A Space In Between:
Material Enclosures for the Women of New Orleans, 1850-1870
Courtney Leigh Ahlstrom
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Arts in the History of Decorative Arts
Masters Program in the History of Decorative Arts
The Smithsonian Associates and Corcoran College of Art + Design 2012
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Between Public and Private Spheres: Establishing Feminized Space 3
Chapter 2 A Place of One’s Own: The Patronage of Baroness Pontalba 22
Chapter 3 Taking to the Streets: Women in the Public Sphere 40
Epilogue New Orleans as an Imagined Space: Nostalgia for Hoopskirts and Iron Lace 61 Endnotes 74
Bibliography 86
Illustrations 97
List of Illustrations
1. Kansas Southern Railway System, “Southern Belle,” c.1940 2. Painting by Edgar Degas, Woman Seated on a Balcony, c.18723. Watercolor by Marie Adrien Persac, 2306 Esplanade Avenue, March 12, 1860 4. Photograph of 600 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans
5. Photograph of 600 Esplanade Avenue detail, New Orleans 6. Print by Luther Homes, Verandah, c.1860
7. Hoop Skirt, 1868 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 8. Hoop Skirt, c. 1865 from Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
9. Sketch by Alfred Rudolph Waud, Woman Holding Up Skirt, c.1856, New Orleans 10. Evening Gown by Madame Olympe, c.1865
11. Evening Gown by Madame Olympe, c.1866
12. Cartoon, “Dress and the Lady,” August 23 1856, Punch
13. Cartoon by George Cruikshank, “A Splendid Spread,” 1850, Comic Almanack 14. Photograph by Frances B Johnston, Lower Pontalba Building, c.1935
15. Watercolor sketch of G.W. Sully, Place d’Armes, 1836 16. Painting, Micaela de Pontalba, c.1835
17. Daguerrotype, Baroness Pontalba, c.1849
18. Illustration in a guidebook of Paris, Palais Royal Gardens, 1863 19. Photograph Arnold Genthe, Pontalba Buildings, New Orleans, c.1920 20. “AP” monogram, 1995 on the Upper Pontalba Building, New Orleans 21. Painting by Walter Deverell, The Pet, 1852
22, Cover sheet music, “Greetings to America,” c.1850
23. Daguerreotype by Poly Von Schneidau, Nightingale, 1850
24. Lithograph by Louis Lucien Pessou and Benedict Simon, View of Jackson Square, 1851
25.Watercolor sketch, Woman Selling Fruit and Vegetables, 19th century
26. Print by William Henry Brooke, Sale of estates, pictures, and slaves in the Rotunda, New Orleans, 1842
27. Illustration of Act IV in The Octoroon, 1859 by Dion Boucicault 28. Iron Yoke Slave Collar, 19th century
29. Watercolor by Edouard Marquis, Creole Woman with Maid, 1867 30. Print by George Augustus, A Colored Lady of New Orleans, 1882 31. Cartoon, Woman’s Order, July 12, 1861, Harper’s Weekly 32. Photograph, Woman in Spring Fiesta Attire in New Orleans, 1969
33. Photograph by John Gutmann, The Old Town Pralines Mammy, New Orleans, 1937 34. Photograph of Disneyland’s New Orleans Square, 1966
Acknowledgements
I am thankful to my advisor Jennifer Van Horn for her advice and guidance while writing this thesis. This paper would not have been possible without the support of my parents. Lastly, I would like to thank the teachers of Corcoran’s History of Decorative Arts department in providing the foundation for scholarly research from a material culture perspective.
