‘One People, Two Shores: Anglo-American Art in the Age of Revolution’ with a talk by MHC Art History Prof. Paul Staiti

One of the paintings in the exhibition at Ben Elwes Fine Art is the oil sketch depicting the killing of Jane McCrea, the female martyr of the American Revolution. While the name Jane McCrea is probably now known only to scholars of the American Revolution, in the century after her killing in 1777 virtually every American knew the young woman’s name all too well. A Native Indian soldier allied with the British brutally killed the young, white Jane McCrea in 1777.  The Patriots weaponized Jane’s death to demonize their enemies and paint Indigenous people as uniquely violent. The resulting propaganda transformed her into a martyr of the American Revolution. Paul Staiti’s book, The Killing of Jane McCrea: An American Tragedy on the Revolutionary Frontier just published, examines these transformational events and discusses this painting in its historical context which reverberates in our society today.

Paul Staiti, Alumnae Foundation Professor of Fine Arts at Mount Holyoke College, is the author of books…