{"object":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"9348"},"thesconceptsTechnique":{"label":"Technique","value":["http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27212","http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster10494"]},"creditline":{"label":"Credit Line","value":"Gift of Melinda R. Ahrens-Brancamp from the Virginia Ahrens Collection"},"endDate":{"label":"End Date","value":"1930"},"sortNumber":{"label":"Sort Number","value":"2025    18    6a    b"},"invno":{"label":"Accession number","value":"2025.18.6a,b"},"medium":{"label":"Medium","value":"Graphite on paper (double-sided)"},"geographyPlaceregion":{"label":"Place/Region","value":"Prairie du Chien"},"media":{"label":"Media","value":[{"mediaURL":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/31259/full","mediaDepartment":"Object Photographs","mediaType":"Image","mediaId":"31259"},{"mediaURL":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/31260/full","mediaDepartment":"Object Photographs","mediaType":"Image","mediaId":"31260"}]},"title":{"label":"Title","value":"Blossom O\u2019Dooley / Untitled"},"geographyCity":{"value":"Prairie du Chien"},"textEntriesWebsitedisplaytext":{"value":["Virginia Ahrens was not known in her lifetime as an artist, yet her private drawings reveal a rich, imaginative world shaped by fashion, fantasy, and self-invention. In 1995, her granddaughter, Melinda Rae Ahrens Brancamp, was sorting through a box of her late grandmother\u2019s songbooks and sheet music, searching for a compelling composition to frame. Instead, she uncovered a folder of graphite drawings depicting women in various states of dress\u2014some scantily clad in lingerie, others wrapped in velvet coats with fur collars\u2014posed like starlets awaiting a photo-op.Dated between 1930 and 1946, these carefully rendered and strangely glamorous drawings showcase Ahrens\u2019 private artistic practice. Many include handwritten inscriptions about the fabric, construction details, color palettes, and accessories of the women she draws. Some of the figures have risqué names\u2014such as \u201cBarbara Biche\u201d and \u201cSelma Sweetshitt\u201d\u2014while others, like \u201cBlossom O\u2019Dooley,\u201d come with imagined backstories involving love affairs and aspirational careers. Art historian Debra Brehmer suggests that Ahrens\u2019 drawing style, which features \u201cline drawings of models, often from several perspectives,\u201d was likely influenced by commercial sewing patterns from Butternick, Vogue, and Simplicity, as well as fashion advertisements found in newspapers and other printed media.The five drawings now offered as a gift to the Museum would be the first works by Ahrens to enter an institutional collection. This representative selection, which includes her earliest dated drawing, offers unique insight into Ahrens\u2019 private imaginative world\u2014one that explores her own sexual, social, and material fantasies\u2014while also reflecting broader themes of fashion, femininity, and self-invention during a time when women\u2019s creative expression was often confined to the domestic sphere.","Object information is a work in progress and may be updatedwith new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk ArtMuseum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org"]},"collections":{"label":"Collections","value":"Works on Paper"},"geography":{"label":"Geography","value":"Prairie du Chien"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"168446"},"geographyState":{"value":"Wisconsin"},"thesconceptsMaterials":{"label":"Materials","value":["http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27212","http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster10494"]},"geographyCountry":{"value":"United States"},"onview":{"label":"On View","value":"0"},"people":{"label":"Artist / Maker","value":{"displayOrder":"1","personRole":"Artist","personID":"3502","content":"Virginia Ahrens"}},"classifications":{"label":"Classification(s)","value":"Drawings"},"textEntries":{"label":"Text Entries","value":["Virginia Ahrens was not known in her lifetime as an artist, yet her private drawings reveal a rich, imaginative world shaped by fashion, fantasy, and self-invention. In 1995, her granddaughter, Melinda Rae Ahrens Brancamp, was sorting through a box of her late grandmother\u2019s songbooks and sheet music, searching for a compelling composition to frame. Instead, she uncovered a folder of graphite drawings depicting women in various states of dress\u2014some scantily clad in lingerie, others wrapped in velvet coats with fur collars\u2014posed like starlets awaiting a photo-op.Dated between 1930 