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8. ‘The Look of Measurement’: Colour and Sight in Victor Fulconis’s Depictions of the Indo-Caribbean in Martinique, 1883

Helena Neimann Erikstrup (author)

Chapter of: Colour Matters: Exploring Chromatic Materialities in the Long Nineteenth Century (1798-1914)

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Title	8. ‘The Look of Measurement’
Subtitle	Colour and Sight in Victor Fulconis’s Depictions of the Indo-Caribbean in Martinique, 1883
Contributor	Helena Neimann Erikstrup (author)
DOI	https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0501.08
Landing page	http://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0501/chapters/10.11647/obp.0501.08
License	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Copyright	Helena Neimann Erikstrup
Publisher	Open Book Publishers
Published on	2026-05-11
Long abstract	I want to begin this chapter with two introductory ‘colour samples’: moments in which we see colour working in different ways, connected through the visual and the pigmented histories of empire and skin colour as playing out on the anthropologist’s and artist’s palettes. Fragmentary yet connected, these samples will help position us in the French colony of Martinique in the year 1883, when slavery had been abolished and indentured labour had taken its place. This will contribute to the subsequent discussion of race, skin colour and empire.
Print length	24 pages
Language	English (Original)
THEMA	AGA PDX NHTB DSBF JHMC
BISAC	ART015260 HIS054000 SCI034000 LIT004130 DES003000 SOC002010
Keywords	Colour studies Material culture History of science Art history (long nineteenth century) Pigments and dyes Empire and identity

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Contributors

Helena Neimann Erikstrup

(author)

Dr Helena Neimann Erikstrup received her PhD in the History of Art from the University of Oxford in 2024 with the thesis ‘Colour Concerns: The Palette of Race and Ecology in French-Martinican art, 1847-1887’ Prior to her doctorate, she completed her Master of Arts (Honours) in History of Art at the University of Andrews (2014-2018) and her MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture at Oxford (2020-2021).

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