Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a photographic photography by Eleuterio Riccardi. It is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The work is a black‑and‑white photograph depicting a stone sculpture that combines a seated female figure with a detailed fish.
About this work
Overview
The work is a black‑and‑white photograph depicting a stone sculpture that combines a seated female figure with a detailed fish. The woman, nude except for a short, curly wig, sits on a rock with one arm resting on her knee, while the fish below her is rendered with pronounced scales and flowing fins, creating a unified scene of human and marine forms.
Subject & Meaning
The composition juxtaposes the human body with aquatic life, suggesting a dialogue between terrestrial and marine realms. The seated figure’s relaxed posture and the fish’s dynamic movement may evoke themes of harmony, transformation, or mythological narratives where humans and sea creatures intersect, inviting viewers to contemplate the relationship between the two elements.
Technique & Style
Carved from stone, the sculpture emphasizes tactile realism, especially in the fish’s scales, which are rendered with such precision that they appear almost palpable. The photograph captures the work in monochrome, highlighting the texture and form of the stone while stripping away color, thereby focusing attention on the interplay of light, shadow, and surface detail.
History & Provenance
The photograph is mounted on a green card and forms part of a collection donated by William Kineton Parkes in 1938.
The photograph is mounted on a green card and forms part of a collection donated by William Kineton Parkes in 1938. Parkes, a novelist, art historian, and librarian noted for his scholarship on sculpture, gathered responses from sculptors during the 1920s through questionnaires, now archived in the Archive of Art and Design. This image represents one of the many sculptural submissions he received.
Artist & collection
Artist
Eleuterio Riccardi spent his days in a cramped Naples studio, surrounded by stacks of yellowing photographs he’d shoot then forget.
