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Dollhouse

Decorative Arts and Design

Like many toys, doll’s houses teach children how to live and behave in the adult world. In offering up the entire domestic world at a glance, doll’s houses also reflect, in particular, how objects surround human lives and exert their influence on us.

This doll’s house was designed by Gerrit Rietveld, one of the most important furniture designers, architects, and advocates of modernism in the early twentieth century. It was made for the children of the Jesse family, whom he was visiting at the time. Here, the children—Anita and Matcheld—could envision a pared-down lifestyle, surrounded by tasteful modern objects, in the postwar world.
MEDIUM Wood, metals, textiles, other materials
DATES 1952
DIMENSIONS 24 x 36 x 24 in. (61.0 x 91.4 x 61.0 cm)  (show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER 2008.74
CREDIT LINE Gift of Marcus S. Friedlander, by exchange
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Gerrit Th. Rietveld (Dutch, 1888-1964). Dollhouse, 1952. Wood, metals, textiles, other materials, 24 x 36 x 24 in. (61.0 x 91.4 x 61.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcus S. Friedlander, by exchange, 2008.74. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.2008.74_stair_top_detail.jpg)
IMAGE overall, for study purposes only, CUR.2008.74_stair_top_detail.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2010
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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