Unfolding the Screen

Studying the history of American design and furniture from the lens of Asian aesthetics is a complex area of study because the objects and their living spaces can only be understood by tracing their connections to often invisible cultural dialogues and practices. Within such a dense framework, this article examines one ubiquitous furniture form: the movable screen. From the earliest surviving screens in China, dating to the eighth century, to examples made in California in the late nineteenth century, the screen form embodies multiple roots and usages and is intrinsically and socially valuable when compared with Western-style furniture. The designs for screens that traveled from China to American houses are emblematic of how foreign aesthetics are translated: through discourses on fashion, the invention of new designs, the exchange of raw materials, and the formation of transcultural dialogues. These translations created both a distance and a familiarity between the archetypical Chinese screens and their modern American variants.