The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 13, 2025
Why Born Enslaved!
1867
Location: 219 19th Century European
Did You Know?
Although officially abolished in France since 1848, slavery remained a hotly contested issue in Carpeaux’s time as it remained legal or tolerated in various countries around the world.Description
One of the most powerful expressions of abolitionist sentiment in the visual arts, Why Born Enslaved! depicts an African woman bound by ropes and looking defiantly upward. The ropes press painfully into her breasts; her torn blouse alludes to the violence responsible for her condition. The original, polychromed surface is covered with complex, nuanced hatchings and subtle modeling. Evidence indicates that this masterpiece of 19th-century French sculpture served as the master model for numerous casts in other museum collections.- 1868–1875Artist's studio, Paris1875Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, by descent to Louis and Louise-Clement Carpeaux, the artist's children1913Louis and Louise-Clement Carpeaux, their sale, Studio J-B Carpeaux, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, 30 May 1913, lot 42, acquired by Stefanos ("Etienne") Eugenidi1913–1930sStefanos ("Etienne") Eugenidi [1879–1957], France1930s–2017A noble family, Normandy, France, from at least the 1930s until 20172017–2021Private Collection, Switzerland2021(Koller Auktionen, Zürich, 10 September 2021, lot 1199, acquired by Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, London)2021–2022(Stuart Lochhead, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art2022–The Cleveland Museum of Art, acquired from Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, LondonProvenance Footnotes1 Eugenidi was a banker, born in Greece, died in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is listed in the directory of the University of Paris of 1902. There is a portrait of him by Aimé Nicolas Morot [French, 1850–1913] in the National Gallery of Greece, Athens, donation of St. (Stefanos) Eugenidi.
- Gautier, Théophile, “Salon de 1869: Sculpture.” Journal Officiel de l'Empire Français (May 24, 1869).Atelier J.-B. Carpeaux: Catalogue de sculptures originales par J.B. Carpeaux. Paris: Galerie Manzi Joyant, May 1913. p. 9, no. 42.Clément-Carpeaux, Louise. La Vérité sur l'oeuvre et la vie de J.-B. Carpeaux. Paris: Dousset et Bigerrelle, 1934-1935.Honour, Hugh. The Image of the Black in Western Art, 5 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989. IV, part I: pp. 259-61; IV, part 2: pp. 166-69Poletti, Michel, Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Alain Richarme, and Alain Richard. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Sculpteur : Catalogue Raisonné De L'oeuvre Édité. Paris: Editions de l'Amateur, 2003. pp. 34 and 141.Draper, James David, Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, Papet Édouard, Elena Carrara, Horner Nadège, Laure de Margerie, Jean-Claude Poinsignon, et al. The Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. New York, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. pp. 163-64; 323Murrell, Denise, Wallach Art Gallery, Wallach Art Gallery, Musée d'Orsay, and Musée d'Orsay. Posing Modernity : The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018. pp. 43 and 187, no. 60.Nelson, Ellyse, Wendy S. Walters (eds.). Fictions of Emancipation : Carpeaux's Why Born Enslaved! Reconsidered. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022. pp. 9-11; 14-27.Robinson, William H. “Why Born Enslaved! The museum acquires a masterpiece.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 62, no. 2 (2022): 26-27. Reproduced: P. 27; Mentioned: P. 26.Lochhead, Stuart. The First Five Years. London: Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, 2024. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 62-67
- {{cite web|title=Why Born Enslaved!|url=false|author=Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux|year=1867|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
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https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.2