Books

REVIEWED BY KATHY BRYANT

Francis Elkins: Visionary American Designer

Text by Scott Powell

Called “the most creative designer we have ever had” by Billy Baldwin, Frances Elkins (1888-1953) has been revered for her classic, erudite and multidimensional decor. Ahead of her time, Elkins became a successful decorator who by the early 1930s had reached the top of her profession and was considered the only rival to Elsie de Wolfe.

Working throughout the United States, but primarily in California, Elkins brought an international perspective and architectural sensibility to her work. As Scott Powell writes,” Her work was significant for several reasons. She was the first to gracefully blend classical elements with the cutting edge of contemporary Parisian furniture and interior design. She had a perfect sense of scale and balance. Her color sense was superb.”

Elkins led a fascinating life which makes this book especially enticing. She traveled widely with her architect brother David Adler who was an important influence on her. She was educated at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and had a social circle that included interior designer Jean-Michel Frank, couturier Coco Chanel, aesthete Charles de

Beistegui, arts patron Misia Set and painter Salvador Dali.

What makes her style influential is her blending of modern European chic with the best of American, English, Asian and Mexican traditions. A talented furniture and fabric designer as well as interior designer, she collaborated with many luminaries.

This fascinating book features never-beforepublished material and includes more than sixty interiors that illustrate her sense of color and gift for mixing periods and styles—from her early work on the Monterey Peninsula to houses she designed in Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s, to the iconic Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu, to houses for film stars like Edward G. Robinson. This is a book that is both enlightening and inspirational. CH

Frances Elkins: Visionary American Designer

Text by Scott Powell

304 pages

Hardcover 9 x 12 inches

$85 US

ISBN: 978-0-8478-6546-8

Rizzoli New York

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