''The Negress'' is a

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

artist

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (11 May 1827 – 12 October 1875) was a French sculptor and painter during the Second Empire under Napoleon III. Life Born in Valenciennes, Nord, son of a mason, his early studies were under François Rude. Carpeaux en ...

. It is now in the permanent collection at the

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It i ...

.''The Negress'' was purchased by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1980. ''The Negress'' relates to Carpeaux's last monumental sculpture project, ''

Fontaine de l'Observatoire The Fontaine de l'Observatoire is a monumental fountain located in the Jardin Marco Polo, south of the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, with sculpture by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. It was dedicated in 1874. It is also known ...

'', in Paris's

Luxembourg Garden The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. Creation of the garden began in 1612 when Marie de' ...

. To interpret this theme, Carpeaux elected to use four life-size female figures supporting a globe and representing different races as continents. The Indianapolis bronze is a preparatory work for Africa, presented as a bust rather than a full-length figure. A

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

copy of ''The Negress'' is located in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Description

''The Negress'' portrays a woman who is the

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their b ...

of the continent of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Carpeaux wanted to use her to emphasize the horrors of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, creating the piece three years after the Civil War of the United States had ended and twenty years after slavery was banned in all French and Danish colonies.Robert William Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman. ''Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery'', 1995. pp. 33–34. The woman is looking to the side, her figure twisting to the left. Her twisting body contributed to the fountain's composition. Her features express her strength and her human vulnerability, as she is also tied in bondage. Her skin is covered in a patina, enhancing the sculpture's use of light and shadow. The words, "Why be born a slave?" (in French, "Pourquoi! Naître esclave ?") are inscribed in the base, emphasizing her attachment to her depiction as an enslaved African.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Negress, The Sculptures in the Indianapolis Museum of Art 1868 sculptures Sculptures of Black people Sculptures of women in Indiana Bronze sculptures in Indiana Slavery in art

Description

See also

References