Doorstop (Doll) 1935 - 1942

Curator: This watercolor and colored pencil work is entitled "Doorstop (Doll)," created by Rosa Burger sometime between 1935 and 1942. Editor: There's something hauntingly quiet about it. It’s… spectral. Like a memory clinging to form, yet utterly still. Curator: Well, Burger, as a student of the Bauhaus, had a deep understanding of materials and their practical application. You have to consider the craft itself, the layered application of the watercolor and colored pencil to create depth. What appear spectral could well be the product of iterative creation of textiles, maybe this was a preliminary design study, perhaps for some actual doorstops? Editor: Perhaps. But also, the doll's facelessness – the shadowed hood obscuring any features – makes me think about female objectification and invisibility within that mid-century context. This wasn't that long after women were permitted to vote in most democracies! A historical symbol that continues, unfortunately. Curator: But don't you see the intentionality? The way the fabric pools around the base, defying gravity almost? Burger is thinking about the very construction of the form; the interplay between functionality and ornamentation. We can’t divorce it from material conditions that shape it, in this case her art. Editor: And those red ribbons... they almost feel like shackles, subtly binding this… object. Are we truly celebrating ‘functionality’ if that means trapping individuals into narrowly defined roles? Consider the gendered expectations surrounding domesticity at the time—weren't women essentially fashioned into decorative objects? This piece is raising far more questions than answering them. Curator: Rosa Burger's education emphasizes pure, simple functionality; an idea put above pretty decoration. And a "Doorstop" had a purpose that all classes could understand in this time. This artwork shows just one possible result. Editor: Yet even the simplest object holds layers of social meaning, which this drawing poignantly unpacks. Thank you for helping reveal them, Curator. Curator: It was my pleasure to delve into the craft of Burger’s doll here. Thank you, Editor, for revealing even more perspectives on its context.