So, we
close our look at Orientalist painter Ernest
Normand (1857 - 1923) with one of his most prurient pictures, The White Slave from 1894.
It is
astonishing how many of Normand’s paintings concern slave girls, or brown and
black men ogling white women. Normand
wore his cultural fears and prejudices on his sleeve, and they leaked into his
work with a happy regularity. These concerns
were almost always couched in the tropes of history or Orientalist paintings,
settings that would give free reign to his rather colorful imagination. (He must have been a delight at dinner
parties.)
Happily,
there are some instructive things in this picture. First off, the magnificent carved lion in the
background was also in Bondage, his
picture from three years earlier. Also,
notice the circular motif of the tiled floor – this was present also in Bondage
and Esther Denouncing Haman. Also briefly glimpsed in the hands of the
seated slave is the dulcimer from Bondage.
Finally, see the ubiquitous palm tree in the background, which for
Normand means all things foreign.
The story
of the picture is clear enough. A slave
dealer brings his latest prize to an Eastern or North African potentate, who
already has two slaves in attendance. The
poor woman (obviously a captive of some kind) disrobes, her gaze turned away in
shame.
While making
japes and wheezes about Normand’s taste (or lack of it), it’s too easy to
overlook the man’s real skill at drawing and compositional sense. First off, we see again Normand’s mastery of
drapery as we look at the robe around her lower body and spread upon the
floor. Also impressive are the “Eastern”
rugs and pillows beneath the king, along with the tiger rug (another holdover
from Bondage).
Also true
is his command of anatomy. Not only is
the central woman beautifully rendered, but the other two female slaves are
depicted with a sure hand.
The look
of desire on the king’s face is quite telling, as is that of calculation on the
slave trader. Though not subtle, Normand
once again channels his obsessions into a dramatic picture.
If you were perhaps a little less lazy, you would have found that Ernest Normand did in fact visit Morocco, and that which you denigrate as "fantasy" may have been closer to realism. See: http://books.google.com/books?id=HjA6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=%22ernest+normand%22+painter&source=bl&ots=rSDsWUjTFj&sig=usEYchla_u9h1FbEaU-EoP4P6hA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cuhhVIbbE6iaigLQi4CICw&ved=0CH4Q6AEwEg#v=onepage&q=%22ernest%20normand%22%20painter&f=false
ReplyDeleteSadly, my laziness is legendary. However, even the laziest readings of my posts on Normand would reveal that (a) though I think he has no taste, he can certainly both draw and paint, and, (b), nowhere do I say that he never traveled East.
ReplyDeleteLazy....
yes but your commentary suggests that the artist drew from some fleck of being that you chide as impure and unchristian, or something and rather as a man portraying life as it truly was in his time. just how does one depict capture, slavery and the sale of humans tastefully?
ReplyDeleteI would like to be helpful, but I've read your question several times and do not understand what you are asking.
ReplyDelete