The backs of two splayed hands, palms down with one coming down from the top and one up from the bottom, nearly fill this vertical photograph and are shown lightly entwined in a field of dark fabric. The image is monochromatic like a black and white photograph but is printed in tones of golden and dark brown. The thumb of the left hand, coming up from the bottom, points upward so the fingers splay elegantly to our left. The forefinger and thumb touch to hold a needle stitching the dark fabric. The right hand comes down to our right and almost touches the left hand. The index finger is bent under at the first knuckle, and the ring and pinkie fingers gently curve downward into the fabric. The middle finger extends straight and is capped with a shiny thimble, which nearly touches the thumb of the opposite hand. The skin on the hands and wrists is smooth and the photograph is lightly blurred, creating the impression of a patina. The folds of the gathered fabric create a shadowy pinwheel effect.
Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe—Hands and Thimble, 1919, palladium print, Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1980.70.138

Photography 

In 1990 the National Gallery launched an initiative to acquire the finest examples of the art of photography and to mount photography exhibitions of the highest quality, accompanied by scholarly publications and programs. In the years since, the Gallery’s collection of photographs has grown to over 20,000 works encompassing the history of the medium from its beginnings in 1839 to the present, featuring in-depth holdings of work by many of the masters of the art form. The Gallery’s program of exhibitions and publications is now considered among the best in the world.

  • This nearly square black and white photograph shows the head and shoulders of a person in front of a plain wall. Wearing a dark V-necked shirt, the person has an oval-shaped face and dark hair rolled in curlers. Finely plucked dark eyebrows frame large, luminous dark eyes, and the full lips are slightly open. A lit cigarette is held aloft in the person’s long-nailed left hand, on our right. Light comes from the left and deepens into shadow across the right half of the photograph.
  • A freestanding stove and pipe leading to the ceiling are backlit against the light-colored walls of a cabin in this vertical, black and white photograph. The panes of a window on the far wall are darkened, and both the upper and lower halves of the Dutch door are closed to the right. Light, presumably from the stove opening on the opposite side, rakes across the floor but leaves the beamed and timber ceiling veiled in shadow. A stone hearth to our left suggests a fireplace is just out of view to our left. The stove stands on a square tray and is topped with a teardrop-shaped finial.
  • Four monumental concrete structures nearly fill the space of this vertical black and white photograph. The fortress-like architectural forms are arranged in a line so they move away from us at a diagonal to our right to create an almost abstract composition. Each structure seems to be made up of two parts: a form that tapers from a wide base to a narrow top, like a fin. Each of those brace a taller vertical panel, each of which has a semi-circular, crown-like crenellation. The top of the leftmost structure is cropped by the edge of the photograph and its bracing foot reaches halfway across the composition. Two people stand at the base of that structure, barely coming a tenth of the way up the lower bracing structure. Deep shadows on our side of the structures contrast with the brighter areas highlighted by the sun. Two clouds float in the sky above. A tall pole supporting a wire nearly reaches the top edge of the photograph to our right.
  • Grapes and flowers arranged on a tabletop in front of a dark background fill this horizontal photograph. The image is monochromatic like a black and white photograph but is printed in warm tones of golden and dark browns. The tabletop runs parallel and close to the bottom edge of the composition. It seems to be made of marble and a striped cloth folds over the front edge of the table to our left. Dark grapes are bunched around a vase at the middle of the composition. The vase's tall oval body and long, tapering neck are painted with decorative scrolls and curlicues. A few pieces of small round fruit, perhaps plums, rest on the table in front of the vase. A gleaming goblet to the left and a small figurine of a young boy with a sheaf of wheat to our right are almost lost in the profusion of roses, lilies, hyacinth, and other flowers that fill the space around and behind the objects. The top corners of the photograph are curved, creating a shallow arch.
  • The backs of two splayed hands, palms down with one coming down from the top and one up from the bottom, nearly fill this vertical photograph and are shown lightly entwined in a field of dark fabric. The image is monochromatic like a black and white photograph but is printed in tones of golden and dark brown. The thumb of the left hand, coming up from the bottom, points upward so the fingers splay elegantly to our left. The forefinger and thumb touch to hold a needle stitching the dark fabric. The right hand comes down to our right and almost touches the left hand. The index finger is bent under at the first knuckle, and the ring and pinkie fingers gently curve downward into the fabric. The middle finger extends straight and is capped with a shiny thimble, which nearly touches the thumb of the opposite hand. The skin on the hands and wrists is smooth and the photograph is lightly blurred, creating the impression of a patina. The folds of the gathered fabric create a shadowy pinwheel effect.

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The spruce-green silhouette of a broad-shouldered man standing among palm fronds looks up at a faint red star against a field of green circles radiating out from the horizon in this abstracted vertical painting. The scene is made with mostly flat areas of color to create silhouettes in shades of slate and indigo blue, lemon-lime and pea green, plum purple, and brick red. To our right of center, the man faces our left in profile. His eye is a slit and he has tight curly hair. The position of his feet, standing on a coffin-shaped, brick-red box, indicate his back is to us. He stands with legs apart and his arms by his sides. Terracotta-orange shackles around his wrists are linked with a black chain. A woman to our left, perhaps kneeling, holds her similarly shackled hands up overhead. A line of shackled people with their heads bowed move away from this pair, toward wavy lines indicating water in the distance. The water is pine green near the shore and lightens, in distinct bands, to asparagus green on the horizon. On our left, two, tall pea-green ships sail close to each other at the horizon, both titled at an angle to our right. Concentric circles radiate out from the horizon next to the ships to span the entire painting, subtly altering the color of the silhouettes it encounters. To our left, a buttercup-yellow beam shines from the red star in the sky across the canvas, overlapping the man’s face. Spruce-blue palm trees grow to our right while plum-purple palm fronds and leaves in smoke gray and blood red frame the painting along the left corners and edge. The artist signed the painting in the lower right, in black, “AARON DOUGLAS.”

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem, or New Negro, Renaissance was a period of artistic and cultural rebirth among African Americans between 1918 and the mid-1930s. Many Black artists experienced a freedom of artistic expression for the first time. They asserted pride in Black life and identity, called out inequality and discrimination, and responded to a rapidly changing modern world.

Portraits

Portraits represent people, either real or imagined, attempting to capture their appearance or essence. Some artists explored the human form and emotions through portraits of loved ones. Others made a living depicting wealthy or important people. And artists like Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh frequently used themselves as models.

Curatorial Department: Photographs

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