Name/Title
FigurineEntry/Object ID
2003.14.22aDescription
Scenic papier-mâché figure with two people, a man and a woman, dancing. The woman is wearing a white-and-purple checked dress (bodice and skirt) with a black belt at her waist. She has brown hair and is wearing a small bonnet topped with pink and white flowers. The man is wearing denim overalls and a long-sleeved white shirt. He has brown shoes, a large brown hat, and a red handkerchief in his back pocket. He has white hair and a long white beard. The figures are on a green, oval base, and there is a bifold paper label that reads "The Contra Dancers 1896".Context
Made by Lucy Pfeiffer of Montpelier, VermontAcquisition
Accession
2003.14Source or Donor
Pfeiffer, Lucy Rivelis (1912-2002)Acquisition Method
BequestCredit Line
In memory of Lucy Rivelis PfeifferMade/Created
Artist
Pfeiffer, Lucy Rivelis (1912-2002)Date made
1965 - 1985Place
City
MontpelierCounty
Washington CountyState/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Tertiary Object Term
FigurineNomenclature Secondary Object Term
StatueNomenclature Primary Object Term
SculptureNomenclature Class
ArtNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsDimensions
Dimension Description
OverallHeight
13-1/2 inWidth
8-3/8 inDepth
16-3/8 inMaterial
Papier-mâché, Copper, Metal, Metal, Straw, Wool, Cotton, LeatherRelationships
Related Places
Place
Town
TunbridgeCounty
Orange CountyState/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaInterpretative Labels
Label
After graduating from high school in Pennsylvania, Lucy spent one year in Paris to study art and then four years in Vienna where she studied at the Wiener Frauen Akademie, an art school for women. There she designed costumes for Vienna balls. It was also in Vienna where she met her husband, Gerhard Pfeiffer. Lucy moved to Montpelier in 1966.
Pfeifer began working with costuming soft dolls she bought in stores but didn't like their embroidered faces. Shortly before the Pfiefers moved to Montpelier in 1966 Lucy began making her own papier-mache dolls which she called figurines. Over the next to decades Pfeifer created over 40 of these exquisite, meticulously dressed figures. Each was unique with special features, coloring, and carefully researched costumes. Pfeifer estimated that it took her two months to produce each figure. The figurines from the 1970s were modeled on people Pfeifer saw in Montpelier. She never sold any of her works and stopped making her figurines in the late 1980s.