Vyna St Phard – High End Weekly™

Art Deco Splendor at Galerie Dumonteil

Axel Marteau, Franck Laverdin, Romain Marteau

Galerie Dumonteil hosts cocktail party and preview, “Splendor on the Riviera” by Camille Roche

Last week Wednesday, Galerie Dumonteil held a reception in honor or Camille Roche, a french artist identified early as a prodigy and was established in his own atelier with tutors and models at age fifteen. In his late teens Roche’s work was commissioned by the Parisian elite such as Coco Chanel, as well as collected by the Director of the Musée Rodin and the Musée du Luxembourg. These works now form part of the drawings collection of the Musée d’Art Modern.

In 1919 Roche received his first commissions from the Director de la Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres. This relationship was to last for eighteen years during which Roche exhibited in the 1925 and 1937 Expositions Internationales (World’s Fairs). Following the numerous critically-acclaimed works exhibited in the 1937 Fair, commissions came from, amongst others, Baron Robert de Rothschild and the Marquess of Cholmondeley for their homes on the Riviera. Much of Roche’s work remains in the Roche family and the collections of his patrons’ heirs. However, at their request, these works are now being exhibited around the world. Camille Roche in 1920 having been the first recipient of the Prix Blumenthal, in 1932 his work was exhibited for the 18th anniversary of the Florence Blumenthal Foundation at the Wildenstein Gallery in New York City. Due to family tragedies resulting from World War II this artist’s works have only been rediscovered and appreciated. Galerie Dumonteil is located at 475 Park Avenue, New York, NY.

Pierre Dumonteil, Dorian Dumonteil, David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, Sarah Rose Cholmondeley, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, Franck Laverdin

Herve Pierre

Vyna St. Phard

Karina Lepiner

Stuart Sundlun, Roric Tobin, Geoffrey Bradfield, Pierre-Michel Dumonteil

Images by Annie Watt

Galerie Du Monteil

Images by High End Weekly™

Autumn Fête at ETOS with Contemporary Artist William Witenberg

William Witenberg, Mercedes Desio, Alberto Villalobos

On Tuesday October 15th, Mercedes Desio and Alberto Villalobos hosted the New York launch event of a show by contemporary artist William Witenberg at their chic downtown home furniture gallery ETOS. The show represented the first time Witenberg has formally exhibited his new collection which blends ancient watercolor techniques with contemporary digital manipulation to create mixed media pieces that broaden the definitions of what the eye sees.

The evening was well-attended and guests included Chappy and Melissa Morris, Di Mondo, Lorren Miller, Peter Benedek, Michele Gerber Klein, Evelyn Lorentzen-Bell, Margot Takian, Anna Saucedo, Kyle Marshall, Brooks Huston, Peter von Schlossberg, Nell and Hayley Kucich, Nuria de la Fuente, Carolina Davila, Dina Toak, Charles Pavarini III, Randall Tarasuk, Eric Hilton, Garrow Kedigian, Vyna St. Phard, Brett Beldock, Suzanne Eason, Joshua Green, Stephanie Richmond, Christine D’Ascoli, Ambria Miscia, Anki and Victoria Leeds, Nicole Holt, Jennifer Roberts, Karen Tompkins, Karen Dorothee Peters, Maggie Norris, Amy Porter, Violeta Lekutanoy, Linette Semino and Nelly Espinal.

Eric Hilton, William Witenberg

Chappy Morris, Melissa Morris

Randall Tarasuk, Alberto Villalobos, Charles Pavarini III

Jennifer Roberts, William Witenberg, Suzanne Eason

Alberto Villalobos, Vyna St Phard, Mercedes Desio

Stephanie Richmond, Ambria Miscia

Alberto Villalobos, Kyle Marshall

Anna Witenberg, Madeleine Witenberg

Alberto Villalobos, Di Mondo, Mercedes Desio

Photos courtesy Patrick McMullan

Shopping at The Met with Vyna

The Metropolitan Museum Gift Store

“To the making of many books there is no end…” And The Metropolitan Gift Shop is an authority on supplying the world’s most outstanding reading materials. After a recent visit to the New American Wing Galleries for Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts, I decided to commemorate the occasion by visiting the gift shop and adding a few more books to my home library. I’m in the process of doing some research for a garden that I’m designing, and dedicating to the memory of my mother, and found the Gardening section had the right amount of variety of designs and styles which were quite helpful. In addition, I picked up a number of books ranging from architecture, fashion, and decorative arts. Would you like to find out exactly which ones were my favorites?

