Rosa Lee
Artist
Shelby Lee Adams
(American, born 1950)
CultureAmerican
Date1986
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 18 1/2 × 14 3/4 in. (47 × 37.5 cm)
Overall, Support: 19 7/8 × 16 in. (50.5 × 40.6 cm)
Overall, Mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Support: 19 7/8 × 16 in. (50.5 × 40.6 cm)
Overall, Mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
SignedSee inscriptions.
InscribedRecto, lower edge, left to right, pencil (impression): "Rosa Lee 86 6/25 Shelby Lee Adams"
Verso, upper left, pencil: 3240
Verson, lower edge, left to right, pencil: "Rosa Lee 86 6/25 Shelby Lee Adams"
PortfolioReproduced on the cover of "Appalachian Legacy," Mississippi University Press, 1998.
Credit LineGift of Linda and Michael McGraw
Object number2019.14.1
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a black and white photograph depicting a woman’s face. It is closely cropped and reveals fine details of her face, including freckles and faint wrinkles on her forehead. She stares directly at the viewer.Label TextShelby Lee Adams American, born 1950 Rosa Lee, 1986 Gelatin silver print (photograph) With a blunt and austere expression, the woman in this photograph stares directly into the camera and out at us. The sitter is from the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern Kentucky where photographer Shelby Lee Adams was also raised. As part of a project spanning several decades, Adams creates portraits like this one of the region’s rural and often poor inhabitants. While some accuse Adams of exploiting the people he photographs, he argues that his starkly straightforward images proudly show his sitters as they want to be shown. Gift of Linda and Michael McGraw 2019.14.1ProvenancePhotographs Do Not Bend Gallery, Dallas, Texas; Mike and Linda McGraw, purchased from gallery, 1999; Chrysler Museum of Art, gift from the McGraws in 2019.Exhibition History"5 Years of Photography: Building the Chrysler Collection," Photography & Focus Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 26 - November 10, 2019.
