Untitled (woman holding up a shoe) c. 1950

Curator: This arresting gelatin silver print, currently residing at the Harvard Art Museums, is simply titled "Untitled (woman holding up a shoe)" by Jack Gould. It's a small work, almost intimate in its dimensions. Editor: My first thought? A strange mirror image. It’s dark, and she's holding the shoe up as if she is judging it… or perhaps herself? Curator: The negative image certainly amplifies that unsettling effect. Could be a commentary on the idealized woman and her relationship to consumerism in the mid-20th century. Editor: Or perhaps a personal reflection by Gould? What was he trying to say about the female identity of the era? A glamour shot turned on its head. Curator: Exactly, its ambiguity is its strength! Gould offers us a glimpse, distorted and open to interpretation, of femininity. Editor: It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about all the untold stories lurking beneath the surface of these seemingly simple images?