ARCHITECTURE

ART

DESIGN

FASHION

GARDENING

INTERIORS

All images by High End Weekly

Art Deco Under The Stars at Stephen Kelly Gallery

Geoffrey Bradfield, and Cynthia Murphy

Dr. Stephen Kelly graciously opened his gallery, as well as his beautiful rooftop to a number of his guests from the art and design industries, last Tuesday evening. Visitors were shown some of his most recent collection of French Art Deco from Jean Dunand, and Jean Goulden. Jean Dunand (1877–1942) was a Swiss lacquer artist, a master metalworker, who created furniture and decorative arts. His contemporary, Jean Goulden (1878 – 1946), was a painter, designer and enameller who “excelled in the art of champlevé enameling”. Notables from the evening included, Geoffrey Bradfield, Jared Goss, high end gallery dealers from the New York tri-state area, executive members from various auction houses in the city, and many others.

Renowned interior designer Geoffrey Bradfield and his guest

Stephen Kelly Gallery

Judith Gura, Design historian from The New York School of Interior Design

Vyna St. Phard

Christina Japp, Cynthia Murphy

Photo credit: High End Weekly™

Insights with a Visionary in the Fields of Art & Design

Vyna St. Phard admiring a Pablo Picasso plate from Leah Gordon, New York

A few of my Favorite Things

These are the long awaited photographs from my tour of the Armory earlier this month. So much have happen since then… And again, I’d like to thank everyone who came to the tour and stuck it out for more than one hour and a half. Yes, that’s right. The tour was at 3 in the afternoon, but we finished close to 4:45pm. Everyone had so much fun, we all learned so much, and the time just flew by. I hope you’ll enjoy the images as much as I have. Have an excellent week, and a tres bientot!

William Weston, London

John Eric Riis, Georgia

Douglas Dawson, Chicago

Leah Gordon

Carlton Hobbs, New York

The 2013 Spring Show at The Park Avenue Armory

Brett Beldock, New York

Vyna St. Phard visiting with Brett Beldock

Right: Brett Beldock, New York

Lillian Nassau LLC, New York

Photo credit High End Weekly™

Old World Splendor: The Michael Smith’s Sale at Christie’s

A Palladian Villa by Michael S. Smith

Photo via Christie’s

Classical Sensibility, Modern Context

The unbelievable art and furniture gathered together at the Palladian-style villa auction at Christie’s span the past 500 years. Going through the sale, it’s hard to imagine that such an extraordinary amount of art and design were put together for a single auction. But given that they’re from a private property that was designed by the Obamas’ White House interior designer, Michael S. Smith, it came at no surprise. There are over 450 lots of museum-quality pieces, including Asian art and antiques, Old Master paintings and historic European furniture. Walking through this “Palladian villa”, it became apparent why the designer is planning on bidding on some of the items that he himself have been putting together for this sale for the past five years.

Yes, the overall collection is old world, but the pieces offer an extraordinary level of comfort that one can easily live with in modern times. Further, what I also liked about this sale was that the estimated prices were quite varied, and they offer an excellent opportunity to bid between some of the fairly reasonable pieces to the most lavish ones. Michael is said to be so passionate about this sale, that he even wrote a book about it, “Building Beauty: The Alchemy of Design” (Rizzoli).

Vyna St. Phard, Christie’s 2013

Background: A group of five African masks from the Ivory Coast/Liberia/Democratic republic of Congo (including a Lega-style mask, a Guro mask, and two Dan masks)

Counting sheep: Francois-Xavier Lallane ‘Mouton De Pierre’ A pair of sheep, designed circa 1979, welcome visitors to the Palladian Villa Sale

Pair of sheep from Francois-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008)

Dramatic: Background Painting – Fedele Fischetti (Naples 1732 – 1792) La toilette de Psyche, oil on canvas

Christie’s presents a two-day sale of a Palladian Villa on April 23-24, 2013

A ‘Zanzibar’ mother-of-pear and pewter inlaid hardwood chest, late 19th/Early 20th century

Top: Two Bamileke Style masks, Cameron

A Chinese black-lacquered altar table

Top center: Chinese Scroll Fragments, in and color on silk, Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

The first portrait of a scholar

Left: A pair of oak folding theater chairs, modern

Each with a padded back and seat, covered in suede leather. Right: An Irish Regency mahogany open armchair, circa 1815, attributed to Gillingtons

Top drawings: Pable Picasso (1881 – 1973), Alphabet anthropomorphe, signed ‘Picasso’ (on the fourth sheet) pencil on paper

Bottom: A pair of French oak dinning chairs, mid-20th century

Top: Sam Glankoff (1894-1982), Untitled, PP 2067, signed and dated “Glankoff 73” (lower right) ink and cassein on Japanese handmade paper

A pair of George III mahogany side chairs, circa 1780

Background painting: Leon Polk Smith (1906-1996), Correspondence Green, Signed, titled and dated

Laurence Fayard

Background painting: Sean Scully (b. 1945) signed “Scully” oil on two attached canvas. Executed in 1989

Left: A Chinese Rootwood Table, 19th Century

Top: Jean-Pierre Pincemin (b. 1944), Canto IV (Paris Generation Plus, collection Grand Format). A pair of George III Elm Ladderback Side Chairs, Late 18th/19th Century

Forefront: A circular marble table with baluster support, 19th century

Left: Central European silvered and cream painted side chairs, German or Northern Italian, circa 1780. Right: Follower of William Larkin, Portrait of a lady,
full-length, in black embroidered gown with lace collar

Left: A brass boat propeller sculpture, 20th century

Photos courtesy High End Weekly™

Becoming A Domestic Diva

Vyna St. Phard, and Michael Aram

Photo courtesy High End Weekly™

A Cheerful Invitation

In my opinion, everyone who appreciates the pleasure – and the importance – of preparing a meal for family and friends, should also appreciates the importance of setting up an elegant table. On Tuesday morning, I was invited to visit Michael Aram‘s flagship store on West 18th Street, and was just delighted to see his fine porcelain collection, designed to reflect the way we are entertaining today in the modern world. His pieces incorporated ease and comfort without sacrificing grace and detail. I’ve always liked Michael’s designs because they’re perfect for parties, celebrations, get-togethers, sit-down dinners, brunches and fabulous holiday buffets.

Constructed of Limoges bodies with exceptionally executed graphic details, the pieces remain sturdy enough to withstand everyday use. Each motif stands on its own but can also be combined with any or all of the texture patterns to create many variations of place settings. The designs are also carefully managed to integrate perfectly with Michael’s existing array of metal, glass, wood and stone serving and decorative objects.

All the body shapes are exactly the same, so you can mix the plates any way you want

and know they’ll always look beautiful.

The result is an exquisite table every time you use them…casual when you want to be, more formal when the time is right…with motifs that go from two-dimensional expressions in the place settings to fully sculptural executions in the center of the table.

This table setting was styled by yours truly. Michael called on various design bloggers to create

a table setting that will incorporate his new collections along with his old pieces.

The bouquet arrangement is from his fabulous team.

Incorporating the outdoors into his designs is one of the many strenghts of Michael Aram’s body of work.

This simple yet elegant tabletop setting called for a little mix and match – silver and wood accessories

equal a congenial mariage.

Photos courtesy HL GROUP

The fun continued at the office later that day, when I mixed Michael Aram’s glamorous coasters

with pieces from Jasper Conran and Gerard Nouri.

