{"id":6623,"date":"2010-04-15T04:09:10","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T04:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=6623"},"modified":"2010-12-04T00:10:19","modified_gmt":"2010-12-04T00:10:19","slug":"%e2%80%9cdes-couleurs-primitives%e2%80%9d-miscegenation-and-french-painting-of-algeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=6623","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDes couleurs primitives\u201d: Miscegenation and French Painting of Algeria"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDes couleurs primitives\u201d: Miscegenation and French Painting of Algeria<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Visual Resources<\/a>
\nVolume 24, Issue 3<\/a> (2008)
\npages 273 – 298
\nDOI: 10.1080\/01973760802284638<\/p>\n

Peter Benson Miller<\/strong><\/a>, Art Historian
\nRome Art Program<\/em><\/p>\n

The Romantic concept of \u201clocal color\u201d refers to a site of painterly experimentation, the application of pigment in the chromatic construction of a picture. The term also identifies a detail authenticating an exotic subject considered typical of a particular region. This article zeroes in on the convergence of these two aspects of local color, interrogating the dialogue between subject and technique in the representation of North Africans. In their paintings from the late 1840s depicting \u201cprimitive\u201d racial types from the Maghrib<\/a>, Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix<\/a> (1798-1863) and\u00a0Th\u00e9odore Chass\u00e9riau<\/a> (1819-1856) shifted to a color system that emphasized contrasts of distinct zones of color derived from an ethnological spectrum over smooth transitions and harmonies between hues. Unpacking the coordinates, including the trope of the mixed-blood, and the unstable classificatory schemas of physical anthropology suggests that these painters’ unconventional colorism and formal daring indexed the pervasive anxiety that miscegenation<\/a> would lead to racial chaos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

…Initially, though, the apparent prevalence of mixed races in Algeria did not inspire concern. In an influential text published in 1826, the American consul general in Algiers, William Shaler (1778\u20131833), while ambivalent about miscegenation, praised the hybrid ancestry of the \u2018\u2018Moors\u2019\u2019<\/a>: \u2018\u2018an amalgamation<\/a> of the ancient Mauritanians, various invaders, the emigrants from Spain, and the Turks,\u2019\u2019 which created a vigorous blend. Proof of the positive effect of such interbreeding, according to Shaler, was the fact \u2018\u2018that there are few people who surpass them in beauty of configuration; their features are remarkably expressive, and their complexions are hardly darker than those of the inhabitants of the South of Spain.\u2019\u2019 While specialists would later question Shaler\u2019s claims, and continue to debate the viability of mixed races, the impulse to discern origins, filiation and racial identity\u2014whether mixed or pure\u2014through skin color and physiognomy would remain a constant…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDes couleurs primitives\u201d: Miscegenation and French Painting of Algeria Visual Resources Volume 24, Issue 3 (2008) pages 273 – 298 DOI: 10.1080\/01973760802284638 Peter Benson Miller, Art Historian Rome Art Program The Romantic concept of \u201clocal color\u201d refers to a site of painterly experimentation, the application of pigment in the chromatic construction of a picture. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1295,12,459,1196,8],"tags":[2776,1847,2775,2778,2777],"class_list":["post-6623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-articles","category-history","category-literary-criticism","category-media-archive","tag-algeria","tag-eugene-delacroix","tag-peter-benson-miller","tag-theodore-chasseriau","tag-visual-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}