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Elsie de Wolfe (1865
- 1950)
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Hidden
from History : Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past by
Martha Vicinus, George Chauncey, Martin Bauml Duberman
Without
peer, Hidden from History gathers together the works of the most
exciting scholars in the dynamic field of homosexual studies,
making this a ground-breaking and provocative work that reveals
the history of gays and lesbians in different cultures and eras.
Photos.
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A Tribute to Elsie de Wolfe, the woman who
invented the profession of Interior Decoration.
Created by Jerrold de Wolfe, exclusively for the
Breast Cancer Auction.
Excerpt:
Elsie de Wolfe was an extraordinary woman. Born
around 1865 in New York City, she became the great arbiter of
style and by the time of her death in 1950, she had changed the
world's taste in fashion and home decoration.
Her career began as an actress and was a great
success because of her wardrobe. Audiences came to gawk at her
up-to-the-minute fashions. Her taste led her from the stage to
interior decoration, a profession she herself invented. She
ushered in light, airy décor and swept away heavy Victoriana.
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From GayGate.com
Excerpt:
...de Wolfe influenced not only the rich and
famous clients of Park Avenue and Palm Beach, but popular taste as
well: newspapers and magazines dispensed her advice, which was
collected in her best known and most influential book, The House
in Good Taste. There she advised Americans to eschew ostentation
and clutter in favor of simplicity, to dismantle the draperies in
order to let in the light, 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 20th century owed much to
de Wolfe's tastes. In 1907, De Wolfe and Marbury met and
befriended the heiress Anne Morgan, who would be an important part
of their lives for the next 20 years. Together the three women
undertook the renovation of the Villa Trianon in Versailles, which
became a major showcase of de Wolfe's work. They became known as
the Versailles Triumvirate, and their every move titillated the
press. When they bought apartments in Manhattan's Sutton Place,
sparking the rise of that heretofore unfashionable neighborhood,
the New York gossip magazines buzzed with the news that an
"Amazon enclave" had sprung up on the banks of the East
River, and intimated that Sapphic debauches were underway there...
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Letters from Camp Rehoboth
by David Bianco
Believe it or not, the founder of the profession
of interior decorating wasn’t a gay man. That credit goes to
Elsie de Wolfe (1865-1950), a lesbian who bounced back from a
mid-life career crisis and was able to build a profitable business
out of her fine taste and style.
Raised in Manhattan, de Wolfe
was like many other wealthy American girls of her time—educated
abroad, presented at Queen Victoria’s court, and accustomed to a
life of genteel idleness. After “coming out”—into society,
that is—de Wolfe lived with her parents and spent her time
performing in amateur theatrical productions.
Her father died in 1890 with
gambling debts which left the family in poverty. Faced with the
prospect of marrying or supporting herself, de Wolfe chose to
pursue acting professionally. It couldn’t have been an easy
decision, since, at the time, acting was considered a disreputable
occupation for women.
Still, it was probably the
best decision the strong‑willed young lesbian could make...
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Names Index:
A B
C D
E F
G H
I J
K L
M N
O P
Q R
S T
U V
W X
Y Z
| Authors
Index | Scholars
Index |
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