Benin‚ early 19th century
Benin was a powerful and West African state for several hundred years, well before contact with Europeans., with distinctive artistic styles in their sculpture.
Persia‚ mid 19th century
Girls are often shown performing domestic tasks. Weaving, knitting, sewing, and other textile arts are usually the realm of the female, regardless of class.
New Zealand‚ mid 19th century
Portraits of indigenous people, especially women and girls, are on one hand renderings of distant ‘realities’, but on the other, they are exploitive and imperialistic.
Melanesia‚ 19th century
In cultures that do not produce an elaborate visual record with accompanying text, there are a great many assumptions made by the original collectors of the works that can often become fact as they are re-written in successive museum catalogues.
Ireland‚ mid 19th century
A Connemara Girl is one of the most recognized young, barefoot goat-herders in art history. The daily life of a peasant girl in Ireland is elevated by this simple, yet powerful image.
France‚ late 19th century
Degas’ Int√©rieur presents a highly charged emotional scene, yet its ambiguous narrative has perplexed scholars and viewers alike.