Hermes Mallea and the Great Houses of Havana

Hermes Mallea will be the Guest of Honor
at the Decorative Arts Trust gala anniversary celebration.

All Devoted Readers within driving distance will not want to miss an upcoming talk about the great houses of Havana by architect/interior designer/author Hermes Mallea.  This event is just one part of the 35th anniversary celebration of Decorative Arts Trust, a support group of Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.  Hermes' presentation will be Saturday, October 17, 10:30 am in the museum auditorium in Overton Park, 1934 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.  The talk is free and open to the public.  A book sale of both THE GRAND HOUSES OF HAVANA and ESCAPE: THE HEYDAY OF CARIBBEAN GLAMOUR, with proceeds benefiting D.A.T., will follow the talk along with a book signing by the author.

 

 

And be sure to allow enough time in your schedule afterwards to view the current exhibition which features over 100 items donated to the museum collection by Decorative Arts Trust and its members.  For more information, see the Trust's website.

Florence de Dampierre

A painted secrétaire à abattant from
THE BEST OF PAINTED FURNITURE

The first U.S. shop devoted entirely to eighteenth and nineteenth-century painted furniture, Florence de Dampierre Antiques, opened in New York City in 1985.  Immediately, it was a great success, drawing popular decorators and A-List clients to the SoHo shop.

Florence de Dampierre

In addition to being a dealer in the loveliest antique furniture, Florence de Dampierre has designed limited edition reproductions and has written five successful books.


Books by Florence de Dampierre.
Image from www.florencedammpierre.com

WALLS: THE BEST OF DECORATIVE TREATMENTS is especially noteworthy as it features a University Park/Dallas renovation project by John Tackett Design.


A John Tackett Design project featured in
WALLS: THE BEST OF DECORATIVE TREATMENTS

Florence de Dampierre will present a talk using images from her books as well as her own interior design projects as a guest of Decorative Arts Trust, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Saturday March 28, 2015, 10:30 am in the museum auditorium.  The public is invited and the event is free with museum admission.

Barry Dixon

All Devoted Readers are invited to meet interior designer Barry Dixon this Saturday, February 21, 2015.   He will speak at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art at 10:30 am as guest of Decorative Arts Trust.

Born in Memphis, Barry Dixon's work is influenced by a childhood spent in Pakistan, India, Korea, New Caledonia and South Africa.  Now based on a 300-plus acre 1907 estate in Fauquier County, Virginia, near Washington, DC, he has created a line of furniture for Tomlinson/Erwin-Lambeth, accessories and furniture for Arteriors, fabrics and trim collections for Vervain, furniture and pendants for Avrett, and a paint line for C2 Paint in addition to serving as principal for his interior design firm.

A book-signing will follow the talk with BARRY DIXON INSPIRATIONS offered for sale with the proceeds benefitting Decorative Arts Trust.

Brian J McCarthy's Luminous Interiors

Brian J. McCarthy brings Hollywood glamour
to an Entrance Hall with a pair of Serge Roche
plasterworks flanking the doors to a
chic lacquered library.
Image from LUMINOUS INTERIORS.

In this season of so many particularly fine, newly published design books, one that really stands out is LUMINOUS INTERIORS by Brian J. McCarthy.  Brian, who was recently named to Architectural Digest's AD100, and I are friends from our days as co-workers at Parish-Hadley.  He launched his own firm Brian J. McCarthy, Inc. in 1992 and this, his first book, features his interior design for nine spectacular residences.

A detail of a photo of a Powder Room
from LUMINOUS INTERIORS.

Brian J. McCarthy is a decorator and designer in the true sense, a big step above the standard in the field who is essentially a salesperson/expediter, and only orders factory-made furniture from catalogues and sells fabric from swatch books.  For example, Brian didn't just paper the walls of the Powder Room of a 1930s Regency Revival house but had them Venetian plastered and stenciled in gold and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and abalone.  The desk was commissioned especially for the space and the chair is from the 1930s.  The Bagues chandelier dates from the 1940s.

The book consists of Brian's interesting story of each project accompanied by lavish color photos, many full page, none of which are done justice here.  It is one knock-out image after another.  Although difficult to pick a favorite room, one of the most memorable is glimpsed in the first photo of this posting.  The turquoise lacquer paneling with gilt bronze banding was fabricated in the U.S. and then sent to Paris for finishing.

An Empire Style Library for a new Long Island house
from LUMINOUS INTERIORS.

Brian had the mahogany Library boiserie for a new 30,000 square foot chateau on Long Island Sound made in Paris by Feau & Cie and finished by Atelier Meriguet-Carrere.  The painted ceiling, better viewed in other images, was also produced by the famous Meriguet workshop.

