The Tale of Sarah Baartman
The tale of Sara Baartman has been told for multiple centuries. But, for an ordinary woman born in what is now South Africa, she endured a life brutally cut short filled with torment. Her body was judged, prodded, and used in Western theater as an example of African inferiority. Her sexuality and genitalia were a thing of awe for many western viewers, and due to this, our current perception of black females' sexuality is skewed.
Sara’s exploitation began as soon as she was “reacquired” by imperial forces in what is now known as South Africa. According to Chris Youe’s article “Sara Baartman: Inspection / Dissection / Resurrection," she was specifically chosen due to her "exoticness" and Western audiences being fascinated with non-whiteness and sexuality. This can be seen in the fact that Youe references how the American Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould stumbled upon her dissected and pickled genitalia in the Musée de l’Homme. This is where her body was held in Paris, until 1974 where her body was transported to storage. In other words, Baartman was seen as a test subject for scientific sexual unknowns. In what other way would a museum possess an African woman's genitalia? This is due to the fact, according to Youe, that they saw Baartman as a "sexual savage."
Furthermore, Youe references Rachel Holmes' book “The Hottentot Venus," where she states that the rise of Baartman comes from two unique issues. Her fame is derived from racism and sexuality, two potent forces that drove her success. "Holmes eloquently puts it, united the words Hottentot and Venus carried a potent force. They coupled Eros with notions of ugliness, desire with degradation, license with taboo, and transcendent goddess with carnal beast.”[1] But, what I believe is most interesting about Sara Baartman’s existence is her different experience in Europe, dependent on her country. Youe states that "[i]n England she was a living "curiosity" such as had been displayed since Elizabethan times, a "savage" from one of the ends of the world.”[2] Youe also states that her life was quite comfortable during her time in France. She was regularly dressed in high-end clothing such as furs and was often accompanied by a servant. Also her she was regularly the subject of a relatively private objectification for her body and specifically her genitalia.[3] These explanations are important in understanding the black women's experience in these two countries. In England, African people are seen as slaves and uncivilized individuals, not worthy of being human. While in France, they had a more sexualized curiosity and use of a novelty and as an object which encouraged sexual fantasies among men and women.
These claims are reinforced in Clifton Crais and Pamela Scully’s article “Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography." According to the authors, Baartman was seen as “a “sub-human” type of southern Africa, she would be transformed into an “individual” and a “woman”—on imperial Western bourgeois humanist terms—by a new brand of missionary work in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries."[4]. Furthermore, according to the authors, there is no known account of Sara Baartman before she was taken from her homeland and brought on a colonial empire tour. On these tours, her body and genitalia were used as a perverted way to objectify Baartman sexually. This is furthered according to the authors by Sara's name, which roughly translates to "The Savage Servant," with Baartman translating to the bearded man. The objectification continued with the distributed posters depicting Baartman. Baartman was shown in many advertisements with an ample bosom, very little clothing, and many viewers watching her strut around. In another article by the same authors, "Race and Erasure: Sara Baartman and Hendrik Cesars in Cape Town and London," written once again by Crais and Scully, it is clearly stated that “For two shillings, people entered 225 Picadilly and watched Sara Baartman walk onto a stage, sing a song, and turn around. The spectators could even poke her with their walking sticks."[5]. In other words, she was treated and seen as a silenced animal whose use was only to reaffirm western beauty ideals as her large buttocks and genitals were not seen as a beauty standard. They state that Baartman under the alias of Hottentot Venus was a perfect example of the reinforcement of gendered stereotypes and scientific racism. It is also interesting how Baartman was portrayed because, according to Crais and Scully, “[t]hey represented her as an individual with the capacity to exercise free will. Some letter writers, Macaulay and many subsequent scholars fashion Sarah Baartman as defenseless poor black woman taken advantage of by white men…."[6]Therefore, she was unaware of the intricate dynamics of her subsequent abduction resulting in her sexual exploitation and moral objectification. Her sexual exploitation was a result of forced prostitution.
