Hair Washing, Hopi Indians (Shoshonean) by John K. Hillers

Hair Washing, Hopi Indians (Shoshonean)

c. 1870

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Artwork details

Dimensions
image: 23.5 x 18 cm (9 1/4 x 7 1/16 in.) mount: 35 x 28 cm (13 3/4 x 11 in.)
Location
Harvard Art Museums
Copyright
CC0 1.0

About this artwork

Curator: This is "Hair Washing, Hopi Indians (Shoshonean)," a photograph by John K. Hillers. It captures a tender domestic scene. What's your initial take? Editor: The tonality is strikingly muted, almost sepia-toned with the subjects arranged in a pyramidal composition, drawing the eye upward, but its muted tones bring a sense of solemnity. Curator: It's beautiful, and of course, staged. Still, I wonder about the women's expressions, so caught up in that moment. What are they thinking? Editor: Perhaps the very act of creating this image froze a moment, but the subjects' arrangement and tonal balance grant the everyday, ritualistic even. Curator: That's interesting. So much more than just "hair washing," isn't it? Editor: Indeed.

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