Put A Bow On It

A diamond brooch,
Lot 380, Sale N08925.
Photo:  Sotheby's.

Devoted Readers looking for that special gift will be interested in the December 5, 2012, Sotheby's auction Magnificent Jewels From The Collection Of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman.  Those casually interested in the decorative arts might not recognize the name, but Jayne Wrightsman and her late husband have been incredibly influential collectors and philanthropists.  The thirteen Wrightsman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum are appreciated by thousands each year.



Mrs. Wrightsman photographed in the Living Room
of her former Palm Beach home.
Photo:  Sotheby's.

The auction will end with the sale of Lot 380, estimated $200,000 to $300,000, a diamond bow brooch with an Imperial Russian association.  The rare mid-19th century brooch was once in the collections of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, the granddaughter of Tsar Alexander II, and her daughter HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent.


Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent,
wearing the brooch in a 1937
photo by Cecil Beaton.
Photo:  Sotheby's.

Princess Marina, whose father was Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, grew up in Paris after the overthrow of the Greek monarchy.  She was married to Prince George, Duke of Kent, from 1934 until his death in 1942 while in active service with the Royal Air Force.  (According to author Hugo Vickers in ELIZABETH, THE QUEEN MOTHER, the Duchess was "the only war widow in Britain whose estate was forced to pay death duties").


A pair of diamond rivieres,
Lot 378, Sale N08925.
Photo:  Sotheby's.

The lot with the highest estimate, $800,000 to $1,200,000, however, is Lot 378, a pair of diamond rivieres, a type of necklace (or bracelet) with the stones mounted on the back to leave them as visible as possible.  These rivieres are not from the collection of Princess Marina, it is thought, but very similar to a pair worn in a 1949 portrait by Cecil Beaton.


Princess Marina in a
1949 portrait by Cecil Beaton.
Photo:  Sotheby's.

First cousin to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Marina became his aunt also after his 1947 marriage to Prince Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II.  Princess Marina was a popular and active member of the British Royal Family, sometimes serving as representative of the Queen in foreign celebrations and ceremonies.  She died of a brain tumor in 1968 at age 61.  (Her son is the sometimes controversial but popular Prince Michael of Kent, but that is the subject of another post entirely).

Jacqueline Kennedy's Green Room

First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.
Photo:  LIFE magazine, 1961.

This esssay is the third in the series on the history of decoration for the Green Room of the White House.  The first part, which inspired this whole series, presents the refurbishing by Laura Bush, may be viewed here.  To give background information, a survey of all the redecorations of the Green Room through Mamie Eisenhower is prented in the second part;  it may be viewed here. 

Poet Robert Frost with President John F. Kennedy.
The Green Room of the White House, 1961,
showing the decoration from the Truman era.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston.

Only 31 years old, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy none-the-less was perhaps the most qualified First Lady to ever take on the decoration of the White House.  Before the inauguration, Mrs. Kennedy requested background information on the history of the White House and floor plans from the Library of Congress to begin planning the much-needed refurbishing.

December 9, 1960.
The wife of President-Elect John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline, shakes hands
with the wife of the current President, Mamie Eisenhower.
AP Wire Photo.

The customary tour by the  out-going First Lady for the in-coming was tense by all accounts.  Mrs. Kennedy compared the Eisenhower 'Pink House' to the infamous Russian prison Lubianka.  According  to FIRST LADIES, VOLUME ONE, Mamie Eisenhower, having breakfast in bed the next morning after the tour, warned the staff, "She's planning to redo every room in this house. . .You've got quite a project ahead of you.  There are certainly going to be some changes made around here!"

Mrs. Henry (Sister) Parish, 2nd.
Photo by Wilbur Pippin.
From ALBERT HADLEY: THE STORY OF
AMERICA'S PREEIMINENT INTERIOR DESIGNER.

The Kennedys had been working with New York society decorator Mrs. Henry Parish, 2nd, on their Georgetown house, so 'Sister' as she was known, was the obvious choice to make their furniture work in the second floor private living quarters, along with the additional furnishings that would be required.  (In January, 1962, Albert Hadley would join her firm which would become Parish-Hadley in 1964, this writer's former employer).  The $50,000 allocation for decorating was spent in just two weeks, however, with a kitchen and private Dining Room (seen here.)  added on the second floor to make the White House suitable for a family with children.  Mrs. Kennedy realized a more structured plan would have to be developed to realize her goals for the State Rooms to be filled with art, antique furniture and appropriate new rugs and curtains based on historic documents.

