The Art Bulletin · 2015 · 28 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesEthnic StudiesHistoryAfrican American HistoryLabor EconomicsLabor HistoryAbolitionismBlack StudiesBlack WomanhoodBlack WomenBlack Women's HistoryWomen's Economic HistoryBlack Labor HistoryBlack Labor PoliticsBlack Women's Labor HistoryLow-wage LaborPaid EmploymentPaid LaborRepresentation Of Black WomanhoodWomen's Economic Status Under Slavery
The black woman in Manet's Olympia (1863) has often been overlooked. So, too, has the model Laure who posed for this painting and others. Manet's painting makes visible France's long reliance on slavery in the Caribbean, but also its Revolutionary redefinition of all blacks as paid workers after the second abolition of slavery in 1848. How does thinking about the entry of blacks, specifically black women, into France's economy of wage labor differently illuminate Manet's painting?