The Regency Revival: From Deco Greco to Hollywood Glam

The classical elegance of the Regency period in England is considered one of the most sophisticated and refined moments in design history. Throughout the twentieth century, designers took elements of the Regency vocabulary and restyled them to meld with the reigning aesthetic of the day. The effects proved extraordinary. Ms. Eerdmans will begin with an overview of the original Regency period, which built its sophisticated aesthetic on the example of the Neoclassical style of Napoleon’s time, then continue with the exemplary Art Deco designs of Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann and Süe et Mare in France. By the 1930s, the Vogue Regency had returned home to England. There, Sibyl Colefax and Syrie Maugham created stylized classical interiors whose novelty and theatricality influenced fashion and helped shape the design aesthetic of such contemporary fashion photographers as Cecil Beaton and Horst B. Horst. In America, the Regency Revival took hold in Hollywood with the lavish film sets of the 1930s and 1940s created by great studio art directors such as Cedric Gibbons (MGM) and Van Nest Polglase (RKO). The popularity of films like Pride and Prejudice and The Scarlet Pimpernel further popularized the style. Designers and architects to the stars Billy Haines, John Woolf and T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings made their marks with work for the Hollywood elite. Our presentation will include interiors of the 1930s and 1940s, when “Lady decorators” Dorothy Draper and Elsie de Wolfe set the trends and cut a stylish Regency-infused swath from coast to coast. Rounding out these vintage interiors will be the Regency inspired work of acclaimed contemporary designers Albert Hadley, Jacques Grange, William Diamond, Anthony Baratta, and Kelly Wearstler. Join us as we revel in this fascinating topic enlivened with a rich selection of images depicting period interiors, film sets, and furniture.