Untitled (baby seated in corner of formal couch) c. 1940

This photograph by Paul Gittings, now in the Harvard Art Museums, presents a stark, inverted tableau. The negative space and monochrome palette emphasize the formal qualities of light and shadow across the composition. The baby, starkly centered, sits rigidly on the ornate couch, creating a study in contrasts: the softness of infancy against the structured formality of the setting. This juxtaposition invites a semiotic reading, where the cultural codes of innocence and domesticity are deliberately unsettled. The inverted tones further destabilize traditional interpretations. The photograph's formal arrangement—the subject framed within the architectural lines of the room—serves not merely as a portrait but as a commentary on representation itself. The sharp tonal reversals challenge fixed meanings, prompting an ongoing dialogue between the viewer and the artwork.