the Bathroom the Kitchen the Aesthetics of Waste Ellen Lupton

•

•

and the Aesthetics of

Waste

TABLE OF CONTENTS

•

ACKNQWU1DGM ENIS

I

V

F OR E WORD Y

INTRODUCTION

The

ProctsSo[Elim

i

nation

1

THE DISCIPLINE OF CONSUMPTION

Housekee

p

in

g

in

the TW(ntieth Centu

ry

11

THE SANITARY CITY

AChronologyo[WaUr. Wasu.

TH E MOD E RN BATtfROOM

OrnQ

mt'U

t.andGrim

e

THE MODERN KITCHEN

At

Home in the

Factory

41

STREAMLINING

The

Aesthetics o[Wasu

~

THE FUTURE

A

RtnewedAtSthtticsofWasu

7

1 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

74

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The

exhibition and

publication were

initiated

by Katy Kline, director of

M IT List Visual

Arts Center

.

The

installation

was directed

by

List Center

preparator Jon Roll. They and their

staff

made this pro

jec

t possible.

Many

individuals

at the

len

cling institutions

shared

their knowledge

and

time,

i

ncluding Kimberly Barta, The American Advertising Museum

;

David Erickson

;

Peter Fetterer, Kohler Company; Don Hooper, Vintage

Plumbing; Dean Krimmel

,

Peale Museum

;

J

.

Duncan Laplante

.

,

Trenton

City

Museum; Russell and Bettejane Manoog, American Museum of Sanitary

Plumbing; Larry Paul and Tod Spence, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company;

Richard Sgritta

,

Museum Village

;

and Stephen van

Dyk and Susan Yelavich,

Cooper

·

Hewitt National Museum of Design.

Our

teachers

at City University of New York Graduate Center provided

ideas and criticism. We thank Marlene Park, Rosemarie Haag Bletter

,

Stu

art

Ewen

,

and

Rosalind Krauss.

Opportunities to present our work at Johns Hopkins University,

University of California, Irvine, and UCLA were

enabled

by

Julia

Reinhard

Lupton and Kenneth Reinhard, who also shared their

insights

on

psychoanylitic

criticism

.

Our parents have taught us about using, cleaning

,

and des

igning

bathrooms and kitchens; we thank

Ma

ry

Jane Lupton a

.

nd

Kenn

eth

Baldwin,

William and Shirley Lupton, and Ruby and Jerry Miller

.

The editors of

Zon

e

Books

published an

ea

rl

y

version of our

essay in

Incorporations

(Zone 6

,

1992

);

their

suggestiOns

helped to shape th

e

project

in its

current fOrln

.

Research

and production

assistance was

provid

ed by

Kamran Ashtary,

Kevin

Connoll

y, Tori Egherman, Gabrielle Esperdy,

Mich

e

ll

e

Miller,

Dina

Rade\ca, and Angela W

ildman.

The printing of

this

book was managed by Suzanne Salinetti and

K

en

n

eth

Milford at Studley Press.

W

e

also thank Kevin Lippert, Princeton

Ar

c

hit

ectural

Press, for his support in cli

stri

buti

.

ng the book.

Many friends and associates

contribu

ted

ideas,

infollnation, and

support,

incl

uding Edward Bottone, Brian

Boyce

,

Ralph Caplan

,

Russe

ll

Flinchum,

Mildred Friedman

,

Elizabeth Marcus

,

Mike

Mills,

Charl

es Nix,

Richard

Prelinger, Jane Rosch,

Ian Schoenher

,

Jennifer Tobias

,

George Tschemy,

Massimo Vignelli, Edward

Wen

cec,

Richard Saul Wurman, and

Gianfranco

Zaccai

.

Finally

,

we thank our colleagues

at

De

s

ign Writing Research and

Cooper.

Hewitt

National Museum of Design for their patience and

s

upport

while we completed this

pro

ject.

Ellen Lupton and

J.

Abbott

Miller

FOREWORD

Design

history

has

been the

stepchild of

in

t

e

llectu

al

history; too of

t

en

it

has focused

e

xclusiv

e

ly

on the f01'1ll or aesthetics of objects

.

This project

is

predicated on the belief that objects

do

not simply exist in a

culture

.

but. permeated as they are with its beliefs. values

.

fears,

and fantasies

,

actually

definei\.

This

exhibition and the publication which accompanies

it

revise the

understanding of

streamlining.

which is widely credited as defining advanced

American design

th

r

ough

the mid

·

twentieth

century. Whereas

the

telln

previously had been seen as

emb

l

ematic

of

speed,

progress

,

and

t

echno

l

ogical

utopianism, guest curators Ellen lupton and

J

.

Abbott

M

iller

connnect the

i

deology and

aesthetics

of

modern

design

to

th

e

human

body

as a metaphor

for the actions and implications of the consumer economy. They have

taken

the

bathroom

and the kitchen,

two

charged

domestic location

s,

as underexamined

paradigms for

critical twentieth-century

design i

ssues

of

both historical and contemporary

importance

.

This look at the inter·

relationship among technology,

form

,

and function

and the personal and

culturally

impo

sed

confrontation with waste is

particula

rly

timely,

as Americans appear final

l

y

to

be confronting the limits of

r

esou

r

ces

and

eco

logical

systems.

