Doll - "Adeline" c. 1938

Eugene Croe made this portrait of the doll, Adeline, using paint on illustration board sometime in the twentieth century. Look at how the doll’s skin is painted a pale, fleshy pink, almost like raw chicken; it is as if Croe is exploring how the doll’s artificiality can reveal a more complex emotional truth. I see the way the artist renders the bandages around her limbs, a repeated motif in Croe's work. This gives the image an immediate tactile quality, as if you could reach out and feel the texture of the wrapping. It makes me think of Philip Guston in a way, especially in how both artists embraced a raw, almost cartoonish style to convey deeper, more profound themes. This work isn’t just a portrait; it's a conversation about what it means to see, to feel, and to create.