What Every Woman Ought to Know

MGNH_gallery one_empty cabinet drawers on floor mirror photograph

MGNH_gallery one_long view of room tables in center

Collinson_three silver oval frames black plants inside text strips

Collinson_black plants pinned text strips blue background

Collinson_black plant pinned text strips orange background

Growing_three iron tables chairs plants prints background

What Every Woman Ought to Know

cabinet: 78" x 30" x 23"

2002-2003

altered wood cabinet, mixed media

The first section of the exhibition has two art works that refer to the universal human desire to collect things. Collections, in turn, create a secondary need for display, whether in a garden, a special cabinet, or a museum.

What Every Woman Ought to Know is an example of a cabinet of curiosities. The drawers contain assemblages of tools, real or imagined, that might be used by women; nineteenth century cabinet card photographs of young women; and etched plates taken from nineteenth century books written for artists that describe emotions and physiognomy. The title of the piece is taken from a book on deportment for ladies written in the 1860s.

For more details about this piece, see the individual works section of the gallery.

history of natural history