© Coll. Groupe de recherche Achac de recherche © Coll. Groupe Five centuries of history Princess. Fairground. Museum [France], postcard, c.1890. his exhibition tells the story of women, men and children from Asia, Africa, Oceania, the Americas and in some © Coll. part. / DR part. © Coll. cases from Europe who were displayed in the West and elsewhere at universal and colonial exhibitions and fairs, in circuses, cabarets, and zoos, as well as in Achac de recherche © Coll. Groupe traveling “exotic” villages. For almost five centuries T(1490-1960) these people were exhibited as “savages” in Europe, the United States and Japan. The shows were impressive “specta- cles”, theatricalizations, with performers, stage sets, impresarios and riveting storylines. However, colonial and scientific history, Leipzig Trade and Industry Exhibition [Germany], the history of race, the history of entertainment, of world fairs and postcard designed by Thiele, 1897. universal exhibitions has been somewhat overlooked… Western promoters actively recruited troupes, families or performers from all over the world, at times coercively, but usually by offering con- tracts. These large-scale exhibitions of human beings were specific International Exhibition of Amiens. A Birth in the Village, [France], postcard, 1906. to the West and to colonial powers and served to reaffirm a hierarchy between people according to skin color, the legacy of which can © C o l still be felt today. l. G r o u p e d e r e c h e © Coll. Gilles Boëtsch © Coll. r c h e A c h a c Family Visit. International © Estate Brassaï – RMN/Michèle Bellot Brassaï © Estate Colonial Exhibition © Bibliothèque Nationale Universitaire de Turin de Universitaire Nationale © Bibliothèque in Paris [France], photograph, 1931. One billion four hundred million visitors... The Dinka of Sudan [Milan, Italy], leaflet (printed by For more than a century (from the Hottentot Venus in 1810 up delle Piane), 1895. until the Second World War in 1940), the exhibition industry attracted over one billion four hundred million spectators and staged somewhere in the range of thirty and thirty-five thousand The Human Races. 24 color plates by Victor Huen performers from the four corners of the world. “Human zoos” [France], cover, 1921. aimed to establish a boundary and hierarchy between the “civ- ilized” and the “savage”, even if, on occasion, spectators expe- rienced genuine admiration for certain “exhibits”. The “human zoo” itself, more often than not, stood as the first visual contact, the first encounter, between the people who were exhibited and those who went to look at them, between Them and Us. The Achac Research Group and the Lilian Thuram Foundation © Coll. Groupe de recherche Achac Groupe de © Coll. have conceived of this exhibition in such a way as to explain the origins of prejudice. The past must be deconstructed and understood so that a human being’s skin color and culture no longer serve as a pretext for rejection or discrimination. The Fairground: A Monster on Display [Paris, France], photograph by Brassaï, 1931. Mr J. M. Balmer and his singing boys [Great Britain], photocard, 1904. © Coll. Groupe de recherche Achac de recherche © Coll. Groupe The concept of the ‘human zoo’, in the broadest © Coll. Groupe de recherche Achac de recherche Groupe © Coll. sense of the term, serves to describe the transition from an exclusively scientific racism to its more widespread and popular form. The Malabars. Jardin d’Acclimatation [Paris, France], poster by G. Smith, 1902. “ Le Monde diplomatique (2000) Mapuche Indians. South America. At the Jardin parisien [France], ” poster by A. Brun, 1895. BANQUE POPULAIRE dental group This Exhibition was conceived by the Achac Research Group (www.achac.com) and the Lilian Thuram Foundation: Education against racism (www.thuram.org), in collaboration with Emmanuelle Collignon (coordination), Thierry Palau (graphic design), Tiffany Roux, Marie-Audrey Boisard and Nicolas Cerclé (research and documentation). The texts and labels for the exhibition were coordinated by Pascal Blanchard and based on the research conducted by Nanette Jacominj Snoep, Éric Deroo, Nicolas Bancel, Sandrine Lemaire and Gilles Boëtsch. This exhibition is a continuation of the work published in Zoos humains exhibitions coloniales. 