The Party Planner for Cafe Society

Party planner or event designer? Frankly, neither title seems elegant enough for the late Jacques Frank, a Paris-based designer who conceived and decorated parties for the crème de la crème of café society, including Arturo and Patricia Lopez-Willshaw, Elsa Schiaparelli, Princess Chavchavadze, and Duc de Talleyrand.  A decorator who worked for decades at the prominent French design firm, Maison Ramsay, Frank was a conjurer of atmosphere, creating inspired settings that transported guests to other times and places.  A student of history, Frank seemed especially proficient in recreating eighteenth-century tableaux.  Based on the photos below (obtained from Connaissance des Arts, September 1957), it appears that a Frank-designed party could be part spectacle, but spectacle executed in a graceful, refined manner. 

I consulted my library to see if I could learn more about Frank, but sadly, the Baron de Redé makes no mention of Frank in his memoirs.  The same goes for both Prince Jean-Louis de Faucigny-Lucinge, who doesn't reference Frank in his highly-collectible book, Legendary Parties, 1922-1972, and Thierry Coudert, who penned the recently-published book, Beautiful People of the Café Society.  I did manage to scare up this tidbit online: it seems that Frank worked on these shores, too, designing Anne Ford's 1961 coming-out party at her parents' Grosse Pointe Farm, Michigan estate, according to a 1961 Time magazine article.

I have a feeling we might be more impressed by his work had these photos been published in color.  After all, what's a party without color?  But if you zoom-in on these images, you'll see that while Frank might have had grand visions for his clients' parties, the décor was never ostentatious.

A Frank-designed party at the Neuilly home of Arturo and Patricia Lopez-Willshaw.  According to an interview with Frank, the party décor was classically-inspired.  Note the reflection in the pool.

Another party hosted by the Lopez-Willshaws at their Neuilly residence, this time oriented, presumably, on the other side of the pool.  The party was a recreation of a 1766 fête given by the Prince de Conti in honor of the Duke of Brunswick.  Frank took his design cue from this Michel-Barthelemy Ollivier painting, which captured the 1766 party:

For client M. Carvalho y Silva, Frank transformed the swimming pool at Deligny (la piscine Deligny), which was located on the Seine, into an eighteenth-century Venetian scene.



 

A party at l'hôtel Lambert, which Frank designed in collaboration with Baron de Cabrol.

An outdoor arbor, strung with May flowers and candelabra, graced a party hosted by Alain de Rothschild and his wife. 

Inside l'hôtel de Rothschild, Frank covered the walls of a tented room in greenery. The lacquered panels at one end of the room were painted by José-Maria Sert.