-Golliwog- still bank c. 1910 - 1925

Curator: Immediately striking. There's a captivating presence emanating from the object, an earthy, muted quality. Editor: Indeed. What we have here is a cast metal still bank dating from roughly 1910 to 1925, attributed to John Harper & Company, Ltd. It carries the contentious title “-Golliwog- still bank” and it resides here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Curator: The materiality speaks to a particular era, and there’s something wonderfully basic about its construction— a weightiness implying solidity and permanence that directly counters its more transient and problematic place as a token of cultural representation. Editor: It’s impossible to engage with this piece without acknowledging the charged history of the “Golliwog” figure. Originally appearing in children's literature, it soon became a prevalent and highly offensive caricature, laden with racist connotations deeply embedded in colonial narratives and minstrelsy. Curator: Absolutely, and that historical context is key. To analyze it, one must grapple with how this object, ostensibly innocuous as a child’s coin bank, participated in the broader cultural machinery of racial stereotyping and discrimination. Editor: From a formal perspective, however, the simplicity of the sculpture’s contours is noticeable. The large eyes and exaggerated lips underscore the distorted portrayal of Black people pervasive during that time. It’s a blatant, almost primitive execution, reinforcing harmful stereotypes through visual exaggeration. Curator: Precisely! Its very existence as a commonplace object – something children would interact with daily – highlights the insidious way such stereotypes were normalized and perpetuated in society. Its artistic merit is secondary to the cultural damage it signifies. Editor: It invites a certain cognitive dissonance though. One recognizes the artistry present, the crafting that occurred to form the metallic object; the smooth finish and subtle gleam across its form, all juxtaposed with the piece’s controversial subject matter. It creates a visual and conceptual tension. Curator: I leave reflecting how art acts a persistent witness, recording not just aesthetic developments but also society's deep-seated prejudices and ongoing struggles for racial equality. Its existence now acts as a solemn reminder of our shared history and hopefully the vigilance we must observe. Editor: It is certainly impossible to look at without experiencing conflict, both with the image and how it still circulates and continues to shape contemporary discussions about racial representation and art’s complicated relationship to social change.