Object details
Object number
F15n5
Creator(s)
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Elsie De Wolfe
(New York, 1865 - 1950, Versailles)
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designer
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Unknown
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manufacturer
Title
Sofa Table
Date
early 20th century
Medium
Beech
Dimensions
67.5 x 99 x 30 cm (26 9/16 x 39 x 11 13/16 in.)
Provenance
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Mrs. William Hooper for $20 on 20 July 1915. (for a set of two tables)
Commentary
Time and time again Gardner juxtaposed modern design with old masters. A good example of this practice is a beech sofa table by the legendary New York designer Elsie de Wolfe that Gardner transformed into a silk-covered altar for her sparkling tabernacle by the fourteenth-century Sienese painter Bartolomeo Bulgarini. Unlike other society grand dames, Gardner was not de Wolfe's client, but she did support female professionals, and the two New Yorkers forged a friendship based on their shared love of beauty. De Wolfe declared in a newspaper article that Gardner had no equal in America. She made a final visit to the museum near the time of Isabella's death, comparing her host's pallid appearance to "primitve pictures of saints."
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 96. (as designed by Elise de Wolfe)
Rollin van N. Hadley. "Elsie de Wolfe and Isabella Stewart Gardner." Fenway Court (1981), pp. 38-41, ill.
Aurora Daniel, "Interior Decorator, Elsie de Wolfe," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 8 March 2022, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/interior-decorator-elsie-de-wolfe
Gallery
Early Italian Room
Rights and reproductions
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