Object number2020.5

Untitled (Eating Lobster)

Portfolio/Seriesfrom the Kitchen Table series

Date1990

Artist Carrie Mae Weems (American, born 1953)

CultureAmerican

MediumGelatin silver print

EditionArist's proof 1 of 2, from an edition of 5

DimensionsSheet: 28 1/4 x 28 1/4 inchces
Frame: 29 x 29 x 1 1/2 inches

Credit LinePurchase, Francis Woolsey and Helen Silkman Bronson, class of 1924, Fund

On View

Not on view

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Photograph

BibliographyWeems, Carrie Mae; Sarah Lewis; Adrienne Edwards. Carrie Mae Weems: Kitchen Table Series. New York, Matsumoto Editions, 2016, p. 27Provenancepurchased from Pippy Houldsworth Gallery

Vassar Exhibitions

Women at Work: Photography and Labor

The Ongoing Moment: Recent Acquisitions of Photography at the Loeb

Label TextIn The Kitchen Table Series, Carrie Mae Weems borrows the visual language of film and documentary photography, staging domestic scenes that explore the complexities of gender, intimacy, and family, and posing as her own protagonist. This photograph depicts an ambiguous moment of care; seated at the kitchen table—the locus of essential but often overlooked work—a woman cradles a man’s head as he eagerly eats a meal that, we must assume, she has prepared for him. Reflecting on the subtle dynamics in the photograph decades later, Weems describes how the man “takes the lobster in the way that men often take. Women are often put in the position of being carers: men are socially contracted to take, while women are contracted to give. That relationship is played out subtly because her tenderness is the first thing you focus on. You don’t become aware of her clenching her teeth until a bit later.” Jessica D. Brier, Curator of Photography

DescriptionBlack and white image of a woman seated at a kitchen table holding a cigarette in her left hand and caressing the head of the man seated at her right. Her eyes are closed and lips are slightly upturned as if she is speaking or singing. In front of her sits an uneaten lobster and a full wine glass. The man at center bows his head as he plays a harmonica. The plate in front of him is filled with the broken shells of the lobster. His wine glass is empty and he has two beer cans in front of him. A bird in a cage hangs at left, a door is visible in the background at right, and the scene is lit from overhead by a light.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu