Untitled (portrait of little girl holding doll in arms) c. 1955

This photographic print by Paul Gittings at the Harvard Art Museums presents an inverted image of a young girl holding a doll. Immediately, the reversed tones—white for dark and vice versa—create a haunting visual experience, disrupting our conventional understanding of light and shadow, and perhaps hinting at the uncanny nature of portraiture itself. The composition, sharply focused on the girl's face and the doll’s, uses tonal contrast to draw our eyes to these central figures. The textural details, although inverted, still hint at the soft fabric of the doll's dress and the child's hair. Gittings captures a moment of childhood, but the inversion destabilizes it, complicating simple readings. The photograph plays with the signifiers of portraiture and childhood, undermining any straightforward interpretation. Ultimately, Gittings’ choice of inversion challenges fixed meanings. It compels us to see beyond the surface, inviting a reconsideration of how photographic techniques can both capture and distort reality.