Publication: The Enchanted Interior

The Enchanted Interior edited by Madeleine Kennedy, published by the Laing Gallery for their exhibition of the same name, is now available to purchase. This book was supported by a Paul Mellon Centre Publication Grant in 2018.

The Enchanted Interior explores the sinister implications of a popular theme in nineteenth-century painting: the depiction of the interior as a ‘gilded cage’ in which women are pictured as ornamental objects. In the accompanying exhibition iconic Pre-Raphaelite paintings by artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and William Holman Hunt will be shown alongside works by their female peers such as Emma Sandys and Evelyn De Morgan, who challenge and subvert the idealisation of women as captive damsels or passive beauties. Meanwhile, installation and moving image work by contemporary artists such as Mona Hatoum and Fiona Tan highlight the duality inherent in the interior, as a site that can be a sanctuary or a threat.