This ambitious ventu

r

e

consumed

a

large part of Ellen's and Abbott's

recent life. They embodied the efficiency they were studying, and

wast

ed

no

time or effort in

digesting

large amounts of material

to

produce their

admirably

thoughtful

and articulate reeva

lua

tion of our

intimate relation

sh

ip

to the

domestic landscape

.

I

could

not

be more grateful

for

the

insights

they

have provided

in organizing both

the

exhibition and

the publication

and

perm

itting

me the pleasure oflooking ove

r

their

shoulders.

In

stitutional

and

individual

collec

t

ors generous

l

y allowed

u

s

to borrow

important

objects

despite inconvenient deadlines

.

My

list

Visual

Arts

Center

colleagues stream·

lined the logistics

of a

cumbersome project with

their

customary wise

counsel and

d

eft

profess

ion

alism

.

The

Design Arts

Program of

the

National Endowment

for

the Arts

,

and

the Graham

Foundation,

Chicago believed in the venture at an early

stage

and

provided

both moral and financial support toward its

realization

.

Katy

Kline

Director,

MIT List Visual

Arts

Center

•

AL

•

...

•

illustration from an ad for Sheetrock TIle Board. 19'15. Th. wrfac. of the m<1t.ri;a1 is Impressed with a &rkkted

patum

. off.r

lna

a

tow-COSt

aJter

..

nadv. to ceramic

diu. moutht

to be the most hytienic wan sumce for t».throoms and kit.dlens In

m.

1'1

Os

and 20s. Collecdon Cooper.Hewtu:

Museum.

INTRODUCTION

The Process

0

Elimination

Between

1890

and

1940.

America's

culture of consumption took its

modern form:

products

were mass produced

and mass distributed.

designed to be purchased and rapidly

re

plac

ed by a

vast

bu

ying

public. The

same

period

saw

th

e

rise of the modem

bathroom and

kitchen as newly equipped spaces

for administering

bodily care.

The

ba

t

hroom became a laboratory

for the management of biological

waste

.

from urine and feces to

hair.

p

erspiration.

dead

skin.

bad

breath.

finger

n

ails.

and other bodily

excretions.

The kitchen

be-came a si

t

e

not

on

l

y

for preparing food

b

u

t

for directing household

consumption

at

large

;

the kitchen

door

is

the

chief entryway for

purchased

goods. and the

main

exi

t

point for

vege

t

able parings.

empty

packages

.

leftover meals.

outmoded appliances

.

and

other

discarded products. By

the

phrase

proce

ss

of elimination

we refer to

the

overlapping patterns

of

biological

digestion.

ec

onomi

c

consump-tion.

and

aestheti

c

simplification.

The streamlined sty

l

e

of

modern

design

.

which

served

the new

ideals of

bodily hygiene

and

the

manufacturing

policy of planned obsolescence.

emanated from

the

domestic landscape of the bathroom and

kitchen. The

organically

modeled yet machine

-

made

forms

of streamlined objec

t

s collapsed

the

natu

ra

l

and the artificial

.

the biological a

nd

the industrial.

into

an

aestheti

cs

of

waste.

"When

[industrial designers} tried

to

introduce their new

designs into the sacred American living room,

they were rebuffed at the front door. But they persisted and

finally gained entrance

through the back door.

Their first achievements were in the kitchen, the bathroom,

and the laundry, where utility transcended tradition."

Henry Dreyfuss.

Designingfor People.

I955

( toW York: Simon and Schulttr). 76.

I

Towards the

close

of the nineteenth century. various consumer goods.

from

packaging. appliances. and furniture

to

interior architecture.

began

to

acquire

a

vigorous new physique: the plush fabrics

.

carved moldings. and

intricate

decorations

of

Victorian domestic objects were rejected as dangerous

breeding grounds for germs

and

du

st

.

giving

way to non.porous materials.

Hush

surfaces

. and

round

ed edges

.

This ·process

of elimination"

found

its

most extreme expression

in

the

streamline styling

of the

1930s.

which

bor·

rowed

the conical

·teardrop·

from aerodynamics and applied

it

to countless

immobile objects.

from industrial equipment to

e

l

ectric

waffle irons. Stream·

lining used

bulbous forms with tapered

ends

and graphic ·

speed whiskers·

to

invok

e

the rapid movement of an object through air or water. The mech·

anical

devices of the industrial

age.

their

e

l

ements

assembled with visible

nuts. bolts

.

belts.

and gears.

surrendered

to the new

id

ea

l

of the object as a

continuous

.

organic body.

its

moving parts hidden behind a seamless

shell.

appearing to

be

molded out of a

s

ingl

e

piece of material.

We

suggest

that the Huid modeling of

streamlined

forms reHected the

period

'

s

twin

obsessions with

bodily

consumption

and

economic

consumption.

Streamlining was born of modern America's intensive focus on waste:

on the

one

hand.

its

fascination with new products and regimes

for

managing

the intimate

pr

ocesses

of

biological consumption.

from food

pr

eparation

to the disposal of human waste. and on the other hand. its euphoric celebra·

tion of planned obsolescence and an economy dependent on a cycle of

continually discarded and

r

ep

l

enished

merchancJjse. Streamlining perfOllUed

a surreal

conHation of the organic and the mechanical:

its

seamless

skins

are

Huidly curved

yet rig

idl

y

impervious

to

dirt

and

moisture. The molded forms

of

streamlining yie

lded

an

excretory

aesthetic. a material

celebration

of

natural and cultural digestive

cycles.

