THE ART OF BECOMING: MIMICRY, AMBIVALENCE, AND ORIENTALISM IN THE WORK OF HENRY OSSAWA TANNER AND HILDA RIX By LAURA M. WINN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2018 © 2018 Laura M. Winn To my first teachers, my Mom and Dad, for giving me the lifelong gift and love for learning ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people that helped in facilitating and supporting the long and challenging journey of researching and writing this dissertation. I am grateful to all of them. None of this would have been possible without the guidance of my committee members Ashley Jones, Brigitte Weltman-Aron, Elisabeth Fraser, and Nika Elder. Thank you for being so generous with your time, expertise, and thoughtful suggestions. I am especially indebted to my advisor and the chair of the committee, Melissa Hyde, for her willingness to adopt a Classicist interested in gender studies and introduce me to the importance–and fun–of dix-huitième scholarship. Melissa worked through multiple iterations and drafts of this project to clarify and refine my arguments, helping to bring a greater coherence and new voice to the exceptional lives and artistic contributions of Henry Ossawa Tanner and Hilda Rix Nicholas. Through every phase of my graduate education at Florida she has been a vital resource and mentor. I feel incredibility fortunate to have been her student. Crystalizing ideas into a finished dissertation often felt like an insurmountable challenge. I greatly benefited from the support, feedback, and experience of my “girl gang” at Florida. These ladies sustained and uplifted me with their intellect and positivity. I thank Maura Gleeson, Carissa Nicholson, Leslie Todd, Lauren Walters, and Ellie Laughlin for allowing me to vent and workshop ideas with them, but mostly for their camaraderie and laughter when I needed it most. Additionally, I owe a special thank you to Patrick Grigbsy and Laura Roberston in the College of Fine Arts for guiding me through the gauntlet of advising and administrative procedures, and for always having answers to my questions when I needed them. Throughout my research, I came to depend on the generosity of scholars, curators, and archivists on opposite sides of the world. It was through their assistance that I was able to access the materials that were integral in helping craft and improve upon my ideas. I am grateful for the 4 time, talent, and knowledge of Emily Leischner at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Amber Kerr conservationist at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in addition to Huang Tran at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts’ archives and Tim Horning with the University of Pennsylvania archives. During my travels and research in Australia I benefited from discussions with the National Library’s archival staff, Alexandra Torrens at the Australian War Memorial, and Rose Montebello with the National Museum of Art in Canberra, as well as Elle Freak with the curatorial department at the Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide. I thank my family, Sharon, Michael, and Stephanie Winn for their encouragement and unyielding support of my academic endeavors. My family’s commitment and dedication to the field of education continues to inspire my purist and growth as a teacher. Lastly, I must thank my husband John Freeman for standing by and supporting me through the duration of my graduate studies at Florida. You labored and sacrificed through this project with me. Through all the struggles and successes you are the person I turn to for comfort, criticism, levity, and encouragement. You are my rock. Thank you always and forever. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................8 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................12 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................14 Previous Scholarship and Approaches to Henry Ossawa Tanner and Hilda Rix ...................17 Orientalism and its Interlocutors ............................................................................................27 Defining Mimicry, Methods, and Purpose of Study ...............................................................31 Overview of Chapters .............................................................................................................42 2 FIGHT OR FLIGHT? TANNER’S NEGOTIATION OF THE “NEGRO QUESTION” ......47 Race Relations and Artistic Foundations in Postbellum America ..........................................50 “The Battle of My Life” – Double-Consciousness and Racial Oppression ............................56 Academic Ambivalence and Black Genre Scenes ..................................................................61 Expatriatism and Abandonment of the New Negro? ..............................................................78 Mimicry and Mockery in the Latin Quarter ...........................................................................87 3 CREATING A HOME FOR WOMEN, REALISM, AND RELIGION ..............................115 Foundations in Gender Consciousness: The Exceptional Tanner Women ...........................116 Creating a Home in France ...................................................................................................120 Marian Imagery and Mothers of the Bible ...........................................................................129 Abstraction as Camouflage for the Re-Presentation of Women in Christian Art .................140 Tanner’s Modern Muse .........................................................................................................147 4 HILDA RIX: PROFESSIONAL AMBITION IN A NEW WORLD/NEW WOMAN .......161 Women’s Role and Relationship to the Heidelberg School Mythology ...............................167 Artistic Foundations and “Unnatural” Antipodean Ambition ..............................................179 Artistic Ingénue in Europe ....................................................................................................191 Mirroring Woman’s Otherness or Resisting Reflection? .....................................................198 Becoming an Artist in Étaples ..............................................................................................207 5 ESCAPE AND TRANSCENDENCE IN THE ORIENT .....................................................226 Hybridity in the Holy Land ...................................................................................................228 Aesthetic Experimentation and Escapism in the Orient .......................................................236 Imaging/Imagining North Africa ..........................................................................................242 6 Transcendence in Morocco ...................................................................................................253 6 MIMICRY AND HYSTERIA IN THE ORIENT ................................................................270 Australian Orientalism and Romantic Antecedents ..............................................................273 Miming the Mimic in Morocco ............................................................................................277 Distinguishing Difference in the Grand Soko ......................................................................283 Oriental Ambivalence – Exploitation or Subversion? ..........................................................291 Hysterically Defining the Self by Masquerading as the Other .............................................298 7 CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................312 The End of the Belle Époque: Tragedy and Transformation ................................................312 An Ambivalent Legacy .........................................................................................................322 LIST OF REFERENCES .............................................................................................................330 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................341 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 2-1 Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Banjo Lesson, 1893. ............................................................104 2-2 Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Thankful Poor, 1894............................................................104 2-3 Attributed to Henry Ossawa Tanner, Photographic study for The Banjo Lesson, n.d. ....105 2-4 Eastman Johnson, Negro Life in the South (Old Kentucky Home), 1859. .....................105 2-5 Willy Miller, I’se So Happy, wood engraving after lost painting by Thomas Hovenden, n.d. .................................................................................................................106 2-6 Thomas Eakins, Negro Boy Dancing, 1878. ....................................................................106 2-7 Thomas Ball, Emancipation Group or Freedman’s Memorial, 1876. .............................107 2-8 Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti, Pietà, 1498-1500. ..............................................107 2-9