Famously White: Life and Legacy of a Design Icon

April 15, 2010 - PRLog -- Trendsetter, fashion icon, and wife of an internationally renowned novelist, the interior designer Syrie Maugham (1879–1955) created an ultra-chic world that was as unique as it was influential. Her ethereal all-white rooms of the 1920s and 30s were echoed in high-style interiors around the world and translated into sets for movies and theatrical productions. Much of the look we associate with the Hollywood glamour of the time owes its simple elegance to Maugham’s pared-down aesthetic. Acanthus Press September 2010 release of Syrie Maugham celebrates the work of this great British designer in the first comprehensive study of her dramatic life and meteoric career.

Author Pauline C. Metcalf takes readers on a lively transatlantic voyage through Maugham's world, from the drawing rooms she decorated in Mayfair, London to the houses, villas, and apartments commissioned by clients in the United States and on the Continent. With over 250 photographs and illustrations, Syrie Maugham also profiles the designer's international clientele, a rarified group that included British royals, European aristocrats, American socialites, and Broadway stars. In Maugham's blend of traditional elegance and the Style Moderne, with occasional Surrealist flourish—console tables floating on dolphin bases, fringed sleigh beds, sheepskin rugs, and miles of mirrored screens—this cosmopolitan beau monde discovered a perfect expression of café-society chic.

Publication date: September 15, 2010
10 X 12”, 300 pages
Hardcover: $69.00
Nearly 300 photographs and illustrations in color and duotone
ISBN-13: 978-0-926494-07-7

Pauline C. Metcalf is available for interviews. Cover art/content photos available on disc.
   
Pauline C. Metcalf is an independent historian, author, lecturer, and restoration consultant specializing in 19-20th century interiors.    Metcalf is a frequent contributing author to various shelter magazines and books including Recreating the Past: Essays on the Colonial Revival (2004), Designers on Designers (2003), David Adler, Architect: The Elements of Style (2002).  In 1988 she authored Ogden Codman and the Decoration of Houses, and curated the related exhibition at the National Academy of Design, Boston Athenaeum, and National Building Museum.

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Acanthus Press publishes books at the intersection of material culture and architectural history. Our award-winning books chronicle the lost histories of houses and objects, of clients and designers. More information www.acanthuspress.com