Jul 102009
From Gloria Brame, who is practically doing my job for me.
Date and origin unknown, sadly. Note the Orientalist artifacts: Persian rugs, anklets, turban, arm bracelets, the servant-mistress relationship indicated by their positions, the direct sightlines. I’m curious where the black woman came from and how she ended up in a photographer’s studio somewhere in Europe.
You could see it as a take on Manet’s Olympia, though in this case the black woman’s sexuality is not completely erased.
