A Published Tête-à-tête

A group chat among a few of our favorite (and unexpected) salonnières spanning five centuries.

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A preview of the conversation: scroll down to read in more detail. For optimal enjoyment, consider viewing on a desktop computer.

In our research we identified that a flourishing salon includes:

SUBJECT MATTER in the form of literature, art, philosophy, politics, current events
LIVE ENERTAINMENT in the form of dance, theater, music, lecture
SUSTENANCE in the form of food and drink
GATHERING in the form of  guests to discuss said subject matter, watch said entertainment, and consume said sustenance
HOSTING AND MEDIATION in the form of   a capable woman; a salonnière

Despite the salon’s etymological origin and association with French society of the 17th and 18th centuries, versions of salonnières can be found all over the world, throughout history. Salonnières bond over hybridities of public and private spheres.

Societal Role → CAREER ^public RECREATION ^private

Bodies of Knowledge → WORLDLY ^public SPIRITUAL ^private

Place → WORK ^public HOME ^private

Distribution of Thoughts and Writing → PUBLICATION ^public DIARY ^private

Salonnières reach across spectrums to hold public spheres in the left hand and private spheres in the right. To pull at both ends is to question binary opposition. To pull at both ends is to evoke both admiration and disrespect. These women are united in their missions, across time and space, as salonnières.

THE WRITTEN WORD

For many significant female authors throughout history, writing in a diary was encouraged as an appropriate feminine pastime, but publishing was scandalous, as it brought a recreational pursuit from the private to the public sphere. It allowed women to earn monetary and cultural value from their thoughts, feelings and ideas, but any positive popularity gained from this endeavor was often coupled with criticism.

Here, we read the direct words of nine women, whose births span five centuries, in homes across the world. Stitched together in dialogue, forming a group chat of adjacencies, they speak of frustrations and delights.

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READ MORE ABOUT SALONNIÈRES →

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salonnières

natalie clifford barney

salonnières

Her literary salon grew out of a tradition of Salonnières, women who subverted their role in private space, to exercise power and influence in the public arenas of culture.

salonnières

SOURCES

On the Margins of History: Outrageous Writing^{Sylvia Sagona}
Liberty^{Lucy Moore}
Daily Rituals: Women at Work^{Mason Currey}
The Enlightenment Salon: The Convergence of Female and Philosophic Ambition^{Dena Goodman}
Public Sphere and Private Life^{Dena Goodman}
Dena Goodman^{University of Michigan}
The Legacy of the Japanese Bluestocking Society ^{Hiroko Tomida}
The Banned 1910s Magazine that Started a Feminist Movement in Japan^{Atlas Obscura}
The Bluestockings of Japan^{Jan Bardsley}
First Dream ^{Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz}
The Answer ^{Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz}
Sor Juana: The First Feminist Lectures ^{Gregorio Lukez}
Oral History Interview with Ray Eames ^{Smithsonian Archives of American Art}
Ray Eames and the Art of Entertaining ^Curbed
Letters and Correspondences^{Elizabeth Montagu}
Letters by Elizabeth Montagu^{Bluestocking Corpus}
Adventures of the Mind^{Natalie Clifford Barney}
The Forgotten LGBT Queen of Paris and Her Secret Masonic Temple^{Messy Nessy}
Temple de l'Amitié^{La Rue Visconti}
The Sun and Her Flowers^{Rupi Kaur}
The Instagram Poet Outselling Homer Ten to One^{The Cut}
May Ziade: The Life of an Arab Feminist Writer Lecture^{Al Jazeera World}
Egypt Awakening in the Early Twentieth Century^{Boutheina Khaldi}

PHOTO CREDITS

Portrait of Germaine de Staël^{Tretyakov Gallery}
Portrait of Dena Goodman^{University of Michigan}
Enlightenment Salons PDF^{Bodega Ltd.}
Seitō Magazine Cover^{Atlas Obscura}
Portrait of Raichō Hiratsuka^{Atlas Obscura}
Seitō Magazine Editors^{Atlas Obscura}
Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz^{Museum of the Americas}
Ray Eames with Flowers^Archilovers
Ray and Charles in the Eames House ^{Eames Foundation}
Portrait of Elizabeth Montagu ^{National Portrait Gallery, London}
Portrait of Natalie Clifford Barney ^{Messy Nessy}
Temple of Friendship Photograph ^{Messy Nessy}
Temple of Friendship Drawing ^{La Rue Visconti}
Portrait of Rupi Kaur ^Rupikaur.com
The Sun and Her Flowers ^{The Story Bookstore}
Portrait of May Ziade ^{Inside Arabia}
Al Bahithat el-Badiya Cover ^Amazon