Copied
Miriam Schapiro, Dollhouse, 1972, wood and mixed media, overall: 79 3⁄4 x 82 x 8 1⁄2 in. (202.6 x 208.3 x 21.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Gene Davis Memorial Fund, 1997.112A-B
Copied
Artwork Details
- Title
- Dollhouse
- Artist
- Assistant
- Date
- 1972
- Location
- Dimensions
- overall: 79 3⁄4 x 82 x 8 1⁄2 in. (202.6 x 208.3 x 21.6 cm.)
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase through the Gene Davis Memorial Fund
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- wood and mixed media
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Object — toy — dollhouse
- Object Number
- 1997.112A-B
Artwork Description
The all-female class transformed an abandoned Hollywood mansion into an environmental art space dubbed "Womanhouse." In its rooms, they created installations and performances about gender, menstruation, domesticity, and other subjects rarely discussed by women in public.
Dollhouse was originally exhibited as part of "Womanhouse." The piece playfully subverts the saying, "A woman's place is in the home." The kitchen, nursery, and boudoir represent the standards a white, middle-class woman of Schapiro's generation felt expected to achieve as homemaker, mother, and sexual partner to her husband. Yet also included, at upper right, is an artist's studio--a traditionally male space that Schapiro here claims for herself. Standing on the easel is a tiny replica of one of Schapiro's own abstract paintings, and, nearby, a male model poses next to a tray of bananas--a gender reversal of the expected female nude.
"Womanhouse" was a watershed in feminist art, attracting thousands of visitors. It was also a transformative experience for Schapiro, who subsequently dedicated her work to celebrating female experience and feminine crafts. "I was trained to be an artist by men," she said, "but I learned how to express myself from women."