Categories: Art, Free People of Color (FPOC), History, Slavery

(Companion portraits by Franz Fleischbein 1850. Digitally reunited)

“Auction Day Nov 21, 2015: The Portrait of the Creole lady.”

As the lot appeared on the screen, the temperature in the auction house seemed to jump from slightly elevated to a burning heat. The next item up on the block was the one that I had been waiting for. It was the one that I’d obsessed over for the last few months. It was an image that I’d been familiar with for the last few years but never actually thought that I’d have a chance to own. The thought of victory had been on my mind day and night in the months leading up to the auction. My subconscious was clearly aware of this and I’d been haunted by vivid dreams about the painting. I’d even had dreams of being in the artist’s studio while he was painting it. I was a fly in that room and now felt like only slightly more than a fly in this room.

The truth is that I’d thought too much about this painting. Now, here it was and here I was on the bidding floor at Neal Auction Company. I was only a few moments away from my chance. I felt the glossy cover of the auction catalog slip in my sweaty hands. I focused and looked closely at the projection screen and stared at the current item. The current item was lot 462, a  painting by William Aiken Walker. This image couldn’t be more dissimilar to the painting that I eagerly awaited. The artist, William Aiken Walker, is best known for his genre paintings depicting poor sharecroppers. This was one of his typical cabin scene pictures depicting sharecroppers standing outside doing laundry. This was a common theme for the artist and one that I have never found particularly endearing. Most 19th century depictions of people of African descent were not commissioned for the benefit of people of African descent. Thus, they often depict people of color as props, or in this case, as a people in a miserable state reduced to caricatures. Images like these perpetuate ideas that people of color were complacent in positions of poverty, or even as enslaved workers. This wasn’t the history that I knew and it wasn’t the history that I wanted to be told. My dislike for the work was not shared by everyone. I watched the room oblige the auctioneers opening bid.  I watched phone and internet bidders escalate this painting’s price. While I’m unsure of who the winning bidder was and their sentiments for the piece, all I saw was a picture that expressed an image all too commonly seen. One that did not elevate or inspire, but commemorated a period of suffering and despair.

(Photo: Lot 462: William Aiken Walker Painting of Sharecroppers doing laundry.)

(Photo: Another painting by William Aiken Walker 1839-1921)

As the hammer hit and the sound resonated, I felt my heart begin to beat louder. My palms again filled with sweat and the auction catalog slipped from my hands onto the floor. My wife hit the side of my leg in what I assume was her own version of Morse code. The message translated fine. It said: “Here it is!” The projection on the screen faded before revealing the portrait painting of a Free Woman of Color. The woman appeared to be in her mid to late thirties. Her eyes were as brilliant as the gold chain and diamond earrings she wore in her ears. Her dress was understated with the exception of a Lacey white collar and matched sleeves. She sat alert and in a confident and astute state. The artist, Franz Fleischbein, brilliantly captured this woman in a refined and prestigious manner. His portraits seemed to capture the consciousness of the sitters of color. Something that many others had failed to do or simply ignored.

(Photo: In the auction room.  Nov 21, 2015)

The painting to be auctioned was painted in the year 1850. This was 15 years before the end of the civil war and the great emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. For me, this image illustrated an important chapter not only in Louisiana history, but also in American history. It illustrated the story of Louisiana’s Free People of Color. A people who were of variant degrees of African descent who were either born free, liberated, or purchased their own freedom before the civil war. A people who, against the odds, fought for their rights and although they were victimized, refused to be victims. I felt that the image could serve as a beacon of light for a stronger and reemerging narrative. This painting was not just pigment on canvas, but a monument. One that paid homage to the unwavering resistance of the African spirit.

I closed my eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer. My eyes opened just as bidding did. I squeezed my wife’s arm slightly. This was the signal we’d discussed. She raised the auction paddle and our first of many bids was cast. The bid was with us and for a moment a wash of relief covered me. This lasted only for an instant. Soon another bid came from the floor of the Auction room. We swiftly replied. After a few more gestures like this, the painting’s price climbed. There was a buzz in the room. This was by no means the most expensive item of the day, but it was an unusual lot with spirited bidding. Auction goers seem to love intense bidding. It makes for excitement and a bit of drama. The painting had already exceeded a higher expectation price than estimated in the catalog. I sensed sweat falling from my brow. I know that I had to have appeared nervous and perhaps slightly panicked. A quote that I had read in a book written by the portrait’s former owner, W.E Groves, came into my head.