•

Model1ndultrial desial"l"" office. Installed In the Metroponan Museum 01

Art.

1934: lee

Simonson Vld FUymond loewy. The dramatic

stnamlinin&

of

thi$ Int.rior miaht e.Qt(. an

elepnt octan IInel' Or •

s-cle"'tlsl's

labontory,

yet iu sources also lie in the mundane.

feminized modernism of the bathroom and

kitchen

.

The

carved

Plnellin"

h

eavy

drapery

.

and rich carpets of the tradidonal e)cKuuve suite tuve ,iven way to conc1nuous cabinets. built·in fixtures., non·porous surfaces.

a.nd curved

'0""$

typial f.~wr.s of the modem bathroom and kltehen.

Coune.sy Metropolitan Museum of An.

Abov •. streamlined

household

appliance •• ~dvertiJed by Universal In 1940. 2 I

k

bcsc

r

r nc

8nhroom. Idnrtlsed by Natlon.ll Sanitary

Manufacturina: Company

.

1

910

.

This

i

nterior

renects the eme",inc idul or the bathroom

as

an overtly Industrial ensemble or hyeienlc equipment.

The flamboyant product designs of the

1930S

were

preceded

by the more

anonymous modernism of the bathroom and kitchen, which

earlier

had begun to

r

eplace

heterogeneous

collections

of domestic

eqwpment

with

continuous, coordinated ensembles, designed to administer a new

technological

regime

of bodily

care,

The bathroom as an architectural space did not exist prior to the late

nine·

teenth

century. In the

pre·p

lumbing

era

,

America

'

s

reluctant bathing

customs revolved around portable

containers

tubs

.

pails

,

chamber

pot

s

, and

washstands-which were used in the kitchen or bedroom. As modem

plumbing coordinated the delivery and removal of water and waste from the

home

.

the

toilet

and tub assumed a necessarily fixed position in the home:

they becamefixturts

.

While early plumbed bathrooms maintained the

decorative features of traditional domestic

spaces

draperies

.

carpets. carved

details-the "modem

"

bathroom

emerged

at the turn of the

century as an

overtly

industrial ensemble of

porcelain-enameled equipment, with white

.

washable

surfaces

that reflected contemporary theories of hygie

.

ne

.

The modernization of the kitchen followed that

of

the bathroom

.

whose

aesthetic of obsessive cleanliness resonates in the non· porous materials

used

for

kitchen Boors

.

walls. and work

surfaces

in the

1910S

and

20S,

and in

the gradual

s

hift

from free·standing appliances and

s

tora

ge

units to

boxy

,

built

·

in forll1S. Like the

bathroom,

the modem kitchen

came

to favor

fixllmls

over furniture

:

the

slender

legs

s

upporting

individual

units were absorbed

in

to

monolithic. built·in

slabs

which linked mechanical devices

to

work

and

storage cabinets. The modem kitchen emulated the unforgiving

sparkle

of

the bathroom: it also reflected the production ideal of the modern factory,

whose linear

sequence

of work

sta

t

ions enabled

an unbroken flow of activity

.

This norm, which we call the

continuous

kitchen

.

was established by the

end

of the

1930S

and remains powerful

toda

y.

A ··simple hYlienic kitchen,·' shown in the eJite shelter ml,uine Houn and Gordf:n. 1907,

The

ctrlm

i

c

tile

Wills and

floor of

this cosdy

yet sputan kitchen reflect the

hY&i

t

n

ic:

<-oncerns or the modem buh,..oom. Courtesy

House

otWI

Gorden.

copyrl,ht 1907 (renewed

1935 by The Conde~Nast Publications Inc.).

..

"Modern commercial

art

can

be termed ... the art of

elimination,

the

aim of which

is

to

convey the

idea intended as quickly as

po

ssi

bl

e. "

Above, paclui,ed produ«s. 1895· 1940. t~

On

the-

tilt

or

corporalc

food

indus,rk •

.

1ft Alfml D.

ChandJer.

The

Visthk HQM: n.. M.~ Rnoolutio" i"

Nnt:nc

""

B.rnrteSS (Cambridge

Tht Bdk:J1ap

Pr

ell

of Harv;a

rd

University Prrss.

'977)

.

On

tIu:

AUk) ian did. S« Harvty A. l.evtn· tlt'in, RevofutWlft (,1.1 ,"" r.ok (New Yo<Ic; o.(0Id

Univcrsiry

Pre

n.

'

988)

.

•. On

tIu:

(nd ....

ttbJ

dcsi&n

profession.

set Arthur PuIo<. Amcri(o."

OQ;ign

Elhlc (cambridge MIT Pr~5. 198J).

Richud Franken :md Carroll 8. lat~bee. Pach p ,,.,,, StU ( ~ York: H:IIf-pet' and Brothers. '9::l8).

The

cha

nges

in kitchen design were preceded

by

the rise of food

packaging

,

a

phenomenon

which accelerated

in

the [880s and

soon

domina

ted

urban and

subu

.

rban

grocery sa

les

acros

s

the US.' The food

package

encloses

the

product in

a

smooth

,

continuous skin,

giving

the organic

,

s

hapeless

substance inside

a clear geometric shape

.

The

package

resists

dirt

,

air,

and moisture

,

sealing ofT the

prod

uct

within

,

just as the shells of modern kitchen

cabinetry and

ap

pliances

would later enclose

the

tool

s

and materials of

the

kitchen behind

a

seamless surface.

Packaging was a major force in the shift

from loca

ll

y·based agriculture to corporate

food production around

th

e

tum of the

~

century,

B

y

[9[0,

many brands names which

An O

l

d Fash

i

oned Grocery Store

rema

I

n

"hou

s

eho

l

d wo

rds"

today were

th

e

trade marks of nationally distributed

products,

including

Quak

er Oals,

Kellogg's

Toasted Cornftakes

,

Heinz

Ketchup

,

and Campbe

ll

's Soup

.

Such

manufactured personalities eased

the

transition

between

the traditional

food

store

and the modem retail outlet

,

where

packaging

rep

l

aced

th

e

shopkeeper

as the

interface between

consumer and

produ

ct,

endowing

products with

a

graphic

identity

and a corporate ad

d

ress

held

accountable

for defective

goods

.

Packaging

provided

a model for the early industrial

design profession

,

whose

pioneers

extended the

principles

of advertis

i

ng and

packaging to

the

produ

ct itself.

The redesign of an object in the

1920S

and

30S

commonly

involved its externa

l

package rather

than

its wo

r

king parts.

To

·streamline

"

a

product often meant

to

enclose

it

with a hard new shell

.

n

BU

Y.

t.,,~~

,<:I

"'I$:,~

T()

E

A

T.

E"",,(

!:.

"":'

"

-.eASILY

TNE

:=...:

:.... _

_ _

_

_

_

---.J

4

Ad for Quaker Oats, c.1898. ln the 1880s. new

techniques for

m

U

lln,

,ra

i

ns

resu

l

ted

I

n

I

surptus of lOme

prod

u(tJ-.

Indudin.

wtme.l.

which

q

ukldy sawn-ted

iu

dny market. Henry P. Crowell, whose business later

became the Quaker Oats Company, shipped his product to 5l0r.s in Ittractively decorated paperboard contaiMra.., which seNed to explain the us. of the ,ray and

shape-leu substl~e within. The brukfut cereal lndunry

was

efreeth'e), "lnvtf'lted" tn the late nineteenth century

(Ch."dler).

1920

1911

I

_•

"".multiplicity

being the

essence

of

confusion,

the designer will

endeavor

to

eliminate

or combine

parts,

supports,

or excresences

whenever possible."

Raymond L~')'. Never teo",

W

e"

E"~wgh Atom (NC'w York: Simon and SchultC'r. 1951). 1 11.

A Modern Grocery Store

The scenes ~bove. from a 1928

pack.,in& textbook. were likely

na.ged (or a tttde

exhibition

.

Hor. than iust pac.kqin, disdntuishes the

brl&hl modern sto,.. at r1Jht (rom

the dlno old.fuhioned one at left. with lu sawdust Roor. wood·burnin,

stove, unuvory do,. ilnd morally

suspect kel

0'

hard cider. The lab·

(oated work.r above no lon,er deals

with

CuStomers (cartons have

uk,n

her place). but Instead spends his time stockinl shelves with packa,ed loods.. From Pocko,cs thot Sell.

Streamlining

metaphorically invoked

a body

gliding

through

Auid

;

it also served to

accel-erate a

product

through the cycle of

purchase

a

.

nd disposal,

stimulating sa

l

es and hastening

the replacement

of objects

not

yet worn out.

The

built-in

disposabiJity of

food packaging

became a

paradigm

for consumer goods

more genera

ll

y

in

the 1920S

and

30

s

. extend

-ing a

logic of

digestion

to durable object

s.

The policy

of 'planned obsolescence

"

pictured

the economy

itself

a

s

a

"

body

:

whose health depends

on a continual cycle

of production

and waste

.

ingestion and

excretion

.

Advertising became a crucial

lubricant

for keeping this

cycle regular. emerging as a

powerful

partner

of mass distribution in the

early twentieth century.

Although

it raised

the cost of conducting business, advertising

WaS defended as a laxative

for

hastening the

Aow of goods through the economy

.

Adver

·

tising created

desire for new products and

generated emotional

differences

between

otherwise indistinguishable ones

.

It

helped

spread

the

emerging standards of

hygiene,

housekeeping

,

and nutrition by promoting

new

products that promised

access to

the rigorous

ideals of modem bodily care.

Riehl. ad for 8a.b·O. 1918. While the

(echnol0lr of the modern kltehen

and bathroom promised to sav.

labor, itt rin was accom~nied by

fncnaslng standard, of clunUn.:u

and a ,rowin, InventOry of produ(t$

for achievin, IL Abo ..... from II series of dnw

-I

n,s

by

Raymond

loewy, 1934. showln, the evolullon of pro-dueu towards

pro,ress

l

,.,ely

simpler. yec atways chan,ln&. (orms..

The desl,"s have

addressed the ut.riot"

j»Itka,.

of tht product nther tMn lu techno'oIY.

5

_r'llC1

_r"

_3tenaal

"Goods fall into two classes, those which we

use,

such as motor cars and safety razors, and those which we

use up,

such as tooth paste

or

soda bisquits.

