Displaying items by tag: interiors

A major exhibition of work by American artist Walter Gay (1856–1937) on display at the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida, examines the life and work of an American artist who specialized in painting the sumptuous domestic interiors of wealthy collectors and society figures in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century America and Europe. Impressions of Interiors, organized by the Frick Art & Historical Center, features sixty-nine paintings and a selection of historical materials on loan from forty public and private collections including: the Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Musée d’Orsay; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Many of these works have not been publicly exhibited since Gay’s lifetime.

Between the late 1950s and early 1970s Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) completed two major concrete murals on separate government buildings in Oslo, Norway. After suffering severe damaged during a terrorist attack on the city in 2011, the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage fears that the monumental public masterpieces could be demolished.

Officials have been considering tearing down the buildings, which make up Oslo’s government quarter, and integrating the salvaged murals into a new structure or relocating the work to an entirely new site. However, some feel that altering and moving the work would destroy Picasso’s vision. A number of architects are working on proposals that include both retaining the buildings, which are important examples of Norwegian architecture, and leveling them. The various plans will be presented to the minister for government administration this summer.

Picasso made sketches for five murals that were executed as both interior and exterior works. The project in Oslo was the first time Picasso had ever worked with breccia, a rock material composed of broken rock and mineral fragments held together by a fine-grained matrix. Although He went on to create similar works in Barcelona and Stockholm, the Oslo murals remain seminal works for Picasso.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens acquired thirteen pieces of furniture by the American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. The selection of furniture had previously been on display at the Library since 2009 as part of a long-term loan from the prominent New York collectors, Joyce and Erving Wolf. The purchase was made directly from the Wolfs for an undisclosed amount.

The highlight of the group is a nine-piece dining room suite designed in 1899 for the now-demolished Husser House in Chicago. The commission marked a turning point in Wright’s career as he moved away from his more architecturally rigid views on interiors towards the notion that interior space can be open and flowing. The other four pieces in the acquisition were from signature Wright houses in Illinois including the Avery Coonley House, the Arthur Heurtley House, the Little House (which has been demolished), and the Ward W. Willits House.

One of the greatest architects of the 20^th century, Wright played a pivotal part in changing design sensibilities from the highly ornate styles of the late-19^th century to more streamlined designs for modern times. In addition to developing plans for upward of a thousand buildings, Wright designed furniture, leaded-glass windows, light fixtures, metal ware, and textiles – all made to harmonize with the buildings for which they were intended.