Flower Sniffer
Brooklyn Museum photograph
About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.
Completed in 1966, this early self-portrait by Emma Amos is both a celebration of beauty and an act of defiance. The mid-20th-century world of abstract painting was dominated by white male artists. While working within that genre, Amos, a Black woman artist, shifts the conversation back to figuration and inserts herself into art history. Made up of planes of color, she holds steady eye contact with the viewer, asserting her presence within a system that was usually unwelcoming. As she is making herself known, she stops to smell the flowers—a bouquet she may have gathered for herself—taking time to relish in this moment. The scene demonstrates multiple aspects of Amos: she is an artist, an activist, and a lover of nature, and ultimately she loves herself.
Object Label
In this self-portrait, Emma Amos holds a small bouquet and gazes out from the frame, perhaps into the circular portal of a mirror or directly at the viewer. The sensitive attention to color, interlocking geometric planes, and suggestion of a flowery aroma express the simple joys found in life’s ordinary moments. Amos conveys a sense of sanctuary and self-determinacy that echoes her own commitment to painting, despite the discrimination she encountered throughout her career. “For me, a Black woman artist,” she said, “to walk into the studio is a political act.”
Caption
Emma Amos American, 1937–2020. Flower Sniffer, 1966. Oil on canvas, 50 × 50 in. (127 × 127 cm) frame: 51 × 51 × 1 7/8 in. (129.5 × 129.5 × 4.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, William K. Jacobs, Jr. Fund, 2017.35. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2017.35_PS22.jpg)
Tags
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Flower Sniffer
Date
1966
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
50 × 50 in. (127 × 127 cm) frame: 51 × 51 × 1 7/8 in. (129.5 × 129.5 × 4.8 cm)
Signatures
Signed top right recto
Credit Line
William K. Jacobs, Jr. Fund
Accession Number
2017.35
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
Copyright for this work may be controlled by the artist, the artist's estate, or other rights holders. A more detailed analysis of its rights history may, however, place it in the public domain. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
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