Frances Elkins

VISIONARY AMERICAN DESIGNER

SCOTT POWELL

The rst comprehensive book on the timeless, elegant interiors of Frances Elkins, the grande dame of early twentieth-century design who inuenced so many important designers of our time.

Called “the most exciting designer we have ever had” by Billy Baldwin, Frances Elkins has long been revered in the design world for her classic, elegant, timeless decor. Ahead of her time, Elkins became a successful designer in the man’s world of the 1920s and ’30s, with a talent and condence rivaled only by her formidable sense of style.

Known as the “rst great California designer,” Elkins brought an international perspective and a keen architectural sensibility to her work. With a social circle that included such prominent artists and designers as Jean-Michel Frank (whose work she introduced to the U.S.), Coco Chanel, and Alberto Giacometti, Elkins traveled widely with her brother, architect David Adler, introducing a modern European chic to her clients. She collaborated closely with craftsmen and artists, commissioning handloomed carpets, Mexican silverware, decorative nishes, and custom furniture, which gave her interiors their distinctive elegance and polish.

Showcasing never-before-published material directly from her estate, Frances Elkins includes more than sixty interiors showcasing her outstanding sense of color and balance and her gift of mixing periods and styles. With beautiful photography by the top photographers of the day, this volume is an exciting addition to the design community and will serve as a revelation and inspiration to all fans of good design.

Scott Powell is a noted arts and design historian based in San Francisco, California. For the last seventeen years, Powell has been researching the life and work of Frances Elkins, becoming the leading expert on every aspect of Elkins’s designs, influence, travels, and biography. He has documented more than 250 Elkins commissions, many of them previously unknown.

HOUSE & HOME

304 pages, 9 x 12" 250 color & b/w illustrations Hardcover • 9780847865468 $65.00 USD, $85.00 CAD, £47.95 GBP September 20, 2022 Rights: World

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