Allison sent me to the wallpaper collection by Grow House Grow based on Victorian women naturalists:
And while discoveries by men such as Darwin and Newton have made them household names, there are countless others whose scholarly work has been lost, forgotten or even usurped by other intellectuals. Our Spring 2010 wallpaper line highlights three such individuals, all of whom are women, whose phenomenal academic stories have fallen between the cracks of history.
As female scientists in the nineteenth century, these women faced an oxymoronic distinction that their male counterparts eluded. Sexist barriers discouraged most young girls from the pursuit of an intellectual calling, yet our subjects persevered by challenging the status quo and developing their own route to recognized scholastic excellence. Each woman was largely self taught, and relied almost entirely on an innate passion for her respective field--something that makes their achievements all the more remarkable. Our bonnet is off to these unsung scientific heroines!
Ms. Treat, whose love of carnivorous botanicals influenced Darwin's work, has a luscious wall of Pitcher Plants and mischievous Venus Flytraps (and perhaps an ant or two).
Ms. Ward, who developed her passion for microscopy by magnifying and drawing bugs, blends late-Georgian silhouettes with a curious menagerie of over-sized insects.
Mme. Jeanne, a French dressmaker-cum-Sicilian naturalist (and who invented the world's first aquarium), has her love of the sea reflected in an elegant, ascending mollusk scallop.