“Collecting is a vice that brooks no competition from other vices. It is a passion that grows and dominates until you stand trembling before the object of your desire, determined to own it at all costs while earnestly striving to conceal you cupidity lest it affect the price ”

I took a sip of my watery diet coke and slid more comfortably into the folding chair in an effort to look relaxed. I pretended as if our next bid would be the one we needed. I looked around the chattering room and they all seemed to be looking right back at us. I assume they were wondering who was this young-ish couple dressed casually who were bidding an unusual portrait. My eyes scanned the room as I heard another bid come from auction floor. F*&k! this was crazy and way above our previously discussed max bid. I looked up at the portrait of the lady, she was calm and collected. This seemed to restore my state of calm. I took another sip of my iced down coke, which really should have been whiskey, and gave the signal to my accomplice. A bid or two more may have done the trick but I had no way of knowing this and I whispered, “Let it go.” Our paddle went down for the final time. The Auctioneer looked around the room; his hammer suspended in a floating state. He looked around once more. As I was about to avert my gaze, his eyes caught mine. He looked right at me. I went for another sip of the watery diet coke but it was empty. So were my ambitions.
“Are there any other bids for this lot?” The auctioneer asked, his hammer slightly higher now in anticipation for a thrashing descent. “Bid now or rue the day!” he called out in a final plea. I looked up at the painting and she looked back at me. In some kind of way, I swore I heard her say, “I’ll see you again.” She was right.

(Photo: The Author & portrait of the Free Woman of Color now at the HNOC Museum in New Orleans 2017.)

This wasn’t the first time that this painting had been on the auction block. In fact, this wasn’t the first time that this painting had been auctioned in the very same room. In 1992 this portrait and its companion portrait were separated for likely what was the first time since they were painted in 1850. I would discover more about this auction and its events soon.

The image of the Free Woman of Color appeared in my mind frequently for the next year or so. I was reminded of her one day while writing my article “Rediscovering the Free People of Color through material culture.” Soon after finishing the article, I decided to do some digging as I call it. This is where I put on my detective hat and become an Art Sleuth. The more that I dug, the more interested that I became in the story of the portraits and what these portraits represented. Much of this came from learning more about the artist who painted them.

The Artist & His Patrons.

In 1850, a Bavarian-born artist named Franz Fleischbein (pronounced Flishe-Bine) moved to his new studio in the Marigny Triangle. The studio was on what was then the corner of Peace and Casacalvo St. Today the streets have been renamed Royal and Kerlerec. Though the artist had lived and painted in New Orleans for the last 20 years, something had prompted him to relocate his studio. The expansion of the city had brought many Creoles and newly arriving immigrants to the Marigny and nearby faubourgs (neighborhoods.) The years leading up to 1850 had seen the French Quarter area decline, although a new development spearheaded by a New Orleans socialite, The Baroness Micaela Pontalba, was sparking renewed interest in the old square. Her new development, The Pontalba Apartments, would flank what would soon become known as Jackson Square. This would gentrify and elevate the French Quarter from what some historians have referred to as a slum. Franz Fleischbein’s move to the Marigny could have been simply because his rent in the French Quarter had spiked up because of the new development. However, more than likely there were a few factors at play. The artist’s eyesight was declining as was the demand for portraiture because of the advent of photography. So his move to the Marigny was probably a way of being closer to his clientele and also downsizing his operation. At his new location, the artist would still paint portraits (such as the ones pictured above) but would also focus on photography. A significantly less expensive means of depiction now favored by the masses.

(Photo: Location of Franz Fleischbein’s Studio in 1850. Now 1901 Royal Street.)

Franz Fleischbein (1804–1868) has been an artist that has intrigued Louisiana portrait enthusiasts for a number of years. Aside from his unique style which has German influence rather than the often polished French portraits, it seems that Fleischbein also had a unique clientele. The sitters (people depicted in the portraits) seemed to belong economically between the middle class and upper-class echelon. His patrons as a whole were not quite up there financially with those depicted by the top tier New Orleans artists such as Jacques Amans, Jean Joseph Vaudechamp, and Francois Bernard. This is interesting as Fleischbein’s portraits illustrate a unique class of some of the less often discussed citizens in New Orleans. In Fleischbein’s twenty-five known portraits, there are five depictions of People of Color. This number and the ratio 1/5 is significant. One can only imagine how many paintings there would be of people of color if all of his works were known and had survived. Even still, with this limited body of known works, Fleischbein holds the honor of depicting more people of African descent than any other artist in Louisiana. This includes artist of color such as Fleischbein’s pupil, the free man of Color, Julien Hudson.

(Photo: A purported self-portrait by Julien Hudson, Free Man of Color 1839)

According to the book “In search of Julien Hudson,” Dr. William Rudolph asserts that Fleischbein was one of Hudson’s most influential teachers. When one considers the number of depictions by Fleischbein of people of African descent and also the fact that he took on an apprentice who was a man of color, it is likely that the artist had a special connection with the Gens de Couleur Libres (Free People of Color.) A connection that will likely require more research to fully understand.

An Interracial Couple in Antebellum New Orleans?

