The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Untitled (West Indian Women Being Measured)

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

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.
  • Barbara L. Tannenbaum and Mark Soppeland, Beachwood, OH
    March 4, 2019
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Untitled (West Indian Women Being Measured)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1860s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.70