Aida 1912

This is Adolph de Meyer's photograph, Aida. Meyer, as an early fashion photographer, here captures his sitter with an elegance that was also being explored in painting. He was associated with Alfred Stieglitz, who promoted photography as an art form, not just a tool for documentation. What are the politics of seeing this image of Aida? In whose eyes is she elegant? Does this image challenge, or reinforce, the visual codes of race in early 20th century Western culture? Meyer would certainly have been aware of the racial stereotyping in Verdi's opera of the same name, and of its continuing popularity. A work like this one requires us to look not only at the image itself but also the institutional and cultural contexts in which it was made and viewed. Contemporary documents, such as journals, newspapers, and exhibition reviews, can often reveal the values and assumptions that shape the public's understanding of art.