The Modern Interior

15 See Thirties: British Art and Design before the War (exh. cat., Arts Council with v&a, 1980 ),

p. 267.

16 See J. L. Meikle, Design in the usa(Oxford and New York, 2005 ).

17 Ibid.

18 ‘Bel Geddes’ inFortune(July 1930 ), pp. 51 – 7 , p. 53.

19 J. L. Meikle, Twentieth Century Limited: Industrial Design in America, 1925 – 1939

(Philadelphia, pa, 1979 ), p. 53.

20 Fortune (July 1930 ), p. 55.

21 ‘The Eastman Kodak Shop: New York City’, in The Architectural Forum (April 1931 ), p. 449.

22 Todd and Mortimer, The New Interior Decoration, p. 179.

23 Mary McCarthy, The Group (Harmondsworth, 1969 [ 1936 ]), pp. 89 – 90.

24 K. Wilson, Livable Modernism: Interior Decorating and Design during the Great Depression

(New Haven, ctand London, 2005 ), p. 4.

Chapter Nine: The Abstract Interior

1 Quoted in N. Troy, The De Stijl Environment (Cambridge, maand London, 1983 ), p. 19.

2 Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste(London, 1984 ).

3 Whistler’s own description of this exhibit is contained in an article on a website edited by the

Freer Gallery of Art, http:/www.tfaoi.com/aa/ 4 aa/ 4 aa 170 .htm. (accessed 11 February 2007 )]

4 See N. Troy, Modernism and the Decorative Arts in France (New Haven, ctand London, 1990 ).

5 Tr o y, Modernism and the Decorative Arts in France, pp. 85 – 90. Troy’s argument represented a

fundamental revision to her statement made in her earlier book, The De Stijl Environment,

that the Maison Cubiste was a ‘superficial stylization’.

6 Tr o y, The De Stijl Environment, p. 6.

7 Ibid., p. 62.

8 Ibid., p. 19.

9 Ibid., p. 169.

10 Ibid., p. 176.

11 Information gathered on a visit to the Schroeder house on 24 March 2006.

12 The relationship of the modern interior aesthetic and domesticity was addressed by Tim

Benton in The Modernist Home (London, 2006 ), written to coincide with the Modernism:

Designing a New World, 1914 – 1939 exhibition held at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum

in the same year. Describing Le Corbusier’s famous Villa Savoye, built between 1928 and

1931 , one of the icons of architectural Modernism, Benton explained, ‘Even when it was

occupied by the Savoye family, the few items of furniture could not make this luminous

space “home.” As in a Palladian villa, you had to appreciate the architectural values of space

and light, colour and texture to find satisfaction in a house like this.’ He continued: ‘Perhaps

the key to understanding the Modernist house is that it was not designed for just anyone.

This was an art movement, intended for those who could understand and appreciate it.’

13 Tim Benton’s view that buildings such as the Villa Savoye were not easy to live in had

already been poignantly expressed by Alice T. Friedman in her book Women and the

Making of the Modern House: A Social and Architectural History (New York, 1998 ).

14 Friedman, Women and the Making of the Modern House, p. 128.

15 See C. Lange, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich: Furniture and Interiors (Krefeld,

2006 ), p. 51.

16 Lange, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich.

224 17 Information taken from a booklet edited by Peter Noever, entitled Schindler by mak

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