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Series of four portraits of enslaved African American people rendered in red and black.

The images originate from historic daguerreotypes. Two men and two women are all photographed separately, naked from the waist up. Three of the four portraits show the subject standing, arms to their side, facing front and looking towards the viewer. The fourth image of a woman is in profile as she stands facing right. Both the women have short hair. All four people have intense faces, no smiles. Each person has all-caps light grey lettering written across their upper chest. Each picture is set in a circular black matt and framed by a simple black rectangular frame.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
P2001.28.1-4
People
Carrie Mae Weems, American (Portland, Oregon, USA born 1953)
Title
You Became a Scientific Profile / A Negroid Type / An Anthropological Debate / & A Photographic Subject
Other Titles
Series/Book Title: From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried
Classification
Photographs
Work Type
photograph
Date
1995-1996
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/166668

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Monochrome c-prints with sandblasted text on glass
Technique
Chromogenic print
Dimensions
each sheet: 59.5 x 49.5 cm (23 7/16 x 19 1/2 in.)
each frame: 67.9 x 57.8 x 2.5 cm (26 3/4 x 22 3/4 x 1 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: recto, middle of glass covering each panel, sandblasted/etched: Panel 1: "YOU BECAME A SCIENTIFIC PROFILE"
    Panel 2: "A NEGROID TYPE"
    Panel 3: "AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL DEBATE"
    Panel 4: "& A PHOTOGRAPHIC SUBJECT"

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs
Copyright
© Carrie Mae Weems
Accession Year
2001
Object Number
P2001.28.1-4
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 247, ill.
  • Ilisa Barbash, Molly Rogers, and Deborah Willis, ed., To Make Their Own Way in the World: The Enduring Legacy of the Zealy Daguerreotypes, Peabody Museum Press and Aperture (Cambridge, MA and New York, 2020), p. 298, fig. 11.1, ill. (color) and p. 416, fig. 13.3, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1120 Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/06/2016 - 10/13/2016

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu