Can visual representations of colonial activities produced with immoral intent become works of art?
In 1931, France held the Exposition coloniale international (International Colonial Exhibition) to show off their colonial possessions' material, resources, and human wealth. France and other allied empires including Belgium, the US, and Italy constructed homes, villages and buildings filled with the traditional arts and crafts of colonized people amongst information boasting the “civilizing” effect of colonialism. Representatives of the foreign cultures were imported to perform in traditional attire or nude and kept in cages — an egregious example of the “human zoos” popular in Europe in the 19th and early 20th century.
A massive undertaking, the event was planned for 25 years and drew an estimated nine million visitors. Aimed at presenting France's colonial efforts positively, historians now theorize it didn't change anyone's opinion, one way or the other, but did make France a significant amount of money via ticket sales.
Many of the buildings built for the exhibition remain in France today and have been repurposed for various public purposes with the art and artifacts finding homes throughout the world. This series of sketches titled “La vie militaire en Indochine” (Military Life in Indochina) was produced by a French artist named Moresco-Mollon and presented in the Indochine section of the exhibition. Freed of their context, they provide an interesting look at the liminal space occupied by the colonized and the colonizing through a French lens. The sparse ink strokes with pencil and watercolor and depictions of individuals with minimal background, perhaps, will resonate.
Have a look at the complete collection below:
‘The Rickshaw Driver Who Remembers, or the Undesirables’ is a three-panel narrative depicting a soldier forcing a collection of rickshaw drivers to scatter before departing.
In ‘The Rearguard,’ a line of soldiers passes a woman carrying baskets of fruit.
‘Regimental TC’ features a combat train filled with supplies for soldiers. The driver of the ox-cart smokes in a very French way.
True to its name, ‘Communal Snack’ shows a group of locals enjoying a spate of food.
Neither man looks particularly comfortable in ‘The Rickshaw Ride.’
A soldier wearing a suit washes some clothes in ‘The Washer Boy.’
Titled the ‘The Barracks of the Nhâ-què (natives),’ this work presents the housing of Vietnamese serving amongst the French. Interestingly, “nhâ-què” might have been a mispelt version of “nhà quê.”
‘The House’ features a soldier leaning against a simple countryside home.
Named after a popular song of the time, ‘Pretty Mousmée with whom my heart is in love...’ tells the story of a soldier falling in love with an unspecified woman across four panels.
It's not clear why the noodle itself is deemed stubborn, but ‘The Recalcitrant Vermicelli or Chinese Soup’ shows a soldier finishing a mouthful of soup after having dropped his bowl.
A group of five soldiers including two women leave the camp in ‘Exit of the Annamite Riflemen.’
A soldier and a buffalo have what the title describes as an ‘Awkward Face-to-Face Encounter.’
A soldier paying his rickshaw driver is titled ‘The Painful’ (left) while a soldier speaking to a woman through a fence is called ‘Idyll.’
In ‘The Repatriable,’ two soldiers and a crying woman bid farewell to a departing military ship, aboard which a soldier waves his hat.
[Images via Flickr user manhhai]
