Legendary Decorators of the Twentieth Century - Hardcover

Interior Design - Hampton, Mark

3.8

5 ratings by Goodreads

9780709050025: Legendary Decorators of the Twentieth Century

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 070905002X ISBN 13: 9780709050025

Publisher: Robert Hale, 1992

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Well known interior designer Hampton reviews the achievements of 22 of this century's most important decorators, examining their distinctive styles, their influences from the past, and their influences on each other. Illustrated with the author's own detailed watercolors. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

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From Publishers Weekly:

Hampton, whose star rose some time ago in the firmament of interior decoration, here gazes back on a century of taste in home design, opining that a onetime pastime of idle 19th-century ladies has edged much closer to Art. He sketches the professional--and sometimes the private--lives of the industry's demi-gods, modestly presenting himself as an acolyte. Hampton's witty, well-crafted biographies include everyone from Elsie de Wolfe (who claimed she was the first interior decorator) to David Hicks and Michael Taylor, the author's immediate predecessors. We are also allowed a glimpse into the narrow world of American wealth that eagerly defined class as displayed in home possessions. Woven into the book as well is a tale of the development of an upper-class American domestic sensibility. Hampton's own preferences lean toward a relatively clean and simple traditional look that breaks away from fuss and pretension, but makes no attempt to be egalitarian. He illustrates his book with his own hand, in accomplished but homogeneous watercolors of 22 decorators' interiors. Author tour; first serial to House Beautiful.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Focusing on interior decorators for whom decorating was a livelihood (rather than architects who dabbled in decorating), Hampton has written an enthusiastic, personal narrative describing each decorator's style and his or her relationship with clients. His watercolors show the work of 22 decorators, including "Sister" Parrish, Michael Taylor, and Jean-Michel Frank. Unfortunately, the biographical information is sketchy; for example, in describing Ruby Ross Wood's life, Hampton notes, "Somewhere along here, she has been married and divorced." However, this is the only book available that gives a historic view of West and East Coast decorators as well as those from Europe. Recommended where there is a strong patron interest in interior design.
-Gayle A. Williamson, Fashion Inst. of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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