A Long Island Dining Room
from LUMINOUS INTERIORS.

The Dining Room of the same Long Island mansion also features paneling from Feau & Cie.  The Wedgwood-blue and ivory scheme is accented with panels of mirrored glass painted with neo-classical motifs.

A Master Bedroom from
LUMINOUS INTERIORS

The Master Bedroom of the previously mentioned Regency Revival house features a Serge Roche-inspired, mirrored canopy bed.  The curtain fabric is better seen in other photos in the book; based on a design by Balenciaga, the motifs are appliqued and embroidered on voile over taffeta.

Brian's Master Bathroom in the country.
Image from LUMINOUS INTERIORS.

The Master Bathroom in the Ulster County, New York, weekend home that Brian shares with his partner Danny Sager follows the casual theme of the rest of the house.  But it also reflects his great appreciation for art and craftsmanship.  The chandelier crafted from plumbing parts was made by Thomas Blake.

Brian J. McCarthy
photographed by Fritz von der Schulenberg.

Brian J. McCarthy will be making a much-anticipated appearance on Saturday, January 18, 2014, to speak at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art at 10:30 am.  Sponsored by Decorative Arts Trust, Brian will present a talk, "A Grand Tour of Design: Collecting for a Personal Home," giving advice on how to scout for objects while traveling and to collect pieces with great impact for one's own home.  A book sale and signing will follow.  The event is free to the public with regular museum admission and no reservations are required.





Duncan Phyfe Comes To Memphis

A very fine pair of Federal period,
carved mahogany side chairs,
attributed to Duncan Phyfe, circa 1815.
Lot 509, Sale NO8959, Sotheby's New York.

Not Mr. Phyfe, himself -- the remarkably successful New York furniture maker died in 1854.  But rather, it is a handsome pair of chairs, attributed to Duncan Phyfe, that has been bought at auction by Decorative Arts Trust and presented as a gift to Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.  Despite his fame, pieces from Phyfe's shop seldom bore a signature, stamp or label.  Therefore items without documentation such as a receipt or other written accounts are referred to as "attributed to" instead of "made by" Duncan Phyfe. 


Duncan Phyfe.
Wikipedia.

Born Duncan Fife in Scotland in 1770, at age 14 (or 16 as some sources say) he emigrated with his family to Albany, New York, and found work as a cabinetmaker's apprentice.  After moving to New York City and finding success as a joiner in the furniture trade, he changed the spelling of his name to a more classical appearance when he opened his own business in 1794. 


Shop and Warehouses of Duncan Phyfe.
Watercolor, Unknown Artist, 1816 to 1820.
Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Duncan Phyfe was not a furniture designer, but he greatly popularized the neo-classical style and became known as "The United States Rage."  Furniture from the shop of Duncan Phyfe was found in the homes of the rich and famous of New York, Philadelphia, and the South, with his reputation for high-quality creating a great demand for neo-classical furniture, peaking between 1805 and 1820.


FURNITURE MASTERPIECES OF DUNCAN PHYFE
by Charles Over Cornelius, 1922.

Duncan Phyfe furniture is characterized by the use of classical motifs such as cornucopias, swags & tassels, sheaves of wheat or palms tied with a ribbon, and oak leaf branches with acorns to decorate the back rails of chairs and sofas. A cross, either straight or in ogee form (such as the examples in the first image), or a double cross might used for chairs and settees.   Notably as an alternate, a lyre or harp might be used as the back splat of a chair.

Sketch attributed to Duncan Phyfe.
Collection of Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library

On the sketch of the two chairs shown above, the prices are noted as follows:
Above the lyre-back chair:                 
  Cane bottoms   $22
  Cushions              3
  Stuffed              23
Above the Grecian curule-front chair: 
  Cane bottoms   $19
  Cushions Extra     3
  Stuffed bottoms 21
There are records of orders for two dozen chairs for dining rooms, so it is easy to see that this would be an expensive proposition for the time.


Side chair with a lyre back splat,
attributed to Duncan Phyfe, 1815 to 1820.
Metropolitan Museum of Art.









Side chair with curule legs,
attributed to the workshop of Duncan Phyfe
circa 1810.
Metropolitan Museum of Art.

While curule legs are sometimes found on stools, they are unusual for other forms of seating in American furniture.  But Phyfe was committed to classicism and had access to pattern books and catalogs of the period.  Plain Grecian forms based on French Restauration models created furniture with a fresh, bold classical appearance.


