i waited to write about this because I found it very disturbing and wanted to think more about it. We visited the exhibit "Black models: from Géricault to Matisse". The stated goal of the exhibit is to explore the "aesthetic, political, social and racial issues as well as the imagery unveiled by the representation of black figures in visual arts, from the abolition of slavery in France (1794) to the modern day." Good so far as it goes, but there were a number of disturbing elements in my opinion. There was way too much focus on a narrative about how "things were bad then , though there were some heroic white artist abolitionists who really turned things around" kind of stories
The exhibit purported to be focused on the models and there was an interesting trend from early to later works where the early ones were arranged by artists whereas the later ones were arranged by the model sitting for them. However, while they stated that it was hard to get information on the early models' identities, there seemed to me to be a carelessness in treating the early models' images which were often naked, exposed, sometimes shackled or bound with no consideration of how it would feel to sit for such a painting or photo. I also wondered where was the analysis of the sexual politics, the S/M aspect of many of the images and the power dynamics expressed. There were some devastating mentions of history new to me (and I would imagine to others) without any commentary - e.g. the placement of an item on a time line - "the First Human Zoo 1877 Jardin d'Acclimation" with no other information [for a discussion - see this link which is also weird in its tone, but does give some data https://frenchmoments.eu/when-the-jardin-dacclimatation-was-a-human-zoo/]. At another point there is a very early film of people from the African Village in Paris swimming - again no info. What African Village? How did it get there? Were the people free to leave?
I took very few photos because it felt like I would be further exposing exploited people. But here are a few. One of my favorite writers growing up was Alexandre Dumas. However I was in my 40s before I learned he was black. There was an interesting display of portraits of him - which varied hugely regarding his features depending on the artist's attitude about him and their ability/willingness to see beyond stereotypic features
Aicha Goblet was a performer and model for several artists in Montparnasse in the early Twentieth century. I took a photo of this one by Vallotton because it seemed to me to be one she might value herself. Some of the others were more abstract, but they made me wonder where does the line between stylized features and stereotypical ones lie? In order to paint an abstract, some seemed just to add bigger lips and kinky hair.
In a photo of an art class in the early 1900s, there was a black model posed with the entire art class she is the only naked person she is not posing for the students she is hanging out with them - naked, while they are all fully clothed. It made me feel for her vulnerability and angry that no one thought to give her a wrap of some kind for the group photo.
Upstairs there was an exhibit with young artists' reacting to some of the images from a more current point of view. I particularly liked this one which, in my mind, corrected what was wrong with the original while calling attention to its flaws
Then there was this one flipping the races of the two women in the original
Or this one
Lots to think about and a lot more to learn.