Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2018.

Untitled (downstairs)

Artist Elisabeth Hase (German, 1905 - 1991)

CultureGerman

Datec. 1948

MediumGelatin silver print

Dimensions9 1/2 × 7 in. (24.1 × 17.8 cm)
17 × 14 in. (43.2 × 35.6 cm)

InscribedUpper right in pencil: RMG 28255. Bottom right in pencil: 23 98/6. Bottom right, ink stamp: Nachlass Estate/ Elisabeth Hase? Nani Simonis/ München. Center, ink stamp: Leihweise/ Nr. 1398/6/ Alle Rechte vorbehalten./ Erfüllungsort Frankfurt a. M./ Bendizung (?) von Original oder Klischee/ nur gegen Honorar und mit dem / Vermerk: / phot. Elisabeth Hase / ELISABETH HASE / TEL. 77804 / FRANKFURT A. / M. / STAUFENSRT. 42.

Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank

Object number2018.21

Not on view

DescriptionThis photograph depicts a woman lying face-down in a stairwell. She wears a hat and to her side, also on the stairs, is her purse.
Label TextElisabeth Hase German, 1905–1991 Untitled (downstairs), ca. 1948 Gelatin silver print (photograph) Skewed by the overhead perspective, this photograph seems to show a woman falling up, rather than down, a set of stairs. Her clothing appears too perfectly unruffled: her hat is artfully perched on her head and her stocking seams echo the stair’s architectural lines. Elisabeth Hase made many portraits like this one, using herself as a model in which activities, clothing, and staged situations explore and challenge expectations about gender and identity. Hase spent most of her life in Frankfurt, and her photographs often grappled with the status of women throughout Germany’s turbulent political history. Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank 2018.21ProvenanceElisabeth Hase; by descent to her daughter Nani Simonis; Robert Mann Gallery; purchased by the Chrysler Museum of Art in 2018.Exhibition HistoryElisabeth Hase: An Independent Vision, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, March 31 – May 7, 2016 "5 Years of Photography: Building the Chrysler Collection," Photography & Focus Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 26 - November 10, 2019.