Lighting In The Domestic Interior PDF Download

The unique history of residential lighting design is an essential study for preservationists. Even before the onset of electricity, the placement and display of artificial light in domestic settings was very precisely orchestrated- just as modern lighting design today capitalizes on the capacity of the medium to carefully curate a particular atmosphere within built space. Lighting schemes in the domestic sphere during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were thoughtfully curated by female homemakers and utilized, (in part), for social mobility. Citing from interdisciplinary publications, this thesis will unpack the gendered discourses underlying social mobility in the industrial era. Drawing evidence from both primary sources and critical theory, this research examines a broad view of the development of artificial light. The following chapters will examine the subtle yet strategic ways in which women made aesthetic choices about artificial lighting design within their homes. This analysis is comprised of three objectives: to compile a more comprehensive technical history of artificial light, to contextualize artificial light as a significant artifact within the domestic interior, and finally, to examine a historical bias which excludes women’s agency in the consumer-driven development of the modern economy in the periods leading up to and during the industrial revolution. While women may not have shaped the history of lighting technology through invention or engineering, there is a case to be made for the critical role of female homemakers in influencing the modern lighting design industry. The history of technology is an elusive subject—one that does not live in any particular academic field, and therefore rarely ventures beyond a linear, reductionist narrative. However, artificial light was, and continues to be, a re-created expression of the natural environment driven by biological and intellectual needs and desires. And while current preservation standards categorize interior lighting as a simple decorative feature within the broader context of architecture (alongside utilitarian systems such as heating or plumbing), this thesis considers fixtures as relatively inconsequential to the technology they inhabited. Framing artificial light as a cultural artifact invites comparison to other significant features of the domestic interior—for which there are many scholarly resources. This research fully explores the psychological and cultural impacts of artificial light so that historians, curators, and preservationists, may broaden interpretive narratives within historical documentation. Accordingly, this can be drawn upon as a practical guide for further case studies, regional interpretation, and historicl documentation.