Perceiving what you perceive

Cécile Fromont is convinced that each gaze upon an artwork or artifact can unveil something novel. This belief greatly contributes to her enthusiasm for the educational setting, where she and her students can delve into objects of visual and material culture collectively, sharing surprising viewpoints.

“I genuinely, passionately, and cheesily cherish the experience of being astonished by what others notice and the perspectives they contribute that no one else in the room could have imagined,” expressed Fromont, professor of the history of art and architecture. “Experiencing that repeatedly is, for me, one of the greatest gifts of being an educator.”

Fromont, a scholar in art history focusing on the visual, material, and religious cultures of Africa, Latin America, and Europe during the early modern era, became a member of the Department of History of Art and Architecture in 2024, and will commence teaching this fall following a year of research leave. She additionally holds the position of inaugural faculty director of the Alain Locke Gallery of African & African American Art (previously the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery) at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.

“This marks a significant moment for the Hutchins Center and for Harvard overall,” commented Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center. “Being the sole art space at a major university dedicated entirely to showcasing and investigating African, African American, and Afro-Latin American art, the Alain Locke Gallery is now led by an art historian whose contributions embody the breadth and depth of this vibrant area of scholarship. Cécile Fromont, widely admired for her range and originality in critical scholarship, will bring a thorough, cosmopolitan intellect to her stewardship of the Locke Gallery.”

Fromont’s specialization revolves around cross-cultural exchanges within the Atlantic realm from 1500 to 1850, influenced by the slave trade. She has been drawn to the global importance of the occurrences concentrated in that era and region in history.

“What maintains my interest in studying that era and region is how interactions, connections, conflicts, tragedies, shipwrecks, and victories of that time have defined and continue to mold the world we inhabit, influencing structures of politics, geopolitics, knowledge, and artistic practices,” Fromont stated. “It truly allows me to discern many of the challenges we currently face and envision potential paths forward.”

One aspect of her research allure, she noted, lies in the opportunity to assume the role of detective, utilizing documents and visual artifacts to unravel historical enigmas. An early instance being her initial publication, which investigated the discourse surrounding whether Christianity genuinely influenced the Kingdom of Kongo during the early modern period or if this impact was merely superficial. Fromont discovered that the visual culture of that time — fashion, architecture, crucifixes, figurines, and even currency — validated the presence of a distinctively Kongolese Christian worldview.

“I’ve always had a slightly contrarian streak. When individuals say, ‘We’ll never know,’ that almost always ignites my curiosity, and I attempt to determine if that is indeed true,” Fromont remarked. “That’s perhaps why I have crafted this field of study for myself: it’s driven by problems. Identifying a visual dilemma and seeking to resolve it has been the core motivator of my research endeavors.”

This semester, Fromont is among six professors co-instructing “HAA10: Introduction to the History of Art.” In the spring, she will lead a graduate seminar titled “Africa and the Atlantic World,” alongside a first-year seminar named “Making Monsters in the Atlantic World,” a course focused on what representations of monsters in the Atlantic corridor during the early modern era can reveal about intercultural encounters, oppression, and authority.

“I truly endeavor to foster a sense of community within the classroom so we can become acquainted with one another. This way, we can engage in discussions as scholars at various stages of understanding the material,” Fromont explained. “I may have been contemplating some of these concepts for longer than some of the scholars present, but there is also new material that I confront, leading us to think on our feet.”

“I’ve always had a slightly contrarian streak. When individuals say, ‘We’ll never know,’ that almost always ignites my curiosity, and I try to determine if that is indeed true.”

Fromont is currently involved in multiple book projects. One, titled “Objects of Power,” investigates 18th-century protective charms created by African ritual practitioners in Europe and the Americas — small cloth bundles filled with items such as consecrated hosts, sulfur, prayers, and bones — that conferred power and security to their users and attracted scrutiny from civil and religious authorities like the Portuguese Inquisition or French courts.

“It reveals insights about the nature of power and the manner of its exercise during that pivotal time in Atlantic history,” Fromont explained.

An additional book project, “The Discreet Charm of the ‘Old Indies,’” reassesses French Baroque tapestries showcasing Brazil and aristocrats from the Kingdom of Kongo from a European viewpoint as imagined exotic scenes that both reveal and conceal colonialism and Atlantic slavery, raising questions about the appropriateness of displaying these artworks today.

“The question is: As a society, what do we opt to see in these artifacts?” inquired Fromont, who is collaborating with artist Sammy Baloji to create a new tapestry featuring a historically accurate depiction that will be displayed in the Netherlands in October. “How do we collectively decide what becomes visible and what remains hidden, what we select to observe and what we choose to overlook in these artifacts?”

At the Alain Locke Gallery, Fromont plans to curate her inaugural on-campus exhibition this spring, featuring artwork from the French- and Creole-speaking Caribbean. The gallery will present “Renaissance, Race, and Representation in the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art,” comprising 65 works from one of the nation’s premier collections of African American art alongside selections from the Hutchins Center’s own collection, starting on Sept. 30.

“One of the strengths of this gallery is its inherent flexibility and creativity in conceptualizing its exhibitions and programming, allowing for unique possibilities in what we can offer to the Harvard and Boston community,” Fromont noted. “It provides a rare venue to develop an exhibition that is guided by scholarship and focused on a research issue, and the next may celebrate the aesthetics of an artistic or vernacular practice. It represents a realm of possibilities that, in many ways, embodies the spirit of Alain Locke as a scholar, but also as an art collector, educator, and community builder.”