Untitled (wedding cake on table) 1952

Curator: This photograph, by C. Bennette Moore, currently titled "Untitled (wedding cake on table)", presents a striking still life, held in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It’s haunting, almost spectral. The inverted tones give it a surreal quality, a sense of faded memory. Curator: Indeed. The reversed tones alter our perception. Moore's image transforms a symbol of celebration into something more melancholic. What do you think about the composition? Editor: It's formal, posed. A lone cake in a room, perhaps speaking to broader anxieties about societal expectations surrounding marriage. Or maybe it's a rumination about the performance of domesticity. Curator: Very insightful. The historical role of wedding imagery can tell us a lot about gender roles and the way women have been perceived through time. Editor: Absolutely. It's a compelling image to interpret. I'm left pondering what Moore intended to convey with this stark photograph.