Art, Decoration, and the Texture of Modern Experience: The Interior Before 1900 by Alexandra E. Fraser A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History of Art) in the University of Michigan 2018 Doctoral Committee: Professor Alexander D. Potts, Chair Professor Michèle A. Hannoosh Associate Professor Howard G. Lay Professor Susan L. Siegfried Associate Professor Claire A. Zimmerman Alexandra E. Fraser [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6969-1004 © Alexandra E. Fraser 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation was completed with support from many friends, colleagues, family members, academic mentors, and institutions to whom I am profoundly grateful. It is a pleasure to begin by thanking my advisor, Alex Potts, whose intellectual dexterity and generosity of thought cannot be overstated. His tireless commitment to seeing this project through, and unfailing ability to find both humor and critical interest in unexplored corners of the field, remained a touchstone for me at every stage. I am deeply grateful for the experience of his mentorship. My debt to him is unlimited. Each member of my dissertation committee was influential in shaping my own way of seeing, and my approach to this material. Susan Siegfried and Michèle Hannoosh were instrumental in getting this project off the ground. Their incisive feedback, productive challenges, and encouragement at key junctures have resulted in a more multifaceted final product. I am also grateful for their individual commitments to fostering a vibrant culture of dix- neuvièmistes at the University of Michigan, a remarkable community that has genuinely shaped the character of my work and the nature of my thought. Howard Lay provided essential support at an early stage and his encyclopedic knowledge of nineteenth-century French art criticism and of Paris was indispensable. A very special thank you is due to Claire Zimmerman whose brilliant feedback and incredibly thoughtful mentorship sustained this project, and my own energies, in ways that I am only now beginning to fully recognize. The research and writing of this dissertation was supported by the University of Michigan ii Department of History of Art, a Rackham International Research Award, a Rackham Humanities Candidacy Fellowship, and an Alexander Fellowship. My research was also made possible by the staffs at the Bibliothèque royale Albert I/Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België in particular, as well as the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Archives d’Architecture Moderne, The Getty Research Institute, and the University of Michigan Fine Arts Library. It is a pleasure to acknowledge a number of individuals who provided specific assistance here. I would like to express my gratitude to Herwig Todts, Curator of Modern Art, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, for devoting his time to facilitating my visits to the Ensor collection and archives. He could not have been more welcoming, and the reverberations of our conversations can be seen on these pages. In Brussels, I thank Madame Véronique Cardon for facilitating my access to the Archives d’Art Contemporain en Belgique/Archief voor Hedendaagse Kunst in België, and the staffs at the Archives et Musée de la Littérature, particularly Madame Mélanie Michelet, for warmly welcoming me and for answering all of my questions. At the Archives d’Architecture Moderne—Fondation CIVA Stichting, Mademoiselle Stéphanie de Blieck’s enthusiasm and assistance was indispensable, as was the support of Monsieur Yaron Pesztat. In France, I thank Madame Françoise Bérard, conservateur géneral, directeur de la Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, for granting my access to the Vuillard journals. At the Musée Maurice Denis, Mademoiselle Gabrielle Montarnal, assistante de conservation, fluidly supported my access to crucial materials and proved to be a wonderful research companion in the archives. Lastly, and closest to home, my deep gratitude extends to the librarians and staffs of the Fine Arts Library at the University of Michigan, particularly Bridget Kennedy and Deirdre Spencer, whose efforts in support of my work are too numerous to name. A constellation of conversations, both formal and informal, guided the formulation and iii reformulations of this project. At varying stages, I received thoughtful feedback and sympathetic challenges from the following individuals: Scott Allan, Chloe Armstrong, Francesca Berry, Susan Canning, Mark Crinson, Todd Cronan, André Dombrowski, Adriana Fraser, Anna Edmonds, Nicholas Hauck, Hilde Heynen, Jaleh Mansoor, Claire Moran, Christa Noel Robbins, Naomi Slipp, Andrew Witt, and Julien Zanetta. I would especially like to acknowledge Ségolène Le Men who lent valuable insights to this topic, wrote letters of support, and invited me to participate in a stimulating conference organized by the Université Paris Ouest La Défense and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen in 2016, an experience which significantly reshaped the arc of this dissertation. Another profound thank you is to Marnin Young whose kindness, mentorship, and enviable, masterful writing has sustained my enthusiasm for this work over several years. Michigan has proven to be a wonderful, supportive place to complete graduate studies. In Tappan Hall, I have had great conversations with Paroma Chatterjee, David Doris, Betsy Sears, and Rebecca Zurier. The many undergraduate students whom I taught, particularly those in my 2017 summer seminar, kept me sharp and reinvigorated my own work time and again. I am forever appreciative for the administrative support of Luciana Borbely, Christy Elkins, Debbie Fitch, Jen Lewis, Jeannie Worrall, and especially Jeff Craft. Critically important were the relationships I built with other graduate students. With immense (infinite!) gratitude, I thank Katie Brion, Isabelle Gillet, Monique Johnson, Allison Martino, Kristin Schroeder, Alice Sullivan, Emily Talbot, and Courtney Wilder. Jenny Gear has been cohort-mate, sounding board, and hiking partner, and I am grateful for her tireless support and superior ability to keep things in perspective. Grant Mandarino is a superb colleague and collaborator, and I am thankful for our Sunday dissertation check-ins. iv For a dissertation about the home, it has always struck me as peculiar that individual chapters were written in four disparate cities: Brussels, San Diego, Ann Arbor, and Toronto. Such is the nature of a culture of proximity. I am grateful to friends in each of these places for giving me the sense of “distance overcome,” especially when home was so far away. Another sort of debt is due to my family at Juniper Hill Farm, in all its extended form. This dissertation would not exist were it not for the endless love and support of my parents, Jennifer Fraser and Bill Hughes, for whom I repeatedly attempt to dig down deep. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...........................................................................................................ii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................viii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER ONE Introduction: The Interior as a Way of Knowing .................................................................... 1 The Interior as Space and Image.............................................................................................. 6 Method, Materials, Meaning ................................................................................................. 14 Chapter Summaries ............................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER TWO The Other Side of Matter: Ensor’s Interiors and the Belgian Art World ............................ 27 “A Feeling for Life and Its Limits”........................................................................................ 31 Theater of Matter: The Realist Tache .................................................................................... 42 Into the Represented Scene: The Symphonic Tache ............................................................... 55 Internalizing Exerior Realities: or, Ensor Before the Mask .................................................... 68 CHAPTER THREE Installing Interiority: Vuillard’s Intimisme and the Culture of Proximity ........................... 75 Defining Privacy: The Pictured Interior ................................................................................. 79 Two Appeals to “Interiority” ............................................................................................... 102 Pictorial Decoration: or, Plein-Air Intimisme ....................................................................... 111 CHAPTER FOUR The Interior and the Social: Van de Velde’s Architecture of the Idea ................................. 129 Deliriums of Ugliness ......................................................................................................... 138 The Architect as Form-Artist ............................................................................................... 165 The Interior Leaves the Home ............................................................................................. 195 vi EPILOGUE: The Interior Effect ................................................................................................................ 209 FIGURES