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Shown from the waist up, a Black woman, Ethel Shariff, wears a nun’s habit and light-colored clothing as she stands in front of about two dozen more Black nuns in this square black and white photograph. Ethel is in sharp focus at the center of the picture. She looks steadily at us with wide-set eyes, a rounded nose, and full lips in her oval face. The habit covers her head and falls beyond her shoulders. A scarf is tucked into the high neck of her white garment, which buttons up the front. She wears chunky earrings and a glimmering gold necklace with a small box-shaped pendant. She and the other women stand with their hands clasped behind their backs. Those behind Ethel stand in formation, creating a loose V. They are out of focus, their faces a variety of tones.

Gordon Parks

Ethel Shariff in Chicago, 1963

Not on View

Medium

gelatin silver print

Dimensions

image: 14.6 × 15.9 cm (5 3/4 × 6 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection)

Accession Number

2015.19.4631

Artists / Makers

Gordon Parks (artist) American, 1912 - 2006

Image Use

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Inscription

on verso, by unknown hand, across top in graphite: 3 1/2; by unknown hand, center in blue ink: 66874 / 10R-3 / 4; by unknown hand, bottom right in graphite circled: 9; by Corcoran Gallery of Art, bottom right corner in graphite: CGA #152 [exhibition number for Half Past Autumn]

Provenance

Gordon Parks, New York; gift to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1998; acquired by NGA, 2015.

Associated Names

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Parks, Gordon

Exhibition History

1997: Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 10, 1997 – January 11, 1998

2003: Black is a Color: African American Art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 1 – April 7, 2003

2005: Gordon Parks, Half Past Autumn: Selections from the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, June 5 – September 4, 2005

2011: Gordon Parks: Photographs from the Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, October 1, 2011 – January 16, 2012