Our office table adorned with a Michael Aram’s coaster from his new collection as well as his old cat and mouse tray (“abstract” photo taken by our intern Jerome Massi).

Photos courtesy High End Weekly™

Renown international designer Michael Aram

Photo courtesy HL GROUP

Take Me To The South Of France

Provence, France

How do I began putting down in words how much this region means to me? Ideally situated between the Mediterranean sea, and the South of France, Provence is where I have some amazing close and supportive friends, clients who have incredibly sentimental views of their homes and lifestyles, it is where architecture speaks and tugs at my heart, lavender fields that I long to see all year round. I love the region’s fine cuisine, street fairs, daily marchées, but what makes it extra special is the warmth and excellent vibration of the people of Provence. They are among some of the warmest and kindest folks that I’ve had the privilege of meeting. Of course, there’s so much more behind these statements, but I’ll let these stunning pictures tell a story of their own. Bon weekend to you all!

Photo via Les Tours Dhorloge

Photo via Backroads.com

Photo via Flickr (Tame 1954)

Photo via decordeprovence.blogpost.com

Photo via Weheartit.com

Photo via Flickr (Julia Fredenburg)

Unless otherwise noted, all of the above photos are via Pinterest

Highly Recommended Reading

Vyna St Phard in front of La Place et l’hotel d’Albertas

Provence 2000

Photo High End Weekly™

There’s No Substitute for Grace

Dr. Joan Erdheim, Diana Taylor, Douglas Webster, Elisa Angeli, ITNY Founder Moira North

Out & About

This past Tuesday evening, Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY), the nation’s premier ice dancing ensemble founded by Moira North, hosted a very festive Sip and Shop event with J McLaughlin at the women’s and men’s stores on East 72nd Street and Lexington Avenue. The store featured a mini-ice skating rink where one of Ice Theatre’s skaters Elisa Angeli performed throughout the evening as guests shopped for the upcoming holiday season.

Among the guests were Chairman of the Board of Directors Dr. Joan Erdheim and Martin Erdheim, Olympic Champion and long-time skating television analyst Dick Button, Diana Taylor, Lucy Curly-Brennan, Ice Theatre’s Artistic Director Douglas Webster, Executive Director Jirina Ribbens, Ritchie and Charlie Scribner, Martha and John Glass, Debbie Gordon, Vyna St. Phard, Molly Schaeffer, Felicia Taylor, Brooks Huston, Polly and Harrison Lyman, Virginia Budney, Courtney Gibson, David Zenker, Melanie Holland, Scott Salvator and Michael Zabriskie, Kim Erle and Nina Reeves.

Jirina Ribbens, Dick Button

Charlie Scribner, Dick Button

Robert Palomo, Elisa Angeli, Robert Bardin, Nina Reeves

Harrison Lyman

Nina Reeves, David Zenker, Douglas Webster, Elisa Angeli

Michael Zabriskie and Scott Salvator (with their adorable pet, Butch) Vyna St Phard (centered)

Diana Taylor, Jack Lynch

Douglas Webster, Felicia Taylor

Elisa Angeli

Photos courtesy Norbert Schramm

Ice Theatre of New York, the nation’s premier ice dance ensemble, challenges conventional definitions of figure skating by creating works that integrate the sensibilities of contemporary dance, music and art. In addition to building and performing works of the highest artistic merit, ITNY reaches out to the next generation of skaters and audiences through its exemplary education, community outreach and training programs. ITNY was the first ice dance company to receive dance program funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Art or Decorative Arts – which one is a better investment?

Doyle New York

New York City is such a vibrant place for Art & Design. From modern & contemporary furniture, art and antiquities at the Park Avenue Armory fairs, the whimsical and fresh designs to be had at the MOMA stores, to the exuberant atmosphere at the various auction houses week after week, this town is truly a shopper’s paradise for interior designers, art connoisseurs, collectors, and fashionable patriots for the arts & crafts.

But as you shop, remember buying design is different from buying art…

“Here’s to treasures, great and small…” VSP