Blond Boy in Summer Yard, United States, 1950s

Archive & AtlasEstablished · MMXXIII

Blond Boy in Summer Yard, United States, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

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Blond Boy in Summer Yard, United States, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1950–1959

AA-2026-F37BC5

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Somewhere in suburban America, a small boy has been interrupted mid-afternoon and asked to stand still for a photograph. He has obliged, in the technical sense, while making his feelings about the arrangement entirely clear. The expression is not a tantrum — it is something more considered, the look of a person who finds the request unreasonable and wants that on the record.

The uniform is correct for the era: white cotton t-shirt, navy shorts with a generous cut that no children's clothing manufacturer has attempted since, bare feet in the grass. In the 1950s, this was the complete summer outfit for an American boy between the ages of four and seven, required by some unwritten national consensus that held from Maine to California.

He is standing with his hands clasped in front of him, which suggests someone told him what to do with them. He followed the instruction and rejected the spirit of it completely. Whoever held the camera got what they asked for and not quite what they wanted.

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