Value in Art: Manet and the Slave Trade
English
By (author): Henry M. Sayre
Art historian Henry M. Sayre traces the origins of the term value in art criticism, revealing the politics that define Manets art.
How did art critics come to speak of light and dark as, respectively, high in value and low in value? Henry M. Sayre traces the origin of this usage to one of art historys most famous and racially charged paintings, Édouard Manets Olympia.
Art critics once described light and dark in painting in terms of musical metaphorhigher and lower tones, notes, and scales. Sayre shows that it was Émile Zola who introduced the new law of values in an 1867 essay on Manet. Unpacking the intricate contexts of Zolas essay and of several related paintings by Manet, Sayre argues that Zolas usage of value was intentionally double codedan economic metaphor for the political economy of slavery. In Manets painting, Olympia and her maid represent objects of exchange, a commentary on the French Empires complicity in the ongoing slave trade in the Americas.
Expertly researched and argued, this bold study reveals the extraordinary weight of history and politics that Manets painting bears. Locating the presence of slavery at modernisms roots, Value in Art is a surprising and necessary intervention in our understanding of art history. See more
How did art critics come to speak of light and dark as, respectively, high in value and low in value? Henry M. Sayre traces the origin of this usage to one of art historys most famous and racially charged paintings, Édouard Manets Olympia.
Art critics once described light and dark in painting in terms of musical metaphorhigher and lower tones, notes, and scales. Sayre shows that it was Émile Zola who introduced the new law of values in an 1867 essay on Manet. Unpacking the intricate contexts of Zolas essay and of several related paintings by Manet, Sayre argues that Zolas usage of value was intentionally double codedan economic metaphor for the political economy of slavery. In Manets painting, Olympia and her maid represent objects of exchange, a commentary on the French Empires complicity in the ongoing slave trade in the Americas.
Expertly researched and argued, this bold study reveals the extraordinary weight of history and politics that Manets painting bears. Locating the presence of slavery at modernisms roots, Value in Art is a surprising and necessary intervention in our understanding of art history. See more
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