AA-2026-593A23
On the image
A girl of about six or seven stands in her best blue smocked dress in front of a Christmas tree so heavily loaded with silver icicle tinsel that the branches have essentially ceased to exist as branches. The tinsel application method of the 1950s held that more was more, and this household had gone further than most, draping each bough until the tree resembled a weeping willow made of foil. Bubble lights and round ornaments in orange, red, and blue dot the cascade, because the era also believed that a tree needed color as well as shimmer, and restraint was for people who hadn't yet found the tinsel aisle. Behind her, bold floral curtains in yellow and pink — the kind that took real conviction to hang — compete agreeably with the tree for visual dominance, and a ceramic-base lamp with a ruffled shade holds down the left corner of the room with all the authority a lamp can manage. The girl is not smiling, which suggests she has been posed here before the presents were opened, the single greatest injustice the 1950s routinely inflicted on children at Christmas.
Visually related — by likeness
Girl Before the Tinsel Tree, Christmas 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-593A23. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-before-the-tinsel-tree-christmas-1950s.
@misc{aaAA2026593A23,
title = {Girl Before the Tinsel Tree, Christmas 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-593A23},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-before-the-tinsel-tree-christmas-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Girl Before the Tinsel Tree, Christmas 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-593A23 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-before-the-tinsel-tree-christmas-1950s ER -
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