Beverly Russell (December 9, 1934 – December 11, 2021) was a British American journalist and editor. She led the design magazines Interiors and Architecture.[1]

Beverly Russell
Beverly Russel in 1979 - photo by Robert Levin
Born(1934-12-09)December 9, 1934
London, England
DiedDecember 11, 2021(2021-12-11) (aged 87)
OccupationEditor
Spouses1st Roger Beardwood 2nd Jon Naar
Children1

Biography edit

Beverly Anne Russell was born on December 9, 1934, in London to Leslie and Maude Russell. Her father was a department store executive. Her mother was a homemaker. She had a sister, Gillian.[1]

Career edit

The Manchester Evening News was her first journalism position. After she moved to New York in 1967, she got a position with Condé Nast. There she worked at Brides and then House & Garden. She moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in the 1970s where she lived in an artistic expatriate community. In 1979, she was hired as the editor of Interiors magazine, a trade magazine for the interior design industry. Under her leadership, the magazine became business oriented and promoted women in the field.[1] In 1991, she founded Beverly Russell Enterprises and was a business consultant.[2] She officially retired in 2006.[1]

Her 1992 book, Women of Design, was the first survey of female interior designers.[3] The book also presents a history of design, including the predecessors of modern design when the term "interior decorator" was commonly used for the profession.[3]

Personal life edit

She was married to journalist Roger Beardwood. Together they had a son, Benjamin. After the divorce of Beardwood, she married the photographer Jon Naar. That marriage also ended in divorce.[1]

Russell died on December 11, 2021, through physician-assisted suicide in Albuquerque, New Mexico, following a terminal heart diagnosis.[1]

Books edit

  • Russell, Beverly (August 1, 1980). Designers' Workplaces: Thirty Three Offices by Designers for Designers. Whitney Library of Design. ISBN 978-0823074921. (also Watson-Guptill Publications, 1983)
  • Russell, Beverly (November 1, 1992). Women of Design: Contemporary American Interiors. Rizzoli International Publications. ISBN 978-0847816149.[4]
  • Russell, Beverly (March 25, 1999). Women of Taste: Recipes and Profiles of Famous Women Chefs. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0471331797. (first published 1997)
  • Russell, Beverly (May 1, 2015). Deadline Diva: A Journalist's Life. Beverly Russell Enterprises. ISBN 978-1320840354.[2]

Articles edit

  • "Ray Kappe's enduring modernism". Modernism Magazine. 7 (3): 76. 2004.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f Vadukul, Alex (December 29, 2021). "Beverly Russell, Who Ran Design Magazines With Flair, Dies at 87". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b "CULTMACHINE.COM – the INDIeBOOK label". www.cultmachine.com.
  3. ^ a b Turpin, John (September 1, 2007). "The History of Women in Interior Design: A Review of the Literature". Journal of Interior Design. 33 (1): 5. doi:10.1111/j.1939-1668.2007.tb00418.x.
  4. ^ Louie, Elaine (October 8, 1992). "Currents; It's All in the Trunk". The New York Times.