BEAUMONT (Edouard de).
La Civilisation aux Iles Marquises.
SATIRISING THE FRENCH IN THE PACIFIC
A complete set of these twenty-two plates satirising the French annexation of the Marquesas, which was undertaken by Abel Aubert Dupetit-Thouars (1793-1864) in 1842. He annexed Tahiti the same year.
The first plate, Une Instruction Diplomatique, sets the tone as the commander is instructed to tame the men but make the women wilder (“rendre les femmes plus sauvages”). The plates make great fun of the French trying to impose their culture on the Marquesans, here represented by the unkindly-drawn Ta-toué. He suffers for the imposition of their politics, their fashion (“une victime de la mode”), their decadence (“un mari vexé”), table manners, alcohol, the military, taxation, and more. The last plate encapsulates the whole colonial project as Ta-toué plays cards with the French and wonders how they’re being dealt.
Scarce: OCLC locates copies at Paris, NLA, SLNSW and Brown. Auctions records list just two copies in 1952 and 1954.
