Untitled (woman in riding clothes in studio, legs crossed and leaning back on right hand) after 1940

This silver gelatin print captures a woman in riding clothes in the studio, legs crossed and leaning back on her right hand. The way she’s angled, almost reclining, reminds me of Manet’s Olympia. But here, the studio setting gives her a modern twist. You can see the bare bones of the backdrop and the sharp contrasts of black and white, and the geometric shapes. It’s like Gittings is letting us in on the artifice of image-making. I imagine Gittings, arranging and re-arranging, trying to capture the essence of his sitter. The whip, the gloves, the carefully chosen outfit, each element is a deliberate choice, meant to convey something specific. What does it mean to play with these different poses and styles? It’s a reminder that art is always built upon the ideas and experiments of those who came before.