Canvas of politics: Expression and activism in art

Canvas of politics: Expression and activism in art

In the wake of the overthrow of Charles X, Eugène Delacroix gave life to his now-famous painting, “Liberty Leading the People,” to celebrate what he hoped was a new era of French freedom.  A decade later, J.M.W. Turner’s “The Slave Ship” exposed the opposite — a lack of liberty and a fixation on cruel violence associated with the international slave trade.  Where Delacroix’s work was optimistic and forward-looking, Turner’s almost apocalyptic wo…