Fisherman on his Boat, Cuba
Dmitri Baltermants
Description
Subject Matter:
The leathery, wizened visage of a fisherman who wears a torn shirt and straw hat while holding a cigarette dominates the composition of this photograph. The man leans over a wooden ledge on which he also rests his elbows; his body forms a relatively pronounced triangle. The format of a half-length figure positioned in such a pyramidal structure recalls pictorial conventions of Italian Renaissance portraiture. The man is further encased on all sides: on the left by the dangling fisher’s net, on the right by an area of deep shadow, on top by the wooden planks of the boat's ceiling, and on bottom by the wooden ledge. The subject of the photograph seems almost to speak to Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (1952), the protagonist of which is also an aging Cuban fisherman.
Physical Description:
Half-length image of an elderly man in a straw hat holding a cigarette as he looks out toward the viewer.
Usage Rights:
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.