Journal of Design History Advance Access originally published online on November 20, 2007
Journal of Design History 2007 20(4):325-344; doi:10.1093/jdh/epm027
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Representing the Georgian: Constructing Interiors in Early Twentieth-Century Publications, 1890–1930
Elizabeth McKellar, E-mail: E.H.Mckellar{at}open.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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This paper examines the construction and representation of eighteenth-century interiors in journals and books of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It is concerned with establishing why, despite a widespread revival of interest in the Georgian from the 1890s onwards, Georgian interiors received relatively little attention until the post-First World War period with the emergence of scholars such as Margaret Jourdain. It is argued that this deficit sprang from the maintenance of an essentially Arts and Crafts approach and mentality towards the new classical subject matter. Such an approach privileged the material and the architectonic and militated against any understanding of the interior as a physical or spatial entity in its own right. The paper explores these issues in relation to the contemporary publishing context. This period witnessed a significant expansion of publishing activity and key changes in the technology available for the reproduction of images. The paper examines the significance of a variety of representational practices pursued in both drawings and photographs in relation to these changes and their role in constructing ideas about the Georgian interior.
Key Words: architecture • classicism • Georgian • Jourdain, Margaret • magazines • twentieth century
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