More Valerian Rybar for Claudette and Murray Candib

The Candib's Living Room in Miami Beach
decorated by Valerian Rybar.
Image: Architectural Digest.

Another office neighbor's purging of reference files has yielded more images of the Miami Beach house that Valerian Rybar decorated for Claudette and Murray Candib.  Looking like a neo-classical villa on the Riviera, the project with partner Jean-Francois Daigre was featured in the April 1987 issue of Architectural Digest.  The stylish chairs in the handsome lattice-paneled Dining Room were featured on a previous post of The Devoted Classicist.


The Candib Dining Room.
Image: Architectural Digest.

Clearly, Rybar was not big on choosing furnishings from a catalog;  he mixed carefully selected antiques with his own custom-designed cabinetry and upholstery.  In the Living Room, a central bourne was fabricated with a scagliola top that accommodated table lamps to supplement the light from a pair of crystal and bronze doré chandeliers.


The Loggia in the Candib home.
Image:  Architectural Digest.

The Loggia benefits from classic Florida architecture, walls in blocks of coquina stone and a paneled, white-washed wood ceiling (which appears to be cedar or cypress).  The modular seating in Ottoman form has stylized paisley upholstery fabric in gray and burgundy, an effect later to be diluted with less-expensive versions but this was not as familiar at the time.  The same goes for the pleated shades.  And it was not long before knock-off Coromandel screens diminished the value of the antique lacquer panels.  But at the time, this room with pots of huge orchids was chic.

"I told Valerian I wanted something very different," Claudette Candib was quoted to say about the Powder Room.  Although animal prints are commonplace today, wall panels of jaguar velvet framed with ebonized wood certainly had to be unexpected in Florida.  An ebony Empire coiffeuse paired with a sculptural chair of the same period with a black horsehair-covered seat added glamor to the space as well.


The Candib's Library designed by Rybar.
Image: Architectural Digest.

In some terms, the Library was one of the more conventional rooms in the house. Handsomely paneled, an animal-print carpet furthers the black and gold scheme for comfortable upholstered seating, a Louis writing desk, and a lacquered low table probably designed by Rybar. 


The Candib Master Bedroom by Valerian Rybar.
Image: Architectural Digest.

There was no lack of drama for the decoration of the Master Bedroom, however. Rybar designed a canopy in a variation of a lit à la polonaise with supports as stylized palm trunks.  An Ottoman style bench at the end of the bed undoubtedly concealed a pop-up television.

Self-described as "the world's most expensive decorator,"  Rybar's published projects were not universally praised although the firm never suffered from a lack of potential clients with the means to have a gasp-inducing interior.  The most interesting lesson today, however, might be the design professional's ability to carry through with a theme and leave no aspect of decoration without consideration.  The idea of Total Design for interiors has lost appreciation in these past years, but there seems to be interest growing again, no?

Valerian Rybar: Chic Chaises

The Dining Room, Candib residence,
Miami Beach, as decorated by Valerian Rybar.
Image: Architectural Digest.

As another chapter in the sporadic series on high-personality chairs associated with a person of equal stature, this post of The Devoted Classicist presents chairs from a project by interior designer Valerian Rybar.


A pair of chairs similar to those in the Candib photo
except that the fabric is different.  Pair "A" for reference.
From ebay at a date not recorded.

The Miami Beach residence of Claudette and Murray Candib decorated by Rybar was featured in the April issue of Architectural Digest and appeared on the cover.  Murray Candib has been credited with creating the first self-service department store and introducing the concept of shopping carts to his chain of stores, King's, that grew to over 200 by the time of his death in 2013 at age 97.  The Candibs led an active social and philanthropic lifestyle with their home on the shore of Biscayne Bay given the aura of a villa on the Rivera by Rybar.  The magazine article describes the Dining Room as having a ceiling painted as a skyscape and walls painted with green trompe-l'oeil treillage to give the effect of dining alfresco.  The floor is marble tile and the dining table is a single slab of green marble on ornate gilt wrought iron supports.  No reference is given for the chairs other than a mention that the fabric is from Stroheim & Romann.

A detail of the back support of Pair "A"

A detail of the painting of Pair "A"

Nine side chairs appear in the magazine photo, but it would be realistic to believe there was a set of at least twelve.  They are in the Italian neo-classical style of the last quarter of the eighteenth-century, but likely to be made in the twentieth-century.  Although not impossible, it is difficult to assemble a large number of antique chairs of this sort that would be suitable for use in dining. 


Pair "B" of chairs currently on ebay.
Seller: sourcemyeyefordesign

Adding to the desirablity, it appears that the inside face of each back is painted with a differnt scene of frolicking putti.  Regardless of the date, there is no denying that the chairs are chic. 

Detailing from the "B" pair.
Seller: sourcemyeyefordesign

Detailing from the "B" pair.
Seller: sourcemyeyefordesign.

The backs of the "B" pair show evidence
of previous upholstery.

Chairs, similar if not actually the same, have appeared in venues such as ebay, but not much information has been recorded.  Knowing there are no bounds to the facts at the fingertips of you Devoted Readers, I ask that all who might have more information please do sign in with a comment below (on the regular on-line blog site).


More chairs.  We will reference to these
as the "C" pair.
Image via William Merrill.

ADDENDUM:  Thanks to Devoted Reader Will Merrill for sending this image of a pair of similar chairs, perhaps from the same set, from a recent real estate offering of a David Alder house near Chicago.

