AA-2026-B5867A
On the image
A girl of about seven sits in the living room's best armchair wearing a paper party hat, which means the party has been going long enough that someone thought to take a formal portrait but not long enough for the hat to come off. In the 1950s the good chair was a serious piece of furniture — tufted, fringed, kept for company — and a child sitting in it with her shoes on represented either a special occasion or a lapse in supervision. The birthday cake on the side table behind her confirms the former. She sits with her hands folded and her feet dangling, holding still in the way children hold still when an adult has said hold still, with the expression of someone who would rather be back at the table. The hat is already slightly crooked, which is the only thing about the photograph that isn't trying.
Visually related — by likeness
Birthday Girl in the Good Chair, circa 1955. 1953–1958. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-B5867A. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/birthday-girl-in-the-good-chair-circa-1955.
@misc{aaAA2026B5867A,
title = {Birthday Girl in the Good Chair, circa 1955},
year = {1953–1958},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-B5867A},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/birthday-girl-in-the-good-chair-circa-1955}
}TY - ART TI - Birthday Girl in the Good Chair, circa 1955 PY - 1953–1958 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-B5867A UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/birthday-girl-in-the-good-chair-circa-1955 ER -
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