設計中的女性：愛莉絲•德沃芙與室內設計專業之浮現

Women in Design: Elise de Wolfe and Interior Design

殷寶寧(Pao-Ning Yin)

《設計學報》 14卷1期 (2009/03) Pp. 1-18

https://doi.org/10.6381/JD.200903.0001

摘要

建築、空間設計的專業向來被視為是陽剛特質極強、幾乎為男性壟斷的領域。然而，在二十世紀初期，愛莉絲•德沃芙(Elise de Wolfe, 1865-1950)女士卻是影響「室內設計」(interior design)「專業化」進展之關鍵人物。
十九世紀末，隨著現代主義建築的發展，現代化住宅設計大量出現，延續「男主外女主內」之性別分工架構，住宅內部細節的「裝飾」(decoration)、「布置」(decorating)等工作，順理成章地被視為「女性的工作」。但德沃芙女士藉由提出生活風格概念，主張住屋代表居住者品味的訴求，將室內設計工作獨立，脫離了建築與室內裝潢領域，在都市新興中產階級企圖以住宅室內設計風格，建立個人品味的需求下，促成了現代室內設計專業的逐漸成形。
20世紀後半，女性主義理論的發展，促成許多學科紛紛重新檢討女性在其專業領域的處境與狀態，史學家也開始重新書寫、或再次定義專業身分認同的問題，提出既有專業論述不自覺之性別盲目(gender blindness)與男性中心(male-centered)的批判，企圖建構出不同歷史詮釋與觀看視角的專業理論與論述。
本研究企圖從設計史發展的角度，以愛莉絲•德沃芙個人的生命史(life history)，及其所處的歷史社會文化脈絡，來深入挖掘此一專業化演變之歷程，以重新審視室內設計史的歷史論述及其性別意涵。

關鍵字

性別與設計 ； 愛莉絲‧德沃芙 ； 設計史 ； 室內設計 ； 女性主義

並列摘要

The profession fields of architecture and spatial design are always considered to be male-dominated spheres. However, at the turn of the 20th century, Lady Elise de Wolfe (1865-1950) was the key person who urged the formation of the profession of interior design.
Elise de Wolfe was a pioneering professional interior decorator in the United States. She is often credited with inventing the profession of interior decoration. In the 18th century, interior decoration was the purview of upholsterers and architects, while in the 19th century, the skills of interior designers and design firms were well known. De Wolfe did however reap an enormous amount of publicity and doubtless was the field's most famed practitioner in the early 1900s, a period that also saw an increase of interest in interior design in the popular press. She transformed the design of wealthy homes from the dark Victorian style into designs featuring light, fresh colors and a reliance on 18th-century French furniture and reproductions.
At the end of the 19th century, following the development of modern architecture, there were a large amount number of modern houses come for the emerging middle class. The ideology of public / private spheres made the gender division of labor, that is, the decorating works of the interior of houses was assumed to be a women’s work. However, Elise de Wolfe proposed the idea that the house represented the taste and life style of the owner who lived in it. It is the personality of the owner the house expresses. It had effected the emergence of a new professional, the interior designer, an esthetic practitioner who provided decorative schemes for the homes of clients who were wealthy enough to afford the service.

並列關鍵字

Gender and Design ； Elise de Wolfe ； History of Design ； Interior Design ； Feminists

參考文獻

Anscombe, I.(1984).A women's touch: Women in design from 1860 to the present days.London:Virago Press Limited.

Berkeley, E. P.(1989).Architecture: A place for women.Washington:Smithsonian Institute.

Brown, D. S.,E. P. Berkeley (Eds.),M. McQuaid (Eds.)(1989).Architecture: A place for women.Washington:Smithsonian.

Buckley, C.,Rothschild, J. (Eds.)(1999).Design and feminism.London:Routledge.

de Wolfe, E.(1913).The house in good taste.New York:The Century Company.