Valerian Rybar and Jean-Francois Daigre on Sutton Place

Advertisement from August, 1982
Architectural Digest.

Coming across this 1982 advertisement for blinds photographed in the Manhattan apartment of interior designer Valerian Rybar brought to mind that the designer, internationally known among the Jet Set Rich and Famous during the 1970s and 80s, might not be a familiar name today.  And what better way to present a decorator than with photos of his own home?  With his partner Jean-Francois Diagre, who was perhaps more famous in Europe but usually regulated to a side remark in U.S. publications, Valerian Rybar (sometimes referred to as Stux-Rybar or Styx-Rybar) lived in a six-room Sutton Place apartment that they completely remodeled in the early 1970s to showcase their talent, leaving no original material or feature visible.


Rybar & Daigre in costume for Le Bal Oriental,
as used for the cover of the 2003 Christie's catalog.

Officially known as Valerian Rybar & Daigre Design Corporation, they promoted being identified as the world's most expensive decorators and undoubtedly worked to make that a reality.  Rybar, who was born in Yugoslavia, worked as a trainee at Lord & Taylor department store before designing packaging, displays, and shop interiors for Elizabeth Arden.  Rybar joined Daigre in 1968 to stage a spectacular ball for Mr. & Mrs. Antenor Patiño (see widow Beatriz's Paris apartment in a previous post of The Devoted Classicist here) introducing 1300 guests to their new country house, Quinto Patiño, set in a 200 acre park in Portugal.


Rybar & Daigre at Le Bal Oriental, 1969,
as documented in watercolor by Alexandre Serebriakoff.
Image via Scala Regia Inspirational Archives.

The following year, an even more spectacular fete designed by Rybar and Daigre, Le Bal Oriental, was hosted by Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé, at his home in Paris, Hôtel Lambert.  Read an excerpt from ALEXIS: THE MEMOIRS OF THE BARON DE REDE about the famous ball provided by the blog Scala Regia here.


The Rybar-Daigre Living Room, Sutton Place.
Photo by Ezra Stoller via New York Magazine.

The coral (more like the orange-ish color of cnidarians than the pink-ish polo shirts) velvet walls of the Living Room had radius corners and mirror-finish stainless steel bands as the base and cornice.  Etched steel plates covered the floor accented with a mink rug by Oscar de la Renta.  Most of the furniture was designed by Rybar and custom made by Karl Mann, but there were accents of antiques such as a Boulle tortoiseshell and brass filigree desk, and a carved crystal bust of Ferdinando de' Medici.


The Rybar-Daigre Dining Room, Sutton Place.
Photo by Ezra Stoller via New York Magazine.

The Dining Room had the same steel flooring with walls lined with concealed closet doors that were designed to appear as shelves filled with books; the titles stamped into the leather of the otherwise identical false books spines were written to reflect chapters in the designers' past.  An article by Jeff McKay in "New York Magazine" states that the title INTERNATIONAL BOREDOM referred to Rybar's marriage (1956 to 1965) to Irish brewing heiress Aileen Guiness, the Jet-Set chatelaine of Luttrellstown Castle near Dublin.  Again, custom made furniture filled the room, with Rybar-designed tables covered with batik fabric in this 1972 photo.


The bedside console in the Rybar-Daigre Master Bedroom.
Photo by Ezra Stoller via New York Magazine.

The Master Bedroom's bedside leather console topped with mirror-finish stainless steel was fitted to hold a slim-line telephone handset which also served as an intercom, and controls for the alarm clock, television, stereo, and dimmable lighting as well as the electric blanket.


The Rybar-Daigre Dressing Room, Sutton Place.
Photo by Ezra Stoller via New York Magazine.

The Dressing Room with the same low-cut pile caramel carpet as the bathroom was larger than the bedroom.  Based on a concept of display, double-hanging rods held suits and sloped shelves held shoes.  Translucent plastic drawers held folded shirts and glass shelves held rainbow stacks of sweaters.  A 3-way tailor's mirror figured prominently in the space, but the most memorable feature was a bench upholstered in hand-painted pony skin whose height could be electronically adjusted to serve as a luggage rack, ironing board or massage table.


The Rybar-Daigre Master Bathroom, Sutton Place.
Photo by Ezra Stoller via New York Magazine.

The Master Bath featured a custom-made stainless steel bathtub and a lavatory set in a pedestal of marble.  Tall mirrored cabinet doors provided storage for toiletries and reflected tortoise-shell faux finished walls and ceiling also punctuated with a section of mirrors.  Carefully stitched leather-covered masks by Nancy Grossman provided ominous decoration.


Marie-Hélène de Rothschild  (wife of Baron Guy de Rothschild
who owned Hôtel Lambert) with Valerian Rybar at Le Bal Oriental.
1969 photo via Artnet.

According to Rybar's 1990 obituary written by Carol Vogel for The New York Times, he was 71 years old and died in his Manhattan home of prostate cancer.  Daigre's 1992 New York Times obituary reported that he died of an AIDS-related illness in a Paris hospital at age 56.  This notice reported that Daigre had been hired at age 19 to work at designing décor, textiles and packaging for Christian Dior before joining Rybar to plan the Patiño ball.  It also said Diagre had managed the business side of the firm while continuing to be involved in the planning of gala events.


Valerian Rybar, Paris, 1967.
Leonard Nones photo via Corbis.

The couple's Paris residence, usually assigned to Daigre in print, was even more opulent and will be featured in a future post of The Devoted Classicist.