Stéphane Boudin
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Stéphane Boudin, 1888–1967, French interior designer and president of Maison Jansen (House of Jansen) the Paris based international interior decorating office.
Boudin is best known for being asked by U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to join American antiques expert Henry Francis du Pont of the Winterthur Museum and interior designer Sister Parish in the renovation and restoration of the White House from 1961 to 1963. Impressing the first lady with his initial work in the Red and Blue rooms Mrs. Kennedy gave him increasing control of the redecoration project to the consternation of du Pont and Parish.
The House of Jansen is known for designing interiors for Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Olive Baillie, the royal families of Belgium and Iran, the German Reichsbank during the period of National Socialism, and Leeds Castle in Kent.
Boudin had previously decorated The Elms, the Virginia country house later purchased by Lyndon Johnson (called by its French name by Boudin: "Les Ormes," and not the same house as the mansion The Elms in Newport, Rhode Island). The Johnsons hired Genevieve Hendricks to integrate a touch of Texas with the French decor (Time quoted Johnson as saying, "Every time somebody calls it a château, I lose 50,000 votes back in Texas"). When he became president, the Johnsons similarly altered some of Boudin's decor in the White House.
[edit] References
- Abbott, James A. A Frenchman in Camelot: The Decoration of the Kennedy White House by Stéphane Boudin. Boscobel Restoration Inc.: 1995. ISBN 0-9646659-0-5.
- Abbott James A., and Elaine M. Rice. Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration. Van Nostrand Reinhold: 1998. ISBN 0-442-02532-7.
- Abbott, James A. Jansen. Acanthus Press: 2006. ISBN 0-926494-33-3.
- West, J.B. with Mary Lynn Kotz. Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan: 1973. SBN 698-10546-X.
- "Ormes and the Man", Time magazine, November 17, 1961
