id:			452906
accession number:	2022.2
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2022.2
updated:		2025-07-11 17:02:53.759000

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:		
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: 	
			
			* <div><!--block-->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.</div>
			
			
	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:


digital description:


wall description:

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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Gautier, Théophile, “Salon de 1869: Sculpture.<em>” Journal Officiel de l'Empire Français</em> (May 24, 1869).
	page number: 	
	url:		

	<em>Atelier J.-B. Carpeaux: Catalogue de sculptures originales par J.B. Carpeaux. </em>Paris: Galerie Manzi­ Joyant, May 1913.
	page number: 	p. 9, no. 42.
	url:		

	Clément-Carpeaux, Louise. <em>La Vérité sur l'oeuvre et la vie de J.-B. Carpeaux. </em>Paris: Dousset et Bigerrelle, 1934-1935.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	Honour, Hugh. <em>The Image of the Black in Western Art</em>, 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.  <em>Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Sculpteur : Catalogue Raisonné De L'oeuvre Édité</em>. 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. <em>The Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux</em>. 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. <em>Posing Modernity : The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today</em>. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.
	page number: 	pp. 43 and 187, no. 60.
	url:		

	Nelson, Ellyse, Wendy S. Walters (eds.). <em>Fictions of Emancipation : Carpeaux's Why Born Enslaved! Reconsidered</em>. 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.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>62, no. 2 (2022): 26-27.
	page number: 	Reproduced: P. 27; Mentioned: P. 26.
	url:		

	Lochhead, Stuart. <em>The First Five Years. </em>London: Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, 2024.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 62-67
	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