Polly Apfelbaum (American, born 1956). <em>The Dwarves without Snow White</em>, 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). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Council, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c_SL1.jpg)

Polly Apfelbaum (American, born 1956). The Dwarves without 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). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Council, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c_SL1.jpg)

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Can you tell me about this please?

Gladly! The title of this work is "The Seven Dwarves Without Snow White" but you may notice that there are eight squares of fabric.

Perhaps Snow White has become one of the dwarves?

I think I don’t get it.

The artist Polly Apfelbaum drips dye onto fabric, pushing back against the "purity" that is expected of both the title character (Snow White) as well as Modern sculpture, which at this time was dominated by Minimalism and Conceptualism.

Another important aspect to consider is that Apfelbaum specified that her work be shown on the floor, not on a tall pedestal. She wanted to push back against expectations of how fine art is presented.

She said, “Sculpture sits on the floor, but I wondered what it would mean to have a painting on the floor. It was a support that I thought had been ignored. And it can be an interesting place – a place that belongs to domesticity, the place where your dirty clothes go.”

Ah okay. Thanks for that info!

Yes! I hope it helps. Many of the works in this exhibition can be challenging, because they were made to push back against the norms and standards that had been established by museums, galleries, and canonical artists (meaning, mostly male artists).

The Dwarves without Snow White

Polly Apfelbaum

Contemporary Art

The Dwarves without Snow White is Polly Apfelbaum’s first velvet piece, made the same year she began directly pouring paint onto her works. The artist considers velvet “the perfect modern material” for its simultaneous elegance and accessibility, folding it atop garment boxes fashioned into pedestals, a down-to-earth translation of fine-art presentation modes. Since the 1970s, women artists have often engaged horizontal forms for their artworks, a deliberate departure from traditional—vertical, phallic—conventions of monumental art.

With the title referring to the moralizing fairy tale of goodness and pureness, here Apfelbaum represents the highly feminine protagonist Snow White among the more colorful, individualized personalities of the male dwarves.

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) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c

CREDIT LINE Gift of the Contemporary Art Council

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Polly Apfelbaum (American, born 1956). The Dwarves without 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). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Council, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 1992.113.1a-c-.8a-c_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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