2020.22.4
Portrait of a Biracial Woman
Artist
Photographer Unidentified
Title
Portrait of a Biracial Woman
Creation Date
ca. 1855-60
Dimensions
4 1/4 x 3 1/4 in. (10.8 x 8.26 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
quarter plate ambrotype in themoplastic case
Credit Line
Museum Purchase, Gridley W. Tarbell II Fund
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
2020.22.4
This quarter-plate ambrotype shows a woman of distinction dressed for a seated portrait. The embroidered details of her formal dress are heightened by white paint applied on the outer jacket. With perfectly coiffed hair and modest jewelry, she gazes out, away from the camera while resting her hands on her lap. An unidentified biracial woman, her pose suggests someone taking control of her representation, putting forth an effort to appear confident, sharply dressed, and sophisticated, a form of self-assertion made possible by the emergence of photography. Black women had the ability to present themselves to the world in a way that reflected their own ideas of their personhood. This modest-sized ambrotype allowed this woman to capture and preserve her sense of self for generations, a testament to the role photography played in recording more realistic likenesses of Black women during the antebellum period.
Object Description
Portrait of a Bi-racial Woman
Additional Media
inside
inside
front cover