150 ans d'inventions de l'autre published by the Éditions La Découverte (2011), and accompanies the colloquia held in Marseilles (2001), London (2008), Paris and Lausanne (2012). Finally, this project follows on from the exhibition and catalogue Human Zoos: The Invention of the Savage held at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris (2011-2012), curated by Lilian Thuram, and under the scientific guidance of Nanette Jacominj Snoep and Pascal Blanchard. The organizers wish to extend a special thanks to the Quai Branly Museum for their contributions. Special thanks to Melek (Dexter Buford) Asiel, The Strangefruit Foundation and Dr. Syretta Wells for their contributions in introducing the exhibit to North America. The invention of the savage 2 © Library of Congress, Washinghton of Congress, © Library From 1492 to the Enlightenment Christopher Columbus at the court in Barcelona [Spain], lithography by L. Prang & Co, 1892. FIRST CONTACTS, FIRST EXHIBITS nowledge about the world changed dramatically around 1492 when Europe discovered the figure of the “savage” in the guise of the Amerindian. Christopher Columbus returned from one of his earliest expeditions and presented six Amerindians to the Spanish royal court, Kthereby triggering widespread fascination for everything that was considered remote. In 1528, Hernán Cortés exhibited Aztec Copenhagen of Danmark, Museum National © The performers at the court of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. In 1550, a royal procession in Rouen before the French King Henry II featured Tupinamba Indians from Brazil. It was at this time that the Valladolid © Collections Bibliothèque municipale de Rouen/ Photographie Thierry Ascencio-Parvy Thierry Photographie de Rouen/ municipale Bibliothèque © Collections debatetook place concerning the treatment of natives from the New World. Hierarchies based on skin color became commonplace and the transatlantic slave trade would later impact millions of Africans. “Monsters”such as Antonietta Gonsalvus (who suffered from Hyper- trichosis, a condition characterized by excessive hair growth) were also exhibited, just like her father Petrus had been when he was offered at age ten to King Henry II. Alongside these humans, exotica Brazilian Party in the presence of Henry II and Catherine de Medici displayed in cabinets of curiosities were also coveted by monarchs [Rouen, France], watercolor, 1550. and aristocrats throughout the sixteenth century. In 1654, three female and one male Eskimo, abducted in Greenland, were exhibited in Denmark (where they would die five years later) and introduced © BNF, Paris to King Frederick III, thereby reinvigorating a newfound “passion for exotica”. A clash between two types would emerge during the fol- lowing century, that of the “noble savage” and the “bloodthirsty sav- age”, curiosity for human exhibits displayed in taverns and at fairs continued to grow, and by the end of the eighteenth century to capture the attention of learned scientists. By this time, some “human spec- imens” had achieved celebrity status, such as the Polynesian Aotourouv who was brought to Paris in 1769 to meet King Louis XV. A similar fate awaited the Polynesian Omaï in London 1774. The entertainment and scientific world thus intersected, and the nine- A-Sam, a Chinaman in France (and teenth century would gradually yield a hierarchized view of these a Kalmuk), engraving by J. B. Racine, questions. The increasing popularity and prevalence of “ethnic shows” in Histoire naturelle du genre humain Four Greenlanders [Copenhagen, Denmark], oil on canvas by Julien Joseph Virey [France], 1800. thus played an important role in disseminating these views. by Salomon von Hager, 1654. The Polynesian Omaï (1774-1776) In 1774, a young Pacific islander named Omaï arrived in Great Britain for a two year stay. He was outfitted with a velvet overcoat, silk waistcoat and satin breeches, and coached in court etiquette in anticipation of his presentation to King George III. He was embraced by England’s social elite and treated with great respect. His elegance was extensively discussed and confirmed his audience’s belief that he was an emissary © Collection du musée du château de Blois. Cliché François Lauginie François Cliché de Blois. du château du musée © Collection from the court of “Otaheite”. He rapidly became a celebrity and his presence was recorded in several works of literature, theatrical performances, and portraits. © musée du quai Branly, Paris, photo Claude Germain (gravure de Langlois, inv. PP0143634) de Langlois, (gravure Germain Claude Paris, photo du quai Branly, © musée Omaï, a Native of Ulaietea [Great Britain], etching by Francesco Bartolozzi, 1774. © Muséum d’histoire naturelle, dist. RMN/image du MNHM, bibliothèque centrale bibliothèque RMN/image du MNHM, dist. naturelle, d’histoire © Muséum Showcase of Monsters: Gallery of Comparative Anatomy Achac de recherche Groupe © Coll. [France], photograph by Pierre Petit, 1883. Portrait of Antonietta Gonsalvus [Italy], oil on canvas by Lavinia Fontana, 1585. From the Renaissance and the conquest of the Americas on, racism is to be found everywhere. In the colonized regions of the world, it serves to discredit Aux Armes de France [Parisian shop]. the majority, whereas among the colonizers,