- Artist/Maker:
- Elaine Reichek
- Bio:
- American, b. 1943
- Title:
- Sampler (Jesse Reichek)
- Portfolio/Series:
- A Postcolonial Kinderhood
- Date:
- 1993
- Medium:
- Embroidery on linen
- Dimensions:
- 12 7/16 × 13 11/16 in. (31.6 × 34.8 cm)
- Credit Line:
- Purchase: Melva Bucksbaum, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Shafran, and Joan Kaplan Gifts; Fine Arts Acquisitions Committee Fund; and Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, Cheryl and Henry Welt, Paula Krulak, Toby Devan Lewis, and Henry Buhl Gifts
- Accession Number:
- 1997-195i
Not On View
"If you think you can be a little bit Jewish, you think you can be a little bit pregnant. -Jesse Reichek"
Elaine Reichek's embroideries subvert the life lessons typical of the idealized Jewish girlhood of 1950s suburbia. These samplers are part of Reichek's installation A Postcolonial Kinderhood, which included colonial-style furnishings and objects, and premiered at The Jewish Museum in 1994. Reichek has said of this work, "The re-creation of my childhood bedroom explores the idea of décor as a means of Americanizing, of 'passing,' and of connecting people to a past they wished was their own." Trained in formalist painting, Reichek taught herself embroidery in the 1970s, insisting that women's traditional crafts can be a powerful means of picture-making.
Elaine Reichek's embroideries subvert the life lessons typical of the idealized Jewish girlhood of 1950s suburbia. These samplers are part of Reichek's installation A Postcolonial Kinderhood, which included colonial-style furnishings and objects, and premiered at The Jewish Museum in 1994. Reichek has said of this work, "The re-creation of my childhood bedroom explores the idea of décor as a means of Americanizing, of 'passing,' and of connecting people to a past they wished was their own." Trained in formalist painting, Reichek taught herself embroidery in the 1970s, insisting that women's traditional crafts can be a powerful means of picture-making.
Information may change as a result of ongoing research.