The Isabel O'Neil Studio Workshop Silver Anniversary Holiday Sale

The Isabel O'Neil Studio Workshop will host its annual Holiday Sale next Tuesday, December 1, from 5-8 p.m. at 3 West Club. The silver anniversary of this much-loved event, the Holiday Sale features the work of the studio's talented artisans. Featured items in this year's sale include hand-painted boxes, frames, and furniture.  This is a wonderful opportunity to buy unique objects in a variety of painted finishes, not to mention you'll also help support this important studio, which keeps the art of the painted finish alive.

For more information, please visit the Isabel O'Neil Studio website.

Surrealism at Schiaparelli

Last week, while sifting through my over-flowing box of article clippings, I found a 2013 AD France article, which I meant to feature on my blog two years ago.  The article, which shows the then-newly furbished Maison Schiaparelli, is still relevant, for in my opinion, Surrealism and Forties furniture never go out of style.

Located at 21 Place Vendome, where Elsa Schiaparelli's original salon was housed, Maison Schiaparelli caused great excitement in 2013, when, after a sixty-year hiatus, it reopened under new ownership.  (Its first haute-couture collection was designed by Christian Lacroix, while subsequent collections were designed by Marco Zanini and, most recently, Bertrand Guyon.)  Maximally decorated with all kinds of eccentric-yet-chic flourishes, the house embodies the flair of its namesake, not to mention her well-documented passion for Surrealist design. Forties-era furniture makes appearances in the salon, as do vintage rugs, including a striking one by Andre Arbus, and illustrations by Vertès and Léonor Fini.  Vincent Darré is responsible for much of the new Surrealist and Dadaist-style furniture, while Pierre Le-Tan's wonderful trompe l'oeil decorations grace a number of rooms.

The only thing really missing from these interiors is a healthy dose of Shocking Pink, Schiaparelli's signature shade of fuchsia.  But if Elsa Schiaparelli were alive today, I feel certain that she would be in her element in these sophisticated and slightly-madcap surroundings.

Image at top: The Entry Hall, with its Forties-era banquette, Maison Darré rug, and chair that was once owned by Madeleine Castaing.

Farida Khelfa, Schiaparelli's brand ambassador, stands next to Hippocampe, Maison Darré's sculpted wood and glass table, upon which a thirties-era bust of Anna Pavlova rests.  A pair of Maison Darré sconces flank an antique Venetian mirror.

The Grand Salon.  The 1940s-era rug is by Arbus, while much of the furniture hails from that same decade. 

In the salon, trompe l'oeil-painted walls are reminiscent of work by Christian Berard, while the bookshelves are also decorated with trompe l'oeil accents by Pierre Le-Tan.  The canapé is Jansen, and the mirror above it was purchased at the Yves Saint Laurent sale in 2009.

Also in the Salon is A'tiroir écrevisse, a lobster-like cabinet by Maison Darré. Both the chairs and curtains are from the 1940s.

A rug by Fernand Léger for Aubusson appears in the dining room.  The chairs are by Gio Ponti, and the dining table is by Maison Darré.

Finally, the office of Farida Khelfa. Around the Seventies-era desk are chairs by Poul Volther and Franco Albini.


All photos from AD France, April 2013, Alexis Armanet photographer.

Vive La France

Early last Friday, I wrote a blog post about a Parisian house, and I had intended to feature it on my website today.  But hours after writing that article, I was horrified to learn of the brutal and senseless terrorist attacks that took place in Paris.  In light of these events, I have chosen not feature that post today.  Rather, I want to express my deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and my solidarity with the French people.

New Vintage Fabrics from Mary Jane McCarty

Some of you longtime readers might remember my post in which I featured the antique-textile pillows that were hand-crafted by Mary Jane McCarty.  Those who are in the know- or who shop at Bergdorf Goodman, where the pillows are sold- covet McCarty's handiwork both for its charm and its emphasis on antique and vintage fabrics.

