Stunning Photographs of Kitchens from the 1970s Will Take You Down Memory Lane
Stunning Photographs of Kitchens from the 1970s Will Take You Down Memory Lane
The kitchen is called the heart of the home for good reason — it's the command center of daily life and a magnet for meals, conversation and naturally, stuff! In these photographs, artist Joanne Leonard has captured not only kitchens of a certain era but also that timeless feeling of a hectic, lived-in home that's familiar to us all.
Over her long and prolific career, Leonard has used her work to highlight intimate, often overlooked domestic scenes — laundry day, the breakfast table, a couple watching television. Her images of kitchens, taken in the 1970s, speak to the technology, logistics and creativity evident then and now in the heart of the home.
"I came to understand that many of the women whose kitchens I photographed went to jobs. They weren't entirely in the mode of homemaker," says Joanne, now professor emerita of the school of art and design and the department of women's studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "Some of the technology, like microwaves, was new back then. I was intrigued by what objects and appliances people had."
As we commemorate International Women's Day on March 8, we hope these images — which are part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the International Center of Photography (ICP) — inspire an appreciation of the evolution of kitchen technology and the importance of women in the arts, domestic and otherwise.
Memo Center With Clean House Plaque, CA, 1975
"The sign beside the phone reads 'My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy.' I found that most of the kitchen 'memo centers' I photographed had some sense of contrariness about domesticity," says Leonard.
Untitled
"This is in the Berkeley, CA, home of an artist I knew. I loved being there. It was peaceful and wonderful — they were so organized!"
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"This was a very interesting window display in the kitchen of my neighbors in Ann Arbor, MI. They made puppets, so the puppet hands are part of what you see."
Kitchen, Mrs. Page's Home, Berkeley, CA, 1977
"I liked the way other parts of the room were reflected in the microwave — you could look in one direction and get a sense of the space around it."
Kitchen Table, Watermelon and TV
"I loved everything I saw inside my neighbors' homes that expressed the occupants. The appliances were often similar, but other things, like the small items in the wall niche in this photo, were wonderful special touches."
Progress in Process
Good Housekeeping is proud to be one of twelve Hearst brands partnering with the Whitney Museum of American Art to amplify the voices of female artists in honor of International Women’s Day 2023.
For this historic collaboration, each brand and artist collaborated to illustrate the name of the initiative: THE ART OF MOVING FORWARD. Women are not just surviving but thriving, moving ever forward to lead, define and shape a challenging world, and these artists exemplify that. This program is presented in partnership with Johnnie Walker, which has awarded more than $1 million in grants to women-owned businesses and is helping women overcome historical barriers by showcasing stories of trailblazing women.
Being in Pictures: An Intimate Photo Memoir by Joanne Leonard
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Artist Joanne Leonard has captured not only kitchens of a certain era but also that timeless feeling of a hectic, lived-in home that's familiar to us all.