Accession Number
1971/2.126.6

Title
Woman, Patzcuaro

Artist(s)
Paul Strand

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1933, printed 1967

Medium & Support
photogravure on paper

Dimensions
15 3/4 in x 12 3/8 in (40 cm x 31.4 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Philip C. Davis through the Friends of the Museum of Art

Subject matter
In this photograph, a woman sits with a furrowed brow, looking to the right, out of frame. She wears a dark patterned shawl on her head and shoulders. Her skirt is a lighter checkered pattern, which repeats the pattern of the dark scarf. On her lap sits a square reed basket that appears to contain a light-colored fabric. Strand used a prism lens to disguise his intentions when photographing his human subjects during his time in Mexico. In order to capture his images of people his lens directed the light at a right angle, while appearing to shoot from the front.

This photograph is from Paul Strand's The Mexican Portfolio published in 1967 by Paul Strand. The portfolio consists of a series of 20 images depicting Mexico's people, architecture, landscape, and churches. It was first published in 1940 under the name Photographs of Mexico, and reprinted under Strand's supervision in 1967 as The Mexican Portfolio.

Physical Description
This is a photograph of a woman in Patzcuaro, Mexico. The woman sits with a headscarf draped over her head and shoulders and a basket on her lap.

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
basket
baskets (containers)
checker pattern
dresses (garments)
modern and contemporary art
seated
shawl
shawls
sitting
women (female humans)