Coral Living Room
Shortly after graduating from art school in the early 1970s, Simmons was living on a commune in the Catskills and painting houses for extra money. It was in the attic of a toy store in Liberty, New York, in 1972 that she discovered a vintage dollhouse of the kind that she had played with while growing up in the Ozzie-and-Harriet world of the 1950s. During the heyday of the feminist movement, such toys for girls were viewed suspiciously as agents of persuasive indoctrination. Simmons nevertheless understood their more complex allure. Located at the intersection between personal and collective memory, these dollhouses represented for an entire generation a set of untenable illusions that while fading, nonetheless stubbornly clung to the unconscious.
Coral Living Room was made as part of the Color-Coordinated Interiors series, in which the artist used surreally elongated, monochromatic dolls from Japan called "Teenettes" that represented the Japanese vision of American femininity. Simmons posed the figurines in front of projected images from decorating books of the 1960s and 1970s-a trenchant comment on what she saw as "women actually becoming or fading into their environment."
Coral Living Room was made as part of the Color-Coordinated Interiors series, in which the artist used surreally elongated, monochromatic dolls from Japan called "Teenettes" that represented the Japanese vision of American femininity. Simmons posed the figurines in front of projected images from decorating books of the 1960s and 1970s-a trenchant comment on what she saw as "women actually becoming or fading into their environment."
Artwork Details
- Title: Coral Living Room
- Artist: Laurie Simmons (American, born 1949)
- Date: 1983
- Medium: Chromogenic print
- Dimensions: Image: 125.7 x 90.2 cm (49 1/2 x 35 1/2 in.)
Frame: 130.2 × 104.1 cm (51 1/4 × 41 in.) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Gift of The Foundation To-Life Inc., 2011
- Object Number: 2011.513
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Laurie Simmons
1991
Laurie Simmons
1976, printed 1998
Laurie Simmons
1976, printed 1998
Laurie Simmons
1978
Laurie Simmons
1979
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.