Bébé á la maison 1820 - 1908

Lorenz Frølich created "Bébé á la maison", using pen and ink, sometime between 1820 and 1908. At first glance, it’s a simple domestic scene: a mother and child in conversation, rendered with delicate lines. But consider the dialogue Frølich has inscribed. The child repeats a phrase, something about consoling "Maman," which she admits she heard from her father, adding "little girls shouldn't say it." This drawing captures a moment of gendered learning. We witness how language, and perhaps even resistance, is transmitted. Frølich, living in a time of shifting social norms, hints at the private theater of domestic life, the subtle ways in which children learn to perform gender roles. The drawing becomes a quiet commentary on the complexities of identity formation within the confines of the home. It’s about the intimacy and the instruction, the seen and unseen forces shaping our earliest selves.