{"data":{"id":147634,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/147634","is_boosted":false,"title":"Keys to the Coop","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBgAFAPQAAAAAADU1NU5OTlxcXIiIiImJiZOTk5aWlqenp8nJyczMzNLS0tvb297e3t\/f3+Li4unp6erq6vLy8vX19fj4+Pr6+v39\/f\/\/\/wAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAAIf8LSW1hZ2VNYWdpY2sOZ2FtbWE9MC40NTQ1NDUALAAAAAAGAAUAAAUYYARV00RR16FUl0MIQXI1RgEMknU9CLOEADs=","width":2906,"height":2250,"alt_text":"Black silhouette of a female figure running after a headless chicken, its head in one hand and a key in the other."},"main_reference_number":"1997.433","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1997,"date_end":1997,"date_display":"1997","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Kara Walker\nAmerican, born 1969","place_of_origin":"United States","description":"<p>Kara Walker\u2019s use of silhouettes is inspired by the folk tradition commonly practiced by \u201cproper ladies,\u201d particularly during the years leading up to the Civil War. By loading her images with sexual content, mythological undertones, and voodoo symbolism, Walker subverts the gentle tradition by grafting onto it her contemporary point of view that the slave girl uses her sexuality as the key to her release: the key to the chicken coop that she dangles from her finger implies this. Like her masters over her, she holds the freedom of this chicken in the palm of her hand.<\/p>\n","short_description":"Kara Walker often uses silhouettes, which were particularly popular with \"proper ladies\" during the years leading up to the Civil War, but subverts the tradition by grafting her contemporary perspective onto it. Here, she draws a parallel between an enslaved girl with the keys to the chicken's coop (as well as the chicken's head) in her hands and her masters holding her freedom in theirs.","dimensions":"117.5 \u00d7 153.8 cm (46 5\/16 \u00d7 60 9\/16 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":153,"height":117,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Linocut on white wove paper","inscriptions":null,"credit_line":"Purchased with funds provided by Dr. and Mrs. Paul Sternberg","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":null,"exhibition_history":null,"provenance_text":null,"edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Basic","internal_department_id":3,"fiscal_year":1998,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":false,"is_zoomable":false,"max_zoom_window_size":843,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":0,"color":{"h":0,"l":53,"s":0,"percentage":0.0007266398899867207,"population":4},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Print","artwork_type_id":18,"department_title":"Prints and Drawings","department_id":"PC-13","artist_id":64881,"artist_title":"Kara Walker","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[64881],"artist_titles":["Kara Walker"],"category_ids":["PC-13","PC-830","PC-142","PC-825"],"category_titles":["Prints and Drawings","African Diaspora","African American artists","Women artists"],"term_titles":["linocut","linoleum-block printing","paper (fiber product)","printing","print","prints and drawing"],"style_id":null,"style_title":null,"alt_style_ids":[],"style_ids":[],"style_titles":[],"classification_id":"TM-223","classification_title":"linocut","alt_classification_ids":["TM-17","TM-4"],"classification_ids":["TM-223","TM-17","TM-4"],"classification_titles":["linocut","print","prints and drawing"],"subject_id":null,"alt_subject_ids":[],"subject_ids":[],"subject_titles":[],"material_id":"TM-2982","alt_material_ids":[],"material_ids":["TM-2982"],"material_titles":["paper (fiber product)"],"technique_id":"TM-3865","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3861"],"technique_ids":["TM-3865","TM-3861"],"technique_titles":["linoleum-block printing","printing"],"theme_titles":["African Diaspora","African American artists","Women artists"],"image_id":"99cb843a-9a1e-9f4d-d500-1f674584e1fc","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1997.433"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Keys to the Coop"],"weight":2346,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2025-07-01T15:30:47-05:00","updated_at":"2026-03-03T11:15:45-06:00","timestamp":"2026-07-12T01:55:07-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.14"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}