Waiting for Sale

When Crowe exhibited Slaves Waiting for Sale, Richmond, Virginia, in London in 1861, critics were struck by what they saw as the picture’s accuracy. Instead of representing the well-known moment of the auction, in this painting, Crowe sought to convey the depth and complexity of the horrors of slavery by presenting an entirely different scene: the moments before the auction. By choosing to represent slaves waiting to be sold rather than slaves being sold, Crowe forced viewers to think about the emotional moments before the sale and to consider the uncertainty faced by these individuals. By leaving their fate ambiguous, Crowe intended to unsettle viewers and generate an emotional response to the plight of the enslaved.

Writing of his visit to Wall Street (15th Street) in Richmond, Crowe noted that "small garish flags of blood red" with "small manuscript descriptions" of the people who were to be sold that day hung outside the doors of auction rooms. Although not a detail that he included in his initial sketch of the scene, in the painting, Crowe included the red flag hanging just outside the archway that serves as the entrance to the room. Crowe used the red of the flag to link each of the slaves to their ultimate fate. From the red vest of the seated man, through the red bows around the necks of the women, to the red shoes of the little girl, each figure is pictorially bound to the fate embodied in that flag.