Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality
Year: 2024
DOI:
[PDF]
Enigmatic Feminism at Eileen Gray’s Villa Tempe a Pailla
Tup Aun Chan
ABSTRACT:
This paper will address the complex interplay of female biographic content and the production of enigmatic architecture, focussing on the life and work of the early modernist architect, Eileen Gray. Gray manifested a new kind of femininity in the architecture world of the 20th century. Her work was extraordinarily avant-garde for the time, and she left a significant mark on both modernity in its 20th century form and has an ongoing impact on the discourse of 21st century feminism in architecture. While most attention has previously focused on Gray’s house ‘E-1027’—the site of her fraught engagement with Le Corbusier (the so-called ‘father’ of modern architecture)—this research will scrutinise the home she designed, built, and occupied after leaving E-1027. This home, ‘Tempe à Pailla’, is far less known and located eight kilometres away in Menton near the French-Italian border. “Architecture is not just about creating physical spaces; it is about creating environments that resonate with the soul and provide a sanctuary for the self.” Eileen Gray. This sentiment captures Gray’s belief in architecture’s ability to create spaces that are not only functional but also deeply personal and reflective of one’s inner world. This paper will investigate the characteristics of both Gray’s biography and the house and will explore the fluid openings of both. To negotiate the interplay between biographic and architectural materialities, Luce Irigaray’s concept of the ‘mucous of the carnal’ is engaged, as well as ‘Orlando’, the novel by Virginia Woolf.
keywords: Feminist Research, Feminist Studies, Femme Invisibility, Gender and Human Rights, Gender and Leadership, Gender and Politics, Gender and Politics, Gender and The Law, Gender and The Workplace, Gender Equality, Gender Gap, Gender Stereotypes, Human Right Issues, Human Right Issues, Men and Masculinities, Politics of Sexuality, Rethinking Sex and Gender, Sexual and Gender Identities, Sexuality Studies