a small group in the background. Our sympathies are supposed to be engaged with his Christ-like figure, arms outstretched against the branches, rather than aroused against the evil white men.