User:Tprice98115/Negrophilia

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Lead: ORIGINAL TEXT: The word negrophilia is derived from the French négrophilie that means love of the negro. It was a term that avant-garde artists used amongst themselves to describe their fetishization of Black culture. NEW TEXT: Its origins were concurrent with art movements such as surrealism and Dadaism in the late nineteenth century. ORIGINAL TEXT: Sources of inspiration originally were inanimate African art objects (l'art nègre) NEW TEXT: such as masks and wooden carvings that found their way into Paris's flea markets and galleries alike (products of France's colonial exploitation), which inspired artworks such as Picasso's Les Demoiselles d' Avignon . Equally of interest to avant-garde creators were live arts such as dance, music and theatrical performances by Black artists, as evidenced by the popularity of comic artist Chocolat and the musical review Les Heureux Nègres (1902) many of whom were ex-soldiers remaining in European cities after World War I, who had no choice but to entertain as a source of income. "{Editing out completely "that found their way into Paris as a result of colonial looting of Africa as well as live performances by Black people, many of whom were ex-soldiers remaining in European cities after World War I, who had no choice but to entertain as a source of income.}

Contents:

• Factors/Ideas influencing the emergence of Negrophilia
• Significant personalities emerging from Les années folles
  • Josephine Baker
• Significant pieces
  • La revue nègre
  • La folie du Jour
• Bal Nègre
• Concurrent movements and opposing ideas
• Nègrophilia today- Cultural appropriation

Factors/ Ideas influencing the emergence of Negrophilia: MOVED

NEW TEXT: What began as artistic interest grew to a society-wide, mass fetish in France in the aftermath of World War I. An entire generation of youth was lost in La Grande Guerre. The violence and loss witnessed in Europe, in particular in France, by those who survived, challenged the belief in the superiority of Western civilization fostered during the age of Enlightenment, which also fueled questions on the exploitative effects of colonialism. French society was looking for alternative ideologies, and the exotic, "primitive" cultures of French colonies, erstwhile and current, were seen as alternatives to cold capitalism and modernity. The post-war ideological vacuum thus fed of earlier artistic movements centered around primitivism. Simultaneously, the arrival of numerous African and African-American soldiers during the war years, their subsequent decision to return to or remain in post-war France, as well as the arrival of many colored artists, students, writers and performers seeking fertile ground for their work, were significant to the pervasiveness of Negrophilia in French society.

"Negrophilia was never really about the Negro but about France, its needs, its wants and desires." T. Denean Sharpley- Whiting

Significant personalities emerging from Les années folles MOVED

Existing text: This fetishization of foreign cultures had already been established within France due to the regular expositions the country held to showcase the objects and people of the French colonies. The fascination with specifically black culture and the "primitivized" existence associated with it flourished in the combined aftermath of the First World War (1914–1918) and the 1931 Colonial Exposition when artists yearned for a "simpler, idyllic lifestyle to counter modern life's mechanistic violence." New text--Yet to advertise the Colonial Exposition, the organizers relied on "racist imagery" in a children's comic book in the form of a character, Nénufar, who personified the savage with child-like curiosity, not the colonized oppressed peoples. Pictured with "steel wool hair" and practically naked except for a loincloth, cuffs and gloves on his feet, he appears to be aiming for but failing at assimilation. Existing text: Avant-garde artists recognised for their negrophilia interests include poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire, artists Jean Cocteau, Tristan Tzara, Man Ray, Paul Colin, surrealists Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris, and political activist Nancy Cunard. ORIGINAL TEXT: The During 1920–1930s Paris, negrophilia was a craze to collect African art, to listen to jazz, and to dance the Charleston, the Lindy Hop or the Black Bottom, were signs of being modern and fashionable. Perhaps the most popular revue and entertainer during this time was La Revue Nègre (1925) starring Josephine Baker.

Josephine Baker MOVED

New text: Regarding Baker and her style of dancing, a literary critic at the time, Gerard Bauër, called this the dawning of the romanticism of "couleur" (meaning "dark skin"), as opposed to "exoticism," because romanticism was felt by the heart, and was not just a scientific inquiry. Bauër, the biological (but illegitimate) grandson of the author Alexandre Dumas père (his father Henry was born of an extramarital relationship), was a prolific author and chronicler in Paris, and would later become a member of the Académie Goncourt and the Société des gens des lettres (Society of Persons of Letters), which defended the rights of authors. As he described it, the animal-like intensity of Josephine Baker's dancing, for example, transported the viewer to a new state of feeling and not just curiosity. In addition to her color and near complete nudity, what elicited these feelings were Ms. Baker's movements--near perpetual trembling, her body extended like a serpent with elements of a contortionist, and ending on all fours with her head on the stage and her derrière in the air. Similarly, the African bamboula dance was described as a "frenzy" of noise and movement where one loses oneself, and where the dance becomes nearly an act of sexual intercourse.

Significant pieces (new section)MOVED

La Revue Nègre {MOVED BUT WITHOUT CONTENT- HEADING ONLY}

Notes on La Revue Nègre: (closely reproduced from Carole Sweeney's text cited earlier- requires rephrasing in our own words and editing)

- 1925- White businesswoman Caroline Dudley Reagan saw growing interests for Black acts and also saw Baker's performance in the last row of chorus dancers in New York and signed her up.

- First performance in Paris was La Revue Nègre on 2nd October 1925.

- Publicity material created for the show highlighted Baker's exotic beauty, her color and sensuality.

- La Revue Nègre drew on exotic and primitive imagery from across continents.

- highly sexualized depiction highlighting many racial stereotypes.

- La Danse Sauvage became iconic and was synonymous with Josephine Baker.

- The primitiveness, simplicity and sensuality depicted were an instant hit- French society of the time was primed for simpler times and a step away from violence and war

- The show did not dwell on the darker aspects of life in the colonies and colonialism.

La Folie du Jour (information required) MOVED

Concurrent Movements and Opposing Ideas (New Text) MOVED

- Negrophilia was a metropolitan movement that also elicited opposition from parts of French society. The combination of African primitive music and American popular culture through presentations like La Revue Nègre, was a threat to refined French tastes. Not all Parisians welcomed incoming foreigners in the inter war years- they were seen as competition for employment opportunities in a recovering economy, nor was Paris free from racism.

- Dissenting voices were strengthening in the French colonies. An example : Association Panafricaine in 1921 post the Pan-African Congress. Soldiers from French colonies who fought on behalf of France during the Great War were voicing demands for citizenship and equality, challenging French colonial power.

Negrophilia today- Cultural appropriation ( new text) (sources and citations to be explored) MOVED

Negrophilia and the fetishization of colored faces, bodies, arts, music and dance that were its manifestations, have been criticized for objectifying, sexualizing and ultimately trivializing peoples of so-called "primitive" or "exotic" cultures, in a process of racial "othering". The fetishization and selective exploitation of Black physical traits, hair, manner of dress and cultural attributes can seen in contemporary social media, electronic media and public life, by celebrities as well as people seeking celebrity status. The contemporary phenomena of Cultural appropriation and Blackfishing can be called the modern iterations of Negrophilia. Members of the dominant social group, in this case White persons, either adopt - without acknowledgement- certain customs, mannerisms etc. of people of African origin, or in some cases, give themselves a completely different racial identity. The objectives are varied: gaining attention, rebuilding a celebrity image, marketing and business interests. Several public figures from across domains have, in the recent past, been identified for this commodification of Black identity, including Kim Kardashian, Eminem, Ariana Grande and Rachel Dolezal.