Nancy Vincent McClelland

Nancy Vincent McClelland (1877–1959) was the first female president of the first US national association of interior designers, the American Institute of Interior Decorators (A.I.I.D), which is now called the American Society of Interior Designers (A.S.I.D.), and was one of the first women ever to enter the interior decorator field.[1] McClelland was also an expert on the European/American antiques. She was a writer for interior journals such as: Collier's, Country Life, House Beautiful, and House and Garden.[2] She was an expert on wallpaper and the American Neoclassical Designer Duncan Phyfe. She received several rewards for her work.[1] Being multilingual gave her the opportunity to be internationally active and to be known beyond the US as a writer, speaker, interior decorator, wallpaper designer, and collector of antique furniture. She traveled widely and met figures of the time such as Picasso.[2]

Nancy McClelland was working on developing the professionalization of the profession, interior designer because it was not seen as a career choice. Instead, she was an interior decorator, particularly one who was an expert in antiques and wallpapers of different time periods. Her work dealt with both the current trends of her time period and also restoring the grand interiors of historic buildings making her style related historicism.[2] She argued that one cannot simply ornament a space to be an interior decorator, but rather need more education to require a specific degree to be considered a professional. McClelland became one of the people that pushed the field of interior decoration to be professionalized.[1]

Early life

McClelland was born in a middle-class family of Methodist ministers in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1877.[1] In 1897, she received of a Bachelor of Arts in Latin and English from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received the key upon graduating.[3] With her studies, she became multilingual and spoke French, Italian, German, and Spanish.[2]

Career

McClelland first started her career as a reporter (in hopes that it would lead to her future career) for the Philadelphia Press from 1897 to 1900. For her next job, McClelland worked for Wanamaker's Department Store in the advertising department. Also, as part of this job she was afforded the opportunity to create window displays and store exhibits. She thus commenced her study on what she called "proper and effective arrangement."[1] From there, she traveled to Paris as a 'representative and buyer' for Wanamaker's. While in Paris, she studied art and art history, visited places such as Chateaux and museums. During her stay, she met the leading French artist of the 20th century Pablo Picasso and also literary innovator and pioneer of Modernist literature Gertrude Stein.[1]

In 1913, McClelland returned to the US and opened Au Quartrieme on the fourth floor of Wanamaker's in New York, which was the first of its kind in a department store because the shop sold American antiques and European antique furnishings.[2] In 1922, she left Wanamaker's and opened her own store, Nancy McClelland Inc. in New York City. It specialized in historical decorations while keeping with the decorating trends at the time. She also worked with clients such as: John D. Rockefeller and Electra Havemeyer Webb. In addition, she restored and/or decorated various styles of houses, museums such as: Mount Vernon, the plantation home of George Washington, in Virginia, and the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House in Portland, Maine.[2]

In 1924, she published her first book, Historic Wallpapers. She also wrote Duncan Phyfe & The English Regency as she analyzed the famous cabinet maker Duncan Phyfe, and McClelland discussed that she believed the Regency period was the most "polished", most "animated", and most "corrupt" era for the English society. She wrote numerous articles for magazines, including: Collier's, Country Life, House Beautiful, and House and Garden.[2] McClelland belonged to the Decorator's Club and was one of the first woman decorators to join the Architectural League once it opened its membership to women in 1934.[4] She was also a founding member of the American Institute of Interior Decorators (A.I.I.D.), which changed to American Institute of Decorators (A.I.D.) in 1936.[2]

In 1941, McClelland was elected as fifth, and first woman, president of A.I.D. She served from 1941 to 1944.[5] She worked on trying to raise interior decoration to professional status that would require training through school and college, earning a degree. It was also when McClelland was the president of A.I.D. when the gate to the institution was opened to students for the first time.[2] McClelland also campaigned to create a license for interior decorators in order to make the job title be recognized as a professional career.

Honors

McClelland received several rewards, including the French Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1930. The first annual Justin Allman Wallpaper Award wasgranted to her in 1946 by the National Walpaper Wholesaler's Association.[1] Then in 1948, McClelland received the fellowship of A.I.D. She was awarded with the Michael Friedsam Medal of the Architectural League of New York for service to the cause of the industrial arts.[2]

Legacy

Nancy Vicent McClelland died on October 1, 1959 at the age of 82. In memory of her and her work, her firm established a scholarship fund for the A.I.D.[1][5]

Books

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "McClelland, Nancy Vincent". Interiors. November 1959.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 May, Bridget (2008). "Nancy Vincent McClelland (1877-1959): Professionalizing Interior Decoration in the Early Twentieth Century". Journal of Design History.
  3. ↑ "McClelland furniture and decorations; sale and exhibition". Artnews. 1932.
  4. ↑ McClelland, Nancy (1939). "Regency takes a bow : a summary of lectures at the Decorators Club". Interior Decorator.
  5. 1 2 "The Nancy Vincent McClelland Merit Award | ASID". ASID. Retrieved 2015-11-14.
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