'The twenty-seven lively essays in these two volumes celebrate the interior as an archetypal artifact of Modernism while penetrating its enduring, and often conflicting, complexities. Written by international scholars from a range of disciplines, they also demonstrate just how far scholarship on the interior has come in the last thirty years.'

- Journal of Design History

'Innovative in its contribution to visual culture studies, this book offers valuable and new perspectives on the modern interior of the late nineteenth-century vis a vis the history of art. It is a fascinating read, which has an energy both to the parts, and to the book overall.'

- Anne Massey, Middlesex University, UK

'The essays gathered together in this volume demonstrate the ways in which the domestic interior was central to the development of modern art. They explore the parameters of the traditional divide between the public sphere and the private interior, pushing at the boundaries of each in productive ways. The range of new perspectives establish the widespread concern with and popularity of the domestic interior in the nineteenth century. The interior emerges as a microcosm, or, in the words of Walter Benjamin, a ‘phantasmagoria,’ of aesthetics, imagination, nationalism, and modernity.'

- Morna O’Neill, Wake Forest University

'This interdisciplinary volume convincingly argues that the domestic interior played a vital role in the development of modern art. Extending the definition of fine art to private decorating practices and their representation, these engaging essays chronicle the importance of the home for nineteenth-century artists, collectors, critics, tourists, and businesses.'

- Elizabeth Emery, Montclair State University