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The House in Good Taste

Arts & Photography

De Wolfe, Elsie

Individual Artists

Franklin Classics

The House in Good Taste, Illustrated With Photographs in Color and Black and White

History

After All: From Colonial Times to the 20th Century (Women in America: From Colonial Times to the 20th Century)

Ayer Co. Pub

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Architecture

"Good taste can be developed in anyone, just as surely as good manners are possible to anyone. And good taste is as necessary as good manners," declared Elsie de Wolfe, the "first lady" of American interior design. Although de Wolfe decorated the homes of wealthy, socially prominent clients, she always maintained that her vision of elegant but comfortable living is attainable to all. This timeless 1913 book, written in a friendly, conversational tone, explains how to design, furnish, and decorate a house in order to make it a beautiful, useful, and livable home. De Wolfe pioneered the concept of the home as a representation of the owner's identity, and this book defines her decorating methods, philosophy, and approach to creating spaces for gracious entertaining. Part step-by-step manual and part aesthetic treatise, this volume advocates for simpler yet more refined decor. In contrast to the Victorian penchant for dark furniture, bric-a-brac, and heavy draperies, de Wolfe advised her readers to let in natural light, to replace gaudy colors with beige and ivory, and to abandon clutter. Her practical suggestions, illustrated by period photographs, illuminate the attitudes of a century ago while retaining their resonance for modern-day interior designers.

The House in Good Taste: Design Advice from America's First Interior Decorator (Dover Architecture)

History & Criticism

Dover Publications

The House in Good Taste (Large Print Edition)

Reference

BiblioLife

After ninety years, The House in Good Taste by America's "first lady of interior decoration," Elsie de Wolfe, still offers timeless design advice. Compiled from her articles in newspapers and magazines and first published in 1914, The House in Good Taste is a seminal book on interior design with ideas that have lasted a century because they influenced not only the wealthy clients of Park Avenue and Palm Beach, but popular taste as well. De Wolfe advised Americans to shun ostentation and clutter in favor of simplicity, to dismantle the draperies in order to let in the light, and to replace garish colors with beige and ivory. "I believe in plenty of optimism and white paint," she declared, "comfortable chairs with lights beside them, open fires on the hearth and flowers wherever they 'belong,' mirrors and sunshine in all rooms." The rooms that Americans inhabited in the middle of the twentieth century still today owe much to de Wolfe's tastes.

Rizzoli

Elsie de Wolfe is a 20th-century legend and is the mother of modern interior decoration. Her name is familiar to many who practice the art of interior design or who are linked to the fashionable world of tastemaking. She provided appropriate settings for the new rich in the first half of the 20th century and in the process helped to shape our understanding of what we have come to know as the modern domestic interior. I am going in now for interior decoration. By that I mean supplying objets d art and giving advice regarding the decoration of their houses to wealthy persons who do not have the time, inclination, nor culture to do such work for themselves. It is nothing new. Women have done the same thing before. (Elsie de Wolfe) Through the measured re-examination of known materials as well as the review of history-clarifying documents that have been overlooked or underused by previous de Wolfe enthusiasts, Elsie de Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration provides the foundation of a renewed interest in her groundbreaking career, her philosophy of design, and her belief that an atmosphere of beauty could cure a world of ills. This large format, profusely illustrated book covers 29 projects (including Villa Trianon, The Colony Club, Anne Vanderbilt, Anne Morgan, the Duchess of Windsor, and J. Ogden Armour, to name a few) and concludes with a timeline of her works. Written by English decorative arts scholar Penny Sparke and edited by New York Times contributor Mitchell Owens, Elsie de Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration presents the most in-depth look ever into the design aesthetic of this early 20th-century master decorator.

Elsie De Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration

Owens, Mitchell

SPARKE, Penny

Acanthus Pr Llc

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