Girl with Doll Carriage193015 x 11 3/4 " (38.1 x 29.8 cm)
Frame: 19 3/4 x 16 1/2 x 2 " (50.2 x 41.9 x 5.1 cm)Oil on canvasAnthony Petullo Collection2025.7.211579299267John KanePaintingslower right: 'JOHN KANE / 1930'http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster26674http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12336http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster13041PittsburghPittsburghUnited StatesPennsylvaniaAmerican Folk Art MuseumJohn Kane Exhibition, The Knoedler Galleries, New York, September 1–30, 1967, no. 5.
John Kane Traveling Exhibition, Galerie St. Etienne, March 1985-March 1986, no. 14 [sticker verso frame]. PittsburghGirl with Doll Carriage is the 49th work by John Kane to enter AFAM’s collection, but only the second painting. The majority of these works are double-sided sketches completed in pencil that reveal how the artist worked out composition and subject matter before taking his ideas to canvas. While these sketches are important to understanding Kane’s process and shape our understanding of his painting practice, our collection does not adequately represent the artist’s oeuvre. The paintings are the artist’s most well-known subjects.Vertical orientation painting of a verdant, well-groomed landscape with a young girl carefully lulls a doll to sleep rocking on a wicker chair. A nearby carriage completes her play set and a small white dog stands guard, ready to protect the young mother and child. The imaginative world of children endlessly inspired John Kane, whose own childhood was cut short at the age of eight when he began working in the shale mines of West Calder, Scotland. The painting Girl with Doll Carriage is typical of the quaint genre scenes of kids at play—where young girls play in the spray of a garden sprinkler or a make-believe doctor diagnoses a friend. However, this late painting is not simply a metaphor for the artist’s lost younger years or the innocence of childhood: it is also a reminder of his absence as a father to his daughter, after facing the death of his son in 1904.Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information. To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orghttp://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster26674http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12336http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster13041http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster26674http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12336http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster13041http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster26674http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12336http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster1304119301930 2025 7 2 Girl with Doll Carriage is the 49th work by John Kane to enter AFAM’s collection, but only the second painting. The majority of these works are double-sided sketches completed in pencil that reveal how the artist worked out composition and subject matter before taking his ideas to canvas. While these sketches are important to understanding Kane’s process and shape our understanding of his painting practice, our collection does not adequately represent the artist’s oeuvre. The paintings are the artist’s most well-known subjects.Vertical orientation painting of a verdant, well-groomed landscape with a young girl carefully lulls a doll to sleep rocking on a wicker chair. A nearby carriage completes her play set and a small white dog stands guard, ready to protect the young mother and child. The imaginative world of children endlessly inspired John Kane, whose own childhood was cut short at the age of eight when he began working in the shale mines of West Calder, Scotland. The painting Girl with Doll Carriage is typical of the quaint genre scenes of kids at play—where young girls play in the spray of a garden sprinkler or a make-believe doctor diagnoses a friend. However, this late painting is not simply a metaphor for the artist’s lost younger years or the innocence of childhood: it is also a reminder of his absence as a father to his daughter, after facing the death of his son in 1904.Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information. To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org