Cape Town

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Table Mountain, South Africa

National Botanic Gardens of South Africa

Cape Town, c. 1902

Cape Town: harbour

vineyard near Cape Town

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Table Mountain, South Africa

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Parsons Weems' Fable, oil on canvas by Grant Wood, 1939; in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Catalog entry: The historian Mason Locke Weems, commonly known by his clerical title, Parson Weems, pulls back a curtain to point at 6-year-old George Washington. Bearing an adult head and holding an axe, George gazes blankly up at his father, Augustine, who questions his son while holding a partially cut cherry tree. All of this takes place in front of a 20th-century brick building, which Wood modeled after his own home in Iowa. The scene illustrates the fable of Washington and the cherry tree, which Weems invented in 1806 for the first president's biography. Wood playfully suggests the artifice of the tale here, presenting the story in the manner of a costumed stage play rather than a real event. Amid the action, two Black figures pick cherries in the background, a reference to Washington' slaveholding past and a reminder of of what often gets left out in historical mythmaking.

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Cape Town: Related Content

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The first openly gay Muslim imam is killed in South Africa, prompting claims of an assassination • Feb. 17, 2025, 9:24 PM ET (AP)

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Table Mountain, South Africa

National Botanic Gardens of South Africa

Cape Town, c. 1902

Cape Town: harbour

vineyard near Cape Town

Uncovering apartheid history in Cape Town's District Six

Visit the major attractions of the multi-faceted Cape Town city, including the Cape of Good Hope

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