Saar, Alison, Girl with a Pearly Earring, 2018, 15 × 12 in. (38.1 × 30.5 cm), print, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.
Made over three hundred and fifty years after Vermeer’s portrait of a slightly different name, this Alison Saar piece completely contrasts that of the Dutch master. Instead of an unnamed girl, Saar depicts Topsy, a character from Harriet Beacher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Topsy, a notoriously mischievous girl who often represents the opposite of ‘white goodness’, is a stereotype of a young and wild Black girl. Saar includes portraits of Topsy in a lot of her works, often in sculptures that contrast classical Greek statues, taking this stereotype and turning it on its head. She does so in this piece, evoking strong feminist themes but also an intersection with Blackness. Topsy was accused of stealing things, including earrings. Here, she wears her own, but holds up another as if to say, ‘hey, are you looking for this?’
In contrast to the fancy Oriental attire that Vermeer depicts his subject with, Saar depicts Topsy here with just a bare tank top. We see her collarbone, breasts, and nipples, yet she does not seem concerned. Even though Saar uses straight, hard lines to indicate shadow, she does so to create a perceived softness in other parts of Topsy’s skin. There is a nuanced balance; Topsy confronts us unapologetically, but also exudes a soft playfulness.
Work cited:
Tales Of The Unconfined: Alison Saar’s Defiant Women Warriors