Dorothy Draper White Lacquer Eight-Drawer Dresser the Greenbrier Resort, 1946
View Similar Items
Dorothy Draper White Lacquer Eight-Drawer Dresser the Greenbrier Resort, 1946
About the Item
- Creator:Dorothy Draper (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 34 in (86.36 cm)Width: 69 in (175.26 cm)Depth: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1946
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Camden, ME
- Reference Number:Seller: App 6071stDibs: LU89849026511
Dorothy Draper
Few would argue with the statement that Dorothy Draper was the most influential American interior decorator of the past century. They might make a case for Elsie de Wolfe, who had banished heavy dark furnishings and finishes from late Edwardian-era rooms, or plump for Sister Parish, and her easeful gentrified look. But Draper simply was the face of decorating. Savvy, decisive and trim — she looked the part. And her 1939 book Decorating Is Fun! and a regular column for Good Housekeeping maintained that public image. As did, of course, her work.
Born to wealth in Tuxedo Park, New York, Draper received little formal schooling but did travel extensively in Europe, where she refined her eye and tastes. Draper invented the interior design style known these days as Hollywood Regency. She loved bold vibrant color, which she deployed in unusual combinations (pink paired with eggplant was a favorite). She had a penchant for black-and-white checkered floors.
Draper liked a room to have a statement piece on the wall, preferably a plaster scrollwork-framed mirror. But most of all Draper liked such things as huge moldings brimming with Baroque detail; upholstery fabrics with overscaled florals, such as her signature print called “Cabbage Rose.” Draper could keep it simple. Many of her chairs are unfussy slipper or club chairs, with maybe a little tufting. Her cabinets and other case pieces are equally elegant — the quiet España chest, which has three drawers with round brass pulls, has been a staple of classic decorating ever since Draper designed it in 1953.
During a heyday of production in the mid-1950s, Heritage entered into a partnership with Draper, while Frank Lloyd Wright created several lines of furniture for Henredon — the works by both designers, which included Draper's España line and Viennese furnishings group, were marketed under the Heritage-Henredon name owing to a cross-licensing agreement between the brands.
Because of her passion for scale and grand gestures, most of Draper’s commissions were for hotels, resorts and apartment towers. In these spaces, she could follow her whim and produce such extravagances as the massive, playfully modernist chandelier in the lobby of the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia; the wildly Baroque fireplace in the lounge of New York’s Hampshire House; and the towering lacquered doors of the Arrowhead Springs Hotel in California. The woman thought big.
Browse a collection of vintage Dorothy Draper furniture on 1stDibs.
More From This Seller
View AllVintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass
Vintage 1940s American Art Deco Dressers
Mahogany
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
Marble
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
Brass
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
Brass
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
Walnut, Mirror
You May Also Like
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass, Gold Leaf
Vintage 1960s American Hollywood Regency Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Brass
Vintage 1960s American Hollywood Regency Dressers
Brass
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Mahogany
Late 20th Century American Georgian Dressers
Brass
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Dra...
Brass
