The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

A Young Muslim Woman in Brooklyn

1990

Chester Higgins

(American, b. 1946)
America
gelatin silver print
Image: 22.9 x 17.8 cm (9 x 7 in.); Paper: 25.1 x 20.2 cm (9 7/8 x 7 15/16 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 2021.137
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The image, one of the artist’s best known and most often reproduced, is a portrait in which only the sitter’s eyes are visible.

Description

This woman wears a niqab, a veil worn in public by some Muslim women as a sign of religious piety. In his photojournalistic work, Chester Higgins Jr. chose to be an unseen observer. Here, in this more personal image, he enters directly into dialogue with the sitter, who boldly confronts the camera’s gaze.
  • 1968-2021
    Chester Higgins, Jr. (the artist) [1946-]
    2021
    (Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, NY)
    September 13, 2021-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Higgins, Chester. Feeling the Spirit: Searching the World for the People of Africa. 1994. p. 178
  • {{cite web|title=A Young Muslim Woman in Brooklyn|url=false|author=Chester Higgins|year=1990|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.137