Bonnet c. 1942

Curator: Here we have "Bonnet", a watercolor and colored pencil drawing made around 1942 by Stella Mosher. It depicts, as the title suggests, two bonnets against a plain backdrop. Editor: It has a really peaceful feel to it, almost dreamlike with the soft blue wash. The slightly off-kilter angle adds this gentle vulnerability. Like a half-remembered nursery rhyme. Curator: Yes, Mosher has captured something quite intimate, a relic of a bygone era perhaps? Bonnets like this evoke images of childhood, domesticity. They became particularly evocative symbols in the mid-20th century through paintings displayed in national expositions across the United States. Editor: It's strange though, how a simple garment can conjure such intense emotion. There’s an almost suffocating quality to it too, as if those neatly drawn lines could at any moment envelop everything. I feel almost unnerved. Curator: That's fascinating. Consider the historical context, though: created around 1942, what do you suppose these articles of clothing represented in a nation gripped by war? A nation experiencing rapid shifts in social mores and the role of women? Was the depiction a symbol of safety and the familiar or something more oppressive? Editor: You're right. Seen through that lens, the work changes. What once felt tender now takes on a much harder edge; an icon of constrained possibilities. What appears old-fashioned when placed next to abstraction has this urgency; it brings a new feeling entirely. I am feeling so complicated about it! Curator: And how those colored pencils are used to outline every detail - really brings attention to the overall design. Editor: I hadn’t even considered what they suggested, the attention to form! And look at how this image, born out of someone’s domesticity, makes us ponder these grand societal structures. Extraordinary how objects become symbols, isn’t it? Curator: It truly is. Every stitch tells a story. Editor: Now I need a nap under a quilt made with tiny stitches, wow.