Steel Wool Peignoir

Mimi Smith

born 1942

Steel Wool Peignoir, 1966

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: steel wool; nylon; lace; wood

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 149.8 x 66.1 x 20.3 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 59 0.9764 x 26 1/2 x 8 0.99213 in
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 89 x 36 x 20 1/2 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Helen Foresman Spencer Art Acquisition Fund

Accession number: 2000.0071

On display: Simons Gallery

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Archive Label 2009: The complexity of this major work of contemporary art begins with the materials from which it was made. Sheer pink nylon and eggshell lace are edged with thick bands of steel wool. The work is at the same time soft and utilitarian, feminine and tough. It is political. It is tongue-in-cheek. Its boudoir elegance is humorously contradicted by the association of steel wool not with the fantasy wife, but with the drudgery of kitchen work. Smith has transformed the peignoir into a protective suit, a woman’s coat of mail, for the bedroom. To Smith herself, the piece signified that realities of marriage in contrast to its illusions. Steel Wool Peignoir is one of the first works of art to use clothing as sculpture. Smtih was followed in this medium by Minimalist artist Robert Morris, Fluxus artist Robert Watts, and other contemporary artists. The piece is a significant monument of the Feminist Art movement of the late 1960s and the 1970s, a highly influential American art movement of the past thirty years. Steel Wool Peignoir is illustrated in many textbooks on contemporary art.

Resources

Video

WATCH “Mimi Smith – Steel Wool Peignoir” from Voices in Contemporary Art (1:27)

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute

Episode 250. I’m David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. A hanging peignoir in the Spencer collection appears to be hermetically sealed inside a display case, like a relic of a bygone romantic era. It looks like it could have come from the wardrobe of a Doris Day film from the 1960s.The gown evokes a time when a bridal gift, such as this peignoir, expressed the fairy tale wish for a “happily ever after” life.The floor length chiffon gown is lavender-gray and festooned with pale pink lace and ribbons.The sleeves and trim seem to be made of gray fur, but upon closer inspection, we discover that the material is steel wool. This jars our senses, as we imagine the scratchy texture of the Brillo-like fur against our skin. The American feminist artist Mimi Smith created this unconventional work of fabric art in 1966.Steel Wool Peignoir reflects the artist’s personal observations of romance. As one critic wrote of Smith, “Instead of a mythic Doris Day enchantment, she got a steel wool reality.” With thanks to Nancy Hernandez for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.

Audio Tour – Ear for Art

Was this made to be worn? Commenting on society’s views on womanhood, Steel Wool Peignoir, was made by artist Mimi Smith as a political statement and was never meant to be worn. Smith humorously combined sheer pink nylon and eggshell lace of a peignoir (a kind of nightgown) with steel wool to highlight the irony between the fantasy wife and the drudgery of kitchen work.

Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast

Audio Tour - Stop Look Listen

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