Mary SullyAmerican, 1896–1963Shirley Temple
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Not receiving at present
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Minneapolis, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
In the early half of the twentieth century, modernism, abstraction, Art Nouveau-style designs, and Native American art established a place in fine art museums across America. Mary Sully quietly began to revolutionize Native and American art by intentionally and carefully making connections between these seemingly unrelated genres, and, in doing so, perhaps unintentionally transformed the field of American art.
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In “Shirley Temple” Sully depicts the country's most popular female star and Hollywood's top box office attraction in the Great Depression era. In the top panel, Sully centers two small dark brown circles that look like brown eyes, most likely referencing the 1934 blockbuster hit “Bright Eyes.” She further elaborates the work using concentric rings to depict the child star’s bubbly personality and famous golden ringlets of hair. In the bottom panel, the artist then makes connections between the child star and her own communities’ children as she illustrates a blue beaded cape that would adorn young Dakota girls in cosmopolitan yet culturally specific fashion.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- 2023.56.1
In the catalog
Sources
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art — © Minneapolis Institute of Art
