Nov 16, 2022
Nov 16, 2022
Nov 16, 2022
Nov 16, 2022

Serbonne

Serbonne

1901

Gertrude Käsebier

(American, 1852–1934)

Platinum print

Image: 17.5 x 20.2 cm (6 7/8 x 7 15/16 in.); Paper: 17.5 x 20.2 cm (6 7/8 x 7 15/16 in.)

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2022.89

Location

Did you know?

Serbonne borrows its composition and setting from two famous and infamous paintings: Manet’s Dejeuner Sur l’Herbe and Titian’s Concert Champetre.

Description

In summer 1901, photographer Gertrude Käsebier and her daughter, an art student, traveled to France and became fast friends with American painter and photographer Edward Steichen (on the left).This posed photograph, taken in the woods of Serbonne outside Paris, documents one of their adventures. Käsebier replaced the textures of the tree bark, grass, and fabric with an overall texture on her negative so that the photograph appears to be composed of brushstrokes, associating her creation with artistic transformation rather than a recording of reality.

See also
Department: 
Photography
Type of artwork: 
Photograph

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.