Nude looking through open window with sculptural chandelier above head
Larry Colwell, American, 1911 - 1972
about 1960
Gelatin silver print
Overall: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Harley and Stephen Osman, Class of 1956, Tuck 1957
2019.89.23
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Photograph
Not on view
Label
The woman in the photograph makes eye contact with us through the open window. Her posture is rigid, but her gaze is steady, and her chin tilts up. Her nakedness being visible to our gaze creates a level of vulnerability for her, but because the window and curtain are open, and because she looks so directly at us, that vulnerability is clearly by choice. The soft curves of the curtain and chandelier echo her body and work with her form to partially block the view of the dark room behind. The window turns the woman’s nudity, which would otherwise be private, into a public display of her body, but the inside itself remains unseen.
From the 2023 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 113, On View: Windows in Art, curated by Leigh Smith '23, Erbe Intern
Course History
Space for Dialogue Gallery Talk: Windows in Art, Summer 2023
Exhibition History
A Space for Dialogue 113, On View: Windows in Art, Leigh Smith '23, Erbe Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 1 - August 12, 2023.
Provenance
Collection of Michael Mattis, Scarsdale, New York; sold to Harley and Stephen C. Osman, Stamford, Connecticut, date unknown; given to present collection, 2019.
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