Deborah Needleman: Free the Blue Room
[Deborah Needleman is the editor in chief of Domino magazine.]
IN an interview last month, Barack Obama spoke of his and Michelle’s plans to “open up the White House and remind people this is the people’s house.” He said they wanted to host jazz musicians, chamber music recitals and poetry readings, “so that once again we appreciate this incredible tapestry that’s America.”
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Pia Fischer; Photograph by Associated Press
The allusion to Camelot was unmistakable. Nearly 50 years ago, Jacqueline Kennedy transformed a shabby White House into an elegant showcase for America’s cultural life and design heritage. Her refurbished state rooms, stocked with historically important furniture arranged with an eye to drama and beauty, became a worthy backdrop for performances, concerts and glamorous dinners. She helped make Americans proud of the place and, for the first time, of our own accomplishments in the decorative arts.
This is an appealing model for the Obamas. Unfortunately, they’ll find that Mrs. Kennedy made her own example very hard to follow — because she pulled it off largely through charm and cunning, and then shrouded her schemes in a welter of bureaucracy that now makes it difficult for any successor to again enliven the décor of the executive mansion.
The forlorn state rooms that Mrs. Kennedy found when she and her husband arrived in 1961 — furnished in Truman-era reproductions of 19th-century pieces from B. Altman and insignificant broadloom carpets — were desperately in need of revamping. The first lady whipped things into shape in a remarkably short time. She got Congress to pass legislation that designated the White House a museum and hired a curator. She set up the Fine Arts Committee for the White House to locate and raise money for the acquisition of 18th- and 19th-century furniture and art relating to the history of the presidency.
Mrs. Kennedy’s redesign, which was largely the work of Stéphane Boudin, the celebrated French decorator whose clients included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, was historically minded rather than historically accurate. In the Green Room, for example, Boudin relied on historical documents to inspire colors, wall coverings and curtains, but his goal was to create a sense of harmony. He arranged the Jeffersonian Federal furniture so as to reconcile the rather leggy, spindly pieces with the room’s enormous proportions.
But the first lady cast the work as a “restoration” and put Henry Francis du Pont, an authority on American antiques, at the helm of the committee in order to place all her design decisions beyond reproach. Du Pont and the committee provided cover for Mrs. Kennedy’s Parisian decorator. While du Pont gave advice and helped acquire hundreds of important antiques, it was Boudin who had the first lady’s ear. The chief usher of the White House understood he was to allow du Pont to rearrange the furniture during his visits, but then move it back when he left....
Read entire article at NYT
IN an interview last month, Barack Obama spoke of his and Michelle’s plans to “open up the White House and remind people this is the people’s house.” He said they wanted to host jazz musicians, chamber music recitals and poetry readings, “so that once again we appreciate this incredible tapestry that’s America.”
Enlarge This Image
Pia Fischer; Photograph by Associated Press
The allusion to Camelot was unmistakable. Nearly 50 years ago, Jacqueline Kennedy transformed a shabby White House into an elegant showcase for America’s cultural life and design heritage. Her refurbished state rooms, stocked with historically important furniture arranged with an eye to drama and beauty, became a worthy backdrop for performances, concerts and glamorous dinners. She helped make Americans proud of the place and, for the first time, of our own accomplishments in the decorative arts.
This is an appealing model for the Obamas. Unfortunately, they’ll find that Mrs. Kennedy made her own example very hard to follow — because she pulled it off largely through charm and cunning, and then shrouded her schemes in a welter of bureaucracy that now makes it difficult for any successor to again enliven the décor of the executive mansion.
The forlorn state rooms that Mrs. Kennedy found when she and her husband arrived in 1961 — furnished in Truman-era reproductions of 19th-century pieces from B. Altman and insignificant broadloom carpets — were desperately in need of revamping. The first lady whipped things into shape in a remarkably short time. She got Congress to pass legislation that designated the White House a museum and hired a curator. She set up the Fine Arts Committee for the White House to locate and raise money for the acquisition of 18th- and 19th-century furniture and art relating to the history of the presidency.
Mrs. Kennedy’s redesign, which was largely the work of Stéphane Boudin, the celebrated French decorator whose clients included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, was historically minded rather than historically accurate. In the Green Room, for example, Boudin relied on historical documents to inspire colors, wall coverings and curtains, but his goal was to create a sense of harmony. He arranged the Jeffersonian Federal furniture so as to reconcile the rather leggy, spindly pieces with the room’s enormous proportions.
But the first lady cast the work as a “restoration” and put Henry Francis du Pont, an authority on American antiques, at the helm of the committee in order to place all her design decisions beyond reproach. Du Pont and the committee provided cover for Mrs. Kennedy’s Parisian decorator. While du Pont gave advice and helped acquire hundreds of important antiques, it was Boudin who had the first lady’s ear. The chief usher of the White House understood he was to allow du Pont to rearrange the furniture during his visits, but then move it back when he left....