Nude study of a black female
about 1855
- Medium
- Daguerreotype
- Dimensions
- 13.9 × 10.4 cm
- Status
- In Museum Collection
- Collect24 Art ID
- C24-360351
This daguerreotype of a smiling, young black woman is surprising in its explicit display of sexuality. Shown semi-recumbent on a slouch-backed sofa draped with a cheap, machine-made coverlet, the model is completely naked, her left arm raised up and bent behind her head in a stock pose that emphasizes the line of the breast. With her legs spread wide open, her pubic hair is radically visible although coyly out of focus. The placement of her fingers, which invite the viewer to look at her while she simultaneously avoids the viewer with a faraway gaze, emphasizes the focal point of the image, her open crotch. The model's head is wrapped in a fabric headdress in the fashion of West Indian women; despite her complete exposure, this small cultural marker is the only real clue as to who she might have been.
Provenance
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Registry history
- about 1855 — Recorded in the collection of J. Paul Getty Museum — photographs
Registered on Collect24
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