The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 20, 2024
Barber Cleaning a Woman’s Ear
c. 1890
Secondary Support: 47.8 x 29.7 cm (18 13/16 x 11 11/16 in.); Painting only: 45.3 x 28.4 cm (17 13/16 x 11 3/16 in.)
Location: not on view
Description
Kalighat paintings reflect the time and context in which they were created. Kalighat painters used their medium to offer penetrating and insightful critiques of British-influenced Indians as well as the British themselves through satires and caricatures. Newly rich Bengali native Indian clerks (babus) aspired to dress and behave like their British masters, and Kalighat painters taunted them for this. A chinless barber with cleaning pins tucked in his turban is cleaning the ears of a lady customer. A fashionable woman, she smokes a hookah and exposes one breast to her flirtatious barber. As the Bengali babus spent time with their mistresses and courtesans, neglected wives and concubines were portrayed as relying on the company of their servants.- ?-2003William E. Ward [1922-2004], Solon, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art2003-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Indian Kalighat Paintings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-September 18, 2011).
- {{cite web|title=Barber Cleaning a Woman’s Ear|url=false|author=|year=c. 1890|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.117