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Elsie de Wolfe

Born

in New York, The United States

December 20, 1865

Died

July 12, 1950

Genre

Art

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Elsie de Wolfe (1865-1950) was the first professional interior designer in America. She believed in achieving a single, harmonious, overall design statement, and felt that the decoration of the home should reflect the woman's personality, rather than simply the husband's earning power. De Wolfe introduced a startling freshness to the elaborate, heavily fringed and tasseled Victorian design sensibility of her time.

Before de Wolfe began helping her friends with home decoration around 1900, American homes had never been "designed." Upper-class women called in curtain makers, furniture salesmen, wallpaper hangers and other craftsmen, and then attempted to arrange these elements themselves. While carrying on the tradition of decorative surfaces Elsie de Wolfe (1865-1950) was the first professional interior designer in America. She believed in achieving a single, harmonious, overall design statement, and felt that the decoration of the home should reflect the woman's personality, rather than simply the husband's earning power. De Wolfe introduced a startling freshness to the elaborate, heavily fringed and tasseled Victorian design sensibility of her time.

Before de Wolfe began helping her friends with home decoration around 1900, American homes had never been "designed." Upper-class women called in curtain makers, furniture salesmen, wallpaper hangers and other craftsmen, and then attempted to arrange these elements themselves. While carrying on the tradition of decorative surfaces and harmonious color combinations, de Wolfe cleared away the thickly curtained and upholstered look of the nineteenth century. Having spent summers in France, she had come to prefer the light, gilded interiors of Versailles and the delicate lines of eighteenth-century French furniture.

Elsie de Wolfe was born in 1865 to a fashionable New York City family. In 1884, she began an acting career, appearing in A Cup of Tea. At this time she met Elisabeth Marbury, who would become a lifelong friend and companion. Never an unqualified success in the theater, de Wolfe continued to act in various productions in the United States and abroad until she was in her early forties. At one stage of her career, while she had her own theatrical company, she planned all the stage designs, impressing her audiences with her great fashion sense, her fine eye for color, and her ability to create a harmonious environment.

By the early 1910s, de Wolfe had developed her own distinctive style, which included bright colors, fresh paint, and easily maintainable surfaces. One visitor described de Wolfe's home as a "model of simplicity in gold and white." De Wolfe covered dark wood with white paint, removed heavy draperies from windows to let in the light, and covered furniture in chintz. Her book The House in Good Taste (1913) has influenced several generations of designers. In addition to the Colony Club, de Wolfe's important design projects include the homes of Mrs. George Beckwith, Mr. and Mrs. William Crocker, the Barrymore, and Henry Clay Frick, as well as a dormitory for Barnard College in New York City.

In 1926, de Wolfe married Sir Charles Mendl and moved to Beverly Hills, California, where she continued to startle her contemporaries with her innovative designs. She was probably the first woman to dye her hair blue, to perform handstands to impress her friends, and to cover eighteenth-century footstools in leopard-skin chintzes. ...more

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Elsie de Wolfe’s books

Average rating: 3.74 · 169 ratings · 25 reviews · 16 distinct works • Similar authors

	The House in Good Taste 3.73 avg rating — 161 ratings — published 1913 — 172 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	After All: From Colonial Times to the 20th Century (Women in America: From Colonial Times to the 20th Century) 3.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1935 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Elsie De Wolfe's Recipes for Successful Dining 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1924 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Antoine 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	CORRECT TABLE SILVER ITS CHOICE AND USE. 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The House in Good Taste by Elsie De Wolfe (2013-11-01) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The House in Good Taste by Elsie De Wolfe(2016-02-12) by Elsie de Wolfe, Unknown Author 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The House in Good Taste (Summarized Edition): Enriched edition. A classic guide to interior design with simplicity, natural light, and vintage American decorative style by Elsie de Wolfe, Quickie Classics (Editor), Emma Price (Goodreads Author) (Introduction) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The House in Good Taste: Illustrated With Photographs in Color and Black and White 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The house in good taste 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Elsie de Wolfe (?)

“I am going to make everything around me beautiful - that will be my life.”
― Elsie de Wolfe

217 likes

“Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you.”
― Elsie de Wolfe

tags: manners

151 likes

“I was not ugly. I might never be anything for men to lose their heads about, but I need never again be ugly. This knowledge was like a song within me. Suddenly it all came together. If you were healthy, fit, and well-dressed, you could be attractive.”
― Elsie de Wolfe

22 likes

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Elsie de Wolfe’s Followers (39)

Elsie de Wolfe

Combine EditionsElsie de Wolfe’s books

Combine Editions
Elsie de Wolfe’s books