Slave Market
| Support Type: | Canvas |
| Paint Type: | Oil Paint |
| Current Location: | Clark Art Institute |
| Location History: | The artist, sold to Goupil, 23 Aug. 1866, as Un marché d’esclaves; [Goupil, Paris, sold to Gambart, 22 Sept. 1866]¹; [Ernest Gambart, London, 1866, returned to Goupil, Nov. 1866]; [Goupil, Paris, Nov. 1866, sold to Mayer, 27 Jan. 1867, as Marchand d’esclaves];² [Mayer, Dresden, from 1867];³ [Knoedler, Paris, sold to Clark, 1 May 1930, as Marché d’Esclaves]; Robert Sterling Clark (1930–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. 1. Goupil Stock Books, book 3, p. 94, no. 2355. 2. Goupil Stock Books, book 3, p. 119, no. 2598. The buyer is recorded only as “M. Mayer, de Dresde.” Gambart had returned The Slave Market to Goupil in exchange for a second version of Gérôme’s Louis XIV and Molière [A 139; Goupil Stock Books, book 3, p. 119, no. 2597]. See also Gérôme & Goupil: Art and Enterprise, exh. cat., 2000–2001, p. 132, under no. 91. 3. Mayer purchased the painting in Jan. 1867, but since it was shown in the Paris Salon, which opened on 15 April, he may not have taken possession of the work until after its exhibition. This painting has also, erroneously, been catalogued as belonging to the August Belmont collection, but this confuses it with a painting often similarly titled The Slave Market now in the Cincinnati Art Museum [A 217]. |
The painting "slave market" depicts a nude woman in the centre and a man on the right surrounded by men who are examining her as prospective slave owners. The painter, Jean-Léon Gérôme, used realism and painted all the minute details starting from the attires to the architecture with extreme precision with the help of both his imagination and observation. The clothing and architectural aspects of the painting depict the location to be places such as Egypt and Turkey which he sketched extensively during his travels there. The visual aesthetic of the painting is another aspect that draws the viewer's attention from the horrific act against humanity to the beauty of the art. I believe that this painting is not just a documentation of a slave market but it is the portrayal of a woman stripped off of her dignity, who has been made to stand in a crowded market, surrounded by men in positions of power who are also touching her mouth to examine her which objectifies her as just a product for sale. The portrayal of the Islamic society further allowed the Europeans, particularly the French to reinforce stereotypes and create contrasts between the Oriental and European societies, letting the Europeans crown themselves as superior.