In what ways can Yinka Shonibare's Nelson's Ship in a Bottle be ...

[mspears3]

In what ways can Yinka Shonibare's Nelson's Ship in a Bottle be compared to Rashid Johnson's The Souls of Black Folk (Chapter 25)?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Which details in Lalla Essaydi's La Grande Odalisque subvert the woman's identification as an odalisque in contrast to the original work by Ingres referenced through the work's title?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[Jordin Calloway]

Answer to Question 1

Answer: The ideal answer should include:
1. Shonibare's work takes the form of a traditional object created for display on a shelf (the ship in a bottle), the form and subject of Johnson's display cabinet.
2. Both works retell African colonial and postcolonial history through representational objects invested with multicultural significance.
3. The lives of both artists link directly to the historical subjects of the works, underscoring the significance of the past brought into the present through the generations.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: The ideal answer should include:
1. The woman's body is completely covered by fabric or henna script in Essaydi's version rather than displaying naked skin, a key characteristic of the true odalisque on view in Ingres's work.
2. Luxurious fabrics, jewels, and highly ornamented accessories surround the Ingres odalisque (gifts from the courtesan's master), but Essaydi's woman is placed in a plain, shallow space with white or neutral striped fabrics and a blank wall beneath the henna script.
3. The true odalisque presents an expanse of pristinely unblemished skin from head to toe, an idealized version of the perfect female figure; but the partially revealed skin of Essaydi's woman is completely covered with henna script, marring its surface.