Frances Elkins gets her dues at Christie's this June

‘To do any superior work in the arts and crafts you must fill your eyes with the great things,’ Frances Elkins told her local paper, the Monterey Peninsula Herald, in 1947.

The visionary American interior designer had certainly filled her eyes with great things, among them French antiques, Chanel suits and a social circle that included Salvador Dalí. Elkins' deft mix of the decidedly traditional with the bracingly modern solidified her as the top interior designer in the U.S. at the time, rivaled only by Elsie de Wolfe. Despite her renown, Elkins’s legacy remains decidedly under-appreciated.

A new auction coming to Christie’s New York promises to catapult Elkins back into the public eye and to deliver – yes – plenty of great things. The sale, set to take place 12 June at the auction house’s Rockefeller Center headquarters, comprises 38 lots from the James D. Zellerbach residence in San Francisco, designed by Elkins in 1937.

The items coming to the block represent a treasure trove of early-20th-century design—from a specially-commissioned plaster sculpture of a bird in flight by Alberto Giacometti to a wicker log-holder designed by Jean-Michel Frank—but, more importantly, demonstrate the extraordinary longevity of Elkins’ taste.

'She was a force to be reckoned with,' Victoria Tudor, head of sale for design at Christie’s New York. 'She really had an eye for line, for colour—for theatrics in a way— but also for the avant-garde.'

Elkins was born in 1888 to a wealthy Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While most young society ladies were expected to get married, Elkins instead followed her brother, David Adler, on a three-year tour of Europe after he completed his architecture education at École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. It was here that a young Elkins met Giacometti and Frank.

Elkins married Felton Broomall Elkins, a polo-playing dandy, and relocated to Monterey, California. By the 1920s, Elkins, who collaborated often with her brother on residential projects, had established herself as one of society’s top decorators with her eclectic mix of French and English antiques alongside contemporary makers.

James D. and Hana Zellerbach, a prominent San Francisco couple, took notice and tapped Elkins to design their 12,000 sq. ft. Pacific Heights residence in the mid-1930s. The resulting design was one that was at once genteel and contemporary and would not look a bit out of place in a modern-day interior design magazine, with its bleached oak walls, grey leather furnishings and artful contributions by titans like Giocometti and Frank, as well as local Bay Area artisans. The home underwent alterations over the decades, but maintained many of the pieces Elkins selected for it.

Highlights of the sale include Elkins originals, like a pair of whimsical tree-form lamps (high estimate, $30,000), a pair of seashell-shaped plaster sconces (high estimate, $200,000), or a set of five oak bar stools, with delicate hooves instead of traditional feet (high estimate, $30,000).

'This is a really unique and special opportunity,' says Tudor, who worked with the Zellerbach’s current owners on the sale. 'The pieces that have been within the residence have essentially passed from three hands.'

But collectors of both art and design will inevitably flock towards the 20th-Ccntury design French treasures, including Jean Michel-Frank’s cerused-oak cocktail table, expected to soar north of $600,000, or a pair of his iron side tables, which could fetch upwards of $150,000. The sale’s highlight, unquestionably, is Alberto Giocometti’s rare Oiseau, which has a high estimate of $3 million, catnip for 'art collectors who just really pine after the works by these incredible artists,' Tudor says.

But there are also steals for those looking to take home a piece of design history, like a set of butter-yellow fringed curtains, with a more modest low estimate of $1,500, or a glamorous Lucite towel rack for $1,200.

'I'm hoping that the sale will help bring Frances Elkins to another level,' Tudor adds. 'I think those who now know, and that's fantastic, but I would love to see that get broadened.'

Is there something inherently sad about these objects leaving their original home? Tudor sees it as an opportunity for them to have another chapter.

'I relish in the idea that there are Francis Elkins residences still in existence across the United States. There are David Adler homes across the United States,' she explains. 'Wouldn't it be phenomenal to see these come back to another space?'