Ornamental Blackness: The Black Figure in European Decorative Arts

Exploring the role the decorative arts played in the representation of Black people in European visual and material culture

This revelatory look at European decorative arts addresses the long—ignored implications of the depiction of Black bodies on luxury objects from the Baroque period through the nineteenth century. Adrienne L. Childs traces the complex history of the vogue for representing the Black body as an ornamental motif throughout spaces of wealth and refinement. Objects such as ...