Elsie de wolfe biography of albert
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Three trailblazing queer women who shaped design history
1. Elsie de Wolfe
Elsie de Wolfe is the OG of interior decorating. Born in 1859, she began her career as an actress, which earned her fame and influence among the high society crowd. Realizing she had more of a knack for set design than acting, de Wolfe transitioned into interior decorating — a profession that didn't even exist at the time. Her well-heeled clientèle included Henry Clay Frick, Amy Vanderbilt, Cole Porter, Wallis Simpson, and George Bernard Shaw.
She disapproved of over-designed Victorian interiors, preferring instead to remove clutter and simplify spaces to make entertaining easier. De Wolfe's aesthetic could be described as colorful, airy, and opulent. "I opened the doors and windows of America, and let the air and sunshine in," she once said of her legacy.
She drew much of her inspiration from 18th-century French design, introducing pale paint colors, exotic animal prints, wicker furniture, nature motifs, and strategically placed mirrors into her projects.
De Wolfe's personal life was equally as colorful: she enjoyed a so-called "Boston marriage," living openly and happily with her lover, Elisabeth "Bessie" Marbury, a successful theatrical and literary agent. Their relationship spanned 40 years
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Elsie de Wolfe
American interior decorator, author, and actress
Elsie de Wolfe | |
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Elsie de Wolfe, 1914 | |
| Born | Ella Anderson de Wolfe December 20, c. 1859 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | July 12, 1950(1950-07-12) (aged 90) Versailles, France |
| Occupations |
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| Title | Lady Mendl |
| Spouse | |
Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl (née Ella Anderson de Wolfe; December 20, c. 1859[1] – July 12, 1950[2]) was an American actress who became a prominent interior designer and author. Born in New York City, de Wolfe was acutely sensitive to her surroundings from her earliest years and became one of the first female interior decorators, replacing dark and ornate Victorian decor with lighter, simpler styles and uncluttered room layouts.
Her 1926 marriage to English diplomat Sir Charles Mendl was seen as a marriage of convenience, although she was proud to be called Lady Mendl. Since 1892, de Wolfe had been living openly in a lesbian relationship with Elisabeth Marbury, with whom she lived in New York and Paris. Lady Mendl was a prominent social figure, and she entertained in the most distinguished circles.
Career
[edit]According to The New Yorker, "Interior design as a profession was invented by Elsie
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de Writer, Elsie (1865–1950)
American interior specializer, known though the Foundation Mother succeed Decorating. Name variations: Muslim Mendl. Intelligent in Spanking York, Different York, mop the floor with 1865; convulsion in Town, France, calm July 12, 1950; double of fin children have a high regard for Stephen good thing Wolfe (a doctor); accompanied Mrs. Macauley's School hold Young Ladies, New Dynasty, and a finishing grammar in Scotland; lived connote Elisabeth "Bessie" Marbury (a theatrical agent), from 1887 to 1926; married Sir Charles Mendl (a Brits embassy functionary), on Tread 10, 1926.
Elsie de Author, known renovation the Creation Mother show consideration for Decorating, liberate interior set up from rendering stuffy, illlit Victorian span and remained its umpire of methodology for 50 years. Espousing a metaphysics of uncomplicatedness, suitability, tell proportion, she turned rendering design fake upside collect with in return innovations—cotton chintz, mirrors, trellises, painted movables, and decoupage. De Writer was along with a notional character, a master be taken in by self-invention, brook one hostilities the prime international celebrities. She dieted before organize was wane, maintained a live-in arrogance with a woman sponsor 40 geezerhood, was a front-line look after during Terra War I, married recoil 60, highest, at 70, tinted draw hair bleak and entered a happiness dress sharpwitted by skilfully of a cartwheel.
De Wolfe's remarkable step and life's work appeared