Miss America Beauty Pageant
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
Object Details
- Date
- 1973
- Artist
- Malcah Zeldis, born New York City 1931
- Luce Center Label
- Malcah Zeldis spent several years living on a kibbutz in Israel and gave herself the Hebrew name Malcah, which means "queen," when she was nineteen. After she returned to the United States, she began to paint satires of American rituals, including national holidays, funerals, and splashy weddings. Zeldis points up the contrast between the golden blondes who dominate this painting and the dark-haired, dark-skinned people around them. The meaning is unclear, but the image suggests that the artist was coming to terms with a culture very different from what she had known in Israel.
- Topic
- Figure group
- Ceremony\other\beauty contest
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr.
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Object number
- 1998.84.66
- Type
- Painting
- Folk Art
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Medium
- oil on masonite
- Dimensions
- 48 x 40 in. (121.9 x 101.6 cm.)
- Metadata Usage
- Not determined
- Record ID
- saam_1998.84.66