Kindergarten Robes

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Kindergarten Robes

Artist Jim Dine (American, born 1935)

Date1983

DimensionsOverall: 59 3/4 x 73 3/16 in. (151.7 x 185.9 cm);
Image: 54 5/8 x 71 3/16 in. (141.2 x 180.7 cm)

MediumColor woodcut

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineAmerican Art Fund

Object number

1986.92

Not on View

Label TextJim Dine‘s treatment of commonplace subjects such as tools, robes, and hearts as substitutes for human activity convey their daily significance within our everyday life. In 1964 the artist adapted the bathrobe from an advertisement, which he subsequently transformed into a recurring ‘autobiographical’ motif. In The Kindergarten Robes, Dine prints the life-size article of clothing twice on a single sheet, to suggest a missing figure who has placed his hands on his hips. The expressive lines and bold colors imbue the clothing item with a personal meaning and convey the garment’s association with warmth and softness. Dine turned to printmaking in the mid-1960s but did not make his first woodcut, which also depicted a bathrobe, until 1975. The Kindergarten Robes signals Dine’s renewed interest in the woodcut, the oldest graphic technique, during a decade when it was enjoying a general resurgence. As with his intaglio and lithographic prints, Dine uses a variety of tools to develop gestural lines and texture in this dynamic print.Published ReferencesD'Oench, Ellen G. and Jean E. Feinberg, Jim Dine Prints 1977-1985. New York, 1986, p. 134, no. 146 (illus.).Exhibition HistoryTMA show, August 16-November 8.1999, Jim Dine: Past Present Future, July 28 - October 8, 2000 Toledo Museum of Art, Pop Prints from the TMA Collection, July 7 - October 8, 2006.