Getty Museum

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. With Illustrations from Life Studies by Adelaide Hanscom and Blanche Cumming

Date

1912

Medium

Four-color collotype

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

Adelaide Hanscom undertook the project of illustrating Omar Khayyám's popular *Rubáiyát* around 1903, using many notable Bay Area literary figures and artists as her models. The sittings with Hanscom became highly sought-after, and the project was a major professional success for her. The photogravure process complements the Pictorialist aesthetic with its softened edges and sepia tones. Hanscom's use of the tondo, or circular form, demonstrates the influence of Renaissance art in her work. This image came from a later edition of the book and is probably based upon a hand-colored photograph by Hanscom or her studio partner Blanche Cumming.

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