Wooden Doll c. 1936

Curator: Here we have a drawing entitled "Wooden Doll" from around 1936 by Jane Iverson. It seems to be a fashion sketch, probably teenage art, with careful detail paid to the Asian-style outfit and the different fabrics on display. Editor: Wow, she looks… haunted! I mean, the outfit’s interesting – the checkered apron over the floral dress, the almost-kimono top – but that face! It's the elongated nose and jaw, the hollow eyes. It’s unsettlingly beautiful, in a folk-horror kind of way. Curator: These character designs, even when based on something like fashion, always reveal so much about the period in which they are made and then received, too. You see how current notions of taste and class dynamics influence depictions, like the styling suggesting historical street fashion. What were teens of that era drawn to, what was being idealized in representations like this? Editor: Well, maybe the "wooden" aspect is key here. Is it meant to be a doll, literally? A posable mannequin showing off clothes? The stiffness of the pose certainly suggests that. If so, the artist's taken a fashion mockup into a kind of dark fairytale territory. I keep imagining this figure stepping out of the page. Curator: It definitely invites speculation. I would be interested to know if Jane Iverson actually pursued design formally. Teen art offers interesting access to creative process before all the pressures of career or social acceptance. There's a rawness. Editor: Absolutely. And the raw, almost crude rendering only amplifies the feeling. It's both alluring and a bit repulsive, the kind of image that sticks in your head. It leaves you questioning the intention. Curator: It's thought-provoking, that's for sure. I like how this piece embodies some of the complex dialogue we have about who and how we are portrayed, even in what looks like simple drawings. Editor: Me too. I initially felt a strange chill, but now I find myself charmed. There's something bravely imperfect about this doll and that’s what makes the artwork special.