Blackamoor is a type of figure and visual trope in European decorative art, typically found in works from the Early Modern period, depicting a man of sub-Saharan African descent, usually in clothing that suggests high status. Common examples of items and objects decorated in the blackamoor style include sculpture, jewellery, and furniture. Typically the sculpted figures carried something, such as candles or a tray. They were thus an exotic and lightweight variant for the "atlas" in architecture and decorative arts, especially popular in the Rococo period.
The term "blackamoor" or "black moor" was once a general term for black people in English, [1] "formerly without depreciatory force" as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it. [2] The style is now viewed by some as racist and culturally insensitive. [3] However, blackamoor pieces are still produced, mainly in Venice, Italy.
In jewelry, blackamoor figures usually appear in antique Venetian earrings, bracelets, cuff links, and brooches (Moretto Veneziano). Blackamoor jewelry is also traditionally produced, based on legend found in Fiume , such as earrings and brooches under the name Morčić or Moretto Fiumano. [4] [5] [6]
Some contemporary craftspeople continue to make individual pieces; however, production of blackamoor jewelry is becoming more rare, due to the decorative style increasingly being viewed as problematic and offensive for its depiction of dark-skinned people as "exotic" and decorative.
Blackamoor figures are typically male, sometimes depicted with a head covering such as a turban. Sculptures are typically carved from ebony, or painted black to contrast with the bright colors of the embellishments. Depictions may only represent the head, or head and shoulders, facing the viewer in a symmetrical pose.
In decorative sculpture, the full body is depicted, either to hold trays as a servant figure, or bronze sconces to hold candles or light fixtures. They may be incorporated into small stands, tables, or andirons, and are often portrayed in pairs. Often, blackamoor figures are depicted in acrobatic positions that would be physically impossible to hold for any extended length of time. Notable sculptors of blackamoor figures include Andrea Brustolon (1662–1732), who is considered by some[ who? ] to be the most important artist of blackamoor sculptures.
The Mohr mit Smaragdstufe ("Moor with Emerald Cluster"), in the collection of the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden, Germany, created by Balthasar Permoser in 1724, is a richly decorated statue with jewels, 63.8 cm (25.1 in) tall.
The Dunham Massey Hall sundial depicts a blackamoor carrying the sundial above his head. From the period of the Atlantic slave trade, it has also been categorised as a 'kneeling slave'. The statue was set up as one monument to honour the 1st Earl of Warrington by his son, the second Earl in c. 1735. It was cast after a model by John Nost I for William III of England's Privy Garden at Hampton Court Palace. [7] In June 2020, the National Trust removed the Grade II-listed statue from the forecourt of Dunham Massey Hall. [8] [9]
Aleksandr Pushkin had a blackamoor figurine on his desk to remind him of Abram Petrovich Gannibal, his great-grandfather. This figure can be seen in his former St. Petersburg apartment, now turned into a museum.[ citation needed ]
Vogue editor Diana Vreeland had a famous collection of blackamoor figurines [10] [11] and blackamoor jewelry and famously said: “Have I ever showed you my little blackamoor heads from Cartier with their enameled turbans? I’m told it’s not in good taste to wear blackamoors anymore, but I think I’ll revive them.” [12] Civil-Rights Activist and pop star Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters has some blackamoor pieces in her extensive collection of black memorabilia that she started in the 1970s. As a child, she witnessed extreme racial oppression in her mother's hometown, Prescott. When she started traveling abroad, she was amazed that she could find collectible pieces in other parts of the world that told the same story as Black American History. [13] [14] [15]
In heraldry, a blackamoor may be a charge in the blazon, or description of a coat of arms. The isolated head of a moor is blazoned "a Maure" or a "moor's head".
The reasons for the inclusion of a blackamoor head vary. The Moor's head on the crest that appears on the arms of Lord Kirkcudbright, and in consequence the modern crest badge used by Clan MacLellan is supposed to derive from the killing of a moorish bandit known as Black Morrow. [16] The blazon is a naked arm supporting on the point of a sword, a moor's head. [17] Other examples appear to depict captives; the flag of Sardinia and the neighboring Corsica, derived from the coat of arms of Aragon, depict Maures' heads with bandanas.
Blackamoor figures were also used in larger sculptures, such as on Blackamoor Bridge in Ulriksdal Palace, Sweden.
Fred Wilson, [18] an African-American sculptor, displayed an installation at the 2003 Venice Biennale that incorporated blackamoors. [19] Wilson placed wooden blackamoors carrying acetylene torches and fire extinguishers. Wilson noted that such figures are so common in Venice, few people notice them. He said, "They are in hotels everywhere in Venice ... which is great, because all of a sudden you see them everywhere. I wanted it to be visible, this whole world which sort of just blew up for me." [19]
Blackamoors have a long history in decorative art, stretching back to 17th century Italy and the famous sculptor Andrea Brustolon (1662–1732). They are often recognized for depictions of slaves and the ornamental pieces that they inspired.
In modern times, the blackamoor is considered to have racist connotations, with its association to colonialism and slavery. [3] Art historian Adrienne Childs criticised the "romanticised" depictions and interpretations of blackamoor pieces, arguing that the depictions of black people in the blackamoor style obscured and made palatable the existence of slaves in the colonies, and evidenced "a culture that marginalised and dominated blacks". [20] [21] [22]
The term is ultimately derived from the name of the Moors, a historic people in the western Mediterranean. Other similarly derived words include Kammermohr, Matamoros, Maure, Mohr im Hemd, Moresca, Moresche, Moresque, Moreška, Morianbron, Morisco, Moros y cristianos, and Morris dance.
