The sketchbooks of the explorers
Title:
The sketchbooks of the explorers
Producer:
Edouard Manduau (°1855 - †1937)
Theme:
physical violence
Legend:
This ink drawing is included in the archives of Edouard Manduau kept at the RMCA. This sketch differs from the oil painting (HO.0.1. 770) dated 1884. The Europeans and Africans attending the execution are more numerous and the brutality more palpable than the oil painting. An article in the "Moniteur du Congo" of 5 June 1885, written under the pseudonym G. Manqué, describes a comparable whipping incident, administered by an AIC agent: "The porters who protested were on his orders chained to pillars and the infamous chicotte whip used to beat them on their bare flesh. However, it was not enough. Mr. Elliott called for his solders and ordered two captains to set fire to the surroundings villages. 60 soldiers with long rifles spent the whole day wreaking carnage and devastation on the blacks". The Moniteur du Congo was a weekly publication. This article was printed on 27 and on 11 October 1885 by former agents of the AIC including Edouard Manduau. It was only in 1959 that the chicotte whip was officially abolished in the Belgian Congo.
Dimensions:
9,5 cm x 15 cm
Technique:
graphic arts > drawing > ink
Inventory number:
HO.1956.90.217-4