Woman Polishing Pottery
ca. 1880
Medium
Photography-Photoprint
Classification
Photography-Photoprint
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Accession Number
1994.91.79
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, photographer John K. Hill captured the daily lives of Native American communities across the American West, often during expeditions with the U.S. Geological. *Woman Polishing Pottery* (ca. 1880), a striking photoprint from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection, presents a full-length view of an Indigenous woman intently polishing traditional pottery. Hillers' lens freezes this intimate moment of craftsmanship, highlighting her focused posture and the tactile process of smoothing clay vessels with simple tools. This photograph holds significant ethnographi...