AA-2026-700AA5
On the image
Three generations turned out for this one, and nobody dressed down for the dogs. The grandmother wears her good navy dress and sensible orthopedic shoes, the younger woman is in a sleeveless frock built for a garden party rather than a wrestling match with leashes, and the man has gone as far as a bow tie, on the theory that a gentleman does not walk his Samoyeds looking like a man who merely owns dogs.
The dogs, for their part, understand none of this and require no such theory. Five identical white Samoyeds, bred for Siberian sled work and now employed entirely in looking magnificent on a suburban lawn, arrange themselves with the placid confidence of animals who have never once doubted they were the main event. The grandmother's dog sits obediently; the middle cluster of three strains happily in three directions at once, each leash a small negotiation nobody is winning.
A small boy in a kilt and knee socks watches from the sidelines, too young yet to be handed a leash of his own, taking in the scene with the flat assessment of a child deciding whether dogs are more interesting than adults. In another decade someone will call this a candid family snapshot. In this one, it was simply what a proud kennel family did on a fine afternoon: dress up, line up the dogs, and let the picture prove the breeding was worth it.
Visually related — by likeness
Family and Five Samoyeds, Backyard Portrait, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-700AA5. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/family-and-five-samoyeds-backyard-portrait-1950s.
@misc{aaAA2026700AA5,
title = {Family and Five Samoyeds, Backyard Portrait, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-700AA5},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/family-and-five-samoyeds-backyard-portrait-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Family and Five Samoyeds, Backyard Portrait, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-700AA5 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/family-and-five-samoyeds-backyard-portrait-1950s ER -
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