Collections: Contemporary Art: The Dwarves w/o Snow White

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The Dwarves w/o Snow White

Polly Apfelbaum’s The Dwarves without Snow White demonstrates the artist’s interest in expanding the accustomed boundaries of painting. Apfelbaum paints with dyes on rectangles of crushed velvet that are then folded, showing the underlying layers of colors, and placed on cardboard boxes. The boxes function as pedestals for the painted velvet, integrating painting and sculpture in a single work. According to Apfelbaum, the box is a metaphor for the artist’s paint box as well as for the painted wedding chest, which historically held the trousseau that defined a woman’s standing in society. The title refers to the well-known fairy tale and its ideals of femininity.


• Artist: Polly Apfelbaum, American, born 1956
• Medium: 8 boxes and lids, stretched crushed velvet, dye
• Dates: 1992
• Dimensions: Each: 27 x 15 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (68.6 x 39.4 x 8.9 cm) Overall: 131 in. (332.7 cm)
• Collections: Contemporary Art
• Museum Location: This item is not on view
• Accession Number: 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c
• Credit Line: Gift of the Contemporary Art Council
• Image: Overall, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Polly Apfelbaum (American, born 1956). The Dwarves w/o Snow White, 1992. 8 boxes and lids, stretched crushed velvet, dye, Each: 27 x 15 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (68.6 x 39.4 x 8.9 cm) Overall: 131 in. (332.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Council, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c_SL1.jpg)