Wax Face Cotton Doll 1935 - 1942

Curator: I'm struck by the immediate otherness of this portrait drawing. There's something unsettling about the figure. Editor: Unsettling, yes! Like a vintage photograph brought to life, a haunted doll looming with this muted, brown color scheme. Is this for real? Curator: Indeed. Charles Goodwin rendered this arresting work with colored pencil sometime between 1935 and 1942, calling it "Wax Face Cotton Doll." Editor: Wax face. Yikes, I see that. The shiny forehead, the deadpan expression. Like a mannequin, right? Dolls often reflect our hidden selves; it is eerie when they seem a little too human. Curator: Precisely. Consider how Goodwin employed pattern here, lines of imprisonment intersected by rhomboid lozenges. These are classic motifs with a fascinating historical association—they're linked to ideas of fate, mortality, and constraint. Also notice the carefully rendered bonnet, yet oddly blank expression. This disjunction amplifies the disquieting effect. Editor: Makes me wonder what the artist’s connection to this particular doll might be. I mean, you don’t usually see colored pencil used with this level of stark… I don't know... clarity almost. Are the slightly raised hands offering some strange welcome, or just hanging limp? This image invites more questions than it answers! Curator: Exactly! This deliberate ambiguity, combined with potent cultural symbols, grants "Wax Face Cotton Doll" enduring resonance. It is evocative and even jarring, but I will revisit it time and time again. Editor: Well, for me, it highlights how seemingly harmless objects like dolls can harbor these little sinister pockets, inviting us to think more critically about the world and its uncanny symbolism. It really makes one think.