To distinguish between her treatment in France and her treatment in England, look at the following advertisements. "Les Curieux en extase ou Les Cordons de souliers," which was created by Louis François Charon in 1815, and "Sartjee the Hottentot Venus," which was produced in 1810 and had an unknown artist both depict the difference in how Baartman was treated. These two paintings feature an African woman with an ample bosom and very little clothing. These symbols were essential to the first viewers because they gave off an exotic sense that intrigued many viewers. In comparison, the cultural symbols such as the "skimpy" native clothing were in line with westerners' perceived stereotypes of an African woman from the time. Charon's version, which is being held in the BM Satires / Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, mainly depicts slender westerners gawking at Baartman and her perceived outlandish features. Therefore, I am under the impression that the woman portrayed in the poster looks at Baartman’s genitals most likely to compare her sexual characteristics. This all occurs with other slender white men closely inspecting her prominent figure while Baartman is standing on a pedestal, almost as she is a prize or an example of something valuable. The sexual exploitation portion of this poster also comes from the men in the picture, many of whom can be seen staring at her figure and the man in the far right blushing as he looks at her while he blushes. This is the same situation for the man directly to his left, which depicts a colonial man bending over to take a more delicate look at her exterior features. Secondly, the “Sartjee the Hotentot Venus" that is in the custody of the British Museum and not on display depicts a more savage rendering of Baartman. Here she is described quite literally as a savage. She is nearly naked and facing the right while she smokes on a pipe and carries a spear. She is depicted as having a large rear, and the viewer is under the impression, she has a minor mental capacity as she gazes aimlessly into the distance. This representation reinforced the idea that the English had very little respect and expectation for her as lesser than an animal. This harkens back to the distinction between each culture's understanding of Baartman. In England, she was seen as a savage and an object. A primitive representation of what England once was. In contrast, in France, she was a fascination amongst most Parisians with roots in the sexualization of a black woman.
These racist induced perceptions are also viewable in the reception of a progressive painting of an African woman and your typical lithograph of Sara Baartman. None are so apparent as Marie-Guillemine Benoist’s work “Portrait of Madeleine," formerly known as “Portrait of a Negress”, which is being held in the Lourve and was created in 1800.According to Dr. Susan Walker, in the article “Marie-Guillemine Benoist, portrait of Madeleine," the initial response to the painting was incredibly hostile. Benoist nearly mimics another famous image of the time by Jacques Louis David named “Madame Raymond de Verninac," held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and created in 1799, where a Caucasian woman with similar white garb is sitting and staring towards the viewer. Furthermore, in Benoist’s work, one can see a realistic version of flesh, a supple face, and a calm civilized manner in an African subject. The woman in the painting, who I believe is in her early twenties, is relatively slender, has one gold earring and a white headdress. The woman sits on an ornate chair with a blue sheet draped over it. This all the while the woman is revealing one of her breasts. The picture seems to glorify the African woman as beautiful and natural. This is evident in how Dr. Walker exclaims that "Other viewers, therefore, might have seen Benoist’s figure as an allegory, especially as her costume included the blue, white, and red colors of the tricoleur flag that had been adopted by the French Revolutionary Government in 1789.”[7] In other words, the painting depicts a dignified and empowered woman whose beauty is radiant. A piece like this would damage the slave industry, reap enormous penalties for France. This is a stark contrast from how a woman such as Sarah Baartman was perceived and portrayed. An example of this would be "Femme de race Bochismann” by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Georges Cuvier, held in the New York Public Library Digital Collections. In this lithograph, Baartman isn’t depicted as a subject of a painting, more as an object. Curvier and Hilaire made a point of accentuating her hips and her breasts to create a distinction between class and relatability. Her skin isn't as smooth, nor is it representative of a civilized person. If one were to look at Baartman's feet, one would notice that one of them is mangled and resemblant to an animal. Furthermore, Baartman is naked and staring towards the viewer. There is little background distinction, yet Baartman looks quite plain-faced with no emotion. It is almost as if the painters themselves wanted Baartman to represent a monster or a being that should receive no acknowledgment.
Sara Baartman has been mistreated, misinterpreted, and was abused for the remainder of her life. The fact that she was central in institutionalizing medical and general racism is why there are continued issues with perception and, frankly, the acceptance of black women, as usual, everyday people. Finally, the distinction between how art has memorialized her figure and condemned her to a life of suffering is apparent in her representation in the art she was forced to participate in.
[1] Youé, Chris. Review of Sara Baartman: Inspection / Dissection / Resurrection, by Zola Maseko, Gail Smith, and Rachel Holmes. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines 41, no. 3 (2007): 563. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40380104.
[2] Youé, “Review of Sara Baartman”565.
[3] Youé, “Review of Sara Baartman”565.
[4] Clifton Crais and Pamela Scully, “Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography,” The American Historical Review, Volume 115, Issue 3, June 2010, 923, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr.115.3.922-a.
[5] Scully, Pamela, and Clifton Crais, “Race and Erasure: Sara Baartman and Hendrik Cesars in Cape Town and London,” Journal of British Studies 47, no. 2 (2008): 301, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25482758.
[6] Pamela, Crais. “Race and Erasure,” 303.
[7] “Marie-Guillemine Benoist, portrait of Madeleine,” Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/rococo-neoclassicism/neo-classicism/a/marie-guillemine-benoist-portrait-of-a-black-woman.