Musical Accompaniment: Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac

These two photos were taken 14 years apart by different photographers. The pictures have a radically different effect, yet they are more similar than different. Each picture is a portrait of a young girl from the waist up. Both girls are dressed in dark colors, they both have long hair pulled back, and they’re both wearing a hat. Both are gazing at the camera, with their left arm outstretched and their right hand resting in their lap.

They represent female archetypes: the Vamp and the Witch.

The picture on the left is from 1898. It was taken by Charles I. Berg. He called it Coquette.  A coquette is a flirt. She looks agreeable and carefree. Her clothes flow and she’s relaxed. Overall, this photograph gives a sense of ease. Is it the warm reddish hue? Or perhaps her smiling expression and the tilt of her head?  When Jean Harlow was the biggest star in Hollywood, she was called the Laughing Vamp, and that would suit this girl too.

The picture on the right is from 1912 by photographers are David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson. It’s called Girl in Straw Hat. I held on to the picture for some time because I didn’t know what to make of it. She’s a little frightening, glowering at the camera in her stiff black dress. There’s something menacing about her. Was she just an awkward young girl, or does this picture tell us something else?