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College

Arts and Sciences

Major

International Studies, French

Faculty Mentor

Enyu Zhang

Faculty Editor

Naomi Hume

Student Editor

Sarah Brown and Sebastián Cuadra Agudelo

Abstract

Black women in French Orientalist paintings have been portrayed as hypersexual, subservient, and used as props to highlight the presence of their white and Arab counterparts. These depictions of Black women represent early discriminatory ideas about Black Africans that emerged in the same era through racial science. Though partially deconstructed today, these early conceptions of Black women continue to be reinforced and impact modern perceptions of Black women in French society. There is notably much less research dedicated to the historical role of the image of Black women in France compared to research on Black men and Arab women. This paper aims to close this gap by meaningfully contributing to an analysis of historically overlooked characters in key nineteenth century French paintings by artists Édouard Manet, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Frédéric Bazille, among others. The analysis reveals how Black women’s individual and cultural identities are often erased in these works, instead emphasizing their eroticized nude bodies to add an illicit sexual nature to paintings and affirm their role as servants. Further analysis explores how these tropes continue to show up in contemporary France and the reluctance of French society to deconstruct the legacy of these images. Ultimately, the paper highlights the enduring legacy of Orientalist depictions and conceptions of Black women that contributes to their subjugation at the hands of French society—past and present.

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