Picturing Women

Juxtaposition by
Susan Shifrin, Curator

Washington's Reception by the Ladies on the Bridge.

Les trente deux Fille [sic] (The Thirty-Two Young Ladies).

Introduction

What do these images have in common, what do you see that is different from one to the next?

How are the women in these images pictured? Do they seem to be represented as individuals with distinctive characteristics? If so, what kinds of characteristics distinguish them from each other – what makes each of them different? And if not, how does their “sameness” affect you as a viewer? How does it affect the way you understand the images?

Each of these images comes from a different time period. How do the representations of women in each image help to define its time period?

Les Cinq Demi-vierges,' (The Five Half-Virgins).

Mrs. Washington, Abigail Adams, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Madison, Louisa C. Adams'.