Consumer engineering must see to it that we use up

the kind of goods we now merely use.

"

Ernest Elmo Calkins, 1932

INCOME

R,w

Motcti.1

Prod.ec ..

" Con,.",.,.

T,odc

EaoplO'l'tt, ..

Con_

Mttcri.l.

Th.

Conl.IIIO'

buys

6

Oillram. "OM Conwmption Expenditure Surts Han), Ineome

C),dH." 1934. from a ,ovemment repon. This fractal.Jike dl..,-am

shows how every producer is i.lso

a consumer.

"

... we

have

learned

that

the way

to break

the vicious deadlock of a

low

standard

of living

is to spend freely

,

and

even

waste

creatively.

"

Christine Frederick,

1929

A

·consumer eco

nom

y" sells

manufactured goods to a large populace through

high.volume

p

r

oductio

n.

making

in

d

ivi

dual

i

tem

s

cheaper

b

y selling a

greater

numbed

American designers

a

nd advertiser

s in

the

1920 S

and

30S

used

the t

erm ·co

n

s

umption

" i

n r

e

f

erence t

o

·

durab

les" s

u

ch as

radios

.

furniture

,

and clothing;

th

e

term

'

s

more literal reference, however

,

is to

th

e

food

cycle

:

to

consume is

to

de

v

our

.

to

eat

in a voracious

,

gluttonous manner

.

To

'consum~"

an object

is

to d

estroy

it in th

e

p

r

ocess o

f

im

pl

em

e

ntin

g

it

.

as

fire

"

consumes" a

fore

s

t.

The

advertisi

ng

executive Ernest Elmo

C

alkins

wrote

in

1932

that

an urgent task of marketing

i

s

t

o

make people

·use

up"

product

s

that they

fo

rmerly 'used

":

car

s

and

safety ra

zo

rs

must be

consumed

like

tooth

pa

s

t

e

or

soda

bisquits.

4

_Calkin

_s

_{thus compared the}

_co

_ntinu

_al

movement of goods

through

the

eco

n

omy

with

human

digestion

.

To cons

um

e

is

t

o

ingest

and

expel. to take in

and la

y

waste. I

t

i

s

a

process

of

elimi

nat

io

n

.

Gi

ving

voice

t

o the

e

tho

s

of

di

s

po

s

al

.

the

domestic

theori

s

t Chr

istine

F

r

e

d

erick em

p

loyed

th

e

oxymoronic tel

III

"c

r

eative

waste" at

th

e e

nd

of

t

he

1920S

to

describe

th

e

housewife

'

s

moral obligation to

rh

ythmica

ll

y

buy

and discard

product

s

.5

H

er

phra

se 'creative

waste

"

eleva

ted

the garbage of

consumer

culture into a for

III

of

po

sitive

production

,

valuing

the

destruction

and

r

ep

l

acement of

obj

ects as

a p

l

easurable

and

socially instrumental ac

t.

Fr

e

derick

and other

promoters

of

con

s

um

erism

conceived

of

'

waste"

no

t

merely as

an

incidental

b

y·p

rodu

c

t

,

a

final

r

esi

du

e, of

the

cons

umpti

on cycle.

but as a

generative

,

n

ecessary

force. In the

consumer eco

nom

y

. '

production

"

find

s a

pl

ace

in

side

th

e

proc

ess

of consumption. a

cycle

that reiterate

s

the

body

'

s

own

fOJ til

o

f

"creative waste," excrement.

R

eflecti

n

g

and reinforCing the

co

n

sumer

culture's positive valuation of

waste was the

sh

i

fl of

coo

k

i

ng

.

bathing

.

and

d

efecating

from position

s

o

f

i

n

visibility

to dominance in the

home

.

Form

erly releg

ated

to the

ce

llar.

exiled

to

th

e

outhouse.

o

r

merged with the

bed

r

oom,

th

ese

functions carne

t

o

command the

mo

s

t

expens

i

ve

and

t

ech

n

ologica

ll

y a

d

vanced

f

eatures of

the

}

.

~

idto

l

og)

'

of consum~,hm

is

5UIlumrizr!d and c~~bra.tcd in Daniel

J

.

Boorstin. "Wclcortlt to the Consumpoon Community,- FortWJlt,u (1961); 11S.}8.

On social critKJUC$ of c:onJumco:mm. 5ee O~nid Horowitz.. 1l&c MoraJiry

of

Sptrtdirtg: AJlir"da Toword lhe CO"llolMC"r

SOf.Ia)' in Ama1c(.l. ,87j'ISHo CBaltimo~: Johns Hopkins University Pins. 1~5).

For ~ays on t.he devt:lopment of

American consumerism. see T. JOickson wrs. C'd.. The

C

ult

ure

of

Ccmllnnpcion; Cn'Jic-al £uays in A1tIt1'iton HUIory.

,8&0-1980 (Ncw York: Pant.heon. 1C)8}).

On Khobrly approaches 10 lh( origins and intcprctllt:ion o( con!lwnprion. Stt G~nt McCnckc.-n. CwrlolJ't and

Co

,

u

u

mp-lion: Ntw Ap~ Ie rhe

Symbolic

CAanaatr

a/Good!

fJtUI

Acdviw, (Bloom· ington: Indi",na University Press. 1C)88,.

