Laure (art model)
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Laure | |
|---|---|
 La Négresse (1862-63) by Édouard Manet | |
| Born | unknown |
| Occupation | Art model |
| Years active | 1859–1867 |
| Known for | Olympia by Édouard Manet |
Laure was an art model in France known for her work with artist Édouard Manet. She is best known for posing as the black maid offering the white nude figure a bouquet of flowers in Manet's 1863 painting Olympia.
Little is known about Laure. She has been described as African or Caribbean and only the name "Laure" was recorded by Manet.[1] Art historian Griselda Pollock suggested that she met the artist Édouard Manet while working as a nursemaid in the Tuileries Garden in Paris. Another theory suggests that Jeanne Duval, who was in a relationship with Manet's friend Charles Baudelaire, introduced Manet and Laure. This theory was discussed by Pollock, as well as by Manet archivist Achille Tabarant.[1]
A notebook belonging to Manet, included in the 2019 exhibition Le Modèle noir, de Géricault à Matisse at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, recorded her address at 11, rue de Vintimille, 3rd floor, in Paris.
Laure très belle négresse 11 rue de Vintimille 3e
— Édouard Manet, artist's notebook
Laure lived was less than a 10-minute walk from Manet's apartment in a neighborhood inhabited by avant-garde artists and writers, as well as a "small but highly visible" black population.[1] Her residence was also close to Duval, who Baudelaire wrote to at 17 rue Sauffroy.[1]
Studio model
In addition to Manet's Olympia, Laure also appeared in Manet's painting Children in the Tuileries Garden (1861-62, Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI).[2][3] In both paintings, Laure is wearing a pink dress with a high white collar and a madras headtie.[4] It is not known whether she was painted by other artists during that period.
In 1862–63, Manet painted a portrait of Laure, La Négresse, which is also known as Portrait of Laure. This painting's subtitle is "une très belle négresse."[5]
Legacy
Laure has not been widely studied in art history. With a few exceptions, Laure is presented as "ancillary" or as a part of a larger colonial theme within the painting.[1] Manet's depictions of Laure are referenced in other works. Artists including Frédéric Bazille, Henri Matisse, and Romare Bearden responded to or were inspired by Manet's images of Laure.[6][7]
Contemporary depictions
Laure is a figure portrayed by many black artists who bring her to the forefront as "a subject in her own right, deserving of subjectivity."[8]
Renee Cox frequently references Laure in her works, combining or switching her and Olympia. Her works that reference Laure and Olympia include the 2001 Olympia's Boyz, which combines the characters,[9] and the 2008 Missy at Home, which art historian Tracey Walters views as a reversal of the Olympia and Laure roles.[8]
Maud Sulter has depicted Laure in many of her works, including her 1989 Phalia (Portrait of Alice Walker)[10] and her 2002 Portrait d’une négresse (Bonny Greer) and Jeanne Duval: A Melodrama. In Jeanne Duval: A Melodrama, Sulter overlay Laure in Olympia with an 1850s Nadar photograph of an unknown black model, who Sulter suggested might be Duval.[1]
Mickalene Thomas frequently references Laure in her work. Her 2012 series Une très belle négresse takes its name from the Portrait of Laure subtitle.[11]
Elizabeth Colomba's 2018 painting Laure (Portrait of a Negresse) depicts Laure on her way to Manet's studio. Colomba's painting was included in the exhibition Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today, alongside Manet's paintings of Laure, at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University.[12] This exhibit, curated by Denise Murrell, placed Laure in the spotlight, which redefined and named black women in art.[8]
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