Nude looking through open window with sculptural chandelier above head

Larry Colwell, American, 1911 - 1972

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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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