AL Ie r recr

<4.

Co

n

sulnCT

£ngin«ring. A

N

ew Ttc

hn

;qucjor

PhD""ir,. Roy Sheldon :md Egmont Arens. (New Yoric:; Harper and Brolhm. 191».

p

.

So ChristiM Frtdt':rid. SeU,n, Mrs..

Con,-u

""

,.

CNew YOI The Business Bourse.

'

9

2

9)

.

81

.

Diagram. 1918. showing the expan.Jon of the kitchen and bathl'OOm: "The mKhanical core of the home has bec:ome inc:reu·

In"y

complex

and all essential."

6

.

R.,...

8a.nham.

n.e

An:"itahtrc

of'M

Wdl·

'mtptnd EIlr.'irol1·

mast (Chic.ago:

Uni\(

l

s

it

yof

Chicago Prrss. 1969· 1!)8~). 9· , . Sigmund Freud. TIt'" Fuoyson the

n.-y

o

fs....l

i',

CNew York: Basic

Bool<o. 196.).

)9"7

2_•

117I/Ilf

m-' aH

n ••

I

'"

I N •

•

•

•

,it

~

" N ... p I

I , IN' 0,.. ''''. - . '''.''!''I WII • .,.., ._

I • • • r •• , hi"' ..... ". .. _ . 100"" 1"b, ... W'f . ...

,

':1.

AI. ~jp.,.;""

...

r..,.,., ... ..

~.kr I .... ~. 1Ij:k. PJfl" 1t4 .... kMI ... _ad ...... ...1" ... __ """'''' , FC , lIP

modem dwelling,

thei

r

discip

l

ined aesthetic radiating outward as

a standard

for the res

t

of the home and its inhabitants

.

The new governance of the

house by the marginalized functions of the bathroom and kitchen reflected

a shifting

re

l

ation

s

hip

between architecture

and wha

t

Reyner Banham bas

called

"

another

culture," comprised

of p

l

umbers and

consulting engineers

-a

culture

'

so

alien that most architects held it beneath contempt

"

Banham

describes

a historical rupture in

the discourse of design in the

eighteenth

century that divorce

d

the

"

art

"

of architecture from the making and operating

ofbuildings

.

6

We add

to

Banham

'

s second

culture the

consumers

often

female

who

increasingly

came

to influence the

shape

of domestic

space;

the modem

technologies

of

consumption

directly address women

'

s role

in

domestic Life, a fact which both empowers and manipulates them.

In

his essay

on

"

I

nfantile Sexuality

,"

Freud

suggests

that during a child

'

s

developmen

t

,

the

sexual

zones move from mouth to anus to genita

l

s:

th

.

e

body

is

an open,

relational

field to be mapped and remapped into regions of

desire

)

Although

the genitals commonly

are

viewed as the

"natural

,

'

healthy

focus of

sexual

life

,

the mouth and the anus are the initial

sites

of

erotic

pleasure. De

s

ire, Freud argued

,

l

eans on

the

alimentary

functions

;

desire

always works in

conjunction with-and

in excess of

-

need

,

w

h

ich

lends

it energy

and justification. Desire latches on to the biologically vital functions

of

digestion

;

at the

same

time, physica

l

needs

are

transformed

by

their

collaboration with desire, and can never

again

be reduced

t

o simple utility.

We

s

uggest that twentieth·century design

gradua

ll

y

articu

l

ated the

bathroom an

d

kitchen

as the erotogenic zones of the

d

omestic body. While

the parlor or living room is the

home

'

s

symbolic

heart

-

its

"

proper"

architectural

focus-this center was displaced by the utilitarian regions of

the bathroom and

ki

t

chen, which

became

concentra

t

ed zones for built

·

in

construction details

,

costly

appliances,

and on

·

going maternal maintenance

.

8

In

the

anatomy

or

the

conventlo~1

mlddle .. <lass home.. the front of the

buildin, is the symbolic, expressive

face. marked by a uremoniAI

entl'1nce: the (utKtJOMI open1na of

most homes

.

however,

1$

the

back

door. a va've which serves as both mouth and anus . ... eelvin, and e)(~II. in, aoods and servkes.

Left. perspective and plan

of house

offered by the Chkago Millwork Supply H ... , "11.

The new

sta

nda

rds

for personal

an

d

domestic

bygiene.

born

out of

scien

t

ifically

·

based

h

eaIth

refor

illS.

rapidly

exceeded

the demand

s

o

f

utility

;

the functional "need

"

for

dean bodies and

clean houses

has fed the

c

ultur

e

of

consumption.

b

y

mapping

out

the human and

architectural body

as

a

marketplace for

an endless

l

y

regenerating

inven

t

ory of

produ

cts.

)

u

s

t

as

sexual

pleasure is propped on the

u

tilitaria

n pr

ocesses

of

di

gestion

.

the

res

tl

ess

d

esire

for new goods builds upon the

fe

t

ishlzed routines surroundi

n

g

biological consum

ption

.

In her

r

eading of

M

arx's Capital.

Elaine Scarry

d

escribes the

relation

of

manufactured goods

to the

human

body

as

a relation of

reci

pr

ocity

:

every

artifact

recreates

and

exte

nd

s

the

bod

y.

