Throughout her career, Carrie Mae Weems has made photographs that look to the past in order to understand the present. In “After Manet,” four young Black girls lounge on the grass in summer dresses with garlands in their hair, recalling the self-assurance of Eduard Manet’s model Victorine Meurent in his paintings “Luncheon on the Grass” and “Olympia.” The circular format, also known as a tondo, alludes to a painting tradition popular during the Italian Renaissance and often reserved for depictions of the Madonna and Child. These references to the past are not a form of nostalgia—they are a deliberate effort to reexamine accepted narratives by inserting figures who have been excluded. . . . 🏷 #GettyMuseum #Art #Photography #BlackHistoryMonth #AfricanAmericanHistoryMonth #CarrieMaeWeems #Portraiture #ContemporaryArt