Not Manet's Type
Carrie Mae Weems
(American, born in 1953)
2001
Medium/TechniqueOffset photolithograph
DimensionsFramed: 114.8 x 64 x 1.9 cm (45 3/16 x 25 3/16 x 3/4 in.)
Sheet: 101.6 x 50.8 cm (40 x 20 in.)
Sheet: 101.6 x 50.8 cm (40 x 20 in.)
Credit LineGift of Susan Alyson and Charles M. Young
Accession number2005.1253
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPrints
Collections
Each of the prints in photographer Carrie Mae Weems' five-part series Not Manet's Type is comprised of a nude self-portrait with a brief inscription below. Here the text reads, "It was clear, I was not Manet's type. Picasso-who had a way with women-only used me and Duchamp never even considered me." Each of these sardonic statements may be read as both a feminist response to the way male artists have used women's bodies and a commentary on the role of black women in particular in the history of modern art.
InscriptionsPrinted inscription: IT WAS CLEAR, / I WAS NOT MANET'S TYPE/ PICASSO—WHO HAD A WAY/ WITH WOMEN—ONLY USED ME/ & DUCHAMP NEVER EVEN/ CONSIDERED ME; in graphite, l.l.: 30/40; l.r.: Carrie M Weems, 2001ProvenanceCharles M. Young Fine Prints and Drawings, Portland, CT; their gift to the MFA, 25 January 2006
Copyright© Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.Katharine Lane Weems