Plate 6
New York Cabinetmaker's Book
1817.
Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Decorative Arts Trust chairs bear similarities with two, in particular, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The hairy legs and paw feet, very desirable features, can be seen on the chair with the lyre back;  coincidently, the same green fabric covers the seat of both chairs.  However, the seat may have originally been caned as seen on the chair with curule legs;  both have the single ogee cross back.

Last year, an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art produced a handsome comprehensive catalog that covers the full chronology of Duncan Phyfe's career.  Three short videos can be seen on the exhibition webpage.

The chairs purchased by Decorative Arts Trust had an interesting provenance, having been owned by noted collectors Mr. and Mrs. Peter Terian, and before that, the curatorial master of American decorative arts, Berry B. Tracy.


The Manhattan Dining Room of Mr. & Mrs. Peter Terian.
Photo:  www.elliman.com

After Peter Terian's death in 2002, the widow of the French-born co-founder of Rallye Motors, a luxury car dealership, wanted to down-size and put their homes on the market.  There was a compound of several combined properties in East Hampton with the main house formerly owned by Chevy Chase.  And an apartment at The Dakota that had been formerly owned by Leonard Bernstein.  Judging from the interiors shown in the real estate listings, these chairs probably came from the Manhattan apartment.


Floor plan of apartment unit 23,
The Dakota,
1 West 72nd Street, New York.
www.elliman.com

Berry B. Tracy, the head curator and driving force behind the 1974 to 1980 renovation of the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum, was a well-respected authority on American neo-classicism and period interiors.


The re-created parlor of the William C. Williams house,
from Richmond, Virginia, now in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Tracy, who died in 1984, was also largely responsible for the current presentation of the house museum, Boscobel, a reconstruction in Garrison, New York.  The furnishing schemes are representative of Berry's academic and decorative taste in historic re-creations.  The pair of Decorative Arts Trust chairs were formerly in Tracy's own home in Goshen, New York, and once part of a larger set.


Fragments of the historic house Boscobel before reconstruction.
www.boscobel.org/

Interestingly, blogger Reggie Darling highlighted the chairs in his post about the Sotheby's auction preview during Antiques Week.  It was classic Good News/Bad News, being glad he was so taken with the chairs but uneasy about drawing attention to them.  Estimated by Sotheby's at $5,000 to $10,000, they sold for a total $12,500, hammer price plus 25% buyer's premium.  The chairs have been admitted to the permanent collection of Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and have been exhibited in a showing of recent contributions to the museum by Decorative Arts Trust.

Atmosphere or Object?

Photo by William Abranowicz from
THE WAY HOME:  REFLECTIONS ON AMERICAN BEAUTY.

In talking about how to create a stylish home environment that is suitable for the way families live today, noted interior designer Jeffrey Bilhuber says that interiors are not about the objects, but the overall success of the atmosphere as a whole.


Photo by William Abranowicz from
THE WAY HOME:  REFLECTIONS ON AMERICAN BEAUTY.

Bilhuber says he does not tell his clients what to buy;  he gives them choices and helps them make decisions to develop their own distinctive home.  His philosophy is illustrated with photos of a dozen homes whose interiors he has guided from his latest book, THE WAY HOME: REFLECTIONS ON AMERICAN BEAUTY.


Photo by William Abranowicz from
THE WAY HOME:  REFLECTIONS ON AMERICAN BEAUTY.

Mid-Southerners are in for a rare treat on Friday morning, November 9, 2012, when Jeffrey Bilhuber presents a talk, "The Way Home:  Atmosphere or Object," at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.  Although the luncheon presentation is sold out, there are still tickets available for the 10:30 am talk in the museum auditorium with a book sale and signing.  For more information, see the website of Decorative Arts Trust.

Jeffrey Bilhuber's Hay Fever

 

Jeffrey Bilhuber.
Photo:  Bilhuber & Associates.

No, this is not about the interior designer's allergies.  Hay Fever is the name of Jeffrey Bilhuber's house on the North Shore of Long Island.  With the original portion of the house dating from the 17th century, it has been enlarged over the years, including an expansion by noted architect Maurice Fatio to create connections to the outbuildings.  Bilhuber completely renovated the house, saving existing features and adding other details salvaged from a nearby house being razed. 


The article from the August, 2009, issue of
Vogue magazine.
Photo:  Francois Halard.

The story of Bilhuber's search for the house was documented in an article by Hamish Bowles in the August, 2009, issue of Vogue magazine.  Although Bilhuber has an apartment in Manhattan, he also wanted a house within an hour's commute by train, located on a village green.  This house fit the bill.


The entrance hall of 'Hay Fever'.
Photo:  Francois Halard for Vogue magazine.

