Big Figures/Cowboys, 1979
As a counterpoint to her depictions of female dolls in interiors, Simmons confronted stereotypes of masculinity in a series of photographs of cowboy toys set mostly outdoors, Big Figures/Cowboys, 1979. The figurines came from the family home of Simmons’s future husband, the artist Carroll Dunham, who had played with the toys with his brother, Jack, when they were young. The boys had named the dolls “Big Figures,” denoting the mythic aspect of cowboys. In Simmons’s imagery, the “brothers”—simulating Carroll and Jack—are shot, like Jane and the objects and interiors before, in a straightforward manner.
A shift occurs in this series, not only from portrayals of women to men, but to the pairing of the brothers from the solitary nature of the early images with Jane or the blonde doll. Their relative small scale is used here to reinforce a sharp contrast to the mythic heroism and virility of cowboys—the American icons of masculinity. Camera angles in the outdoor settings make the cowboys appear to be on a more expansive, cinematic stage reminiscent of Westerns, as opposed to the doll houses where space is more compressed. Simmons questions the impact of this kind of idealism on men who try to emulate a version of manhood that is as impossible to attain as contrived female archetypes.