Posing the "Belle Juive": Jewish Models in 19th-Century Paris

A City of One’s Own: The Parisian Letters of the Swedish Painter Hanna Hirsch-Pauli

“…[118] As Marie Lathers notes, during the mid-nineteenth century the Jewish woman was regarded as "the epitome of the model," and the belle Juive (beautiful Jewish woman) symbolized an ideal beauty that contributed to the era's fascination with the Orientale (Oriental woman). [119] As a Jewish woman and a member of the upper-middle class, Hirsch occupied an ambiguous position at the Académie Colarossi. She found herself in a racial quandary, occupying a "space between" being perceived, and perceiving herself, as white and as Jewish.…”

Salem, the Prince of Tombouctou: A North African Model in Nineteenth-Century Paris

“…The community of models in nineteenth-century Paris included a large proportion of "outsiders"-immigrants and members of marginal ethnic groups, such as Jews and Roma. [17] In 1886, the daily newspaper L'Intransigeant summarized a survey, conducted by an unidentified official agency, of female models who posed for Parisian painters, sculptors, and photographers. [18] Six hundred seventy women were interviewed.…”

Unpacking Rachel Félix's “constructed” and “self-constructed” Jewishness

“…The multiple caricatures of Félix published in the daily press testify that journalists and caricaturists often used anti-Semitic stereotypes in their depiction of her. Following Lathers’ claim, it is quite evident that some journalists and caricaturists often published articles and drawings that also attest to vulgarization and misogyny “conspired to make of the Jewish female model [and actress] an “ideal” example of the convergence of three dangerous bodies: Woman, Jew, and model [actress]” (2000, 31).…”