Microcosmic reveries: Narcissa Thorne's miniature period rooms

Abstract

Narcissa Thorne's Miniature Period Rooms and miniatures as an object are overlooked within Art History. Miniatures should hold a place within the history of Decorative Arts due to the nature of the original intentions of their creation and display in Western civilization and design. Beyond misconceptions of historical predecessors, miniatures explore a psychoanalytic relationship to the microcosm and displacement of desire within creators, collectors, and viewers of this unique form of decorative art. Previous research on the study of the Thorne Miniature Period rooms and related subjects is sparse to non-existent. Particularly with the subject being relegated to that of an effeminate hobby, rather than a legitimate and complex artform that presents a mode for unique self-expression and opportunities form education and validation. In researching this subject I rely on methods of psychoanalysis and the writings of Susan Stewart, a literary philosopher who speaks extensively on scale and the psyche of the human mind. This is explored after an in-depth histography of miniature forms and understanding of the ideation and fabrication that went into the production of the Thorne Miniature Period Rooms. Contrary to what is often assumed of miniatures as simply toys, in fact the object has been primarily witnessed in largely adult, feminine social spheres. Narcissa Thorne participated in a form of self-expression of her potential desires for control, suspension of time, intellectual exploration and validation by her contemporaries. A form of self-expression that has continued today and has only grown in popularity of viewers, collectors, and creators.