Samoyed Mother and Litter, Backyard Puppy Portrait, 1950s

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Samoyed Mother and Litter, Backyard Puppy Portrait, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

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Samoyed Mother and Litter, Backyard Puppy Portrait, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1950–1959

AA-2026-9F549E

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Somewhere in suburban America in the 1950s, a family that owned a Samoyed had made the discovery that owning a Samoyed means eventually owning several Samoyeds, and decided the correct response was a formal backyard sitting. The two boys kneel in the grass holding as many white puppies as their arms can manage, which turns out to be four, the older boy having claimed the extra one on the logic that he is older and therefore entitled. Their mother sits to the right in a blue gingham dress, holding a fifth puppy while the adult dog — almost certainly the mother of all this white chaos — leans into the frame with the open-mouthed composure of an animal that has made peace with her circumstances. The aluminum lawn furniture behind them dates the scene as precisely as a tax return, belonging to that postwar decade when the backyard became a room you furnished. Everyone is smiling, including the dog, which is either a coincidence or confirmation that Samoyeds were bred to look perpetually delighted regardless of what is actually happening to them.

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