Flower Sniffer
Brooklyn Museum photograph
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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. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
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