Shirley Doll

1936
(American, 1907–1984)
Image: 20.2 x 25.8 cm (7 15/16 x 10 3/16 in.)
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location: not on view

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Description

Matter, who produced Shirley Doll while shooting an assignment for Life magazine on doll manufacturing, emphasizes the dolls’ objectness by presenting a multiplicity of identical, hairless, mass-produced toys, heaped every which way on a bed. The doll, simultaneously lifelike and inanimate, presents the type of unresolvable contradiction valued by the Surrealists.
Shirley Doll

Shirley Doll

1936

Herbert Matter

(American, 1907–1984)
America, 20th century

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