STRIKE A POSE: EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS OF ASIAN WOMEN AND THE ISSUE OF AGENCY

When examining some early twentieth century photographs depicting Chinese women, photographs that are posed rather than candid, one thing stands out: many resemble Qing ancestor and royal portraits. Likewise, pictures of Japanese women seem to adhere to photographic conventions found in Meiji Era art. This paper focuses on Chinese Girl, Chinese Lady #1, Geisha Girl, and Geisha Girls that were taken by the Gerhard sisters, Emma (1872-1946) and Mamie (1876-1955), as part of their project Aboriginal Portraits created in St. Louis, Missouri during the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition (World’s Fair). By closely analyzing their photographs of Asian women from both a formal and thematic standpoint, and comparing these to photographs by other photographers of similar subjects, this paper argues that there are levels of agency visible beyond the surface of the photographs: one level is that exerted by the Exposition organizers and staff who determined which photographers would be given permits; another is that of the photographers themselves; and still another is that of the subject. It can be argued that, by alluding to the aesthetic conventions of their home countries, the Asian women of the Gerhards’ pictures projected their cultural identities through adhering to the aesthetic conventions of their home countries.