The house had once been a boy's school and later home to antiques collector and dealer Jane Teller Robinson.  (The Robinson's 1799 stone house in Manhattan is now the Abigail Adams Smith Museum).  Jane Robinson operated a museum and restaurant in this house which she called the Stage Coach Inn.


The living room.
Photo:  Francois Halard for Vogue magazine.

After a period of bank ownership, it was home to Edith Hay Wyckoff whose father named it Hay Fever after the Noel Coward play.  (Ms Wyckoff was a chronicler of the Long Island Lifestyle and how it changed after World War II).


Jeffrey Bilhuber with his son Christoph
in the kitchen of 'Hay Fever'.
Photo:  Francois Halard for Vogue magazine.

The bedrooms are named after
Revolutionary War generals.
Photo:  Francois Halard for Vogue magazine.

The master bedroom of 'Hay Fever.'
Photo:  Francois Halard for Vogue magazine.

Improvements in the 1920s by architect Maurice Fatio
connected the outbuildings to the main house,
creating a rear courtyard.
California landscape architect Nancy Goslee Power
designed a garden to replace the parking area.

Decorative Arts Trust, a support group for Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, will sponsor Jeffrey Bilhuber's talk "The Way Home:  Atmosphere or Object" at the museum auditorium, Friday, November 9, 2012, 10:30 am. A book sale and signing will precede and follow the talk.  Advance tickets for the talk are suggested as it is anticipated to be a sold-out event (as the luncheon has already reached capacity).  See the Trust's website (in flash format not viewable on iPhone, sorry) for more information.

The Brilliance of Tiffany

Detail of the Dragonfyl Hanging Lampshade.
Tiffany Studios, New York, 1900 to 1905.
The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass,
Long Island City, New York.

"The Brilliance of Tiffany:  Lamps from the Neustadt Collection" is an illuminating exhibition now on view at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art through January 13, 2013.  Thirty five lamps on loan from the Neustadt Collection, Long Island City, New York, form the core of the exhibit, amply supplemented by Tiffany silver and Favrile glass from both the Brooks permanent collection and items on loan from local private collections.  It is all expertly organized by the Brooks Curator of European and Decorative Art, Stanton Thomas.

Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Image:  Neustadt Collection.

Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1848 to 1933, son of Charles Lewis Tiffany who was the founder of the luxury retailer Tiffany & Company, started as a landscape painter, eventually branching out into interior design and the decorative arts, becoming one of the foremost artists of his time.  In 1869, Tiffany established a studio in the new headquarters of the New York City chapter of the Young Men's Christian Association, the YMCA Building by Renwick and Sands.  But it was Tiffany's design for his own residence at the Bella Apartments that caused a sensation when completed in 1878.  Read about "the fly-eye of New York" as O. Henry called it, in two articles from the early 1880s posted in the Half Pudding Half Sauce blog here.  In 1880, Tiffany established the interior design firm Louis C. Tiffany, Associated Artists with partners Lockwood DeForest (furniture and woodwork specialist), Candace Wheeler (textile and embroidery specialist, often credited as the Mother of American Interior Design) and Samuel Colman (a former Hudson River School artist who became one of the country's first professional interior designers). 


Tiffany Studios, New York City.
Image:  Macklowe Gallery.

In 1883, Tiffany left Louis C. Tiffany, Associated Artists to form his own glassmaking firm, first known as Tiffany Glass and later, Tiffany Studios.  When his father's magnificent Romanesque Revival house commissioned from architects McKim, Mead & White was completed in 1885 on the northeast corner of East 72nd Street and Madison Avenue, New York City, L.C. Tiffany and his family occupied the top two floors.


The Charles Lewis Tiffany residence,
East 72nd Street and Madison Avenue.
Image:  Macklowe Gallery.

Although he continued to collaborate on interior design projects, Tiffany built large workshops and furnaces in Corona, Queens, New York in 1893 and registered "Favrile" as the trademark for his iridescent glass that same year.  Tiffany had become interested in the artistic effects of elecric lights, especially after his collaboration with Thomas Edison for the Lyceum Theater, the first theater to  have electric lights.  The growing availability of electricity provided the impetus for producing commercial lamps in 1895, although the early ones were kerosene and then with the option of either kerosene or electricity.  In 1900, Associated Artists was reorganized as Tiffany Studios.

Laurelton Hall, Laurel Hollow, Long Island.
Image: David Aronow, circa 1924 view, 
Historic American Building Survey.

