Boudoir, New York World’s Fair (1939)*

Artist/Designer: Designer Unknown

Project Location: New York, United States

Figure 1: From the book Modern Interiors: Today and Tomorrow; A Critical Analysis Of Trends In Contemporary Decoration As Seen At The Paris Exposition Of Arts And Techniques And Reflected At The New York World's Fair

Style/Period(s):
No Style/Period Assigned.

Primary Material(s):
Textile, Fabric

Function(s):
Exhibition

Related Website(s):

Significant Date(s):
20th Century, 1939

Additional Information:
Project Description:
The author's description of the room indicates an embedded femininity in the French rendering of the boudoir. Genauer writes, "In this boudoir may be seen another example of what might be called the typically French 'dressmaker touch.' Note the luxuriousness of the fabric, the manner in which it is used to line the walls as well as fashion the draperies and the chairs' upholstery, and then the way it's tufted, stitched, bound, manipulated this way and that so the room emerges with that perfection of detail and uniqueness which marks the work of the most distinguished French couturiers. Note too how the French always make provisions for hospitality even in a boudoir. One could casually but still correctly serve afternoon tea such a room." The overtly feminine description of the modern boudoir's interior reinforces the eighteenth-century French idea of femininity as luscious and soft yet proper and angelic.


Publications/Text in Print:
Appelbaum, Stanley and Richard Wurts. The New York World's Fair, 1939/1940: in 155 Photographs by Richard Wurts and Others. New York: Dover Publications; 1st edition, 1977.

Genauer, Emily. MODERN INTERIORS TODAY AND TOMORROW. A Critical Analysis of Trends in Contemporary Decoration as seen at the Paris Exposition of Arts and Techniques and reflected at the New York World's Fair. Illustrated Editions Company, Inc; First Edition edition, 1939.

Rydell, Robert W. World of Fairs: The Century-of-Progress Expositions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.



Building Address:
The World's Fair took place at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, NY, United States

Tags:
World's fair, 1939, boudoir, New York City, femininity

Viewers should treat all images as copyrighted and refer to each image's links for copyright information.