Elsie de Wolfe

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Elsie de Wolfe, around 1880

Elsie de Wolfe (born December 20, 1865 in New York as Ella Anderson de Wolfe , † July 12, 1950 in Versailles , Île-de-France ), better known as Lady Mendl , was America's first professional interior designer .

Life

Ella Anderson de Wolfe was the daughter of a wealthy New York family. She attended a girls' college in Edinburgh and was considered extremely intelligent - she spoke several foreign languages ​​and showed an interest in literature and painting . After graduating from high school, she made her debut at Queen Victoria's court and traveled extensively. Her father, a prominent physician, died in 1890, leaving his family in considerable debt. Instead of getting married rich, the young woman decided to lead an independent life.

Elsie de Wolfe, 1920

In the summer of 1891 - she called herself Elsie de Wolfe - she made her debut in the title role of Fabienne , alongside her colleague Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson, in Thermidor by Victorien Sardou . At the same time she met the theater and literary agent Elisabeth Marbury (1856-1933) know and love. For the next twenty years, Marbury was her constant companion, until Elsie surprisingly married the attaché of the British Embassy in Paris , Sir Charles Ferdinand Mendl (1871-1958), in March 1926 . Elsie de Wolfe had a lifelong love for France and bought the Villa Trianon in Versailles together with Elisabeth Marbury and Anne Tracy Morgan in 1903 and had the property restored. Despite the lack of training as a nurse , she cared for the injured in the hospitals during the First World War . After the war, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honor by the French government .

Elsie de Wolfe achieved her breakthrough as an interior designer in 1905 when she set up the first women's club, The Colony Club - founded by Florence Jaffray "Daisy" Harriman (1870–1967) and Anne Tracy Morgan (1873–1952) - in New York . Elsie de Wolfe is considered a pioneer and trailblazer in the design scene and has made the profession socially acceptable. Her clients included Anne Vanderbilt, Anne Tracy Morgan, Consuelo Vanderbilt and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, as well as Henry Clay Frick for his house on 5th Avenue (now the Frick Collection ).

Works (selection)

literature

  • Jane S. Smith: Elsie De Wolfe: A Life in the High Style. The Elegant Life and Remarkable Career of Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl , Atheneum (1982) ISBN 0-6891-1141-X
  • Alfred Allan Lewis: Ladies and Not-So-Gentle Women: Elisabeth Marbury, Anne Morgan, Elsie de Wolfe, Anne Vanderbilt, and Their Times , Penguin (2001) ISBN 0-1402-4173-6
  • Nina Campbell and Caroline Seebohm: Elsie de Wolfe. A Decorative Life , Clarkson Potter, New York (1992)
  • Beverly Russell: Women of Design: Contemporary American Interiors , Rizzoli, 1992.
  • C. Ray Smith: Interior Design in 20th-Century America: A History , Harper & Row, 1987.

Web links

Commons : Elsie de Wolfe  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME De Wolfe, Elsie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Wolfe, Ella Anderson (maiden name); Mendel, Elsie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American interior designer
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH New York , USA
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 1950
Place of death Versailles , Île-de-France , France