Accession Number
2014/2.308

Title
Fisherman on his Boat, Cuba

Artist(s)
Dmitri Baltermants

Artist Nationality
Russian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
circa 1970s, printed 2003

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
20 in x 16 in (50.8 cm x 40.64 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Agah, Class of 1989 (BBA)

Subject matter
The leathery, wizened visage of a fisherman who wears a torn shirt and straw hat while holding a cigarette dominates the composition of this photograph. The man leans over a wooden ledge on which he also rests his elbows; his body forms a relatively pronounced triangle. The format of a half-length figure positioned in such a pyramidal structure recalls pictorial conventions of Italian Renaissance portraiture. The man is further encased on all sides: on the left by the dangling fisher’s net, on the right by an area of deep shadow, on top by the wooden planks of the boat's ceiling, and on bottom by the wooden ledge. The subject of the photograph seems almost to speak to Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (1952), the protagonist of which is also an aging Cuban fisherman.   

Physical Description
Half-length image of an elderly man in a straw hat holding a cigarette as he looks out toward the viewer. 

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
cigarette cases
fishermen (people)
fishing
men (male humans)
moustaches
nets (objects)