Intimate Interiors: Sex, Politics, and Material Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Bedroom and Boudoir

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A desire for intimacy in domestic spaces motivated by a growing sense of individualistic expression, an incentive to conceal the labor or enslavement taking place, and an appetite for solace and comfort led to interiors taking on more specific roles in the eighteenth century. By examining the architectural, visual, and material culture of eighteenth-century spaces, Intimate Interiors foregrounds the interrelated concepts of intimacy, privacy, informality, and sociability in order to show how these ideas played an increasingly integral role in the periods architectural and material design. Across eleven innovative chapters that explore issues of gender, politics, travel, exoticism, imperialism, sensorial experiences, identity, interiority, and modernity, this volume demonstrates how intimacy was a fundamental goal in the planning of private quarters. In doing so, the political nature of private spaces is uncovered, whilst highlighting the contradictions and complexities of these highly performative private interiors. Employing distinct methodological perspectives across various geographical sites, from Turkey to Versailles, Britain to Benin, Intimate Interiors draws as-yet untraced connections between Enlightenment Europe, imperial outposts, and major metropolitan centers across the globe.

Reviews

An impressive and ambitious collection of essays, global in scope, which break exciting new ground on the subject of intimate interiors in the 18th century and how they functioned as a locus of meaning. * Melissa Hyde, Professor of Art History and Distinguished Teaching Scholar, University of Florida, USA *
Intimate Interiors represents a significant contribution to eighteenth-century scholarship. Exploring several case studies from different geographies, the volume provides a variety of methodologies and critical perspective that goes far beyond specific subjects. * Miriam Cera, Associate Professor of Art History, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Spain *
Ranging impressively across the eighteenth-century world, from colonial Peru to the early United States, and from continental Europe to the West African kingdom of Dahomey, this fascinating volume exposes the eras new sites of intimacy and secrecy as unexpected places of governance, power, and control. * Kristel Smentek, Associate Professor of Art History, Department of Architecture, MIT, USA *

Author Bio

Tara Zanardi is Associate Professor of Art History at Hunter College, CUNY. She has received fellowships from NEH, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fulbright Program, and the John Carter Brown Library. Christopher M. S. Johns was the Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Professor of History of Art at Vanderbilt University, USA, and a founding member of the Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture.