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Review
Lavishly illustrated. (Sunday Telegraph )
Wood punctuates a breezy narrative of his life with plenty of insights and personal anecdotes. (House & Garden )
This book is a historic document, a reminder of times past, a beautifully written work with photographs that accurately depict the interiors. It will be the standard reference book of taste during the second half of the 20th century. (Spectator )
Wood punctuates a breezy narrative of his life with plenty of insights and personal anecdotes. (House & Garden )
This book is a historic document, a reminder of times past, a beautifully written work with photographs that accurately depict the interiors. It will be the standard reference book of taste during the second half of the 20th century. (Spectator )
Product Description
John Fowler was an interior decorator who set fashions and changed tastes. The English country house style, which he developed with Sibyl Colefax and Nancy Lancaster, his partners in the firm of Colefax & Fowler, has proved a source of continuing inspiration to decorators and home-owners on both sides of the Atlantic and indeed across the world. Today, a hundred years after his birth, his influence is almost as powerful as it was in the mid 20th century, when he was working on many of Britain's finest and most famous houses, including Uppark, Chequers and Buckingham Palace, as well as dozens of more modest projects.
Fowler's style has been so widely imitated that it is easy to forget what an innovator he was. In the 1930s and 1940s his style was a breath of fresh country air, sweeping away heavy velvets and damasks in favour of crisp cotton chintzes, replacing glossy mahogany with painted Regency furnishings, elaborate porcelain and glitzy ormolu with modest pottery and painted tin. Even after the war, when he came to specialize in the decoration of architecturally important interiors, he continued to prefer 'humble elegance' and 'romantic disrepair' to pomposity.
Fowler's style has been so widely imitated that it is easy to forget what an innovator he was. In the 1930s and 1940s his style was a breath of fresh country air, sweeping away heavy velvets and damasks in favour of crisp cotton chintzes, replacing glossy mahogany with painted Regency furnishings, elaborate porcelain and glitzy ormolu with modest pottery and painted tin. Even after the war, when he came to specialize in the decoration of architecturally important interiors, he continued to prefer 'humble elegance' and 'romantic disrepair' to pomposity.
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First Sentence
I? IS A POPULAR MISCONCEPTION that what now seems to be universally known as the 'English Country House' style of interior decoration is in some form an ancient tradition of the English. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I? IS A POPULAR MISCONCEPTION that what now seems to be universally known as the 'English Country House' style of interior decoration is in some form an ancient tradition of the English. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Martin Wood's achievement is to take a vast amount of research and turn it into a wonderfully readable account of John Fowler's work. It is a well illustrated and well written book with a host of previously unpublished photographs. I recommend this book very highly to those who work in decoration, those learning about it and anyone who enjoys the beauties of interior decoration.
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
With a remarkable memory for the smallest detail, imagination, and an appreciation of beauty, John Fowler was called "the Prince of Decorators." He may well have deserved that sobriquet, but in this lushly illustrated 240 volume we also learn that he was not a prince of a fellow.
Early in his career Fowler worked as a painter for Thornton Smith, commercial decorators. It was there that he learned to paint "the Chinese wallpapers that were so fashionable at the time", and also how to grime and distress furniture. Later, in 1928 or 1929 he set out to work on his own, often freelancing for other decorators. Following a series of commissions, a 1938 House Garden article placed Fowler among England's leading decorators. Rising from a salaried painter to this position in a decade was quite a feat.
More success followed as he joined Sybil Colefax in 1938. He was 32; she who enjoyed stature as a society hostess was 64. However, their alliance was dramatically affected with the outbreak of war when decorating all but stopped. After Sybil Colefax's death the firm of Colefax & Fowler was acquired by Nancy Lancaster, a Virginian whose work is thought of as "English style." She was to teach Fowler much about comfort and scale, "how large houses could be used and enjoyed in the modern world."
Fowler, who died in 1977, had an enviable client list. He transformed some of the most famous houses in England, and was commissioned by Buckingham Palace. The style created by the team of Colefax & Fowler endures today, English Country House Style represents not only decoration but a way of life. Many try to emulate it but none capture it as did John Fowler.
Those with an interest in twentieth century design will treasure this keepsake volume.
- Gail Cooke
Early in his career Fowler worked as a painter for Thornton Smith, commercial decorators. It was there that he learned to paint "the Chinese wallpapers that were so fashionable at the time", and also how to grime and distress furniture. Later, in 1928 or 1929 he set out to work on his own, often freelancing for other decorators. Following a series of commissions, a 1938 House Garden article placed Fowler among England's leading decorators. Rising from a salaried painter to this position in a decade was quite a feat.
