[Three-quarter-length portrait of an African American woman facing front]

Archive record

1 photographic print on carte de visite mount : albumen ; 10 x 6 cm.

About this photograph

This carte de visite portrait was made by F. Forshew in 1870. The photographer is identified only by surname and initial in the archive record.

The woman who sat for this photograph went unnamed in the catalogue, a pattern common to Black sitters of the period while white subjects were routinely identified. Studio portraiture carried particular weight in African American communities at this time. Published images of Black Americans were dominated by caricature, making formal photographic portraits a deliberate assertion of dignity and standing.

Black-owned studios operated in many cities to serve clients that white photographers often refused or treated poorly. Whether Forshew's studio was among them, or what its practices were, the record does not say. The woman's decision to sit for this portrait, preserved on the small card format popular in the era, placed her image within that larger tradition of self-representation.

Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.

About the format

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