Untitled (three women seated and looking down at small child on central woman's lap) after 1940

This photograph of three women and a child was made by Paul Gittings at an unknown date. It presents us with a domestic scene, yet the arrangement of the figures also evokes the conventions of portraiture. The composition invites us to speculate about the relationships between the figures. The women’s clothes and hairstyles offer some clues about the era in which the photograph was made, a period in which women's roles were being redefined. The setting seems to be a studio, so we could think about the institutional conventions around portraiture and how the photographer engages with those conventions. What does it mean to create a portrait in a society transformed by the rise of photography? How did the rise of affordable photography change the way people saw themselves and their place in society? To understand the social and cultural context of this work, one might begin by researching the history of photography studios and the changing role of women in society. Ultimately, the meaning of this photograph lies in its connection to the broader social and institutional context in which it was created.