Behind Closed Doors

An exhibition at Reynolda House Museum of American Art turns toward introspection and personal reflection

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The idea of interior spaces— of contemplative quarters and windows into private lives—is explored at length during an exhibition at Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-salem, North Carolina. Private Life: Domestic and Interior Spaces in Twentieth-century Art guides viewers through the works of nine artists, the earliest a 1906 John Sloan piece and the latest a 1996 Julie Heffernan, with other artists in the show including Milton Avery, Richard Artschwager, Charles Demuth, Betye Saar,yasuo Kuniyoshi,alice Neel and Robert Burkert.the exhibition invites viewers to imagine themselves in these spaces, some utterly mundane, others fantastical, and consider the historic periods in which they were created, from world wars to race and gender conflicts of the 20th century.

While the paintings themselves are all evocative of some aspect of interior

Reynolda House Museum of American Art

life, the physical location for the show contributes to the experience as well, held in the Reynolda House’s Northwest Bedroom Gallery.“as I was thinking of the concept of the show, I really wanted to think about Reynolda House’s history and where it would be located,” says exhibition curator Julianne Miao, curatorial fellow at the museum.“reynolda House is a historic home turned museum.thinking about it as this domestic and interior space that was once the home of a family...but now serves as a place of personal [and historical] contemplation, I was really interested in this idea of domestic, interior spaces.” Miao explains that she began thinking about modernity turning toward interiors in the 20th century, in the wake of the Hudson River School landscapes of the 19th century.

“Artists were turning to interiors as a metaphor for their internal feelings,” Miao says. Memory and nostalgia, themes which she specifically attributes to the Sloan and Avery pieces, are two of the primary topics that guided her through the creation of the

Charles Demuth (1883-1935), Cabaret Interior with Carl van Vechten, 1917. Watercolor, pen and pencil on paper. Courtesy Barbara B. Millhouse.

Richard Artschwager (1923-2013), Table (Two) and Window, 1982. Lithograph printed in black on rag paper. Gift of Jean Crutchfield and Robert Hobbs. Courtesy Reynolda House Museum of American Art, © 2020 The Estate of Richard Artschwager / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Milton Avery (1885-1965), Morning News, 1960. Oil wash on paper. Wake Forest University Student Union Collection of Contemporary Art. © 2020 The Milton Avery Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.