AA-2026-07BCB1
On the image
A woman and her two daughters have dressed up and arranged themselves on the good sofa — the one in the living room that existed primarily to be sat on correctly for occasions like this. The mother has her arm around the younger girl and her expression aimed somewhere just past the camera with the practiced composure of a woman who has organized this moment and intends to get a usable result from it. Both daughters wear rhinestone necklaces, because in the 1950s a necklace was the detail that converted a dress into an outfit, and someone in this house applied that rule starting young. The older girl's expression suggests she has been told to smile and is doing the minimum required. The floral oil print centered above them on the wall was, at this moment in American interior decorating, a completely normal thing to hang in a living room, which is perhaps the most unsettling fact the room contains.
Visually related — by likeness
Mother and Daughters on the Good Sofa, 1950s. 1952–1958. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-07BCB1. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/mother-and-daughters-on-the-good-sofa-1950s.
@misc{aaAA202607BCB1,
title = {Mother and Daughters on the Good Sofa, 1950s},
year = {1952–1958},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-07BCB1},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/mother-and-daughters-on-the-good-sofa-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Mother and Daughters on the Good Sofa, 1950s PY - 1952–1958 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-07BCB1 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/mother-and-daughters-on-the-good-sofa-1950s ER -
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