The propensity to categorize objects in the world seems highly characteristic of the human mind. ... more The propensity to categorize objects in the world seems highly characteristic of the human mind. It comes, perhaps, from the desire to impose some kind of structure on apparent formlessness; to use a phrase of E H Gombrich's, categories provide the 'signposts' by which we navigate our way round an incoherent universe. 1 Furthermore, without them meaningful communication becomes almost impossible. Categorization allows us to establish our coordinates, so to speak; and in this way, to invoke the category that is the High Renaissance is quickly to locate a relatively specific time, and a relatively specific place. Also indicated, is the artistic output of that time and place. On closer inspection, however, and in common with most categories, the High Renaissance becomes somewhat problematic.
Over the course of the nineteenth century in France, the bourgeois home changed its meaning sever... more Over the course of the nineteenth century in France, the bourgeois home changed its meaning several times. In mid-century, it was still regarded, as Lisa Tiersten puts it, as 'a showplace of male class'; by the 1880s, however, it had acquired the attributes of a place of sanctuary, into which the ever-encroaching tentacles of Haussmannian modernity could not reach. 1 As Deborah L Silverman writes, it was construed as providing a refuge from 'urban invasiveness'. 2 Then, in the last two decades, a new representation of the home appeared in contemporary discourse, in which it was constituted as nothing less than the embodiment of the essence of France. Furthermore, a new role within the home was constructed for women, the role, in Tiersten's words, of 'the artist of the domestic interior'. 3 Indeed, this new feminine paragon was located at the epicentre of an entirely new aesthetic. Thus the latest paradigm entailed a kind of apotheosis of the somewhat improbable figure of the bourgeois housewife, whose artistic output was seen to consist in her chic, or stylish, home.
The propensity to categorize objects in the world seems highly characteristic of the human mind. ... more The propensity to categorize objects in the world seems highly characteristic of the human mind. It comes, perhaps, from the desire to impose some kind of structure on apparent formlessness; to use a phrase of E H Gombrich's, categories provide the 'signposts' by which we navigate our way round an incoherent universe. 1 Furthermore, without them meaningful communication becomes almost impossible. Categorization allows us to establish our coordinates, so to speak; and in this way, to invoke the category that is the High Renaissance is quickly to locate a relatively specific time, and a relatively specific place. Also indicated, is the artistic output of that time and place. On closer inspection, however, and in common with most categories, the High Renaissance becomes somewhat problematic.
Over the course of the nineteenth century in France, the bourgeois home changed its meaning sever... more Over the course of the nineteenth century in France, the bourgeois home changed its meaning several times. In mid-century, it was still regarded, as Lisa Tiersten puts it, as 'a showplace of male class'; by the 1880s, however, it had acquired the attributes of a place of sanctuary, into which the ever-encroaching tentacles of Haussmannian modernity could not reach. 1 As Deborah L Silverman writes, it was construed as providing a refuge from 'urban invasiveness'. 2 Then, in the last two decades, a new representation of the home appeared in contemporary discourse, in which it was constituted as nothing less than the embodiment of the essence of France. Furthermore, a new role within the home was constructed for women, the role, in Tiersten's words, of 'the artist of the domestic interior'. 3 Indeed, this new feminine paragon was located at the epicentre of an entirely new aesthetic. Thus the latest paradigm entailed a kind of apotheosis of the somewhat improbable figure of the bourgeois housewife, whose artistic output was seen to consist in her chic, or stylish, home.
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