Pablo Bronstein

Contrary to what its opulent frame suggests, this is a contemporary drawing. It depicts an imagined “colonial” pendulum clock from the 1700s, with the central clock face representing Paris. Various fruits are arranged above four other clocks, which display the time and main agricultural exports for France’s four major colonies: the Ivory Coast and Senegal (both on the west African coast), French Indochina (now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos), and French Guiana (South America). The print’s whimsical details and playful colors reference equally extravagant objects made during the 1700s French Rococo period. Bronstein’s clock is a reminder that European wealth was supplemented by colonialism, and that the exploitation of non-European peoples and lands made such luxury possible.

–GP