Jean-Michel Frank

Interior designer Frances Elkins was one of the great arbiters of taste in America during the Art Deco era. As a young woman she often visited her brother, David Adler, in Paris while he studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts. During this formative period she met artists Alberto Giacometti and Jean-Michel Frank, whose elegant modernist creations would later furnish the interior of one of her most important, exquisite commissions: the Kersey Coates Reed House in Lake Forest, Illinois.

The project was a collaboration between brother and sister: Adler designed the house and Elkins designed its interior decoration. Her vision for the home was ambitious, characterized by daring juxtapositions of traditional and modern that seemed effortlessly unified by the incredible quality of the pieces and materials Elkins selected. Giacometti and Frank pieces were highlights within the interior, especially the library, where the present sofa was placed surrounded by walls paneled in matching Hermès leather. The extraordinary luxury and style of this space made it a feature of the home, which is considered an absolute tour de force masterwork by this celebrated designer.