AA-2026-AE545B
On the image
A girl of about eight or nine stands at the edge of a municipal flower bed packed with orange canna lilies, dressed in a red puff-sleeved blouse, striped skirt, and a large bow at the collar — the full dress-up treatment that 1950s parents deployed whenever a camera came out. She holds a small Kewpie-style doll in front of her with both hands, presenting it to the photographer the way one presents evidence. Behind her, a tidy residential neighborhood of low-pitched roofs and street lamps recedes in every direction, the kind of postwar suburb that was still brand new and considered proof that everything had turned out fine. Someone decided this garden was the correct backdrop for a portrait, which tells you something about how seriously American towns took their public flower beds in the Eisenhower years. The girl looks like she was told to smile and decided that was optional.
Visually related — by likeness
Girl with Kewpie Doll, Canna Lily Garden, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-AE545B. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-with-kewpie-doll-canna-lily-garden-1950s.
@misc{aaAA2026AE545B,
title = {Girl with Kewpie Doll, Canna Lily Garden, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-AE545B},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-with-kewpie-doll-canna-lily-garden-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Girl with Kewpie Doll, Canna Lily Garden, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-AE545B UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-with-kewpie-doll-canna-lily-garden-1950s ER -
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