In

a

zero·degree

state of

p

roduction

,

human

beings

con

s

ume

o

nl

y e

nougb

fuel

t

o regenerate their

phy

s

ical

ti

s

sue

s.

The body takes

in

food in order

t

o

build and maintain

it

s

own

structure

;

the

organism

it

se

lf

is

the

p

roduct, yiel

d

ed

through the process of

consump

·

tion.

Production at a more advanced

sta

t

e in

v

olves co

n

s

um

ing a broade

r

range

of

materi

als

in

ord

er

to further

exten

d

the

bod

y:

chairs

supplemen

t

the

skeleton

,

tool

s

append the

hand

s, clothing augments

the

skin

.

Fur

n

iture

and

h

ouses

are neither more nor

less

in

terior to

the

human

body

than the

food

it

absor

b

s

,

nor

are they

fundamentally different from

such

so

p

h

i

sticate

d

prosthetics

as arti6dal

lun

gs. eyes

,

and

kidneys

.

8

The

con

s

ump·

tion

of manufactured things turns the body

ins

id

e

out

,

opening

it

up

to

and

as

the culture of objects

.

For

th

e

product world of the

ear

l

y

twentieth

c

e

ntury

,

hum

a

n

digestion

served as a

m

e

taphor

for

th

e economy as

well a

s

a

t

err

it

ory

t

o b

e

co

l

oniz

e

d

and

r

ewritten

b

y

a wealth of new commodities. The consumerist body

inges

t

s

and

expel

s

not

o

rtl

y

food-th

e

prototypical ob

j

ec

t

of con

s

umpti

on-b

ut

the

fu

ll

range of

images

and objects that

pa

ss

through the

cycle

of manufacture

,

pur

cha

se

,

and

di

sposa

l.

In thi

s

proces

s

oJeli

minal

ion

,

th

e

body

i

t

self is remade.

8

.

EI .. ine Sarry. n.e ~ in All ... :

1M

}.fQ,king

"

rut

Unlftdti-"loJtltt

WMd

(NC"I" York:: Oxford University

.

... 198S)

·

The presence of hen and water in the

nintc. •• nth·century "itch," made blIthin& and

(ookil'\l natural partners untU modern standard, of hy,iene demanded ;a spe<i;a.ized laboratory

for uch function. At the same time. however. the

Internal anatomy of plumb'n, ties

the

twO

spaces

totemer

,

lus( as eUln, and d.read", are linked

in

me

human aniolomy by

me

serpentine (ubin,

of

the

alimentary

c

anal.

The

me

chan

ica

l

core

o

f

the home has become a concentrated sit.

(o

r

expens-ive

and

sophiscic:ated

technologies-

.

Above. ad

(or

a

w

ln"

,

system, 1936,

R

iehl.

Runl

wJ'ler

supply,

1906.

•

..

..

• • • • • 10

THE DISCIPLINE OF CONSUMPTION

Housekeeping in the Twentieth Century

The modem

home

i

s

a site

for what Foucault

has called

the

'

disciplines"

;

the

schoo

l

,

hospital

,

prison, and factory

exert a subtle yet pervasive control

over body

and mind

by

articulating

architectural

spaces

and devising

routines

for inhabiting them

.

!

While Foucault

'

s "disciplines

'

mold what he

calls

"docile"

bodies

,

which

willing

l

y submit

to

the

rigors of factory

labor

or

military

service,

the modem home molds

consumeri

s

t

bodies,

trained to

embrace

the

logic

of

the

consumer

economy and

its

cycle

of ingestion and waste

.

As the

setting

for physical

sustenance

and hygienic

care

,

the

kitchen and

bathroom-~

and the product worlds they frame are

crucial

to

intimate

bodily

experience

,

helping

to

form

an

individual's

sense

of

cleanliness

and filth, taste and distaste

,

pleasure

and

shame

,

as

well as his or

her expectations

about gender and

the

conduct

of domestic duties

.

The modem kitchen

and

bathroom

emerged

in a period

when the notion of the American

"

home

'

was under

question

by

designers, domestic

theorists, socia

l

critic

s

, and

others

.

Who would

control

domestic cooking and cleaning?

Would the kitchen remain the private province of

Catharine 8ee<:her advocated

the housewife, or would

it

be

tended

by central services?

functional interior des'"" as a means

for preservin, the autonomy of the sin,le-family. sin,le-income suburban

dwellin,. set in a picturesque ,arden

and sclentlflcalty arnnted to minimize

the nud (Of' paid heJp. Su Catharine

Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Americon

Woman's HOrM

(Hartford.

CT; Stowe-Day Foundation. 1985;

firtt published 1869).

The nineteenth

century

had witnessed th

e

gradual

industrial

·

ization

of

agriculture, weaving,

sewing

,

furniture· making

,

and

othe.r

traditionally domestic fo.rms

of

manufacture.

While men went to work for wages, women found their time

increasingly committed to the purchase and care of

merchandise. For the male employee

,

the home became a

sanctuary

from the pressures of production, while for women

it became an isolated

si

t

e

for the

economically

devalued

yet

demanding labors

of

consumption

.

left. ad for

Purline Soap.

1892,

"It ~s

1M unmistakable rendency of modem

economic

and industrial

progress

to

take

out of

1M home all

the

processes of manufacture

..

.

