House Proud: Portraits of the American Home

The Wisle family in front of their octagonal home, 1904
September 22, 2017

West Galleries

Curated by Samuel Dodd, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Art + Design, Ohio University

Reception Friday, September 29, 6 - 8 PM

5:15 - 6 PM - Gallery Walk & Talk with Guest Curator Samuel Dodd

House Proud explores the visual culture of homeownership and homemaking within the United States. Selected materials will include photographs from the Kennedy Museum’s collection, archival photographs, historical film and television footage, and a new photo series commissioned specifically for the exhibition. Together, these works offer the first survey of “house proud” portraits, wherein families and individuals position their bodies and belongings within the architecture of their homes. In tracing examples of this pictorial trope through the 19th to 21st centuries, and from Appalachian homesteads to presidential penthouses, House Proud considers how domestic spaces have been central to American ideals of identity, taste, and success.