Well, McCarty's love of antique textiles has blossomed once again.  McCarty recently introduced her New Vintage Collection, a fabric collection whose prints are based on the designer's trove of archival textiles.  Available to the trade and printed to order, the cotton fabrics, which were designed by McCarty, might be new, but their spirit evokes the past.  Patterns include indiennes, tropical motifs, and scenes of architectural ruins and even harems.  But the fabric that especially strikes my fancy is Ming Urn, whose urn-flanked windows I find so delightful.

While the fabrics are sold to the trade, McCarty's New Vintage pillows and custom-order lamp shades are available to all customers.  To see the entire range, or for information on ordering fabrics or accessories, please visit McCarty's website, where I think you'll find that McCarty's passion for antique textiles is infectious!

Ming Urn in Sepia

Columns in Indigo

Harem in Plum

Indiennes in Slate/Multi

Jungle Parrots in Teal

Tropic Leaves in Oxblood

Avignon Stripe in Coco

Nina Campbell at Greystone Mansion

Maison de Luxe, the Luxe Magazine-sponsored showhouse at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, is underway, and, as in years past, the list of participating designers is impressive.  One of those designers is the affable Nina Campbell, who was given Mr. Doheny's suite to decorate.  It was the Doheny family that built Greystone in the late 1920s, when family patriarch, Edward Doheny, Sr., granted his son the acreage on which to build the estate. 

In the current incarnation of Mr. Doheny's suite, Campbell has swathed the room in elegant shades of soft grey and sage green. Fabrics include those from Campbell's collection for Osborne & Little, while upholstered furniture is from O Henry House.  Lamps from Christopher Spitzmiller, furniture from Oomph, and potted tole flowers from Tommy Mitchell make appearances, as do pieces from Hollyhock, Therian, Dragonette, and Kristen Buckingham, to name but a few.  But the crowning jewel of the room just might be the oil portrait of Edward Doheny, Sr., which the Doheny family generously loaned to Campbell for use during this year's showhouse.

Maison de Luxe will remain open through November 22.  For more information, please visit the showhouse website.

Photographs courtesy of Nina Campbell

A Tradition of Collecting: Property from Cornelia Guest, Formerly the Collection of Winston & C.Z. Guest, Templeton

There is a lot of buzz about Stair Galleries' upcoming auction, A Tradition of Collecting: Property from Cornelia Guest, Formerly the Collection of Winston & C.Z. Guest, Templeton, which will take place on November 14.  Templeton, of course, was the Guest family's famed estate, located in Old Westbury, New York.  Having recently sold the estate, Cornelia is moving to Columbia County, New York, where she plans to build an animal rescue.  As many of us have experienced, a move often prompts a shedding of one's possessions, and that seems to be the case with Cornelia, who has consigned furniture, art, garden ornaments, and other decorative pieces to next week's sale at Stair Galleries, the venerable Hudson, New York auction house.  (Stair is also the auction house responsible for selling property from such notables as Brooke Astor, Albert Hadley, and Dominick Dunne.)

With my interest piqued by a number of the lots, I turned to my good friend, Christopher Spitzmiller, to gauge his thoughts on the auction.  Christopher is a longtime client of Stair and has furnished both of his homes from sales at the auction house.  He also had the privilege of spending a long-ago Thanksgiving at Templeton, a visit that made a lasting impression on him.  "As soon as you walked into the house, you saw that pair of elephant tusks and miles and miles of leopard-print carpet," remembers Christopher.  But for all of the home's rarefied décor (which included rooms with "layers and layers of one chintz,") Christopher says, "there was a comfortable feel to these sophisticated rooms.  There was an American sensibility to everything, including the Thanksgiving sweet potato and marshmallow casserole that was served to us in a silver tureen."  But as impressive as Templeton was, it is C.Z. Guest's gardening books that have greatly influenced Christopher.  "Her greatest legacy are her books, which are concise and to the point."

