Cleveland Museum of Art

Young Woman Holding Roses

James Arthur

Date

1897

Medium

Gelatin silver print mounted to glass

Culture

America

Department

Photography

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

James Arthur created this photograph as art, a radical concept for a photograph at the time. He indicates that elevated status by signing and dating it like a painting. The young woman cradling the roses—which still have their thorns—calls upon traditional art historical and literary allegories of the transitory nature of beauty and youth. Roses are a traditional symbol of beauty and its ephemerality.

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