Incollect Magazine - Issue 6

2023 Incollect Magazine 67 ANDY WARHOL’S ART DECO SITTING ROOM, NEW YORK CITY 1977 Rooms in the Federal period townhouse were decorated in a range of styles, each evincing Jed Johnson’s remarkable eye. Mixing modern art with antique furniture and period furniture is typical, but at the time this room was decorated, it was considered highly unusual; modern art was only seen in rooms decorated with modern furnishings. Here, works from Warhol’s extensive collection of modern art keep company with museum-quality Art Deco furnishings. At the center of the room, Roy Lichtenstein’s Laughing Cat, 1961 draws immediate attention. Below is one of French Art Deco master Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann’s most celebrated designs, the “Fontane” cabinet, circa 1923–24. This first edition of the cabinet was created in burl amboyna, oak and ivorine and almost immediately an example was acquired by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs for its permanent collection. On top of a mirrored shagreen cabinet, circa 1920 by Pierre Legrain, is Renoir’s 1915 bronze Head of Venus and Pienture Feminine, 1954 by Man Ray. A work by Cy Twombly is displayed on an easel; on the mantel is a 1952 polished bronze sculpture by Jean Arp. The pair of lacquered chairs are by Jean Dunand, as is a circa 1925 lacquered wood and eggshell low table. Widely considered to be one of the Art Deco era’s preeminent designers, Dunand was introduced by architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray to lacquerer Seizo Sugawara, who came to Paris to curate the Japanese exhibition at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Sugawara gave lessons in lacquering to Dunand, who combined lacquer techniques with fragments of eggshell to create his signature specialty coquille d’oeuf tabletops and vases. The demand for pieces decorated with this technique became so strong that Dunand kept a flock of chickens in his workshop to ensure a ready supply of eggshells. Surprisingly, although each room in the townhouse contained important works of art, none of Warhol’s own artwork was on display. Photo: Norman McGrath