Olympia (published plate)

Edouard Manet’s Olympia was quite controversial when the painting was first exhibited at the 1865 Paris Salon. At the time, nudity in art was accepted if it was a depiction of a mythological female figure. Not only did Manet choose to depict a common woman, he chose a sex worker as his subject, which added to the scandal.

This small plate is an etched recreation of Manet's much larger oil on canvas at the Musée d’Orsay. The reclining figure of Olympia—based on fellow painter and artist's model Victorine Meurent—has little shading. Her body and her chaise longue are the brightest, whitest thing in the frame. Her servant, modeled by a Black woman named Laure, and a black cat are crosshatched to keep them in the shadows. This work portrays the complex racial and class context in Paris at the time. While the two working class women in this piece are focal points, Laure as Olympia’s maid is both centered and obscured.