The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

Edith, Danville, Virginia

1967, printed c. 1980

Emmet Gowin

(American, 1941-)
America
gelatin silver print
Image: 15.9 x 16 cm (6 1/4 x 6 5/16 in.)
Gift of Carl and Joan Schneider 2021.227
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

It was Emmet Gowin’s intimate portraits of his wife and family that first brought his art national attention.

Description

The startling intimacy and directness of Emmet Gowin’s portrait of his wife Edith is both inviting and off-putting. Edith, naked, opens the door to welcome her husband. But thanks to the camera, Gowin lets us experience the couple’s openness and mutual trust. “There are things in your life that only you will see, stories that only you will hear,” said Emmet Gowin. “If you don’t tell them or write them down, if you don’t make the picture, these things will not be seen, these things will not be heard.”
  • 1967-early 1970s
    Emmet Gowin (the artist) [1941-]
    late 1970s-early 1980s
    (Gitterman Gallery, New York, NY), sold to Carl and Joan Schneider
    early 1980s-2021
    Carl and Joan Schneider, Whitmore Lake, MI, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art
    December 6, 2021
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Edith, Danville, Virginia|url=false|author=Emmet Gowin|year=1967, printed c. 1980|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.227