Self-Portrait

1974

Sally Mann

Associated Names
Sally Mann

Artist, American, born 1951

This black-and-white photograph shows a woman standing behind and to the left of an old, boxy camera on a tripod in a dimly lit room. The woman has pale skin and short, dark hair. She looks out at us with a neutral expression, and the camera casts a shadow on one side of her face. In one hand she is holding the zipper of the thin, white sweatshirt she is wearing, which is partially unzipped, revealing her bare neck and sternum. She is wearing a dark skirt or pants that fade into the background. Her other hand curls around the camera and points to its lens. The woman and the camera are lit, while most of the room around them is dark. There appears to be a magazine on a surface in front of the camera, and some clothes or fabric hanging on an object near the top right corner. The photograph is outlined by two thick borders, a white inner border and a black outer border.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Corcoran Collection (Gift of Olga Hirshhorn)

  • Dimensions

    image: 17 × 14.8 cm (6 11/16 × 5 13/16 in.)
    sheet: 34.9 × 27.2 cm (13 3/4 × 10 11/16 in.)
    mount: 50.7 × 40.9 cm (19 15/16 × 16 1/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2015.19.4924


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Sally Mann, Lexington, VA; Olga Hirshhorn, Washington, DC, purchased 1976; gift to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003; acquired by NGA, 2015.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2007

  • Olga Hirshhorn Collects: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 10 – July 8, 2007

2016

  • Intersections: Photographs and Videos from the National Gallery of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2016 - 2017, unnumbered catalogue.

Inscriptions

signed by artist, lower right below image on mount in black ink: Sally Mann; on verso, upper center, stamped in black ink: PHOTOGRAPH BY / SALLY MANN / 119 MCLAUGHLIN ST. / LEXINGTON, VA. 24450 / 463-4293 / ALL REPRODUCTION RIGHTS RESERVED; by unknown hand, on white label, center in black ink: 1; by unknown hand, upper right in black ink: OR.2.76; by unknown hand, lower right in graphite: 2003.19

Wikidata ID

Q64169858

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