Frances Elkins

Called “the most creative designer we have ever had” by Billy Baldwin, Frances Elkins has been revered for her classic, erudite, and multidimensional decor. Ahead of her time, Elkins became a successful decorator who by the early 1930s had reached the top of her profession and was considered the only rival to Elsie de Wolfe. Her social circle included interior designer Jean-Michel Frank, couturière Coco Chanel, aesthete Charles de Beistegui, arts patron Misia Sert and painter Salvador Dali. She brought to her clients a modern European chic as well as a melding of the best of American, English, French, Asian and Mexican traditions. Showing never-before-published material, Frances Elkins: Visionary American Designer includes more than sixty interiors that illustrate her outstanding sense of color and her gift of mixing periods and styles. With images by top photographers of the day as well as newly commissioned images of extant Elkins interiors, this volume will be a revelation and inspiration any fan of design.