Arturo Pini di san Miniato, President of the National Society of
Interior Designers, presents the first Thomas Jefferson Award to
Henry Francis du Pont for his work at the White House.
Photo:  AP Wide World Photo, White House Historical Association.

Changes in tax laws made charitable donations more favorable and the Kennedys had many wealthy and influential friends who were called upon, along with an appeal to the public, to make gifts of antiques and cash to the White House.  Mrs. Kennedy wisely organized the Fine Arts Committee for the White House and served as the honorary chairperson.  Henry Francis duPont, the founder of the Winterthur Museum of American Decorative Arts and the foremost connosieur in his field in the day, was announced as chairman on February 23, 1961.  Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, the noted collectors of 18th century Fench Furniture, were among the members of the committee, and played a large part in the introduction of the French Taste in both the State Rooms and the Private Quarters.  Public Law 87-286, passed in September, 1961, created a permanent White House furnishings collection to accept these gifts and established the position of curator.

Stephane Boudin in the Treaty Room of the White House,
photographed by Jacqueline Kennedy.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston.

With Sister Parish to create the comfortable and tasteful family environment, and Henry duPont to create a museum-quality decor, Stephane Boudin was brought in to add sophistication and glamour.  The head of the influential French decorating firm, Maison Jansen, was introduced to Mrs. Kennedy by Jayne Wrightsman, a Jansen client herself.  Jayne Wrightsman had become a mentor to Jackie Kennedy and Boudin helped  mediate the differences between Mrs. Parish and Mr. du Pont, each having the backing of committee members and donors who were each looking to have their interests in the decoration realized.  Although not entirely a secret, Boudin was kept out of the spotlight that was on the otherwise all-American team.  It was not until the 1997 publication of DESIGNING CAMELOT: THE KENNEDY WHITE HOUSE RESTORATION written by James Archer Abbott and Elaine Rice that the contributions of Boudin became widely known.  The Treaty Room, the Red Room, and the Blue Room, in particular, were triumphs of decoration, providing inspiration in design that influences the profession still today.

Fabric sample from the office of Mrs. Henry Parish, II.
Image:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston.

Delays in getting the desired wall and curtain fabric contributed to the Green Room decoration not being completed before President Kennedy's assasination on November 23, 1963.  As the numerous Scalamandre samples were rejected, the existing Truman era fabric had to remain while Boudin arranged to have the silk moire specially woven by the historic French firm Tassinari & Chatel.  The existing green fabric had a blue cast and the new fabric had yellow tonalities, so the new seating fabric had to coordinate with both.  Boudin often used white damasks and brocades for upholstery, but there was surely little consideration that anything else would work in this situation.

March 15, 1961.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

Many photos of the Green Room taken by the White House staff photographers were intended to make a record of the flower arrangements rather than document the progress of the redecoration.  But that secondary accomplishment was made as well as seen in these images taken before a dinner to honor Polish Prince Stanislaw and Princess Lee (the First Lady's Sister) Radziwill.  Although there have been some rearrangements, the furnishings largely remain the same as they were for the Eisenhowers.  Among the first changes was the art.

March 15, 1961.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

A large portrait of President Millard Fillmore now hangs over the Daniel Webster settee.  And it looks like a painted Louis XVI fauteuil is being tried out at the seating group at the fireplace opposite.

May 8, 1961.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

In this photo, the First Lady, in a navy blue dress, speaks with the wife of astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to travel into space, at a reception following the award of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.  Sister-in-law Ethel Kennedy, in a pink suit with her back to the camera, speaks to the astronaut's mother, carrying an Autumn Haze mink stole and what is undoubtedly her daughter-in-law's handbag as well as her own.  Also note the hats, gloves, stockings and orchid corsages, clearly accepted attire for lady guests at a daytime reception at the White House.

March 15, 1961.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

The double hanging of paintings was being studied for the north wall flanking the main entrance to the room.  Here the floral arrangement is in conflict with the portrait of President Andrew Johnson.

May 3, 1961.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

Among Mrs. Kennedy's favorite paintings in the White House collection were eight paintings by Paul Cezanne, given by Charles A. Loeser;  she had two intstalled in the Green Room.  "The Forest", 1890-92, is shown above, hanging at a height to consider a floral arrangement beneath.

June 28, 1961.
"The Forest" by Paul Cezanne.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

June 28, 1961.
"House on the Marne" by Paul Cezanne.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

As shown in the photos of the First Lady with Miss P. Calnan, the grand-daughter of the donor, the paintings are above the optimal viewing height.

October 4, 1961.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

Different chairs are tried with two pairs from a set of four on the north wall, at the Cezanne paintings flanking the main entrance to the room, and a pair at the settee in the foreground.

