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'Black Venus' by Angela Carter
Self-initiated Project: entry for the V&A Illustration Award (student category)
Date: 2019
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Covers and spine mockup images computer generated for illustrative purposes only. All Vintage Classics design layouts, elements and fonts © Penguin Random House.
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The titular short story is of Baudelaire and his mistress, Jeanne Duval, the 'Black Venus', who resided in Paris in the mid-late 19th century. No one knows for sure where Duval was born - perhaps Mauritius, or perhaps the Dominican Republic - but she was most likely a descendent of French-colonial slaves.
A particular passage, in a sarcastically romantic turn of phrase, describes the manner by which Duval made her way across the ocean to France - on a scallop-shell, accompanied by Albatrosses. Her medallion necklace depicts an18th century ship, symbolising her grandmother's journey in the opposite direction, most likely in chains.
