1955 Girl With Doll Christmas Tree Gifts Photograph

USD 19.99

Condition: Used

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Description

View 1955 Girl With Doll Christmas Tree Gifts Photograph with current marketplace pricing, condition, product images and item details. The girl, likely between five and seven years old, wears a light-colored dress with a full skirt, its fabric suggesting the layered petticoats popular in the era’s children’s formalwear. The composition is informal yet posed, with the girl positioned slightly off-center, her gaze directed just past the lens, lending the image an unguarded, candid intimacy. A young girl stands amid the material abundance of a midcentury American Christmas, captured in a black-and-white silver gelatin print with a decorative deckled edge. The scene is dated December 25, 1955, and the verso bears the name Janet Swertze in blue ink, situating the image within a private family archive. The girl, likely between five and seven years old, wears a light-colored dress with a full skirt, its fabric suggesting the layered petticoats popular in the era’s children’s formalwear. Her hair is cut in a neat bob with bangs, and she holds a doll dressed in a matching outfit, a common convention in studio and home portraiture of the period that emphasized the child’s role as both owner and caretaker. Behind her, a Christmas tree is densely draped in tinsel, its branches weighted with ornaments that catch the camera’s flash, producing small specular highlights across the frame. The tree’s artificial, metallic aesthetic and the soft-focus quality of the background indicate a domestic interior lit by direct flash, a hallmark of mid-1950s snapshot photography. The surrounding gifts reinforce the holiday context and offer clues to the family’s consumer habits. A box on the left bears the word “Whimsies,” a brand name associated with novelty gift items, while a larger package on the right displays partial text including “LADY” and “JOY,” likely referring to a fragrance or cosmetic set, popular Christmas gifts for women in this period. The wrapping paper’s bold geometric patterns and the ribbon’s crisp sheen reflect the era’s commercial aesthetics. The photograph itself exhibits minor condition artifacts consistent with its age and storage: a vertical crease runs through the center, suggesting the print was once folded or kept in a tight album sleeve, and two small holes near the top edge indicate it may have been pinned to a bulletin board or wall. The paper has warmed to a gentle yellow tone, and the scalloped edges, a decorative finish common to studio and high-street photo processing of the 1950s, frame the image with a domestic, handmade quality. The composition is informal yet posed, with the girl positioned slightly off-center, her gaze directed just past the lens, lending the image an unguarded, candid intimacy. This is a vernacular portrait that documents not only a child’s Christmas morning but also the material culture of postwar American gift-giving, the styling of childhood, and the personal rituals of family photography. Condition: Used. Category: Collectibles › Photographic Images › Photographs.