Designing the French Interior

Anca I. Lasc is Assistant Professor of history and theory of design at Pratt Institute, New York City, USA. Georgina Downey is an independent scholar and Visiting Fellow in the graduate art history program at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Mark Taylor is Professor of architecture at The University of Newcastle, Australia.

• French Connections: The Modern Interior and Mass Media, Anca I. Lasc, Georgina Downey and Mark TaylorSection 1: Sex, Dreams, and Desires: The Perversions of the Modern Interior1. Impolite Reading and Erotic Interiors in Eighteenth-Century France, Georgina Downey and Mark Taylor, University of Adelaide and University of Newcastle, Australia2. Intimate Vibrations: Inventing the Dream Bedroom, Fae Brauer, University of East London, UK3. Angels and Rebels: The Obsessions and Transgressions of the Modern Interior, Anca I. Lasc, Pratt Institute, USA4. Machines and Monsters: The Modern Decadent Interior as Spectacle in Huysmans’s À Rebours, Emilie Sitzia, Maastricht University, Netherlands5. La Maison Suspendue: Imaginary Solutions for an Everyday Domestic Machine, Peter Olshavsky, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USASection 2: Aesthetics, Anxiety, and Identity: Reproducing a Decadent Domesticity6. The Interiorization of Identity: Portrait Busts and the Politics of Selfhood in Pre- and Early Revolutionary France, Ronit Milano, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Israel7. A Portable Keyhole into the Fictional Apartment Building: The Interiors of Félix Vallotton and Émile Zola, Karen Stock, Winthrop University, USA8. The Fin-de-siècle Poster: A Healthy Modern Stimulus in the French Interior, Katherine Brion, University of Michigan, USA9. Mode of a Modern Muse: Fashion and Interior in Édouard Vuillard's Paintings of Misia Natanson, Jess Berry, Griffith University, Australia10. The Decadent Interior as Modern Lesbian Aesthetic, Elizabeth Melanson, University of Delaware, USA11. Mallet-Stevens, Modern Design and French Cinema, Nieves Fernández Villalobos, Universidad de Valladolid, SpainSection 3: Intimacy, Longing and Performance: The Consumption and Display of the Celebrity Home12. Staging Domesticity in La Revue Illustrée's Photo-Interviews: Belle Époque Celebrity Homes in the Periodical Press, Elizabeth Emery, Montclair State University, USA13. Hôtel Baronne Salomon de Rothschild 1872-1878: The Imprint of a Legacy, Linda Stevenson and Susan Tate, University of Florida, USA14. ‘Un Bel Atelier Moderne’: The Montparnasse Artist at Home, Louise Campbell, Warwick University, UK 15. Housing the New Dandy: Designing Lifestyle in Monsieur Magazine, 1920-1924, John Potvin, Concordia University, Canada16. ‘Fashions in Living’: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, 4, Route du Champs d’Entraînement, Paris, Peter McNeil, University of Technology Sydney, Australia17. ‘Si ma cuisine m’était comptée’: Paris Match and the Salon des arts ménagers during the Fourth Republic, Guillaume De Syon, Albright College, USAIndex

Focusing on the French period from pre-revolutionary times through the late 20th century, 17 essays from 19 contributors are divided into three sections addressing the importance of various media and their shaping of residential interiors. It delves into the contributions of drawings, prints, pattern books, illustrated magazines, department catalogs, guidebooks, and films in promoting French interior design to the rest of the world. A reasonable number of black-and-white photos and reprints of posters, drawings, and publications enhance the written word, but should not be the only reason for picking acquiring this tome. The primary audience appears to be not only students and professionals, but also anyone who has sought information about the influences of French interiors on residential design. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels.