Explore Black History

2009-2010

Color inkjet print (a) of Hattie McDaniel in a green frame (b).
The photograph (a) is intentionally out of focus. The figure of Hattie McDaniel is dressed in the black and white house servant's uniform of her character "Mammy" from "Gone with the Wind." She is wearing a white apron and white scarf tied over her hair. McDaniel has a white undershirt visible at the wrists and collar under a black long-sleeve top. McDaniel is facing to the left of the camera with her hands in front of her body. There is a house interior visible in the background. The original image shows details of McDaniel's "Mammy" including a brooch on the white collar and a row of buttons down the middle of her black blouse. Fully visible in the original, Vivien Leigh's "Scarlett O'Hara" is mostly cropped out of this photograph. Vivien Leigh's loose, dark hair is visible on the left side of the out of focus image. McDaniel's outstreched hands are tightenting the laces on Leigh's corset.
The photograph is inset in the frame (b). The back borders of the frame are raised and have paper tape around the edges. At the top is a sticker with the TransArt International shipping label. The center portion of the frame has two white adhesive labels, one with information about the artist, Carrie Mae Weems. The other has exhibit details and the address for the Jack Shainman Gallery. Below this tag is information about the frame with cleaning instructions marked in black pen. There is a corded metal wire screwed into the frame to hang the photograph.

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Slow Fade to Black

Visual Arts
Photographs and Still Images

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder in honor of Richard and Laura Parsons, Colin and Alma Powell, and Darren Walker

National Museum of African American History and Culture

2017.20.8ab

portraits
inkjet prints

© Carrie Mae Weems
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

inkjet print (a): ink on photographic paper;
frame (b): acrylic, wood, wire and metal

H x W (Image): 11 3/4 × 8 3/4 in. (29.8 × 22.2 cm)
H x W x D (Frame): 12 7/8 × 9 7/8 × 1 1/2 in. (32.7 × 25.1 × 3.8 cm)

Title • Slow Fade to Black: Hattie McDaniel

nmaahc_2017.20.8ab

NMAAHC

SLOW FADE TO BLACK: HATTIE MCDANIEL

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

2010s • 2000s

McDaniel, Hattie • Weems, Carrie Mae

Photography • Women • Art • Hollywood (Film) • Motion pictures • Entertainers

Portraits • Photographs

Images

Limited Use