a view of the front of McMenamin’s Restaurant, highlighting an ivy-covered fence that surrounds an outdoor seating area.

Ryan King –

SUMMARY –

Penny Sparke writes on the life and career of Elsie de Wolfe, one of the early 20th century’s first professional female interior decorators. The article goes beyond our introduction from lecture and discusses de Wolfe’s background, education, and influences, as well as her relationships with her female clients, many of whom were wealthy and influential figures at the time.

The author’s main argument was that de Wolfe’s success was due in part to her ability to navigate her clients’ social and cultural expectations, as they frequently had very specific ideas about how their homes should look and feel. De Wolfe managed to find a balance between their desires and her own vision for modern, stylish interiors that reflected changing attitudes at the time. De Wolfe’s work questioned traditional gender roles and expectations, showing that women can succeed in more “professional male-dominated fields like design. The author also argues that this led to women being perceived as rational and “modern” thinkers. De Wolfe also helped to redefine the “modern” woman as more than a passive decorative object but as an active participant in the design and decoration of her own home.

From the standpoint of design history, the work of de Wolfe and other designers like Charlotte Perriand and Eileen Gray began a transition from historicism to modernism. Their work was critical in introducing women to modernity and giving them an active role in the creation of the modern world. While interior decoration was initially restricted to the wealthy, it spread an aesthetic and cultural model that was widely influential and represented a critical transitional moment without which the modernism we know today may not have emerged.

EXTENSION OF AUTHOR’S ARGUMENT –

This notion is something I agree with completely, without the career and life of Elsie de Wolfe and the general notion of the “female professional decorator” I believe that the profession of Architecture and other design-related fields would be noticeably further behind. All we need to do, I believe, is look at the current gender demographics of a few other fields, such as engineering and computer science. Those two fields of work, in my opinion, are far more male-dominated than design-related professions. This is not to say that Architecture isn’t still largely dominated by men (particularly white men in the United States), but it is my contention that the opinion of a woman is met with less skepticism in the field of Architecture than in Engineering or Computer Science. DeWolfe, I believe, paved the way for women to enter male-dominated fields such as architecture and design, while also contributing to the larger movement for workplace gender equality. While there is still work to be done in all industries to achieve true gender parity, the work of Elsie de Wolfe and other female interior decorators was instrumental in breaking down barriers and paving the way for women to enter the field.

ANALYSIS OF SPACE –

I’ve chosen to study the outdoor patio seating at McMenamin’s in Eugene using the theme of female influence in design. A small section of outdoor eating space is shown on the right of my photograph. The space is surrounded by a three-foot-high metal gate, above which is another metal scaffolding device with thick green vines. The space is also set back from the sidewalk and street, allowing those seated to see passersby while still feeling safe. I describe the space in this way to emphasize a specific point: while I do not know who designed the building, one could assume that a woman was involved and made these design decisions. This space’s design makes me feel very safe; it has physical barriers between it and the sidewalk/street and provides protection from danger. Being outside can be dangerous, which is an unfortunate reality that many women must face. It is possible that if a woman had not been present during the design process of this outdoor space, these safety measures would not have been considered, resulting in a potentially unsafe-feeling place for customers to eat.