Smith Professor of French Language and Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature

Ann Eisner Putnam
Beauty Salon, 1956

Anne Eisner, a New York painter and my aunt, lived at the edge of the Ituri rain forest from 1946-58 (now Africa’s DRC). Working on her archive for publication of Images of Congo, I realized how much her passion for relating culture and artistic creation had influenced me. Anne bridged the divide between co-existing societies– inside and outside the forest, Bantu and Pygmy—and, deeply engaged in everyday life, celebrated the importance of the women. Beauty Salon figures the care each took of others, and echoes Pygmy bark cloth designs in color saturated newsprint.

21.25 L x 15.25 W (in)
MS Am 2369 (65b), Gift of Professor Christie McDonald, 2006.

Christie McDonald speaks about the painting