Dress

This dress is shown in a double portrait in oils of Susanne and Ilse Gottschalk aged three and five, in 1933 (in the museum's collections). Their parents commissioned the artist Joseph Oppenheimer, RP (1876-1966) to paint it for their house in Berlin. Susanne is holding her teddy bear and Ilse is sitting by her toy poodle. The toys have not survived, but the dresses have, which is relatively rare. This black dress is quite unusual for the period, both in its lines and colouring, and makes a strong contrast with the paler colours and more traditional style of the pale yellow dress.