For those of you who arrive along the way, I warmly recommend you to read some articles in order to have all the elements about this man, named "the Citizen" on this watercolour by Mortier de Trévise, namely
- the description of A citizen of 1848,
- then Reconstitution of the Citizen's costume - 1rst part : the research
- and finally Reconstruction of the Citizen's costume - part 2: the making
We now have to share with you the result of our photo shoot with Studio Non Peut-être, as well as a historical comment to make about the name of the "Citizen" that Hippolyte Charles Napoléon Mortier, the Duke of Trevise uses in his watercolours.
Studio Non Peut-être
I was delighted to see our charismatic model Tom wearing the Citizen's clothes!
Not having had the opportunity to try them on before, there was one alteration to be made, such as the length of the trousers. I would have liked to redo the waist line but it required too much work and time which we didn't really have.
But those are the details, let's see the results :)!
While taking pictures is always fun, we don't forget the main purpose of this shoot. With a few differences, our Citizen comes back to life and that really motivates us for the next step!
Thanks to the professionalism of Julien VANDANJON-RANCOULE, we have visuals such as the one visible above, but also 360° photos (button below)
Thanks to
Victor SCHOELCHER (1804-1893) was the main architect of the decree abolishing slavery in the French colonies in 1848. Appointed under-secretary of state for the navy and the colonies, he had the text adopted on 27 April 1848.
This decree was then applied at different dates in the different French colonies:
- as early as 22 May 1848 in Martinique, even before the arrival of Perrignon, commissioner of the Republic sent expressly to announce the abolition (an insurrection had broken out in Carbet),
- 27 May in Guadeloupe,
- on 10 June in Guyana.
- In Reunion Island - the 1848 Revolution that inaugurated the Second Republic allowed Bourbon Island to regain its revolutionary name - it was not until 20 December 1848 and the end of the sugar cane harvest that the Commissioner of the Republic, Sarda Garriga, announced to the slaves that they were finally becoming citizens.
Before 1848, slaves had only one first name, chosen by the master; from then on, they were also entitled to a patronymic and the title of citizen.
Suffrage is said to be universal, but in fact only men can vote, even though women are also entitled to the title of citizen. One can understand the legitimate pride attached to this title, which gives the impression of definitively escaping the infamy of slavery.
The image opposite is taken from Victor Schoelcher's instructions to register new citizens in "special registers", which were opened in each of the communes of the French colonies. The registrations lasted until the 1850s, and even after.
In total
- 87,000 people became citizens in Guadeloupe,
- 74,450 in Martinique,
- 62,000 in Reunion,
- 12,500 in Guyana,
- and 10,000 in Senegal.
Perhaps you now understand better why we chose this illustration as the first reconstruction work for our project. This notion of change of status seems essential to us.
Now, when you see a person (often a man) wearing an elegant hat, you will think of this Citizen :)
Photo credits: ©Julien Vandanjon - tbk / Complete sources available under Creative Commons cc-by-nc-sa license from Afac974-Capeline Afac974-Capeline for cultural and educational projects.
