On April 17th, Block Museum Curatorial Coordinator Kirsten Lopez gave the final talk in The Block’s series focusing on objects in the collection that connect to Louise Erdrich’s novel The Night Watchman, the 2024-2025 One Book One Northwestern selection. In her talk, Lopez shared a photograph by photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, taken for his series Theater Girl and published in Life Magazine in 1949. The photograph depicts Jean Pearson, a young actress working in New York City.

Jean Pearson, from the series Theater Girl, for Life Magazine

Artist: W. Eugene Smith (American, 1918 – 1978)

Date: 1949

Medium: Gelatin silver print

Dimensions: 13 3/8 in x 10 3/4 in

Credit Line: Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Gift of Richard L. Sandor in honor of Julie and Penny Sandor

Lopez discussed Pearson’s “self-fashioning”: using clothing and mannerisms to present a version of herself for the camera that differs from her persona in real life. Lopez explored parallels between Jean Pearson’s constructed self-presentation and the female Indigenous protagonists in The Night Watchman, who often have to alter their external appearances and hide markers of cultural identity—a “contention with interior and exterior existences,” as Lopez puts it.

The Night Watchman takes place in the context of the 1953 House Resolution 108, which initiated termination policy in the United States. The legislation ceased federal aid to tribal communities and ended reservations, among other actions. Under the policy, many Indigenous people were urged to relocate from reservations to urban areas amidst often-empty promises of jobs and opportunity. In her talk, Lopez spoke about the struggle to survive and “blend in” within a community beyond one’s own.

In each case, Pearson’s portrait serves as a portal into mid-century America that is complicated and nuanced by Erdrich’s characters. These women all present us with the option—and hopefully, the bravery— to present ourselves authentically.

Watch the talk

Explore More of our 2025 One Book Selections

We invite members of the Northwestern community and beyond to use these works as opportunities to connect to the text’s themes, whether for private contemplation or as a springboard in discussion with others. We include short contextual descriptions of the artworks and suggest some of the ways they connect with ideas in Erdrich’s book. We invite you to browse our online collection and see what other works resonate with themes in the book or your own experiences.