AA-2026-702456
On the image
A girl of about ten or eleven stands beside a Christmas tree so thoroughly buried in silver tinsel that the branches have become almost theoretical — a concept the 1950s pursued with genuine conviction, the foil strands applied strand by strand according to the era's doctrine that more was more. She wears a belted plaid dress in orange, blue, and red, her dark hair set in neat waves, dressed up for the occasion the way children were dressed up then, when Christmas morning required an outfit rather than pajamas. A handful of solid-colored ball ornaments in yellow and orange punctuate the silver avalanche like buoys in a metallic sea, and behind the tree the venetian blinds are half-tilted against the holiday, doing nothing in particular. The curtains to the left are aggressively floral — the kind of pattern that decorated postwar living rooms with the confidence of a generation that had earned the right to loud fabric. Someone in this household applied what the industry called icicles with the thoroughness of a person who believed the instructions were a minimum rather than a suggestion, and the tree behind this girl is the result.
Visually related — by likeness
Girl with Tinsel-Laden Christmas Tree, 1950s Living Room. 1952–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-702456. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-with-tinsel-laden-christmas-tree-1950s-living-room.
@misc{aaAA2026702456,
title = {Girl with Tinsel-Laden Christmas Tree, 1950s Living Room},
year = {1952–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-702456},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-with-tinsel-laden-christmas-tree-1950s-living-room}
}TY - ART TI - Girl with Tinsel-Laden Christmas Tree, 1950s Living Room PY - 1952–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-702456 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-with-tinsel-laden-christmas-tree-1950s-living-room ER -
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