Luxury, Whiteness, and a Sofa

Figure 1Adolf Wertmuller, ¨ Dana¨e and the Shower of Gold. Paris, 1787

As women were active in their roles as producers and consumers of material culture, simplistic styles of art and fashion dominated Europe during the late 18^th century. Similarly, women heavily influenced the techniques and design of architecture as well. Caroline Winterer researches the women’s influence on one of the most feminine pieces of furniture to date: the sofa. A luxurious feminine piece, the sofa is a symbolic manifestation of classical antiquity, otherwise known as Neoclassicism (Winterer 33). The sofa is mainly correlated to the female body due to the similarities in its structure. The sleek and rounded female body is outlined with sensual lines and curvature and there you have the blueprint to the lounging sofa. Its very existence is based upon the lounging of the female body. As a woman to lay across it, her defined shape will fall in place and her skin will perfectly fit into every crevice of the silk or horsehair fabric. The sofa hence created certain postures and activities for women to ensue which resulted in the importance of the female recline. The sofa served as an avenue to determining class. If the only activities for a woman was leisurely lounging on her sofa then she was of the aristocracy. Because of this, Winterer proves that the sofa was significantly instrumental in reinforcing women in the patriarchal system who would otherwise deprive them on the origin of gender. Finally, The sofa represented women and their association to race the upper class. Because the sofa embodied luxury and relief, when described it was always in the accompaniment of a white woman. Black women were never depicted on the sofa and if present was represented as a slave woman. In conclusion, the woman and her body were ideal in the creation of the sofa and enforce her influence on the material world of structures.