One thing after another has been taken, until only

cooking

and

cleaning

are left and neither oftMse .

.

.Ieaves results behind

to

reward

the

worker as did ... spinning, weaving and soap making. Whal

is

cooked one

hour is

eaten

1M

next;

1M

cleaning of one day must be

repeared

1M

next,

and the

hopel

essness

of

it

all

has sunk

into

women's

souls:

Ellen Richards,

"Housekeepi

ng

in the Twentieth Century;

1900 American KlJdttn Mapz.int Vol. XlI 0. 6 (March 1900): 10).

ALtCLr

rcer

I, MI he! Fouault.

Oisdplillt Imd Pulllill:

The

Bink

ofw

Pri,. •.

A!.n Slworichn

.

trans.

t

ew

York:

Ran

do

m

H

OUR.

'

979)

·

2. 8)' ·consuml>" tion.~ we m~ not

o

n

1)

'

to

th

r

pllT· dum

o

f g

oods

.

b

ut

also

to ~r usr

a

nd

d

isposa

l.

Simibr!y. bi o-logic! cons

ump-tion

invo

l

ves noc

o

nl

y

lh

r

a

ct of

r

at

l

ng.

but

also

d

igestion

and ucrrtion. The ptW'Its or implemrnting. cl~aning. 5t':rvK' ing. and dis· allding

a

n

obj«t art" all ph.a.K'S in

its consumption.

). F~i,h M liley. "Tht . Sci~ct'

of

Consumption:

Jo"'nwJ of

Home

Ecortomia Vol. XII

NO. 7 (Ju1y 1910):

)11')18.

An

alternale mode

l

of

dom

esticity

proposed

to

open up the

endosed sanctuary of the home

to

the commun

i

ty at IargeJ

"

Hom

e econom

i

cs: esta

bli

s

hed

as an academic discipline in

the 189os. sought to

forge

a

"science"

of consumption that

would train women to

s

pend

their time and money efficiently

.

and ultimately

to

turn t

h

e

ir dome

stic

skills outward into

the

community.

4

They promoted

public

sanitation.

transportation

.

and

h

ealth

programs as

"mu

nicipal

housekeeping

.

" and

established settlemen

t

hou

ses

as model

homes

in

poor immigrant neighborhoods.

Rather

than

confine the feminine arts and

sciences

to

intimate

family

lif

e.

they

s

aw domesticity as an instrument for universalizing the

values of

th

e

midd

l

e-c

l

ass home (Wright 1980)

.

One spokesman fOf" the home

economics movement wrote in 1915. "In a sound proa.ram of socbJ

construction

tM streets and

pa.rks and car.llnes will be all looked upon as elements in the problem of

domestic houukeepin,." Edward T. Devine.. "The Home ... Journo' o( Home Economics. Vot VU No. 5 (Hay I9IS):

11 1-12~.

Above

.

photo

sttll>

from

a

LYJoI ad. "howln, uses In the bathroom.

kitche.n. l.aundry. and medicine cabinet.

1

939

.

Some femini

sts

and progressive home economists

predicted

the

centralization

of major housekeeping tasks through the establishment of

commun

ity

services (Hayden

1981)

.

Looking to the precedent of trains. ships

.

and

luxury hotels. reformers

saw

the potential

to

conduct housekeeping on

an

ind

u

stria

l

scale.

After

WWI

.

howev

er.

the model of

private

housekeeping

was reaffirmed as the American nOtlll.

Many

political and

business

leaders

wanted to

di

scourage

women from competing with men

for

wages. partic

-Some of the most sil"Hicant im·

provemenu in housekeepi", techno -logy Ineluding (he washing machine.

the medlanieal refrl,erator. and the vacuum cleaner-appeared In commercia.l senlnes before

becom-ing cheap and portable enough for

m:us p¥oducdon and private use. The laundry bus-lness Is an eJeample of a successfully c.entraUud

housekHpin, service that was

eclipsed by auressively marketed household appUances. A vital

commercia.l laundry industry rose In

the 1840s and grew steadily until the Great Depression: it re,aJned strength brieRy after WW-U and then plummeted-perhap" for good In the I 950s. when the privately owned ... ashln' machine beame a h.aUmark of de-centralized suburban ttle.

See Fred DeArmond. The loundty

Industry (New York: Harper and

B

rothers.

I ~SO).

RI,ht. wuhin, machine. 1939.

12

ular

l

y with

returning

veterans. Private home ownership was

seen

as a way

t

o create happy. mortgage-burdened and thus

stri

ke-proof

workers. while

in

the same stroke increasing

the

consume

r

base for mass produced goods (Hayden 1984)

-The perfection of the sma

ll

e

l

ectric motor

e

nabled

the

design of mechan

i

cal

appliances for home use

.

many of them

manufactured-and heavily advertised-by gas and

electric

utilities

in searc

h

of ways to

sell

more

pow

er.5

..

.

O

n

I

h

e

history

or

dOIllC!llk

morm

~ts. see l)alorn H:l~--dt:n. The GnlIId Domnrk RII:~wdort: A

Hi

s

tory

of

FlI:rtli"w JXsigrl5for Atnt1'ic4"

H

oma.

N~s. "nd UlltS ~Cambridge MIT Prn.s.

'!)S'): Dolo ... Hayek-n. Rc""'1r1"1l

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