Negrophilia

Sources of inspiration were inanimate African art objects (l'art nègre) such as masks and wooden carvings that found their way into Paris's flea markets and galleries alike as a result of colonial looting of Africa, and which inspired artworks such as Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon,[3] as well as live performances by Black people, many of whom were ex-soldiers remaining in European cities after World War I, who entertained as a source of low income.

What began as artistic interest grew to a society-wide, mass fetish in France in the aftermath of World War I, during which an entire generation of youth was lost [citation needed].

The violence and loss witnessed in Europe, in particular in France, by those who survived, challenged the belief in the superiority of Western civilization fostered during the age of Enlightenment, which also fueled questions on the exploitative effects of colonialism.

[7] The fascination with specifically black culture and the "primitivised" existence associated with it flourished in the combined aftermath of the First World War (1914–1918) and the 1931 Colonial Exposition when artists yearned for a "simpler, idyllic lifestyle to counter modern life's mechanistic violence.

"[8] Yet to advertise the Colonial Exposition, the organizers relied on "racist imagery" in a children's comic book in the form of a character, Nénufar, who personified the savage with child-like curiosity, not the colonized oppressed peoples.

[12] The During 1920–1930s Paris, negrophilia was a craze to collect African art, to listen to jazz, and to dance the Charleston, the Lindy Hop or the Black Bottom, were signs of being modern and fashionable.

In addition to her color and near complete nudity, what elicited these feelings were Ms. Baker's movements—near perpetual trembling, her body extended like a serpent with elements of a contortionist, and ending on all fours with her head on the stage and her derrière in the air.

[17] Negrophilia and the fetishization of Black faces, bodies, arts, music and dance that were its manifestations, have been criticized for objectifying, sexualizing and ultimately trivializing peoples of so-called "primitive" or "exotic" cultures, in a process of racial "othering".

Several public figures from across domains have, in the recent past, been identified for this commodification of Black identity, including Kim Kardashian, Eminem, Ariana Grande and Rachel Dolezal.