"The Traveling Padded Brassiere Salesman"
Hands von Achin'
Although strictly speaking a Badmannerist, von Achin' is sometimes included in the canon of Depressionists because of his fixation with women's undergarments and because of the general air of depravity and sordidness often found in his works, as well as the embedded spittle.
Here we see a typical theme: a less-endowed young girl being pressured to expand her frontage by a high-pressure travelling salesman. Achin' was something of a visionary, and apparently coined the term "maidenform" (jungfrauformen in the original German) at some point during the 16th century to describe his preferred subject matter. See also "Wardrobe Malfunction with Pallas Athena, Venus and Juno," and "I Dreamed I was Rescued," also in the Museum's collection.
Achin' rarely paid attention to backgrounds, preferring to concentrate on the undraped female form and the male leer. He considered his greatest work to be the now-lost "44DDD with Still Life" which was destroyed during the Berlin Moral Rearmament Crusade of the early 1950s.
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The Museum gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Frederick's of Hollywood in the acquisition of this painting.