A friend was kind enough to send me a copy of the Christie's auction catalogue that I've been coveting, Innovators of Twentieth Century Style. (Remember that part of the reason that I've been pining for it was because of the leopard print cover!) It's really a very interesting catalogue not only because of the featured lots (furniture and accessories designed by all of the greats: Elkins, Duquette, Draper, and Haines, to name a few), but also because of the Elsie de Wolfe related items that were up for auction. This de Wolfe memorabilia included not one, not two, but eight paintings of the woman! Now that's impressive. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong because I don't have eight, two, nor even one painting of myself! No one is clamoring to paint me. Nor do I have a coterie of photographers who are begging to photograph me either. Hmmm. Well, anyway, Elsie was pretty fabulous, so I suppose that it comes as no surprise that she was immortalized in a bevy of paintings, drawings, and photographs. I guess when you helped to define modern decorating, it just comes with the territory.
Image at top: "Miss Elsie de Wolfe", 1915, Albert Sterner. Pastel on paper.
"The Blue Bird, Lady Mendl with Baron d'Erlanger at the Circus", c. 1930s, Dietz Edzard. Oil on canvas.
"Lady Mendl", c. 1940s, Marcel Vertes. Oil on canvas.
"Lady Mendl, After All", c. 1941, Baroness Catherine d'Erlanger. Oil on canvasboard.
"Lady Mendl", after Bernard Boutet de Monvel, Oil on canvas.
"Portrait Lady Mendl Infirmiere Pendant La Guerre", c. 1918, Mariette Cotton. (In case you're wondering, this painting shows de Wolfe receiving the Legion of Honor for helping wounded French soldiers in World War I.)
"Portrait, Elsie de Wolfe", c. 1992, India Ingargiola. Oil on canvas. After a photograph by Horst P. Horst.
"Elsie de Wolfe en Jardin", 1989, Julian La Trobe. Oil on canvas.