Story of Golden Locks

Seymour Joseph Guy

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

While little known today, the English-born Guy was celebrated in his lifetime for his charming and technically accomplished genre paintings of childhood. In this work, the artist depicts his own children reading a version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." The young girl’s menacing bear-like shadow and the boys’ wide eyes suggest that they have reached the story’s frightening climax. In addition to the didactic message of the fairy tale—warning children not to wander from home—Guy presents his adolescent daughter on the verge of change, turning away from childhood games and assuming a more adult, maternal role.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art