Negrophilia : en postkolonial visuell studie kring en subkulturs polariserade syn på den Andra utifrån ett genusperspektiv

Abstract: This thesis examines the different views on the phenomenon ”negrophilia” that existed in Paris in the 1920s. It's precise meaning is ”love for the black culture” and the art illustrations analysed are originated by the french artist Paul Colin. These posters with black people posing were designed as commercials for different theatre productions. During the time they arised they were an expression for certain views that white people had on blacks and shows how the stereotypical black person was represented in the picture. This thesis intends to investigate how ”negrophilia” is being seen in the art pictorial and how the blacks are being reduced as ”the others” in relation to the whites, further more it seeks to examine the portrayal and exploitation of the black woman in the illustrations during this era. It also looks into what kinds of polaritys that are possibly interpreted in the pictures coexisting with the rhetorical underlying messages about body, sexuality and power. The main focus is on the portrayal of the black woman in the sense that the illustrations show contradictory master suppression technique in order to subordinate her. Especially the icon Josephine Baker is consistently prominent in the analysis. The distinct characteristics that reemerge in the pictures are pedestal for the broad approaches regarding how they are interpreted. For the purpose of highligtning the negative aspects of the phenomenon ”negrophilia”, arguments being held in favor are considered in order to adequately analyze the backsides of the subculture. The substance leads to an affirmation on how the visual expressions in the subculture, and in particular the caricatures of black people, can be seen as evidence of shifting of power between different groups of society. By exploring the different polarised views on ”negrophilia”, the thesis illustrates the wide complexity of its existence. Finally the thesis aims to explore whether the views that the art form exemplifies in Paul Colins posters during the 1920s in Paris can be found in present day contemporary art.