2010.54.2179

• female
• gender

The left right and bottom edges have a border created by sets of two thin black lines decorated with hyroglyps and stylized flora. The top of the poster has a photograph of a female figure against a black background. She is dressed in sequened and patterned skirt and shawl, she appears pregnant with and her stomach is exposes. The female figure has both arms raised to shoulder height and is holding cbouquets of grass in either hand. Thhe bottom ofthe poster has the text: "The oriental dance is a poem of the mystery and pain of motherhood, / which all true Asiatic men watch with reverence and humility, in the / far away corners of Asia. In this olden Asia which ahs kept the / dance in its primitive purity, it represents maternity, the mysterious / conception of life, the suffering and the joy with which a new soul / is brought into the world. Such is the Asiatic veneration of mother- / hood, that there are countries and tribes whose most binding oath / is swoen upon the stomach, because it is from this sacred cup that / humanity has issued. / The Dancer of Shamahka byArmen Ohanian".