Ablutions
Attributed to
John Thomson
(Scottish, 1837 - 1921)
Dateca. 1870
MediumAlbumen print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 3 7/16 × 2 1/8 inches (8.69 × 5.41 cm)
Mount: 4 1/8 × 2 7/16 inches (10.49 × 6.15 cm)
Mount: 4 1/8 × 2 7/16 inches (10.49 × 6.15 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2015.67.61
Signednone
InscribedPrinted captions on paper, attached to mount verso, in black type: "Ablutions. / It is frequently asserted and general- / ly believed that Chinese women never / was their feet, --and to a certain extent / this belief is correct, inasmuch as the small footed women do not, and cannot / remove the oppressive bandages which / confine their feet to the unnatural shape / peculiar to most of their sex in China. -- / Nevertheless all women in China are / not artificially deformed by having their / feet tortured into the "fashionable" / shape--and that those who allow nature / to be unrestrained, do perform abluti- / ons--this picture is a proof."
Markingsnone
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionHand-colored image of woman washing her foot in a decorative bowl which rests on top of wooden box.Exhibition HistoryRotation 26. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 29, 2019- August 25, 2019, no cat.
Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2015;
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2015.
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2015.
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