While much has been written on relationships between white men and free women of African descent in Louisiana. A recent narrative supported by historical evidence has added depth and dimension to a story that has long been plagued with sensationalism and outright fiction. While many are quick to accept stories/tv mini-series by a best selling author who writes vampire novels as a historical account of what really happened in the past, few realize that most free women of color in antebellum New Orleans were legally married to free men of color. Fewer realize still that much of what has been written on the Free People of Color in the last two decades has been done so by outsiders who are not people of color. The very fact that free men of color were seldom mentioned in the past attests to the magnitude of how much of the history of Creoles of color has been suppressed by so-called historians. None of this is to say that relationships between free women of African descent and white men did not occur; they certainly did. However, unlike the previously sensationalized accounts of tragic mulattoes, Quadroon Balls, voodoo queens and Placage, we are now rediscovering that many of these women of color had lifelong relationships with these white men. We see instances of children not only being acknowledged by their white fathers but also by their white father’s siblings and other family members. This is verified by baptismal records which list white citizens as witnesses and godparents to these children of color. This is also supported by wills and succession records that sometimes name white family members as guardians to children of color after a parent’s death.

These relationships between women of color and white Creole men in many ways mirror conventional marriages of the time. However, Interracial marriage was prohibited under the code noir/law. While many of the laws expressed in the Code Noir were largely ignored or circumvented in Louisiana (Especially during the Spanish Colonial period 1763–1802), Interracial marriage still proved to be a barrier. Although, it should be noted that there were instances of women of color passing into white Creole society via marriage. The fundamental truth is that anytime a group of people are put in proximity to one another, life happens. People fall in love and form relationships. Some choose to ignore not only societal expectations, but even laws. This happened in New Orleans.

(Photo: Portrait of a man 1850 by Franz Fleischbein, the companion painting to the Free Woman of Color.)

While at first glance the gentleman depicted appears to be a very serious figure, I think an astute viewer may find a distinguished and worldly business man staring back at them. A man who was not afraid to challenge societal rules by forming a relationship with a woman of color. To my knowledge, this pair of oil portraits is the only that are known to survive of an interracial couple in antebellum Louisiana.

These portraits, likely like the lives of the sitters, have lived an interesting life. A life that was not without hardship. The story of how they were separated at auction in 1992 is as melodramatic as my auction report above.

At the 1992 auction, a well known and respected collector purchased the first painting (Portrait of a Gent) and thought he was the top bidder for the portrait of the lady, but the lead bid was actually cast by a bidder seated directly behind him. In light of this confusion, bidding was reopened after the hammer sounded. Sadly, the stakes were too high and the paintings would go to different buyers. I was astonished to find out that these paintings were only a few blocks away from one another in different French Quarter apartments for 20 years.

(Photo: An Apartment on Royal St. In the French Quarter. Note the painting of Free Woman of Color on the wall.)

(Photo: Interior of a Pontalba Apartment where the Portrait of Man was for nearly 25 years.)

The story of objects being dispersed and separated after being together for many years is not a unique one. Sadly, many family estates are dispersed at auctions regularly. This is just the nature of when objects outlive their owners. However, much more interesting is when the history of associated objects are remembered/rediscovered and the objects are reunited again. These portraits offer an important insight into Louisiana’s complex racial past. Together, they represent an important statement that love is color blind. There is an old adage that a picture tells a thousand words. I believe this is true. Portraits bring viewers face to face with history. Some chapters in history require such an intimate encounter to truly be understood. It is the hope of the author that a reunion will occur in the future. I am still in the process of learning more about these portraits, the artist, and the history. I hope to one day learn the identity of the sitters. Until then, they are unknown but their history is not forgotten.

Jeremy K. Simien and The Portrait of a Gentleman by Franz Fleischbein (Pre conservation). This photo was taken in front of St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans 2017.

Update :

Above: “The Portrait of a Gentleman” painted by Franz Fleischbein in 1850. Now Cleaned and Restored (March 2018.)

Since writing the above article, I’ve received a lot of positive feedback and even some potential leads as to the identity of the sitters. One of the points that has resonated the most, is the notion that the gentleman in the portrait is a Free Man of Color. I am inclined to support this idea since receiving the painting back from being professionally cleaned. While the identity of the sitter is still unknown, the removal of surface dirt and discolored varnish from the painting has revealed something very compelling. This being, that the artist did intentionally paint the sitter with a darker hue. The pigments used give the sitter’s skin a very rich olive tone. In fact, the gentleman’s complexion is not at all dissimilar to that of its companion portrait of a Free Woman of Color. While the previous owners of the paintings attributed the portraits to be of a white man and his Free Woman of Color concubine, this could have largely been due to the supported narrative of the time revolving around ideas of placage and white patronage. This narrative has largely been challenged in recent years. A new narrative supported by historical evidence shows that many free Women of Color were in fact married to Free men of Color. While, I am still in pursuit of the identities of these sitters, I felt that it was necessary to share this update after an outpouring of feedback. Thank you again for your interest!

If you or someone you know has any information on these portraits, please contact me at the link below. I will continue to update this post with any new findings.

Jeremy K. Simien