id: 452906
accession number: 2022.2
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2022.2
updated: 2023-03-22 03:05:35.970000
Why Born Enslaved!, 1867. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827–1875). Plaster, original polychromed surface; 67 cm (26 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2022.2
title: Why Born Enslaved!
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1867
creation date earliest: 1867
creation date latest: 1867
current location: 201 French Neoclassical Painting & Sculpture
creditline: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
copyright:
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culture: France
technique: Plaster, original polychromed surface
department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
collection: Mod Euro - Sculpture 1800-1960
type: Sculpture
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827–1875)
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measurements: 67 cm (26 3/8 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
Artist's studio, Paris
date: 1868–1875
footnotes:
citations:
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, by descent to Louis and Louise-Clement Carpeaux, the artist's children
date: 1875
footnotes:
*
citations:
Louis and Louise-Clement Carpeaux, their sale, Studio J-B Carpeaux, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, 30 May 1913, lot 42, acquired by Stefanos ("Etienne") Eugenidi
date: 1913
footnotes:
citations:
Stefanos ("Etienne") Eugenidi [1879–1957], France
date: 1913–1930s
footnotes:
*
Eugenidi was a banker, born in Greece, died in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is listed in the directory of the University of Paris of 1902. There is a portrait of him by Aimé Nicolas Morot [French, 1850–1913] in the National Gallery of Greece, Athens, donation of St. (Stefanos) Eugenidi.
citations:
A noble family, Normandy, France, from at least the 1930s until 2017
date: 1930s–2017
footnotes:
citations:
Private Collection, Switzerland
date: 2017–2021
footnotes:
citations:
(Koller Auktionen, Zürich, 10 September 2021, lot 1199, acquired by Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, London)
date: 2021
footnotes:
citations:
(Stuart Lochhead, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
date: 2021–2022
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, acquired from Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, London
date: 2022–
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
Although officially abolished in France since 1848, slavery remained a hotly contested issue in Carpeaux’s time as it remained legal or tolerated in various countries around the world.
digital description:
One of the most powerful expressions of abolitionist sentiment in the visual arts, Why Born Enslaved! depicts an African woman bound by ropes and looking defiantly upward. The ropes press painfully into her breasts; her torn blouse alludes to the violence responsible for her condition. The original, polychromed surface is covered with complex, nuanced hatchings and subtle modeling. Evidence indicates that this masterpiece of 19th-century French sculpture served as the master model for numerous casts in other museum collections.
wall description:
One of the most powerful expressions abolitionist sentiment in the visual arts, Why Born Enslaved! depicts an African woman bound by ropes and looking defiantly upward. The ropes press painfully into her breasts, her torn blouse alludes to the violence responsible for her condition. The original, polychromed surface is covered with complex, nuanced hatchings and subtle modeling. Evidence indicates that this masterpiece of 19th-century French sculpture served as the master model for numerous casts in other museum collections.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Gautier, Théophile, “Salon de 1869: Sculpture.” Journal Officiel de l'Empire Français (May 24, 1869).
page number:
url:
Atelier J.-B. Carpeaux: Catalogue de sculptures originales par J.B. Carpeaux. Paris: Galerie Manzi Joyant, May 1913.
page number: p. 9, no. 42.
url:
Clément-Carpeaux, Louise. La Vérité sur l'oeuvre et la vie de J.-B. Carpeaux. Paris: Dousset et Bigerrelle, 1934-1935.
page number:
url:
Honour, Hugh. The Image of the Black in Western Art, 5 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.
page number: IV, part I: pp. 259-61; IV, part 2: pp. 166-69
url:
Poletti, Michel, Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Alain Richarme, and Alain Richard. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Sculpteur : Catalogue Raisonné De L'oeuvre Édité. Paris: Editions de l'Amateur, 2003.
page number: pp. 34 and 141.
url:
Draper, James David, Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, Papet Édouard, Elena Carrara, Horner Nadège, Laure de Margerie, Jean-Claude Poinsignon, et al. The Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. New York, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014.
page number: pp. 163-64; 323
url:
Murrell, Denise, Wallach Art Gallery, Wallach Art Gallery, Musée d'Orsay, and Musée d'Orsay. Posing Modernity : The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.
page number: pp. 43 and 187, no. 60.
url:
Nelson, Ellyse, Wendy S. Walters (eds.). Fictions of Emancipation : Carpeaux's Why Born Enslaved! Reconsidered. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022.
page number: pp. 9-11; 14-27.
url:
Robinson, William H. “Why Born Enslaved! The museum acquires a masterpiece.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 62, no. 2 (2022): 26-27.
page number: Reproduced: P. 27; Mentioned: P. 26.
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2022.2/2022.2_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2022.2/2022.2_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2022.2/2022.2_full.tif