Collection
/
Decorative Arts and Design

Nested Blocks, Model 482

Holgate Toys, made by Holgate Brothers Company

Object Label

Steffani Jemison’s Personal was created for Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Beyond, a 2014–15 multigenerational survey of Brooklyn’s artists. Three men—professional actors based in Brooklyn who responded to an ad Jemison placed—move improvisationally through various locations in Bed-Stuy, while the world around them is largely unaffected by their movement. An unfinished mural of President Obama and Nelson Mandela marks a particular political moment, and acts as a momentary backdrop for Jemison’s choreographed contortions of time, space, and sequence, which question notions of linear progress, particularly in relation to Black Americans.

Caption

Holgate Toys, made by Holgate Brothers Company (1789–present). Nested Blocks, Model 482, ca. 1935. Wood, pigment, paper, a: 4 15/16 x 4 13/16 x 4 13/16 in. (12.5 x 12.2 x 12.2 cm) b: 4 3/4 x 4 3/8 x 4 3/8 in. (12.1 x 11.1 x 11.1 cm) c: 4 1/2 x 3 15/16 x 3 15/16 in. (11.4 x 10 x 10 cm) d: 4 5/16 x 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (11 x 8.9 x 8.9 cm) e: 4 1/8 x 3 1/8 x 3 1/8 in. (10.5 x 7.9 x 7.9 cm) f: 3 15/16 x 2 5/8 x 2 5/8 in. (10 x 6.7 x 6.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Maria L. Emmons Fund, 2015.80a-f.

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Nested Blocks, Model 482

Date

ca. 1935

Medium

Wood, pigment, paper

Dimensions

a: 4 15/16 x 4 13/16 x 4 13/16 in. (12.5 x 12.2 x 12.2 cm) b: 4 3/4 x 4 3/8 x 4 3/8 in. (12.1 x 11.1 x 11.1 cm) c: 4 1/2 x 3 15/16 x 3 15/16 in. (11.4 x 10 x 10 cm) d: 4 5/16 x 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (11 x 8.9 x 8.9 cm) e: 4 1/8 x 3 1/8 x 3 1/8 in. (10.5 x 7.9 x 7.9 cm) f: 3 15/16 x 2 5/8 x 2 5/8 in. (10 x 6.7 x 6.7 cm)

Markings

Box, priinted in red: Front Top: "Holgate Educational Toys/No 482/ Nested Blocks/ Made by/Holgate Brothers Company, Kane, Established 'since 1789' "; Front: " 482 Holgate/ Nested Blocks" Blocks, underside, remains of a gold and black printed circular label: " USA/ TJS [?]

Credit Line

Maria L. Emmons Fund

Accession Number

2015.80a-f

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Artists and makers

Holgate Toys, made by Holgate Brothers Company

3 works in the collection