Although most of us never did have the opportunity to visit Templeton, we can now get a glimpse at what life was like there thanks to the Guest auction, which, to borrow Christopher's phrase, is "a remembrance of how magical Templeton was."  I got an armchair tour of the auction lots thanks to Christopher, who previewed the sale last week. (I have included photos of Christopher's tour in this post so that you, too, can get a sneak peek of the sale.)  So which lots caught Christopher's eye?  The gilt brackets, which Christopher believes are "quintessential C.Z. and Cornelia Guest," as well as a vermeil brush and compact set engraved with "C.Z." Also sparking his interest were the myriad garden ornaments and books, not to mention Guest's T. Anthony luggage.  It's this range of pieces that I believe makes this upcoming auction compelling, something with which Christopher concurs.  "Whether you're a gardener, a book collector, or a porcelain collector, there is something for everybody in this sale."

For more information on the sale, please visit Stair Galleries' website.

And a few of the lots that caught my eye:

Lot # 62
PAUL LELONG (1799-1846): STILL LIFE WITH FLOWER VASE; AND STILL LIFE WITH URN
Two gouache on paper, Flower Vase signed 'Lelong' lower right, Urn unsigned.
Both approx. 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. (sheet), 8 x 10 1/2 in. (frame).
$800-1,200

Lot # 89
SET OF FOUR CONTINENETAL PORCELAIN VEGETABLE DISH COVERS
Each with relief basket-weave border, floral clusters and sliced lemon knop; one restored.
5 x 9 3/4 in. diam.
$100-200

Lot #113
LOUIS XVI STYLE GREEN-PAINTED HALL RACK
The arched top above a central mirrored panel flanked by brass coat hooks, above the D-shaped console (lacking top), flanked by umbrella stands.
7 x 42 1/2 x 12 1/2 in.
$700-900

Lot #117
UPHOLSTERED BANQUETTE WITH A PAIR OF MATCHING PILLOWS
Upholstered in paisley fabric; with a loose rectangular cushion and bolster above the upholstered bench.
23 x 48 x 21 in.
$300-500

Lot # 235
GROUP OF FIVE PAINTED WOOD AND BAMBOO POLO MALLETS, USED BY WINSTON F. CHURCHILL GUEST
One with a painted label on the shaft; Gray's, Westbury, NY; two marked in the mallet head: J. Salter & Sons, Aldershot, England and each mallet numbered 50, 51 and 31, and stamped 'Made in England'.

Note: Winston F. C. Guest (1906-1982) an Anglo-American polo champion. Mr. Guest won the International Polo Cup in 1930, 1936, and 1939. His father was a British politician and the grandson of John Spencer-Churchill, the 7th Duke of Marlborough.

J. Salter & Sons are polo specialists, in Aldershot, England and manufactures and general sports outfitters. Established in 1884 by J. Salter, now owned by Sean Arnold Sporting Antiques.
$300-500



Photo of Cornelia Guest and lot photos used with permission from Stair Galleries.

An Ode to Argo

The latest addition to my design wish-list? That would be Soane's entire Argo collection, with which I'm obsessed.  Inspired by a 1940s French brass-rope table, the collection, which is made of brass and consists of lighting and furniture, looks like something that might have appealed to Billy Baldwin, who clearly understood the stylish advantages of brass accent pieces.  Just look at the photo of his chocolate brown living room below.  It wouldn't have had quite the same pizzazz without those brass bookshelves. 

Like the 1940s French piece that inspired it, the Argo collection has range, able to work its magic in contemporary and traditional interiors alike.  In a traditionally-decorated room, the aesthetic effect of an Argo cocktail table, for example, would be similar to what you see below in the photos of the Chinese wallpapered room and the blue-curtained room, where brass cocktail tables acted as modern interludes in otherwise classical spaces.  And finally, in the last interior photo, look at how the brass wall sconce is like a bright, shiny torch among an array of velvet-covered surfaces.  Now think about how much better the room would have looked with an Argo sconce or table lamp.

While the collection is available in a variety of metal finishes, it's the antiqued brass finish that I'm crazy about.  And what I really have my heart set on is the Argo desk, seen above, which comes with a leather-clad top.  I'm convinced that with the aid of that desk, I just might write my Magnum opus someday.

For more information on Soane and the Argo collection, please visit their website.