Why Born Enslaved!

Cleveland Museum of Art

Why Born Enslaved!

Jean-Baptiste CarpeauxLinkedCulture matchlcp-b3f2b9879ac8

Date
1867
Medium
Plaster, original polychromed surface
Culture
France
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
452906

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

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. 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.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Provenance
1868–1875: Artist's studio, Paris | 1875: Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, by descent to Louis and Louise-Clement Carpeaux, the artist's children | 1913: 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 | 1913–1930s: Stefanos ("Etienne") Eugenidi [1879–1957], France | 1930s–2017: A noble family, Normandy, France, from at least the 1930s until 2017 | 2017–2021: Private Collection, Switzerland | 2021: (Koller Auktionen, Zürich, 10 September 2021, lot 1199, acquired by Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, London) | 2021–2022: (Stuart Lochhead, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 2022–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, acquired from Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, London

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