Untitled (Marie standing holding lace cloth, multiple backdrops)

This intimate portrait was created by the self-taught artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein in collaboration with his wife, Marie. It was made in the privacy of their home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, using makeshift stages in their living room with a darkroom in their bathroom. In various states of dress and undress and flirtatious poses, Marie playfully reinterpreted movie starlet and pin-up girl aesthetics. With the simplest of means, they created imagined scenarios far removed from their modest house.

While relatively unknown in his lifetime, Von Bruenchenhein’s reputation has risen to a place of prominence in the field of American folk and outsider art, demonstrating that inspired creativity can come from any person or place.