| Abstract | In 1856, Charles Cordier spent six months in Algeria in an attempt to seek aesthetic inspiration. The product of this trip was a series of bronze and marble polychrome busts inspired by the various non-Western ethnicities he encountered there. Despite the clear aesthetic qualities of these polychrome busts, many scholars have classified Cordier's work as ethnographic sculptures. The term ethnographic in this case is problematic, and limits the sculptures to being scientifically focused. Through an analysis of Cordier's skillful execution of sculptural techniques, his use of polychromy, and the artist's statements about beauty in other races, I argue that these busts should be regarded not as works of ethnography, but works of art |
