PHOTOGRAPHS
Ferrier, Claude Marie; Owen, Hugh
France (1811 - 1889); England (1804 - 1881)
Greek Slave [from Reports by the Juries]
1851
Salted paper print from calotype paper negative
8 3/8 x 6 3/8 in. (21.3 x 16.2 cm) image size; 13 1/8 x 9 9/16 in. (33.3 x 24.3 cm) sheet size
Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen and The Boeing Company
FA 97.59

American Hiram Powers’ sculpture Greek Slave of 1850–51 was the scandalous success of the 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition in London. Illustrating an episode from a fictional narrative about a heroic, young Greek woman enslaved by Turkish invaders, the piece was simultaneously celebrated for its virtuous theme and reviled for its frank eroticism. Powers made several copies to satisfy demand for the work, but it was Owen and Ferrier’s photographic prints of Greek Slave that made the much discussed work accessible to the widest possible audience. -- Label copy for The Photographic Impulse: Selections from the Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, July 12 to November 10, 2002.