Skip to Main Content

Untitled (West Indian Women Being Measured)

c. 1860s
three studies mounted on a single card
Image 1: 8.6 x 5.2 cm (3 3/8 x 2 1/16 in.); Image 2: 8.6 x 5.2 cm (3 3/8 x 2 1/16 in.); Image 3: 8.5 x 5.2 cm (3 3/8 x 2 1/16 in.)
Gift of Barbara Tannenbaum and Mark Soppeland 2019.70
Location: not on view
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Download, Print and Share

Did You Know?

The tension in the sitters’ body language and expressions suggest that posing here was not a choice or a pleasurable experience.

Description

The eerie depictions of three ages of West Indian women of African descent are early examples of photography’s use by nineteenth-century anthropologists to categorize different ethnic and racial types within the human race. These images were almost certainly taken by a European or Caucasian photographer during a time of colonial occupation.
Untitled (West Indian Women Being Measured)

Untitled (West Indian Women Being Measured)

c. 1860s

Caribbean, 19th century

See Also

Visually Similar Artworks

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.