Black Woman with Peonies

It was at the Paris Salon in 1865 that Bazille first encountered Manet's Olympia.^[1] By the early 1870s, Bazille was living and working in Paris, where he painted two versions of the same Black woman arranging tulips, narcissi and irises.^[2] These paintings are thought to have originally been gifts for Bazille's sister-in-law Suzanne.^[3]

During the late 19th century, Paris experienced an influx of immigrants from across Europe and France's colonies. Unlike the controversial depiction of Black models in American art, which was often tied to issues of slavery, Black models in French art did not carry the same social stigma, but they were still often regarded as being from a lower social strata.^[2] As the Black population in Paris grew, their representation in art did, too.^[4] Bazille's studio, seen in his painting Bazille's Studio, was located on the Rue da La Condamine in the Batignolles District, a socially and racially diverse area of Paris. In this series of paintings, Bazille modernizes the portrayal of the Parisian working class, marking a shift towards representing all demographics of city life in art at the time. The woman in Bazille's paintings is depicted conducting a mundane task in a way that does not exoticize her; whether a housekeeper or a florist, her occupation is left to the viewer's imagination.^[1]

The two paintings share many features, including the same model, though their compositions differ. In the painting in Washington, the woman holds a bundle of flowers in her right hand, with the rest of the flowers located on the tray, and she is making direct eye contact with the viewer. In contrast, in the Montpellier painting, the woman is arranging the bouquet in an ornamental vase, with her focus seemingly fully occupied with her task. The irises in this version bloom late in the spring, and since the peonies are more fully opened, it is thought that this version was painted after the painting located in Washington.^[2] Peonies, considered exotic and fragile, were not native to France, making them a challenging subject for painters at the time.^[5]

The female model is believed to be a friend of Bazille and may have been the same model that posed for Bazille's La Toilette in 1869-1870.^[4] She also wears an identical printed headscarf to the woman from Thomas Eakin's study Female Model, which he painted as a student studying in Paris in 1868.^[1][6]

In the context of 19th-century art, depicting women arranging flowers was traditionally linked to femininity and often portrayed as a private, intimate act. However, Bazille subverts these allegorical associations by presenting the woman’s expression as neutral and somber.^[2] The art historian Denise Murrell has suggested, however, that Bazille may "re-Orientalize" the woman through the juxtaposition with flowers, linking her with earth, nature, and the primitive.^[1]