Reassembling the social interior: historical spaces from contemporary viewpoints

Abstract

"At the intersection of heritage, design history and contemporary art, this book offers new perspectives on the way historical interiors are encountered by, and viewed and presented for, present-day audiences. Many studies have highlighted the historical significance and meanings embedded in the landscape, architecture, decoration and objects to be found within houses and homes. But what about the social meanings of these spaces? Central to this book is the idea that in reflecting, remaking and reimagining historical interiors, the contributions of artists, designers and craftspeople should be foregrounded in constructing ideas of authenticity, transparency, and materiality in the making process. The chapters present a range of case studies that reflect upon how historical interiors are remade and reimagined by looking in and out; at how a reassembling of spaces ought to avoid narrowing our understanding of the social itself. Surveying a range of interior 'types' from a number of historical periods, the book includes contributions from practitioners, scholars and makers. From reimagining rooms of ancient Scottish homes to the interior and exterior worlds of specific historical figures, including Hugh Lane and Beatrix Potter, the book considers how these spaces have powerful significance for contemporary audiences, particularly in ways that are relatable to shared experiences of work, leisure, family, community, power and politics. This book will be of interest to scholars of the history of interiors and collections, museology, archaeology, architectural history, art, and design history, as well as curators and caretakers of historical sites, spaces and objects." -- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction. Reassembling and reimagining the social interior / Jennifer Gray, Anne Nellis Richter, Helen McCormack -- Part I. Reflecting and remaking: looking in and beyond interior spaces -- 1. Social, material, action: re-interpreting historical domestic spaces and objects in contemporary practice / Jennifer Gray -- 2. Expanded interiors: Roman wall paintings in dialogue with contemporary art practice - from Herculaneum and Pompeii to the north-east of England / Catrin Huber -- 3. Interior worlds onscreen: Miss Potter and To Walk Invisible / Madeleine Pelling -- 4. Reflecting on tales from a glass room / Edward Hollis and Annemarie Bannister -- 5. The Front Room: diaspora migrant aesthetics in the home / Michael McMillan -- Part II. Reconstructing and reimagining: reassembling spaces through interior encounters -- 6. Fabulation and Dennis Severs' house: assembling the past / Freya Gowrley -- 7. Selling art in the domestic interior: Hugh Lane at Lindsey House, 1909-1915 / Morna O'Neill -- 8. 'The whole is now passed, the house down': visualising lost interiors / Anne Nellis Richter -- 9. The house of nature: (re)locating scientific collections in eighteenth-century Paris / Camilla Pietrabissa -- 10. Social spaces of knowledge: the homes, streets and squares of London's eighteenth-century scientists / Helen McCormack -- 11. Maternal memories and spaces: re-imagining the gendered interior in Ascendancy Ireland / Priscilla Sonnier.