Woman of African Descent
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
European Art
This sculpture reverses the power dynamic between sitter and artist that underlies commissioned portraits. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux created a faithful yet sexualized likeness from a living model, represented as an enslaved woman bound with ropes. The bust was based on a figure representing Africa—one of four female nudes that would personify the continents in a Paris fountain (see illustration). Although Carpeaux completed the bust twenty years after France freed the enslaved African people across its empire, he acknowledged the lingering role of slavery in the inscription, which translates "Why born a slave?"
MEDIUM
Plaster with patina; red stone base
DATES
1868
DIMENSIONS
a: 13 3/4 x 9 1/4 x 7 in. (34.9 x 23.5 x 17.8 cm)
b: 9 x 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (22.9 x 31.8 x 31.8 cm)
plaster with base: 43.5 lb. (19.73kg)
(show scale)
INSCRIPTIONS
Incised back of plaster base: "J-B Carpeaux 1868"
Incised on front of base: "Pourquoi nâitre esclave"
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
ACCESSION NUMBER
1993.83a-b
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Benno Bordiga, by exchange and Mary Smith Dorward Fund
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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CAPTION
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827-1875). Woman of African Descent, 1868. Plaster with patina; red stone base, a: 13 3/4 x 9 1/4 x 7 in. (34.9 x 23.5 x 17.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Benno Bordiga, by exchange and Mary Smith Dorward Fund, 1993.83a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1993.83a-b_SL3.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 1993.83a-b_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2015
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