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Isabel Estelle Baldrich - Dissertation ProQuest 20251.02 MB
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Dissertation
Caribbean stain: erasure and creoleness in Parisian art
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Spring 2025
DOI: 10.25820/etd.007830
Abstract
My doctoral research on the French Antilles addresses ethnicity as integral to our understanding of French colonialism and the concept of race as presented in nineteenth-century French painting. My study emphasizes for the first time the importance in recognizing the French Caribbean heritage present in eighteenth to nineteenth-century French art. Black sitters and tropical settings benefitted the artistic careers and formations of white Europeans, who were presenting themes of the exotic to an eager public. Creole painters in Paris, however, used such themes to explore their Antillean roots, which ultimately led them to an acceptance or rejection of their identities as evidenced in selected artworks. My dissertation consists of four inter-related chapters, and each one will focus on individual artists and their contributions.
Chapter 1 examines the Haitian colonial figure known as Jean-Baptiste Belley. He argued for emancipation from slavery in France in 1793. His monumental portrait, painted by Anne- Louis Girodet, was a landmark in the history of images of Black individuals. It elicited both praise and contempt, because scholars argued that the portrait was either a racist image of Belley or a depiction of issues about race and racism through the central figure. The artwork does not fall on the ends of the black-and-white spectrum, and this investigation looks at its ambivalence.
Chapter 2 elaborates on the Caribbean origins of the famous Romantic painter Théodore Chassériau. The artist’s relationship with his parents provided him a unique perspective on a non-European culture. This chapter tackles the painter’s complicated sense of identity. Chassériau assimilates to a white, Parisian society as seen in his self-portraits in 1835 and 1838. Simultaneously, he humanized Black, male figures, such as Etude de nègre (1838) and his 1844 print series on Othello.
Chapter 3 explores another Creole painter, who embraced his Antillean roots. Despite Parisian racism, Guadeloupian Guillaume Guillon-Lethière painted Oath of the Ancestors (1822), a commemoration of Haitian independence. He is not of Haitian descendance, but recent scholarship has neglected to address that he is part of a shared, French Caribbean identity. In other words, Lethière shares solidarity with his fellow Creole brethren through the Oath of the Ancestors. The depiction of a victory for the Black Republic merits celebration, because, ultimately, the triumph is a Creole one.
Chapter 4 targets voyages from France to the French Antilles and back. Paul Gauguin’s 1887 trip to Martinique, for instance, exposed him to exotic landscapes and inhabitants. Although his tropical journey constitutes a critical juncture in his artistic career, his four-month stay on the island has not been analyzed thoroughly. Consequently, this investigation will examine The Mango Trees, Martinique (1887) and Martinique Landscape as they exemplify two defining aspects of Gauguin’s Martinican period and eventual trip to Tahiti: his depictions of Black women and his flat, colorful landscapes of the tropics.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Caribbean stain: erasure and creoleness in Parisian art
- Creators
- Isabel Estelle Baldrich
- Contributors
- Dorothy Johnson (Advisor)Robert Bork (Committee Member)Brenda Longfellow (Committee Member)Anna Isbell (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Art History
- Date degree season
- Spring 2025
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.007830
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- xviii, 176 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2025 Isabel Estelle Baldrich
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 04/28/2025
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-175).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
- My dissertation, “Caribbean Stain: Erasure and Creoleness in Parisian Art,” examines ethnic, particularly Creole, omissions in selected eighteenth to nineteenth-century French paintings. The term “Creole” is broad and multi-layered and applies to differing groups of people and varied geographical areas. For the purposes of this dissertation, I focus on Creoles who were islanders born and, in some cases, raised in Haiti, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. My study addresses Antillean identities in artists as well as models from these islands and examines how they enrich and enhance our understanding of the French Caribbean. The heritage of the French Caribbean is integral to our understanding of French colonialism and the concept of race as depicted in French paintings by Anne-Louis Girodet, Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Théodore Chassériau, Guillaume Guillon-Lethière, and Paul Gauguin. I seek to expand and contribute to the current historiography that addresses aspects of the Caribbean Francophones in French art by closely examining the heritage of Creole models as well as artists and how they complement our perception of Martinican, Guadeloupian, and Haitian subjects. The colonial past inspired white artists in Paris, such as Girodet and Benoist, to paint exotic models, revealing the Caribbean as not only instrumental to the development of Black portraiture but also the Orientalist tradition. However, Creole painters, like Chassériau and Guillon-Lethière, used selected subjects and themes to explore their Caribbean roots, which informed an acceptance or rejection of their identities in several of their respective artworks. White European artists profited from their travels to tropical locations, which were both a popular subject matter and destination. Trips to the Caribbean islands enriched the artistic career and formation of Gauguin. Consequently, my investigation provides another layer of understanding about Creole artists, sitters, and locations. By acknowledging the French Caribbean’s role in French colonialism, I expand a budding field in art history that has focused mainly on racial identity.
- Academic Unit
- School of Art, Art History, and Design
- Record Identifier
- 9984830923002771
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