Underground Dollhouse; ca. 1979

Various pieces of carpet and rugs, wood, hand-made and hand-painted interior objects. 69” w x 32” h 30” d

Denyer’s dollhouse built into the earth, recreates period rooms inspired by those in the Met and other treasured spaces. Through windows and portals the viewer glimpses a Minoan temple, a 17th century Venetian bedroom, Chinese poet’s chamber, and the Early American room.

“You can do anything if you’re making a dollhouse so I added some rooms. There is a room similar to the Metropolitan Museum’s 17th century Venetian bedroom. My room has angels on the ceiling and a glass floor so if you’re not willing to crane your neck you can still see the Angels flying above you. There is a study furnished with Chinese furniture. The floor has a lot of crumpled paper on it because they are writing haiku’s and they don’t have a wastepaper basket.

“It has an undulating roof of turf made from various pieces of carpet and rugs like greenish grass. It refers to the labyrinth of Knossos as there is a tunnel entrance to get in and also if you want to go downstairs to the bathroom, you have to go through a maze before you reach the throne room at Knossos. This room has a bathtub. And the bathtub was the sign of high Cretan civilization.” –BCD

Image © 2018 Frederick Charles