Latin Blackness in Parisian Visual Culture, 1852–1932

A study of Parisian visual culture from 1852 to 1932 reveals how Latin Americans were depicted through a 'Latinizing' lens, which both denigrated European-descended elites and whitened Black Latin Americans for assimilation. The research identifies mid-19th-century codes used in popular media to portray Latin Americans as inferior, contrasting them with colonial Africans and other Black populations. Case studies of Cuban circus performer Chocolat, Panamanian boxer Alfonso Teofilo Brown, and Uruguayan artist Pedro Figari’s paintings show shifts in visual representation between 1890 and 1933, highlighting the complex interplay between race, identity, and empire in Paris.

Williams, L. E. (2019). Latin Blackness in Parisian Visual Culture, 1852–1932 (, Ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501332388