The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 17, 2025

White glow of an x-ray of a Chatty Cathy, a doll with a record inside that allowed it to "talk." The x-ray is superimposed with a photograph that outlines the arms, torso, legs, and head of the doll. Ghostly impressions of hair protrude from behind the outline of the head. Inside the torso, the circular outline of a metal record and coil is visible.

Chatty Cathy

2012

Kent Krugh

(American, 1955-)
America
digital print made from linear accelerator X-ray photogram and digital photograph
Image: 47.2 x 38.1 cm (18 9/16 x 15 in.); Paper: 55.9 x 43.3 cm (22 x 17 1/16 in.); Matted: 71.1 x 61 cm (28 x 24 in.)
Gift of the Artist 2013.77
© Kent Krugh
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The Chatty Kathy doll "spoke" using an interior phonograph record driven by a metal coil wound by an exterior pull-string mechanism.

Description

Kent Krugh’s work as a medical physicist provided him access to a linear accelerator. He placed the doll on top of x-ray film and bombarded it with high energy x-rays, then photographed its outside with a digital camera. The x-ray photogram and the digital photograph were combined in Photoshop to create an image that could not exist without photography.
  • Artist
  • {{cite web|title=Chatty Cathy|url=false|author=Kent Krugh|year=2012|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.77