Why Born Enslaved! (1867): Art, History and Details
Why Born Enslaved! at the Cleveland Museum of Art: 1867, Plaster, original polychromed surface. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection history.
Why Born Enslaved! (1867) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827–1875).
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
One of the most powerful expressions of abolitionist sentiment in the visual arts, Why Born Enslaved! depicts an African woman bound by ropes and looking defiantly upward. The ropes press painfully into her breasts; her torn blouse alludes to the violence responsible for her condition. The original, polychromed surface is covered with complex, nuanced hatchings and subtle modeling. Evidence indicates that this masterpiece of 19th-century French sculpture served as the master model for numerous casts in other museum collections.
Object facts
- Title: Why Born Enslaved!
- Date: 1867
- Creator attribution: Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827–1875)
- Culture: France
- Type: Sculpture
- Technique: Plaster, original polychromed surface
- Dimensions: 67 cm (26 3/8 in.)
- Collection: Mod Euro - Sculpture 1800-1960
- Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Accession number: 2022.2
A detail from the museum
Although officially abolished in France since 1848, slavery remained a hotly contested issue in Carpeaux’s time as it remained legal or tolerated in various countries around the world.
Collection credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Further reading listed by the museum
- Gautier, Théophile, “Salon de 1869: Sculpture.” Journal Officiel de l'Empire Français (May 24, 1869).
- Atelier J.-B. Carpeaux: Catalogue de sculptures originales par J.B. Carpeaux. Paris: Galerie Manzi Joyant, May 1913.
- Clément-Carpeaux, Louise. La Vérité sur l'oeuvre et la vie de J.-B. Carpeaux. Paris: Dousset et Bigerrelle, 1934-1935.
View the collection record
See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.
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