Louis Comfort Tiffany became the Artistic Director of Tiffany & Company in 1902, following his father's death.  Art jewelry, copper enamels and pottery designed by Tiffany wered added to the retail offerings.  Tiffany's grand estate, Laurelton Hall, was completed in 1905 in Laurel Hollow, Long Island;  it was destroyed by fire in 1957 with its mosaic-decorated loggia installed in the Englehard Court of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1970s.  (Devoted Readers will recall reading about benefactors Jane and Charles Englehard and their estate Cragwood here).  Louis Comfort Tiffany died in 1933 at the age of 85.

Dragonfly Hanging Lamp.
Tiffany Studios, New York.
The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass,
Long Island City, New York.

Despite the many facets of his career, Louis Comfort Tiffany is best remembered for his colored glass lampshades.  These lampshades were influenced by his experience in painting nature, and his exposure to Art Nouveau with his several exhibitions in Paris in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  The Dragonfly Hanging Lamp, 1900 to 1905, exemplifies these influences.


Pond Lily Library Lamp.
Tiffany Studios, New York.
The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass,
Long Island City, New York.

There were several variations on the Pond Lily shade shapes with a library lamp shown here.  The large, hardy, white water lily, Nymphaea odorata, is depicted on the table lamp.  A globe lamp, probably for a newel post lamp, features Nelumbo nucifera, or sacred lotus.


The Pond Lily globe.
Photo by permission of the curator,
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
Image:  John J. Tackett for The Devoted Classicist.

The lampshades were assembled on a wooden mold with different molds for the various shades offered.  Brass patterns provided guides for cutting glass, with many colors and effects created in the studio's own furnaces.  Each piece was wrapped in a thin strip of copper foil and placed on the mold, and then the edges were soldered together.


Using the wood mold to fabricate a Tiffany Shade.
Photo with permission of the curator,
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
Image:  John J. Tackett for The Devoted Classicist.

Lindsy Parrott, Director & Curator of the Neustadt Collection, will give two talks in Memphis in conjunction with the exhibit.  On Saturday, November 17, 2012, Ms Parrott will talk at 3:00 pm about the seven Tiffany windows at Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal Church in a Decorative Arts Trust event open free to the public;  this lecture will be given at the church located on Peabody Avenue at Belvedere Boulevard.  On Sunday, November 18, 2012, Ms Parrott will talk at 2:00 pm at Memphis Brooks Museum about the artistry and historical context of the lamps in the exhibit;  this second event is free with museum admission. 

Jeffrey Bilhuber: Reflections on American Beauty

An enormous ceramic vase centers the Living Room
of the townhouse of the Laird family
as furnished by Jeffrey Bilhuber.
Image by William Abranowicz for
The Way Home:  Reflections on American Beauty
published by Rizzoli.

Mid-Southerners are in for a real treat on Friday, November 9, 2012, when Jeffrey Bilhuber, one of today's most in-demand interior designers, comes to speak at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art for a special event sponsored by Decorative Arts Trust.  Mr. Bilhuber's list of clients ranges from design legends Hubert de Givenchy and Elsa Peretti to celebrities Iman & David Bowie to media mogul Robert Pittman and wife Veronique to cultural icon Ashton Hawkins of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour, also a client, sums it up best, "Jeffrey is great at taking one's taste and making it better".

A detail of the entrance of the Entrance Hall
of the Laird townhouse as furnished by Jeffrey Bilhuber.
The image by William Abranowicz is from Bilhuber's latest book
The Way Home:  Reflections on American Beauty
published by Rizzoli.

While Bilhuber's portfolio is full of one glamous room more fabulous than the last, his latest book THE WAY HOME: REFLECTIONS ON AMERICAN BEAUTY focuses on very livable residences, often home to children, that are furnished to suit the way families live today.  While it would be difficult to choose a favorite from the dozen residences featured in this book, one stand-out for The Devoted Classicist is the very first presented, the Upper East Side Manhattan townhouse of advertising superstar Trey Laird and his family.  (And it is merely a coincidence that Trey's lovely and most gracious mother was a client of John Tackett Design).  Although this project was also featured in Architectural Digest magazine, it was beautifully re-photographed for this book by renown photographer William Abranowicz, as evidenced in these images.

More will follow in the weeks leading up to this event, but the tickets have just gone on sale for the special two-part presentation in Memphis and more than half of the seats are already sold.  So I did not want to delay any further in announcing it here.  Ticket information, and advance purchase is recommended as it is sure to be a sell-out, may be found on the website of Decorative Arts Trust here.  (Unfortunately it is flash-driven site and cannot be viewed on many mobile devices).


Jeffrey Bilhuber
Image:  Bilhuber & Associates

I look forward to seeing many Devoted Readers on Friday morning, November 9, 2012, at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.