Straw Bonnet c. 1938

Editor: So, this is Frank Nelson’s “Straw Bonnet,” made around 1938, using watercolor and pencil. It’s such a delicate piece, almost like a memory. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It is striking how a seemingly simple watercolor of a bonnet can reveal so much about the construction of femininity in the 1930s. Consider the cultural weight attached to women's fashion during that period. These were times of economic hardship and shifting gender roles; therefore, even accessories held socio-political meaning. What do you think this level of detail in representing women’s garments and adornments meant in this period? Editor: I guess it speaks to the constraints placed on women, that their identity was so tied to their appearance. Curator: Exactly. The intricate lace and the deliberate placement of the purple ribbons evoke notions of prescribed elegance and the pressures to conform. Nelson’s artistic choice to present the object without a figure can almost represent the absence or erasure of individual female identity. Do you find that there’s also commentary about class embedded here? Editor: That's interesting. I do notice a certain aspiration for upper-class aesthetics, maybe a silent yearning portrayed in the precise rendering. Curator: It brings into question accessibility, who can even afford something like this. Perhaps Nelson, with this careful artwork, directs our gaze to consider this very tension, in this historical snapshot. Editor: I never considered how much a seemingly innocent depiction of fashion could tell us. It makes me wonder how much art can actually speak about gender and class constructs. Curator: And that questioning is the very beginning of understanding the true power of art as an activist instrument.