CORDIER, Charles-Henri-Joseph

This sculpture, called “The African Venus” by a French critic, was designed by Charles Cordier as a companion to a male portrait bust of a fictional “Said Abdullah of the Mayac Tribe, Kingdom of Darfour.” Both characters were modeled from life in Cordier’s studio and were early examples of his determination “to discover the different human types which come together to form a single people.”

Cordier’s sculptures, which often incorporated coloured stone and precious metal finishes, stood in striking contrast to the white marble figures that embodied Victorian and Second Empire decorum. The effectiveness of such techniques may be seen in this reduced-scale bronze cast, in which warm skin tones are evoked by Cordier’s use of a fine silver patina. The subject of an African Venus would have appealed to a predominantly male audience attracted by the myths of availability associated with women of foreign cultures. The model’s heavy-lidded eyes, parted lips, and lightweight drapery reinforce such stereotypes, but the realism and carriage of the figure’s head create a strong impression of individuality and dignity.

Cordier submitted a plaster cast of the bust of an African visitor to Paris to the Salon of 1848, and two years later he again entered it as a bronze. A young African woman served as the model for the companion piece, called African Venus, in 1851.

This bust La Capresse des Colonies (The Goat Tender of the Colonies, made from Algerian onyx-marble, bronze and gilt bronze, and enamel on white marble socle) revels in the period taste for polychromy in sculpture, an international phenomenon sparked by artistic debates about the painting of ancient statuary and inspired by ancient Roman and Renaissance sculpture composed of variously coloured marbles. On a trip to Algeria in 1856 Cordier discovered onyx deposits in recently reopened ancient quarries and began to use the stone in busts such as these. He ingeniously fitted enamelled bronze heads into the vibrantly patterned stone, creating exciting though costly representations of Africans that appealed to the highest levels of European society.

Compared with the other version of this bust in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in this version Cordier selected a less variegated marble for the drapery and he complemented its golden hue by gilding the turban.

This bust is one of Cordier’s most lavish multimedia busts of ethnic people which found favour with collectors at the highest social level, for example, Napol�on III and Queen Victoria, who were no doubt drawn to them because of their own colonial interests. For such costly commissions he would create a model that could be varied with different stones and paints.

Compared with the Jewish Woman of Algiers in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, for the present version Cordier used red enamel for the blouse, which he matched by painting part of the marble cloak red and gold.

This bust (Algerian onyx-marble, bronze, gilt bronze, amethyst and enamel, white marble socle, red and white marble pedestal) is one of Cordier’s most lavish multimedia busts of ethnic people which found favour with collectors at the highest social level, for example, Napol�on III and Queen Victoria, who were no doubt drawn to them because of their own colonial interests. For such costly commissions he would create a model that could be varied with different stones and paints.

For the Jewish Woman of Algiers, a predominantly white onyx-marble is matched with a white enamel fired into the bronze floral pattern of the blouse. Brightly coloured enamels make stripes in the turban and in the brooches that pin it to the hair. Inset amethyst eyes gleam against the smooth surface of the woman’s skin. For a different version (Mus�e des Beaux-Arts, Troyes), Cordier used red enamel for the blouse, which he matched by painting part of the marble cloak red and gold.

For the Jewish Woman of Algiers, a predominantly white onyx-marble is matched with a white enamel fired into the bronze floral pattern of the blouse. Brightly coloured enamels make stripes in the turban and in the brooches that pin it to the hair. Inset amethyst eyes gleam against the smooth surface of the woman’s skin.

Cordier submitted a plaster cast of the bust of an African visitor to Paris to the Salon of 1848, and two years later he again entered it as a bronze. A young African woman served as the model for the companion piece in 1851.

Sculpted images of African men and women were rarely shown in public galleries before the 19th century, but Charles Cordier’s plaster Bust of Said Abdullah had a tremendous reception when it was displayed at the 1848 Paris Salon. Finished in two weeks, the bust reflects the mid-19th-century European fascination with non-Western physiognomy, costumes, and customs, later characterized as Orientalism. In 1851 Cordier made a pendant bust of a female entitled African Venus (now in the Royal Collection at Osborn House, Isle of Wight, England), and bronze casts of both busts were commissioned, indicating the growing crossover of cultures as Africa became more accessible with improved methods of transportation and trade.

The bust is signed: CORDiER and entitled: Jne ABYSSININNE.

This marble bust represents a girl from the lands surrounding Rome, the Campagna. Characteristic of the artist’s greatest works, the marble has been enlivened with the added dimension of polychromy. However, in contrast to the dazzling polychromed sculptures for which Cordier became most famous, here he has subtly tinted the marble.