Whirligig: Policeman

DateProbably 1915-1930

MediumWood, iron, sheet iron, lead, and paint

Dimensions23" x 6 3/8" x 2 7/8" (58.4 x 16.1 x 6.6 cm.)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1974.700.1

Label TextJudging by surviving examples, authority figures were popular subjects among whirligig makers. Special delight was taken in spoofing military figures and policemen; their serious expressions, crisp uniforms, and military bearing are undermined by arms that flail and bodies that spin out of control in the wind.

The arms or paddles on early whirligigs are often made of flat boards or sheet metal mounted at ninety degrees or less to one another. After the popularization of the airplane, whirligigs with paddles configured like airplane propellors occasionally appear. This Policeman has such paddles: in relation to one another, the angle of the blades is not significantly different, but the shape of the figure's arm paddles at the shoulder is not unlike the gentle, swelling curve of a propellor blade at the hub. This whirligig's imaginatively stylized hands are a rarely seen feature.Inscription(s)None foundMark(s)None foundProvenanceMaze Pottinger Antiques, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.