Untitled (picture of woman pinned to wall) c. 1945

This is an untitled photograph by Robert Burian, now held at the Harvard Art Museums, capturing a woman adorned with a notable pendant. Consider the pendant, a common but powerful symbol: worn close to the heart, it signifies identity and personal history. One thinks of ancient amulets worn as protection, or reliquaries holding sacred objects. This custom, with its blend of the personal and the symbolic, evokes the same human impulse across millennia, from the Egyptian scarab to modern memorial jewelry. Reflect on the woman’s gaze. Though she looks directly at the viewer, the negative imaging lends an unnerving quality. It's as if we glimpse a specter, a modern-day memento mori. This chilling effect is reminiscent of gothic art, where death is ever-present, reminding us of the transience of life. The cyclical recurrence of these symbols—the pendant, the direct gaze, and the shadow of mortality—demonstrates how cultural memory and subconscious processes are etched into our visual language, engaging us on a profound, often unsettling, level.