Label Text:
Excerpted label text from the Curatorial Fellowship exhibition “Eyes Are For Asking: Narratives in Photography,” March 24 – May 1, 2016:
The scene depicts the encounter of two women at the entryway of an apartment located in the notoriously affluent 16th arrondissement of Paris. At first glance, this image may be read according to the tropes of class relations defined by the well-dressed woman who is met by a maid at the door. However, the outcome of this moment is unpredictable. A closer look reveals that the woman in the maid’s dress holds the visitor in a steady, confident gaze. Their contrasting stature and dress confront each other with equal and opposite force. The barring gesture of the wealthier woman’s right hand across the door frame is mirrored by the territorial position of the maid who has yet to hold the door wide open. The diagonal planes of these gestures are further juxtaposed with the parallel verticality of their two bodies, which align with the frame of the looming doorway. -Gretchen Halverson (M.A. Art History ‘16) and Procheta Mukherjee Olson (M.F.A. Studio Art ‘17)
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=UM+1984.9.9 |
