Polishing Brass (At Work)
Myra Albert Wiggins, Polishing Brass (At Work), ca. 1903, platinum print, Gift of Robert and Shirley Benz, public domain, 89.51.61
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Polishing Brass (At Work)
- Artist
- Date
ca. 1903
- Medium
platinum print
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image: 7 3/4 in x 6 in; sheet: 9 1/8 in x 6 3/8 in; mount: 18 1/4 in x 14 5/8 in
- Collection Area
Photography; Northwest Art
- Category
Photographs
- Object Type
photograph
- Culture
American
- Credit Line
Gift of Robert and Shirley Benz
- Accession Number
89.51.61
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
Working with glass negatives in her studio, a converted barnlike structure in Salem, Oregon, Wiggins created Polishing Brass by posing her housekeeper, Alma, in heirloom Dutch clothing. Photographed in the morning light of the studio window, the subject sits beside a handmade table, upon which rest a number of brass pots that Wiggins had purchased in Europe three years earlier. The romantic depiction of Dutch peasantry, who were thought to exemplify a robust and natural lifestyle, was a motif often idealized by artists of the Arts and Crafts movement. Regarded by the artist as one of her best genre pictures, Polishing Brass was printed in the subtle tones of sepia platinum on Japanese tissue.
