The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Gouache painting in rounded strokes of a doll-like figure against a neutral grey background. The figure has a light skin tone tinged with a grey pallor, a blond wig, red lipstick on small lips pressed together into a slight smile, and painted pink cheeks. The figure stares intently at us from under painted black eyebrows, red shirt open to show their chest and white scarf tied at the neck.

Goatlegs

2007

Stacey Davidson

(American, b. 1961)
America
gouache
Image: 21.5 x 15.9 cm (8 7/16 x 6 1/4 in.); Sheet: 22.6 x 17.3 cm (8 7/8 x 6 13/16 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 2007.199
Location: Not on view

Description

Stacey Davidson describes herself as "a painter who makes dolls." Intricate handmade dolls fashioned from clay, leather, and cloth form the subject matter of her painting. Goatlegs is one of Davidson’s more psychologically ambiguous creations. Wearing a blonde wig, red lipstick, and rouge with what appears to be a chiffon scarf tied around his neck, Goatlegs peers at the viewer with beady eyes and a crooked smile. The dolls’ distinct personalities are suggested in Davidson’s haunting "portraits." While her eerie, evocative drawings are for sale, Davidson’s quasi-human dolls are not.
  • 2007
    Stacey Davidson (the artist) [1961–], to Marlborough Fine Arts, New York, NY
    2007
    (Marlborough Gallery, Inc., New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 3, 2007–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 229), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 21 - June 27, 2011).
  • {{cite web|title=Goatlegs|url=false|author=Stacey Davidson|year=2007|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2007.199