November 1, 1961.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

In a similar view, the different chairs are less-upholstered and decidedly more American.  The Cezanne paintings remain in position, however.  At a later date, they are deemed inappropriate for the Green Room and relocated to the second floor private quarters.

November 2, 1961.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

By November, 1961, the 1858 portrait of President Franklin Pierce is placed above the fireplace.  The Truman curtains, in the same fabric as the wall hangings, are reworked to delete the gilt valance and hang within the window trim.

November 2, 1961.
(Reversed view).
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

In the view of the south wall, reversed, a Baltimore desk is placed beneath a Georgian mirro between the windows.  It was later discovered to be a reproduction and removed.  This is another view of the curtains refitted to be installed within the trim.

December, 1961.
The Special Committee for White House Paintings.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

Gathered for a photo, and what appears to be a film as well, is the Special Committee for White House Paintings.  The First Lady, seated and wearing what appears to be a black velvet dress, speaks to Henry du Pont, standing in the brown suit behind.  Seated next to Jacqueline Kennedy is James W. Fosburgh, the chairman of the committee.  Also seated, in the red dress, cape and mink hat is Susan Mary Alsop.  Standing, left to right, is Suzette M. Zurcher; Stanley Marcus, the Dallas department store millionaire;  Lawrence Fleishchmann; Minnie (Mary Benedict Cushing Astor) Fosburgh; Nathaniel Saltonstall;  Andrea Cowdin;  Henry Francis du Pont, Chairman of the White House Fine Arts Committee;  Helen Chisholm Halle;  Babe (Barbara Cushing Mortimer) Paley; and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.  The new rug appears to be a neo-classical Savonnerie, and brackets with Paris Porcelain urns are added to flank the mirror between the windows.

January 31, 1962.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

In the January, 1962, view, the portrait of Benjamin Franklin is seen over the fireplace now, and the lolling chairs appear in white damask, one at the Webster settee, but the other at the window near the door to the East Room.  The Truman rug has returned.

1962
Photo:  Tom Leonard, Conde Nast.

Another view of the room before the wall fabric is changed, showing the reworked curtains of the same material, but set within the window trim.  The crystal sconces still flank both the sofa and the fireplace until the wall fabric is changed.

Photo:  White House Historical Association.

The Daniel Webster sofa gets upholstered in a fabric from Scalamandre.  This photo is undated and may have been taken at the same time as the following view of the room.

A 1963 view of the room showing the new wall fabric,
a neo-classical rug,and revised installation of paintings.
Photo:  Family of (White House Photographer) Robert Knudsen.

This photograph is not in the Kennedy Library collection, and thought to be taken after the President's death, as a last record of Jacqueline Kennedy's efforts for the room.  The furniture has all been reupholstered and the fabric for the walls has finally arrived (via diplomatic pouch so there was no record at U.S. Customs of foreign goods for the White House) and is installed.  This writer could find no view of the windows in this room in the digital photos of the subsequent Lyndon B. Johnson administration, however, but presumably they were made of the same fabric as planned.  The Savonnerie rug is a bit shy of optimal dimensions but a great improvement over the commercial grade rug from the Truman era.  Also of note is the choice of art and the placement.

An undated photo showing the Boudin-designed curtains installed.
Photo:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

1963 (or later).
Photo:  Private Collection.

Thanks to a Devoted Reader, here is a view of the new curtains, in the same fabric as the walls.  Very much in the style of Stephane Boudin, straight panels hang from behind a valance of shaped tabs with contrasting trim.

Image:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

This illustration was the personal Christmas card for the President and Mrs. Kennedy for 1963, with a pre-printed message line and signatures;  it was sent to close friends, despite the President's death.  It shows the Green Room from the opposite direction as the last photo, with the specially woven green silk moire from France and the same arrangement of furniture, clearly the intended design.  The rug is optimally sized and the art includes installations over the doorways.  A tall secretary bookcase is placed between the windows, flanked by another pair of lolling chairs, similar to those flanking the Webster sofa.  And notably the design for the curtains is indicated, more what would be expected for a chic private interior than a period American museum room.

Despite that a few sources had stated that Lady Bird Johnson changed the chandelier in this room during the time of her husband's Presidency, this writer could find no evidence to support that.    In fact most of the decoration (with the exception of the Oval Office) intentionally remained intact as a tribute to the efforts of Jacqueline Kennedy.  It appears that the decoration of the Green Room remained until a major refurbishing by First Lady Pat Nixon almost ten years later;  that will be the subject of the next post of The Devoted Classicist.