and 1946, these carefully rendered and strangely glamorous drawings showcase Ahrens\u2019 private artistic practice. Many include handwritten inscriptions about the fabric, construction details, color palettes, and accessories of the women she draws. Some of the figures have risqué names\u2014such as \u201cBarbara Biche\u201d and \u201cSelma Sweetshitt\u201d\u2014while others, like \u201cBlossom O\u2019Dooley,\u201d come with imagined backstories involving love affairs and aspirational careers. Art historian Debra Brehmer suggests that Ahrens\u2019 drawing style, which features \u201cline drawings of models, often from several perspectives,\u201d was likely influenced by commercial sewing patterns from Butternick, Vogue, and Simplicity, as well as fashion advertisements found in newspapers and other printed media.The five drawings now offered as a gift to the Museum would be the first works by Ahrens to enter an institutional collection. This representative selection, which includes her earliest dated drawing, offers unique insight into Ahrens\u2019 private imaginative world\u2014one that explores her own sexual, social, and material fantasies\u2014while also reflecting broader themes of fashion, femininity, and self-invention during a time when women\u2019s creative expression was often confined to the domestic sphere.","Object information is a work in progress and may be updatedwith new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk ArtMuseum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org"]},"beginDate":{"label":"Begin Date","value":"1930"},"inscribed":{"label":"Inscribed","value":"Handwritten in pencil, recto upper right: 'January 7\u20131930'Handwritten in pencil, recto upper left: 'Blossom / O'Dooley'Handwritten in pencil, recto upper left to center left: 'Age \u2013 17 / Height \u2013 5'3\"\" / Weight \u2013 102 / Eyes \u2013 Gray / Hair \u2013 Brown / Complexion \u2013 Lt.'Handwritten in pencil, recto center left to lower right: 'History + Prospects, / Jimmy Grogan, / a newsie, finds / Blossom, exhausted. / He takes her to his / little room where / she uncovers her / strength. As soon / as she is able, she. / hunts for work, but / is unsuccessful. A / strong bond of friendship / grows up between her and the / 12-yr. old Jimmy, They are / Discovered, and given a better / apartment. Blossom is given job a clerk in a / store, and will attend night school. She will / also teach Jimmy. They will have a piano, and / bboth take lessons. Jimmy loves the cello, and / will also take lessons on that. He will retain / his \"\"newsie\"\" job, and also receive $6 per wk. extra.'Handwritten in pencil, verso upper left to lower left: ' 1 lb. apples / 1 lb. potatoes / 3 pks. sweet potatoes /. 6 cans corn / 6 cans peas / 6 cans tomatoes / 4 cans asparag[-]as / 4 jars chopped beef / 4 cans salmon / 1 ham / 1 chicken / 4 cans beans / 1 head cabbage / 2 heads lettus / 2 packs carrotts / 8 cans peaches / 8 cans apricots / 8 cans pineapple / 6 cans fruit salad / 6 cans cherries / 50 lbs. sugar / 12 cans milk / 2 lbs butter / 25 lbs. flower (white) / 10 lbs. Graham flour / 4 qts. milk / 1 pt. cream / 2 doz. oranges /. 2 doz. bananas / 10 jars pickles /. 2 loaves white bread / 1 loaf rye bread / 5 lbs. salt / 2 cans B.P. / 1 can soda / 2 bottles vanilla.'Handwritten in pencil verso upper right to center right: '2 doz. eggs / 2 cans pepper. 1 bottle celery salt / 6 cans spices (ass'd) / 2 lbs. coffee / 2 lbs. tea / 10 lbs. brown sugar / 5 lbs lima beans / 4 boxes spagetti / 2 boxes macaroni / 1 box salted wafers / 1 box butter crackers / 4 boxes nabiscos / 2 boxes oatmeal / 1 pkge. corn flakes / 1 pkge. bran flakes / 1 pkge. wheatena / 1 pkge. grapenuts / 12 pkges. Jello.'Handwritten in pencil, verso lower right: 'Rooms \u2014 / Kitchen \u2013 Blue + Wht. / Dining + Living Rm. \u2013 / Rose / Bedroom \u2013 Blue.'"},"thesconcepts":{"label":"Terms","value":["http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27212","http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster10494"]},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"1930"},"thesconceptsObjecttype":{"label":"Object Type","value":["http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27212","http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster10494"]},"dimensions":{"label":"Dimensions","value":"Sheet: 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 \" (21.6 x 14 cm)"},"exhHistory":{"label":"Exhibition History","value":"Virginia\u2019s Secret, Raz Gallery, Reedsburg, Wisconsin, November 3\u201318, 2000.Trop d\u2019Amour (Too Much Love), Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 10\u2013August 5, 2023."}}]}