No womb. No gloom.
Last month someone reached out to us asking if we had any uterus cards that would be appropriate for her friend who was getting a hysterectomy. Unfortunately, any cards we had with a womb or uterus also included a baby which was irrelevant to her. But as you may have seen me post here before, women were not often portrayed in historical anatomical paintings, drawings, studies and illustrations unless it was in the context of pregnancy and childbirth. (It was assumed that females were otherwise identical to males. Thus the commonly held view was that the anatomy of females was only important as it related to bearing children; maddeningly, little has progressed in this regard—a rant for another day.) And because I use this historical artwork to create our cards, this means my imagery options are pretty limited. Still, it bothered me that I have been unwittingly perpetuating this anatomical vacuum (especially as a once proud childfree woman and with several loved ones who have endured this procedure for a variety of reasons) and so I told her I would do some digging and try and create something in time for her friend’s surgery.
I completed this card last week and ordered a batch with embossed gold foil text and they arrived from the printer this past weekend. And today, I dropped a complimentary one into the mail for the sweet supporter of ours whose friend ultimately inspired the creation of this card. (Hopefully she likes it!)
The card is now in our shop, just in case you like it too and/or you may know someone who might appreciate it.
The illustration on the front of the card is by William Hunter from the 1774 publication, Anatomia uteri humani gravidi tabulis illustrata (The anatomy of the human gravid uterus exhibited in figures.)
