The Madame B Album c. 1870s

Marie-Blanche Hennelle Fournier made this watercolor turkey sometime in the mid-19th century. The medium itself, watercolor on paper, suggests this was probably a labor of love, rather than a commercial venture. The image is meticulously rendered, and then complicated – even subverted – by the addition of a series of portraits within the turkey’s tail feathers. As in other works by Fournier, these aren't just portraits. They are a veritable who’s-who of Parisian society. Fournier likely knew many of these figures personally. But the real ingenuity here is the way Fournier has brought together these two distinct subjects. The portraits would have taken an enormous amount of focused work to paint on such a small scale, and with great detail. By combining them with the image of the fowl, Fournier is making a sly comment on the relationship between the wealthy, and the spoils they enjoyed. The image is funny, but pointed. It reminds us that artmaking is always a form of social commentary, even when it appears to be just a bit of whimsical fun.