Valentine in Shadow Box c. 1938

Curator: Here we have Inez McCombs’s "Valentine in Shadow Box," created around 1938 using a variety of media including watercolor, collage, and drawing. Editor: My first impression is delicate. It has a very vintage, almost antique feel. The muted colors and the shadow box format give it a sense of something precious and carefully preserved. Curator: The piece immediately suggests the gendered context of art-making in that era. Shadow boxes were often a craft relegated to women, but McCombs elevates the form, embedding it with artistic skill. One might ask if this valentine transcends a simple gesture, suggesting a commentary on imposed roles. Editor: Yes, the layering of materials does echo a world of imposed traditions. But to my eye, the repetition of floral motifs—each bloom a tiny vortex of layered paper—suggests a visual echo of classical garlands, while the central bird has a very distinctive set of meanings. Curator: Elaborate a little bit more, if you would, about what it conveys to you, that is. Editor: For me, birds signify a messenger; a carrier of secret communications, sometimes divine ones. Combined with the profusion of flowers typically associated with affection and devotion, this piece speaks in an iconographic language that hints at covert messages within the accepted vernacular. The shadows certainly give the central imagery a feel of darkness, of something withheld. Curator: Right. While flowers and birds often convey positive sentiment, placing them in the confinement of a shadow box hints at a sort of societal expectation, the limiting nature of acceptable feminine expression, if we apply a critical lens. Editor: Possibly. The containment can work many ways; it also focuses the message, turning it from simply beautiful to a more formalized aesthetic statement. It's a miniature world, curated and deliberate, full of potent, accessible symbolism. Curator: True. It definitely creates a closed system of analysis, where the symbols interplay on several social and contextual levels. Well, thank you! Editor: And thank you! It has been an interesting conversation!