Untitled (girls playing dress-up and trying on clothes) c. 1950

Curator: This diminutive photographic print, whose title is simply "Untitled (girls playing dress-up and trying on clothes)," comes from the hand of Jack Gould and is held in the collections of the Harvard Art Museums. It’s strikingly small. Editor: Yes, at just 6 by 6 centimeters, it's like a captured moment, both intimate and intense. The negative print really emphasizes the texture of the fabric. Curator: Consider the social context—the act of children playing dress-up becomes, in this format, a study of cultural performance, mirroring adult roles through labor and materials. Editor: It's intriguing how the photograph's scale influences our perception. Had it been larger, would the play-acting appear more grandiose, less constrained? Curator: Perhaps. But as it stands, the size underscores the contained domestic sphere, hinting at the role of women within a specific historical framework. Editor: Food for thought. I will never look at childhood the same way.