Bandbox c. 1939

Curator: This is Walter Doran’s "Bandbox," dating from around 1939. It’s crafted using ceramic and drawing, embodying a distinct folk-art style that captures a moment in time. Editor: It strikes me as something quite charming and intimate. The colours are muted and somewhat faded, creating this sense of looking back at something cherished and used. The almost naive depiction gives it a familiar and rustic feel. Curator: These bandboxes, beyond mere storage, played a significant role in social history. Often associated with the rise of consumer culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they signified a growing middle class and their ability to acquire and protect personal belongings and luxury goods. Editor: Absolutely. And thinking about those goods and who had access to them…it raises some important questions. Whose stories are being told through these objects, and who remains invisible? I wonder about the women, often, who were the custodians of these domestic objects—did they have a voice in the decorations? Were they simply consumers, or active participants in the creation of meaning? Curator: Well, the artwork style does suggest an accessibility and familiarity to folk art which has been created outside formal schooling—the painting illustrates themes of railroads and landscapes of everyday scenes of the past. Such objects blur the lines between what's "art" and what's craft or utility. Editor: The imagery—horses, windmills, quaint cottages, they are creating idyllic scenes on a container labelled ‘rail road’, that juxtaposes between rural idyll and industrialisation. Who are the people using the railroad, for business or leisurely trips? There seems to be a tension, in what’s celebrated here. Curator: In my mind, the ‘Rail Road’ inscription is a pivotal element and invites questions about modernity, development and expansion— key themes when reflecting on American’s cultural growth during that period. Editor: Yes, definitely a celebration of the period. For me it is equally a material archive and a prompt to look closer to gender, social class and consumerism during that time. This 'Bandbox' carries stories beyond its apparent function.