1st Sketch Peaceable Plantation
Edward Hicks, a Quaker preacher, popularized the religious concept of the “Peaceable Kingdom” in the 19th century. His extensive series of paintings depicted numerous variations of the unity and peace he wished to see in the world, with utopian harmony maintained between all beings on Earth. For Cloar, his peaceable kingdom was his friendship with African American playmates like Charlie Mae. That peace ended for him during the Civil Rights Movement as he and his friends watched turmoil spread throughout Arkansas in wake of a movement they were too young to truly understand.
The children in this drawing sit together in friendship, but their worried expressions reflect the chaos surrounding them. In the final work of Peaceable Plantation, the two of them sit by the river amongst farm animals, while behind them across the river, an older group of white boys close in on two black students, recalling the Little Rock school integration crisis in 1957. The result is a striking work of tension, balancing harmony and chaos as two small children face a monumental social movement.