This book explores the beginnings of the interior design profession in nineteenth-century France. Drawing on a wealth of visual sources, from collecting and advice manuals to pattern books and department store catalogues, it demonstrates how new forms of print media were used to ‘sell’ the idea of the unified interior as a total work of art, enabling the profession of interior designer to take shape. In observing the dependence of the trades on the artistic and public visual appeal of their work, the book establishes crucial links between the fields of art history, material and visual culture, and design history.
This volume takes forward the debate about 19th-century domestic space, drawing on economic history and literary criticism. To date, studies of 19th-century domestic space have discussed a feminized, middle class sphere, often using domestic guides and fictional representations of domesticity to generate their arguments.
The nineteenth century - the Era of the Interior - witnessed the steady displacement of art from the ceilings, walls, and floors of aristocratic and religious interiors to the everyday spaces of bourgeois households, subject to their own enhanced ornamentation. Following the 1863 Salon des refuses, the French State began to channel mediocre painters into the decorative arts. England, too, launched an extensive reform of the decorative arts, resulting in more and more artists engaged in the production and design of complete interiors. America soon followed. Present art historical scholarship - still indebted to a modernist discourse that sees cultural progress to be synonymous with the removal of ornament from both utilitarian objects and architectural spaces - has not yet acknowledged the importance of the decorative arts in the myriad interior spaces of the 1800s. Nor has mainstream art history reckoned with the importance of the interior in nineteenth-century life and thought. Aimed at an interdisciplinary audience, including art and design historians, historians of the modern interior, interior designers, visual culture theorists, and scholars of nineteenth-century material culture, this collection of essays studies the modern interior in new ways. The volume addresses the double nature of the modern interior as both space and image, blurring the boundaries between arts and crafts, decoration and high art, two-dimensional and three-dimensional design, trompe-l'oeil effects and spatial practices. In so doing, it redefines the modern interior and its objects as essential components of modern art.
The author takes a detailed look at the design and decoration of domestic interiors in Europe and America during a period that has never before been considered in its own right. The homes protrayed include those of aristocrates and artists, members of fashionable society and the bourgeoisie. Their salons, studios, bedrooms, libraries, and bathroom - from architectural framework to choice and arrangement of furniture, to the minutiae of personal taste - provide fascinating insights into the domestic life and fashion of the time.
Explore the world's most stylish and eclectic residences in this inspired armchair décor guide. Home Style by City captures the essense of five design-forward cities, featuring gorgeously decorated homes from each that reflect local style and inspire internationally. Part city tour—including must-visit flea markets, bits of colorful history, and curated lists of music, books, and films—and part design resource for achieving the various looks, this refreshing perspective on décor shows how cities themselves impact interiors. Illuminating text invites readers into page after page of lavishly photographed interiors, offering deceptively simple transitions and insider tips to bring the look into any space. Visually rich and totally inspiring, Home Style by City is a treasure for lovers of design, travel, and, of course, big city dreams.
At last, in a single volume, here is a sweeping, historical survey of interior design, decoration, and furniture. Starting around 3200 B.C., at the height of artistic development in ancient Egypt, Professor Blakemore takes us on a beautifully written and illustrated journey across five millennia of stylistic periods. Unique in its comprehensive approach, this book is a much needed addition to the existing literature on the history of interior design. 100 color illus., plus line drawings and halftones.
For the first time, the development of interiors and furniture in Switzerland from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day have been surveyed and documented. Following the two introductory essays, seven chapters focus each on a time span of 15 years, with detailed information on the definitive masterpieces of that period. Some 20 representative interiors reveal the significant changes in living space during the 20th century. A fully illustrated catalogue of over 300 objects from furniture to ceramics and household objects and around 150 biographies conclude the publication.Edited by Professor Arthur Rüegg, this fascinating compendium of the great classics in Swiss design contains much previously inaccessible information, rare early works and invaluable details on the origins and production of the objects. A large part of the furniture has been photographed especially for this publication and model furnished interiors have been drawn to the same scale.
Here is an authoritative look at the way American Victorian houses were decorated in the 19th century, covering all aspects of interior design: floor coverings, woodwork, window treatments and draperies, walls and wallpaper, and ceilings. 225 pictures and drawings; 16-page color insert.
"An invaluable reference book for all collectors, dealers and anyone interested in the decoration of their home ... the design and decoration of interiors, both domestic and public. Illustrated with over 500 photographs and drawings that detail the work of the greatest interior designers of the century ... with informative texts outlining the most notable names and design features of [each] decade"--Publisher's description.
