Study related to "Why Born Enslaved!" 1868 - 1875

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux created this drawing titled "Study related to 'Why Born Enslaved!'" using pen and black ink with brush and gray wash. The composition centres on a bust of a Black woman, her gaze directed off to the side. The stark contrast between light and shadow defines her features, adding depth and emotion. Carpeaux uses cross-hatching lines in the background, creating a dynamic sense of movement that surrounds the still, sculpted form. This drawing is a study for Carpeaux's sculpture "Why Born Enslaved!", and it reflects broader 19th-century discourses on race and representation. The formal qualities of the work – the shadows, the direction of the gaze, and the bondage – invite us to consider how Carpeaux grapples with themes of bondage and freedom, and how this is expressed through the formal qualities of his art. Note the interplay between restraint and release. It destabilizes fixed meanings, prompting us to reconsider the visual rhetoric of subjugation.