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving and modelling, in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or moulded or cast.
African art describes the modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual culture from native or indigenous Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the African diasporas, such as: African-American, Caribbean or art in South American societies inspired by African traditions. Despite this diversity, there are unifying artistic themes present when considering the totality of the visual culture from the continent of Africa.
A figurine or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with clay, metal, wood, glass, and today plastic or resin the most significant. Ceramic figurines not made of porcelain are called terracottas in historical contexts.
A Moor's head, also known as a Maure, since the 11th century, is a symbol depicting the head of a black moor. The term moor came to define anyone who was Muslim or had black skin.
Blackamoors may refer to:
Dunham Massey is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The parish includes the villages of Sinderland Green, Dunham Woodhouses and Dunham Town, along with Dunham Massey Hall and Park, formerly the home of the last Earl of Stamford and owned by the National Trust since 1976. Dunham Massey is in the historic county of Cheshire, but since 1974 has been part of Trafford Metropolitan Borough; the nearest town is Altrincham. At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 475.
A lawn jockey is a statue depicting a man in jockey clothes, intended to be placed in front yards as hitching posts, similar to those of footmen bearing lanterns near entrances and gnomes in gardens. The lawn ornament, popular in certain parts of the United States and Canada in years past, was a cast replica, usually about half-scale or smaller, generally of a man dressed in jockey's clothing and holding up one hand as though taking the reins of a horse. The hand sometimes carries a metal ring and, in some cases, a lantern, which may or may not be operational.
Fontana del Moro is a fountain located at the southern end of the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It depicts a nautical scene with tritons, dolphins, and a conch shell. It was originally designed by Giacomo della Porta in the 1570s with later contributions from Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the 1650s. Bernini sculpted a large terracotta model of the central figure, which Giovanni Antonio Mari used as a guide when sculpting the final figure. There is a debate around whether or not the central figure was intended by Bernini to depict a Moor. Some of the original sculptures were moved to the Galleria Borghese in 1874. In 2011, the fountain was vandalized.
The cigar store Indian or wooden Indian is an advertisement figure, in the likeness of a Native American, used to represent tobacconists. The figures are often three-dimensional wooden sculptures measuring from several feet tall up to life-sized. They are still occasionally used for their original advertising purpose, but are more often seen as decorations or advertising collectibles, with some pieces selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Andrea Brustolon was an Italian sculptor in wood. He is known for his furnishings in the Baroque style and devotional sculptures.
Architectural sculpture is a general categorization used to describe items used for the decoration of buildings and structures. In the United States, the term encompasses both sculpture that is attached to a building and free-standing pieces that are a part of an architects design.
Romano Vio was an Italian sculptor. He was born in Venice and taught sculpture there.
Dunham Massey Hall, usually known simply as Dunham Massey, is an English country house in the parish of Dunham Massey in the district of Trafford, near Altrincham, Greater Manchester. During World War I it was temporarily used as the Stamford Military Hospital.
Moresque is an obsolete alternative term to "Moorish" in English, and in the arts has some specific meanings. By itself, the word is used to describe the stylized plant-based forms of tendrils and leaves found in ornament and decoration in the applied arts in Renaissance Europe that are derived from the arabesque patterns of Islamic ornament. Like their Islamic ancestors, they differ from the typical European plant scroll in being many-branched and spreading rather than forming a line in one direction. The use of half-leaves with their longest side running along the stem is typical for both.
There are various allegorical representations of Argentina or associated in any way with Argentina. There is not, however, a national personification with its own name, like Marianne from France, or Hispania from Spain, but sculptures and engravings representing liberty, republic, motherland or other concepts that have been used officially by the Argentine state.
The Middle Ages was a period that spanned approximately 1000 years and is normally restricted to Europe and the Byzantine Empire. The material remains we have from that time, including jewelry, can vary greatly depending on the place and time of their creation, especially as Christianity discouraged the burial of jewellery as grave goods, except for royalty and important clerics, who were often buried in their best clothes and wearing jewels. The main material used for jewellery design in antiquity and leading into the Middle Ages was gold. Many different techniques were used to create working surfaces and add decoration to those surfaces to produce the jewellery, including soldering, plating and gilding, repoussé, chasing, inlay, enamelling, filigree and granulation, stamping, striking and casting. Major stylistic phases include barbarian, Byzantine, Carolingian and Ottonian, Viking, and the Late Middle Ages, when Western European styles became relatively similar.
A Memorial to Queen Victoria stands in Woodhouse Moor, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Modesty or Chastity or Veiled Truth by Antonio Corradini is a sculpture completed in 1752 during the Rococo period. Corradini was commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro to sculpt a memorial for his mother in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples, where the marble sculpture still remains.
A number of statues and memorials were the subject of protests and petitions during the George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom in 2020.
The Dunham Massey Hall sundial is a lead sculpture depicting a kneeling Black man holding a sundial on his head. It was created during the early 18th century, and until 2020 stood outside Dunham Massey Hall, a stately home in Cheshire, England.