Twee meisjes spelen met speelgoedstrijkijzer 1891

Strohmeyer & Wyman created this stereograph, titled "Two Girls Playing with a Toy Iron," using photographic techniques. The sepia tones and symmetrical composition create a formal, almost staged atmosphere. Notice how the receding lines of the domestic interior—the floral wallpaper, the drying rack, the doorway in the background, the floorboards—frame the central activity of the two girls at play. The composition is bisected down the middle, creating two separate but identical scenes. The slight variations between the two images are what create the stereoscopic effect. But consider how this domestic scene engages with the ideas of childhood and gender roles. The girls mirror each other's actions, engaging in the act of ironing, an activity traditionally associated with women and domestic labor. Are they learning to internalize specific gendered expectations? Are they mimicking the activities of the adults around them? The photograph invites us to consider the performance of gender roles within the seemingly innocent realm of childhood play. Meaning is not fixed here, but produced within a framework of cultural signs and social expectations.