Doll - "Lydia" c. 1937

Anne Colman made this watercolor of a doll, "Lydia," sometime in the 20th century. The way Colman meticulously renders the doll's dress, it’s as though she’s not just painting an object but preserving a memory, a feeling. There’s something both earnest and slightly unsettling about the level of detail here, especially in the floral patterns and the pleated skirt. You can almost feel the texture of the fabric, the way the light catches the folds. But then you notice the doll's blank stare, and the whole thing takes on this eerie, dreamlike quality. The pink trim of the dress is so precisely painted, it pops against the muted browns and greens of the floral pattern. I'm reminded of Balthus and his portraits of young girls, there's a similar sense of mystery. It makes me think about the stories we project onto objects, the way they become vessels for our own desires and fears. Colman invites us to consider the power of representation and the strange magic of inanimate objects.