The Tame Gazelle (la Gazelle Apprivoisée) 1879

Eugène Girardet painted “The Tame Gazelle” at a time of increased French colonial interest in North Africa. Girardet, like many European artists, traveled to the region and created Orientalist scenes catering to Western audiences. Here, a woman is depicted reclining in what may be her private courtyard, offering a piece of sugar to a gazelle. In the West, it was widely believed that such intimate scenes offered a window into the lives of women in the East, in which they are frequently represented as languid, sensual, and idle. However, these depictions are largely imagined through a European lens. What might the scene look like if rendered from the woman’s point of view? Does the gazelle represent her longing for freedom? Or could this be a narrative of cross-species domestication? In our contemporary moment, Girardet's painting challenges us to reflect on the power dynamics embedded in representation and to consider whose stories are told, and how.