The Black Models exhibit in Paris touches on the sensitivities of French race relations

France has a distinct relationship with race, because legally, it doesn’t exist. Last year the parliament voted to remove the word from its constitution, the national census does not collect statistics on the racial makeup of the country and as France’s ambassador to the United States told comedian Trevor Noah when he remarked that the French world cup team had a majority of “African” players, “France does not refer to its citizens based on their race, religion, or origin.” It seems odd then that the Musée d’Orsay is putting on an exhibition called, Black Models: From Géricault to Matisse, in the nation’s capital.

Although the exhibit – which takes a look at famous works of art through the lens of their subjects of colour – has been adapted for one of Paris’ most famous public museums, the show originated with American curator Denise Murrell at New York’s Wallach Art Gallery. Murrell conceived the show when an art history professor at Columbia University was teaching Édouard Manet’s Olympia (1863), which features a naked white prostitute with a black maid. The professor spoke only about the white figure and said nothing about the black woman. The curator told artnet that this curiosity evolved into a PhD thesis which eventually became the Black Model show. But the French adaptation delves into the country’s history of slavery and abolition and how that changed the relationship between artists and black models.

“The history of slavery is not the same in France and the United States,” says Ghyslain Vedeux the president of France’s Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN). While the United States imported slaves, France maintained slavery in their colonies abroad. “Black people who live in France still have contact with family in Africa, but the black people in the United States do not have that same contact.” While there are millions of French afro-descendants owing to the country’s colonial history, France is home to the largest black population in Europe. So it might come as a surprise that  the exhibit came together under the direction of an American curator instead of a black curator from France.

It is not because the country has a plentiful representation of curators, artists and subjects of colour. There are French voices speaking out about the way art history and the art world portrays or fails to include black people. French art historian, Naïl Ver-Ndoye explores a very similar thesis to Murrell in his book Black: between paintings and history. Vedeux says that when it comes to institutions, the French prefer to import their racial commentators.

“Black creators in France often don’t have the opportunity to show their creations and it is very bizarre,” Vedeux says. “The museums in France prefer to invite the creators from the United States or other countries from South Africa. French institutions want to present the problems of black people, but not French problems.”

But beyond the problem of state institutions, it is difficult to present work about the black identity when identifying yourself by your race is taboo and the lack of government statistics make it difficult to get a clear picture when it comes to representation.

The Black Model exhibition and Murrell have been celebrated for offering an alternative look at how mostly white master painters depicted black subjects. While the Musée d’Orsay declined to comment on the exhibition’s French iteration, for Vedeux, it is time that the country’s institutions listen to its own people when they have something to say about race.

“The United States is much better at facilitating mobilisation in its black communities than France, but if they refuse to give opportunities to black people, we need to organise our own institutions.”

The Musée d’Orsay declined to speak to SLEEK on the exhibit.

Black Models: From Géricault to Matisse runs through to 21 July at Musée d’Orsay.