Untitled (woman wearing long dress) 1965

Robert Burian made this untitled gelatin silver print depicting a woman in a long dress, sometime around January 1965. The photograph, now held in the Harvard Art Museums, captures a moment of mid-century social formality. The woman, likely from the upper-middle class, is captured on what looks like a staircase. Her attire, a long gown and white gloves, suggests a formal occasion. The setting, with its patterned wallpaper and poised chair, speaks to a cultivated domestic space. However, the nature of this setting remains ambiguous. Is she at home or in a public institution? And what is the relationship of the photographer to the sitter? To understand the context of this image, we might turn to sources like etiquette guides and fashion magazines of the period, or even sociological studies of middle-class life in the 1960s. These resources would help us better understand the social codes at play and to appreciate how such images worked to reinforce them. The photograph then, becomes a reflection of its time, and a document of social and institutional history.