Clara E. Sipprell (1885-1975)

The independent, confident Self‑portrait of Clara E. Sipprell dressed in her work smock and posed in the photography studio she shared with her brother, Francis, contrasts subtly, yet resolutely, with his romanticized portrait of her as a coy, well dressed young woman.  Nearly seventy years later, a costumed Cindy Sherman posed as fictional characters to accentuate the media's caricatures of women, which has impacted negatively upon how they are perceived in society.—NW