Untitled (woman seated on sofa with young boy and baby, quilt spread out over lap) after 1940

Paul Gittings created this silver gelatin print, of a woman seated on a sofa with a young boy and baby, at an unknown date. Gittings was a commercial photographer in the mid-twentieth century in the United States, catering to an affluent clientele. The formal pose, the styling of the sitters, and the staging of the shot speak to the conventions of bourgeois portraiture and the cultural ideals of the nuclear family. The venetian blinds in the background may be read as a reference to the interior design trends of the time, as well as a screen which regulates the entry of the outside world into the home. The quilt spread over the woman’s lap, and the floral decoration behind, can be interpreted as a marker of domesticity and feminine virtue. Historians of photography look at studio records, period publications, and other contextual sources to better understand how photographers such as Gittings fit into the history of American portraiture and the history of visual culture more generally.