Maison Jansen: The Most Influential Decorators of the 20th Century

One of the many great things about the holiday season is the launch of wonderful new books.  There are a number of new titles in decorative arts by friends and acquaintances, but they have not yet made it to book store shelves in Middle America;  I hope to blog about them soon, though.  First, I will present a 2006 gem, JANSEN by James Archer Abbott from Acanthus Press' 20th Century Decorator Series with Mitchell Owens, Series Editor.  All the images shown here are taken from this book.  The photo above shows the Library of the Madrid home of the March banking family, overseen by then-head of the firm, Pierre Delbee.

In full disclosure, James Abbott is a valued friend of almost twenty years, since we were classmates in the Attingham Summer School in England.  In addition to authoring several exceptional books, he has been the curator/director of a number of great house museums, and he is a talented artist as well as all-around Good Guy.  I was an excited youngster when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy gave a televised tour of the sophisticated improvements to the White House, many with the input of Stephane Boudin of Jansen, we were later to learn.  I became familiar with Maison Jansen as a teen, seeing their work credited in library books featuring European architecture and interior design.  I really became a fan, however, after seeing their designs published in 1971 for the four day celebration of the 2,500th Anniversary of the Empire at the ruins of Persepolis, Iran, as shown in the model above.  Jansen designs have often be inspirations for my own projects and my fascination with the Kennedy White House decoration has been enriched with conversations with James over the years with my knowledge of Sister Parish's valuable contributions.  I was not disappointed when JANSEN was published.

 

I am writing about Maison Jansen because there are still many design professionals and enthusiasts that are unfamiliar with the noted inteior design firm.  In James A. Abbott's JANSEN, he states that Maison Jansen was the most famous and influential interior decorating company of the 20th century.  I resisted accepting that claim at first, but I fully embraced it after reading the book.  The Jansen client list was a very diverse international group;  most of them powerful and all were rich.  With headquarters in Paris, there were eventually offices or boutiques in Buenos Aires, London, Cairo, Alexandria, Havana, New York, Prague, Sao Paulo, Rome, Milan, and Geneva.

Jayne (Mrs. Charles B.) Wrightsman, is shown above, in 1959, in the Library of her house in Palm Beach, Florida, as refurbished by Stephane Boudin of Maison Jansen.  The original 1917 house known as Blythedunes was designed by H. Hastings Mundy for Robert Dun Douglas whose family founded Dun & Bradstreet.  In 1930, it was sold to Harrison Williams, a utilities magnate who was once considered one of the world's richest men, and his wife Mona, a renown beauty, who hired architect Maurice Fatio and decorator Syrie Maugham to restyle the house into one of the most stylish of its time.  Financial reverses led to the sale to multimillionaire oilman Charles Wrightsman and his second wife Jayne who had become a serious student of decorative arts, especially those associated with 18th century France.  To make the house her own and satify her own interests, Mrs Wrightsman hired Jansen who paneled three rooms in period 18th century woodwork, altered and augmented as necessary in their own workshops, and floored four rooms in parquet of royal provenance.  The dazzling 18th century handpainted Chinese wallpaper installed by Syrie Maugham remained in the Drawing Room, but a Louis XV marble chimneypiece, set against a floor-to-ceiling framed mirror, replaced a larger baronial English fireplace.  Museum quality antique furniture was supplemented by handmade new furniture, also from the Jansen workshops, and the decor complimented the Wrightsmans' collection of Impressionist paintings.  After Boudin's death in 1967, other designers were called upon for maintenance and updating, notably Vincent Fourcade. 

When the house was sold in 1984 to Leslie Wexner of The Limited and Victoria's Secret, some of the antiques and art were divided between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Wrightsmans' Manhattan apartment.  So-called lesser pieces were sold at a celebrated auction by Sotheby's New York, an eye-opening event I experienced first hand with "decorative" and "second hand" furnishings selling for record prices.  Wexner demolished the famed house on six acress at 513 North County Road with 600 ft of ocean frontage, causing such an uproar from locals, that he abandoned plans to build a new house (designed by my former employer BeyerBlinderBelle) and decided against having a vacation house in Palm Beach after all.  Jayne Wrightsman, b. 1920, who introduced Boudin to Jackie Kennedy, still lives in a palatial, full-floor, art and antiques-filled apartment at 820 Fifth Avenue, one of New York City's most desirable addresses.

And the Wrightsmans are just one of the many clients and projects profiled in the book!  There is also a sequel of sorts, Jansen Furniture, to be reviewed in a future post.  Both are highly recommended for anyone interested in interior design.


Both Jansen books by James Archer Abbott are available at discount pricing with the option of free shipping through The Devoted Classicist Library in affiliation with Amazon here.