More success followed as he joined Sybil Colefax in 1938. He was 32; she who enjoyed stature as a society hostess was 64. However, their alliance was dramatically affected with the outbreak of war when decorating all but stopped. After Sybil Colefax's death the firm of Colefax & Fowler was acquired by Nancy Lancaster, a Virginian whose work is thought of as "English style." She was to teach Fowler much about comfort and scale, "how large houses could be used and enjoyed in the modern world."
Fowler, who died in 1977, had an enviable client list. He transformed some of the most famous houses in England, and was commissioned by Buckingham Palace. The style created by the team of Colefax & Fowler endures today, English Country House Style represents not only decoration but a way of life. Many try to emulate it but none capture it as did John Fowler.
Those with an interest in twentieth century design will treasure this keepsake volume.
- Gail Cooke
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
43 of 45 people found the following review helpful
NOT ONLY DECORATION BUT A WAY OF LIFE
12 Nov 2007
Format:Hardcover
With a remarkable memory for the smallest detail, imagination, and an appreciation of beauty, John Fowler was called "the Prince of Decorators." He may well have deserved that sobriquet, but in this lushly illustrated 240 volume we also learn that he was not a prince of a fellow.
Early in his career Fowler worked as a painter for Thornton Smith, commercial decorators. It was there that he learned to paint "the Chinese wallpapers that were so fashionable at the time", and also how to grime and distress furniture. Later, in 1928 or 1929 he set out to work on his own, often freelancing for other decorators. Following a series of commissions, a 1938 House Garden article placed Fowler among England's leading decorators. Rising from a salaried painter to this position in a decade was quite a feat.
More success followed as he joined Sybil Colefax in 1938. He was 32; she who enjoyed stature as a society hostess was 64. However, their alliance was dramatically affected with the outbreak of war when decorating all but stopped. After Sybil Colefax's death the firm of Colefax & Fowler was acquired by Nancy Lancaster, a Virginian whose work is thought of as "English style." She was to teach Fowler much about comfort and scale, "how large houses could be used and enjoyed in the modern world."
Fowler, who died in 1977, had an enviable client list. He transformed some of the most famous houses in England, and was commissioned by Buckingham Palace. The style created by the team of Colefax & Fowler endures today, English Country House Style represents not only decoration but a way of life. Many try to emulate it but none capture it as did John Fowler.
Those with an interest in twentieth century design will treasure this keepsake volume.
- Gail Cooke
Early in his career Fowler worked as a painter for Thornton Smith, commercial decorators. It was there that he learned to paint "the Chinese wallpapers that were so fashionable at the time", and also how to grime and distress furniture. Later, in 1928 or 1929 he set out to work on his own, often freelancing for other decorators. Following a series of commissions, a 1938 House Garden article placed Fowler among England's leading decorators. Rising from a salaried painter to this position in a decade was quite a feat.
More success followed as he joined Sybil Colefax in 1938. He was 32; she who enjoyed stature as a society hostess was 64. However, their alliance was dramatically affected with the outbreak of war when decorating all but stopped. After Sybil Colefax's death the firm of Colefax & Fowler was acquired by Nancy Lancaster, a Virginian whose work is thought of as "English style." She was to teach Fowler much about comfort and scale, "how large houses could be used and enjoyed in the modern world."
Fowler, who died in 1977, had an enviable client list. He transformed some of the most famous houses in England, and was commissioned by Buckingham Palace. The style created by the team of Colefax & Fowler endures today, English Country House Style represents not only decoration but a way of life. Many try to emulate it but none capture it as did John Fowler.
Those with an interest in twentieth century design will treasure this keepsake volume.
- Gail Cooke
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Not just pretty photographs
27 Nov 2007
Format:Hardcover
I'm addicted to "house books", just as I'm addicted to houses. John Fowler has always been someone whose work I admire, and this book does an excellent job of charting his background and development as a designer. It's not necessarily a book you'll buy to get ideas for curtains from - but you'll understand better why his rooms were more comfortable, suitable and attractive than anyone else's before or since.
22 of 26 people found the following review helpful
A Colorful and Warm Cover...but...
17 Dec 2007
Format:Hardcover
I was dissapointed with the lack of quality "full page color photos" inside this book. One can not get a sense of the cozy details in Fowler's designs, in the pics represented within. I found the book mostly a biographical story rather than an inspirational journey through Fowler's career. Don't be fooled by the intimacy presented on the cover...once inside you might be surprised by the lack of warmth.
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