France and the New World – The Director’s Cut…

After shopping the farmer’s market for lunch, I visit the Museum of the New World. It is housed in the Hotel Feuriau, a stately mansion dating to 1740-50, with two wings and surrounding a gated courtyard. Its rooms and salons are finished in the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles. Its owner, after having made his fortune working as a supervisor on a family plantation in Saint Dominique, returned to La Rochelle, married well, and bought the mansion in 1772.

Upon entering the mansion, I walk past a marble statue of Columbus and up a grand staircase.

This studio is complete with furnishings true to the period of the home. The floral wallpaper imitates the printed fabrics that were forbidden in France between 1686 and 1759.

Here are details from some of the unfurnished rooms.

I thought the painting of “The Allegory of America” in the last room (above) was an interesting contrast to another I encounter a few rooms later.

La Rochelle was the second largest French port behind Nantes for the export of human cargo to the West Indies and the Americas during the slave trade. French migrants made passage to Canada from here, and slaves were delivered directly to Louisiana and the French West Indies. This museum is partnered with the La Rochelle University regarding the slave trade, and stands as a poignant reminder of the wealth Europe and the Americas reaped at the expense of the African continent.

Slavery was a theme on china in a few museums I visited in France. I learned that France went through Abolition twice – once in 1791-92, and again in 1848, after Napoleon Bonaparte had re-established slavery in the French colonies in 1802. The first piece here is a salad bowl dating to 1785, depicting scenes from sugar plantations in Saint-Dominique. The motto reads “Long live the beautiful work from the American islands.” The second plate depicts a scene from Uncle Tom’s Cabin which dates to 1852, the same year the book was published.

The exhibit also includes some new-to-me Indian artifacts. The second photo (below) shows a bag in a caribou hoof dating to the end of the 18th century, and a beaded bandolier dating to about 1880. The tray at lower right is Huron, dating to 1780 and is embroider on (I assume) birch bark. Not shown here is a beaver hat from the fur trade era which you could touch. It was much softer than I had expected.

There was information about American independence and our expansion into the West, and a couple of rooms containing artifacts such as pistols, glass bottles, and a pair of handcuffs from the 18th-19th centuries. The French view of our association with the First Peoples was enlightening.

My tour ended on the top floor with a wall of Obama memorabilia including a large painting entitled “The World in Motion” by Pierre Bodo Pambu. The map of Africa is made from buttons, indicating the natural resources that Europe and American removed from Africa, with keys along the borders to indicate Africa’s loss of intellectual property.

Back on the street, it’s 90 degrees and the air is thick and oppressive, even with the breeze. I go back to the hotel for a Perrier break, and realize that the piece of Inuit art that I was admiring on the gate across the street, is the gate to the museum I was just in.

I go upstairs for a rest in an air conditioned room, and turn on the TV to catch up on events in the modern world. The search continues for survivors from the apartment fire that killed 74 people in Johannesburg. Two Proud Boys receive 18 and 20 year sentences for their involvement in Jan6. The ban on abayas heats up here light of school starting soon. There’s a military coup in Gabon. Niger also has a coup, which the people seem to support as it ends the 22 year dynastic rule of the current president. (Democracy dies in the absence of term limits.) Niger has also expelled their French ambassador, citing interference in their country’s affairs from France. A digital (AI) popstar who is already an influencer on Instagram gets a record contract.

Welcome to the New World…

My ‘rest’ turns into a three hour nap. I spring out of bed at 7:30 to find dinner. It’s Sunday and nearly everything is closed, but I find a restaurant about three blocks away. Pesto linguine with eggplant, tomatoes and cashews, served in a skillet. An Elderberry spritz, and pistachio ice cream for dessert. My phone and I have become better friends over the last 24 hours, now that I have finally figured out the critical apps.

I leave for Niort tomorrow, where it is currently 105 degrees. I hope to find a hat before I leave. I’m looking forward to sleeping in a chateau, even if that bed feels like it is on the surface of the sun…