Customer Reviews

Frances Elkins: Interior Design

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This book portrays the superb taste of Frances Elkins through her long and successful career. Her bold use of color was unheard of when she began her trade in the early part of the twentieth century, but she did it with such style and finess that it was accepted. The use of fine antiques blended with contemporary furnishings was something else not done previously and set the trend for the "eclectic" style so popular ever since. First, working with her renowned architect brother, David Adler, in the Chicago area and then striking it on her own merit, she set a style and was one of the early women designers to become successful. The photographs and color interpritation in this book are excellent and in profusion. This book is a must for those interested in the interior design field, both past and present, because of her ageless style.

As one of the earliest designers to mix classic and modern styles together, this book on Frances Elkins proves that she did so masterfully. She understood, as few designers did at the time, the relationship between the two was a shared use of wonderful materials and superior craftmanship. This book proves to be a great source of inspiration for successfully accomplishing the same mix today.

The foreword by Albert Hadley is an excellent way to introduce the work of Frances Elkins, whose interiors are timeless, sophisticated and well composed. Elkins was so far ahead of her time and it is incredible to look at photos of homes she decorated in the 30's and 40's that still look modern, if not at least current, today. Elkins definitely had a style of her own, and has undoubtedly paved the way for modern designers today like Kelly Wearstler by creating interiors that were a clever blend of styles, periods and genres.

Elkins actively promoted the work of Jean-Michel Frank and his associates (the Giacometti brothers) in the USA, and was one of the first decorators to commission Tony Duquette to produce pieces for her interiors. She is without doubt one of the greatest decorators of the 20th Century.

Full of inspirational photos, this will definitely be a book in my library that I will go back to time after time after time.

Frances Elkins was a legendary interior designer of the early 1900s whose works included major residential and public commissioned projects as well as fabrics, furniture and accessories. Her works were among the best of her times and she earned a reputation for her progressive outlook in the field - but Stephen M. Salny's FRANCES ELKINS INTERIOR DESIGN is the first book devoted to her life and works, gathering all of her achievements under one cover. Full-page displays of all her works from thirty years accompany biographical and artistic notes in a splendid, authoritative treatment by a researcher whose lifelong study of David Adler led inevitably to his sister Frances Elkins (who was Adler's collaborator on many commissions).

So chic. So classic. Just the absolute best. Nothing more to say.