Black Venus 2010: They Called Her “Hottentot”

Publishers Weekly Jan 4 2010 review:

Her name was Sarah Baartman. Born in South Africa in 1789, she died in Paris in 1815—after five years of being displayed (sometimes in a cage) for entertainment and “scientific study”; her pickled buttocks and genitalia remained on public display at the Musée de l’Homme until 1974 and her remains were finally returned to South Africa in 2002. During her period of fame and exploitation, she was known as the “Hottentot Venus.” Willis (Posing Beauty) offers a comprehensive, inclusive, and coherently organized anthology that embraces “scholarly and lyrical, historical and reflexive” responses to Baartman, as a woman, as a black woman, as an object, as an icon, as an inspiration to creative artists, and as a catalyst to scholars. The book moves from Baartman’s life and times to an assessment of the figure of the “Hottentot Venus” in contemporary art and a broader consideration of the historic public display of black women. Appended is a photo gallery that is as essential and diverse as the texts. This remarkable volume satisfies the academic reader with scholarly essays and moves the general reader with its creative expression, making it fascinating and accessible to any one. (Mar.)

http://www.publishersweekly.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6711692

(I find the specific criticism of this image really surprising and unfounded. Poor Lauren Kelly—is the image itself—nevermind the headline—really that disturbing? I thought it was witty and stunning, and it’s always great to see the work of black photographers on the cover of anything, frankly. Are Afros and black power fists really so objectionable that as black artists we should shy away from them so as not to offend “others?” Really? When I first saw this image in the Posing Beauty exhibition I thought of fantastical crowns, of Graciela Iturbide’s photograph “Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas, Juchitán, Oaxaca,” of humor and excess and a glorious, unique beauty that is at once culturally specific and arresting in its splendor. Perhaps the upside is that some folks will seek out Posing Beauty to see the image in a different context, although I find it hard to believe how the simple changing of contexts would alter its meaning entirely.  It clearly wouldn’t have made the cover of Publishers Weekly were it not for its recent publication in Posing Beauty.)

Publishers Weekly Cover Photo Sparks Twitter Controversy

By Jason Boog on Dec 14, 2009 06:23 PM

This evening, the Twittersphere pounced Publishers Weekly for running an image by on the front cover of the most recent magazine–an picture of a woman’s head covered with countless hair picks.

Entitled “Pickin’,” the image was photographed by Lauren Kelly for the new book, “Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present” by Deborah Willis.

Hoping to ease the controversy, Calvin Reid, the senior news editor atPublishers Weekly, responded via the magazine’s Twitter feed. He picked the hashtag #afropw to archive the ongoing discussion about the picture.

“I admit that I love afro picks! In the 1970s I had many just like them also stuck in my massive afro … and it’s a story about ‘picking’ books. I love dumb jokes,” Reid wrote on Twitter. He concluded: “While I respect everyone who may be offended, I think the photo is a delightful and wry expression of historical Afro Americana.”

UPDATE: Reid writes GalleyCat, via Twitter: “Obviously many people dislike the image. Perhaps I shouldn’t have used it but I believe its a fine & beautiful & funny image.”

Whether the lashed back of an enslaved person, the charred remains of a lynching victim or a terrified marcher fleeing a fire hose, shocking images of degradation seem to dominate the visual history of the African-American experience. Amid so much hardship, one might wonder what, if anything, to say about the nature of black beauty in photography. Deborah Willis, head of New York University’s photography and imaging department, spent a decade exploring the question. In POSING BEAUTY: African American Images From the 1890s to the Present (Norton, $49.95), Willis makes a monumental contribution to contemporary American culture by presenting a definitive history of black beauty….The book is a treasure, a triumph and a singular achievement that invites fresh and enduring insights with each viewing.

Read the rest here.

Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present

• Creative Loafing Review 10.20.09
• Review in The Herald (Scotland) 09.28.09

• Publisher’s Weekly review 09.28.09:

Willis (Reflections in Black), a MacArthur fellow and chair of New York University’s photography department, curates a collection of iconic portraits and snapshots by anonymous photographers in a “history of beauty that merges gender, race, family, class.” Willis’s words, a distillation of her inquiries into beauty and race, are few—the images speak for themselves. The photographs, organized thematically, reach back to the 1890s and forward to the current first family. Famous photographers share perspective with family photographers and those known only as “Unidentified Photographer.” The recognizably famous—James Baldwin, Marian Anderson, Joe Louis—appear along with those known only as “Mom and Friend,” “Two women holding magazine, ca. 1950s” or “Barber cutting man’s hair outdoors, ca. 1930s.” Willis’s content is groundbreaking; rarely, for example, are men this adequately represented in a work devoted to “beauty within black culture.” For Willis, this extraordinary compilation is “the culmination of my exploration of beauty within black culture and through the medium of photography.” For readers, this is a dazzling eye-opener. (Nov.)

Based on sales for weeks ending Oct. 25 through Nov. 15, 2008

15. Obama, by Deborah Willis and Kevin Merida. (Amistad, $26.95.) Photographs capturing Obama’s 18-month campaign to the presidency.

Rankings reflect aggregated sales for the weeks ending October 25 through November 15, 2008 at many thousands of venues where a wide range of general interest books are sold nationwide. These include hundreds of independent book retailers (statistically weighted to represent all such outlets nationwide); national, regional and local chains; online and multimedia entertainment retailers; university, gift, supermarket, discount, department stores and newsstands. An asterisk (*) indicates that a book’s sales are barely distinguishable from those of the book above. A dagger (†) indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders. Expanded rankings are available on the Web: nytimes.com/books.