SIRENS ON THE SIDEBOARD: 19th Century Decorative Art and the Changing Role of Women with Angela Hesson

The 19th century was a period of great social and cultural change, which witnessed significant increases in women’s rights, and marked transformations in associations between femininity, art and ornament.

Once a site of confinement, as the century progressed, the domestic interior emerged as a place of possibility for the expression of feminine creativity, discernment, and increasingly, subversion. This lecture will examine the complex and shifting roles of 19th century women as designers, collectors, and subjects of decoration.

Angela Hesson is Assistant Curator at The Johnston Collection, a former lecturer in Literary Studies at The University of Melbourne and a freelance arts writer. Her doctoral thesis examined the theme of femininity within late 19th century Decadence and Aestheticism.

Relief-moulded tile (with sphinx), Trent Tile, New Jersey, circa 1890