The chaise longue, the daybed, the récamier, the canapé, the duchesse. So many diverse, complicated names and yet absolutely distinct associations: women, glamour and sex. Displaying a range of 18^th and 19^th century oil paintings, modern and contemporary photographs, music videos and even porn, the exhibition Venus: taking it lying down explored the pictorial and social relationships between women, idealized ‘Venus-like’ female sexuality and the chaise longue. By demanding that its user assume a sensuous, reclining pose, the chaise longue has accumulated sensationally erotic feminine connotations over the course of the last 250 years, marking the chaise as a decidedly gendered piece of furniture – a sexualized social prop within society’s complex web of gender roles. The recurring image of the idealized female and the chaise longue unveils its potential to liberate women both socially and sexually, as well as objectifying them.

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Credit: Damian Fopp