WA MATRIX 182 Brochure

Home , Israel Museum, Kugel fountain, Kynaston McShine, Sam Wagstaff, Tom Burr

WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 1 TOM BURR anxiety and Bodies have alwa edges of what I m that produce the MATRI X 182 from the period 2 approximations o to architecture a HINGED FIGURES work which I refe one gallery, I wan museum, where t distinct architect

In the early 1990 context for quee privatization of u un-speculated co for queer people

At the same time form, specifically person’s body as intended for you, I consciously ado this period, in ord my own ends. 1

The hinged figure forms and how bo that they inhabit Mapplethorpe on architectural frag human figure. Th propped or pinne allows the armat

The first persona physical and men 1970s, the unrav occurring under a JUNE 6 – SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 COVER: CHICKS (DETAIL), 200 INSTALLATION VIEW, WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM OF ART SCULPTURECENTER, 2008. WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 2

anxiety and figuration BENT, BANDAGED, BEAT UP, B RR PHOTO: COURTESY BORTOLAM Bodies have always been part of my work, lurking just outside the frame, or along the edges of what I make. Specific bodies, and the spaces they inhabit, and the conditions that produce them, have been my main focus. The works in this exhibition are mostly 82 from the period 2005–2010, when I grappled directly with figuration, and with approximations of bodily form, form that was never autonomous, and always tethered to architecture and the work’s immediate context. They represent a larger body of RES work which I refer to as “hinged figures.” Instead of clustering the works together in one gallery, I wanted to disperse these hinged figures across multiple sites in the museum, where they would interconnect with the different artistic periods and distinct architectural environments.

In the early 1990s I created work that explored the erosion of public space as a context for queer individuals and groups. I was concerned with the sanitizing and privatization of urban sites, and the political motivations behind it. The neglected, un-speculated corners of cities that had served as safe, albeit precarious, spaces for queer people were being eradicated.

At the same time, I was considering what it meant for me to inhabit another artist’s form, specifically Minimalist form, as if it were my own, much like inhabiting another person’s body as a sort of camouflage, or drag. Or inhabiting a physical space not intended for you, squatting there while altering its identity and twisting its function. I consciously adopted and adapted the work of Tony Smith, for instance, during this period, in order to maneuver from within it, while transforming its meaning to my own ends. 1

The hinged figures were a way for me to bring together my interests in Minimalist forms and how bodies, specifically queer bodies, shape and are shaped by the spaces that they inhabit. I grafted historical queer figures like Truman Capote and Robert Mapplethorpe onto these physical forms, which existed somewhere between an architectural fragment, a piece of furniture, and a crude approximation of a reclining human figure. The angled, hinged plywood structures are precarious, and need to be propped or pinned and secured in place. It’s this quality of potential collapse that allows the armature and the fragile, uncertain personas, to mirror each other.

The first persona I used was Truman Capote. 2 I was specifically interested in the physical and mental decline of Capote as witnessed on television talk shows in the 1970s, the unraveling of himself later in life, and the scene of that unraveling occurring under acute public scrutiny. Christmas Collapse , is the smallest of the 2019 COVER: CHICKS (DETAIL), 2008. INSTALLATION VIEW, M OF ART SCULPTURECENTER, 2008. WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 3

BENT, BANDAGED, BEAT UP, BEAT UP AGAIN, AND BEWILDERED, (HEAL ME) , 2008. CHICK , 2008. INSTALLATION PHOTO: COURTESY BORTOLAMI, NY SCULPTURECENTER, 2008.

me, or along the d the conditions on are mostly nd with lways tethered rger body of rks together in sites in the iods and

pace as a itizing and e neglected, ous, spaces

other artist’s biting another l space not g its function. hinged figures, a e, during an evocation of l meaning to The work is locat room that evokes actual and imagi Minimalist d by the spaces In 2008 I made th and Robert on the idea of the tween an and the 1950s an n of a reclining of gestures and m nd need to be poem, anchoring llapse that painterly practic h other. more dominant m Propped perfume ted in the of Abstract Expre shows in the social atmospher aveling pieces, bent booz est of the of these scenes b at twentieth-cen SculptureCenter WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 4

CHICK , 2008. INSTALLATION VIEW, CHICKS (DETAIL), 2008. INST SCULPTURECENTER, 2008. SCULPTURECENTER, 2008.

hinged figures, and contains a copy of Capote’s 1956 short story A Christmas Memory , as about freedom an evocation of loss and longing for an earlier, idyllic time in the life of the narrator. and part somethi The work is located in the Wadsworth’s Wetmore Parlor, an eighteenth-century period was a key figure room that evokes a similar sense of nostalgia and melancholy for past lives, both actual and imagined. Chick Austin beca 26 and was the c In 2008 I made the exhibition Addict-Love at Sculpture Center, in New York, centering He embodied the on the idea of the twentieth-century New York avant-garde of the 1920s and ‘30s, I was anxious abo and the 1950s and ‘60s, and considering these two historical moments as a script complexity of Ch of gestures and movements. The title of the exhibition was taken from a Frank O’Hara dispersal of his d poem, anchoring the 1950s period when the New York School reigned, co-mingling that desire, acro painterly practice with poetic written word, queer subcultural energies with the architectonics of more dominant masculinist heroic performances of the Abstract Expressionists. structure, but als Propped perfume —located in the Huntington Gallery with Tony Smith’s collection of strategies of s of Abstract Expressionist paintings—was meant to suggest some of the intensely social atmosphere that surrounds art movements. Along with its original companion In an inversion of pieces, bent booze and hinged haze , it considers the smells, tastes, and intoxications installed in rooms of these scenes being played out in a collective fashion. It pokes fun, in a sense, triggered them. T at twentieth-century rituals surrounding creative figures. I approached the museum interior SculptureCenter show as a choreography—as much about constriction and restraint where Gertrude S in 1934. 4 But this WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 5

CHICKS (DETAIL), 2008. INSTALLATION VIEW, CHRISTMAS COLLAPSE , 2005 SCULPTURECENTER, 2008. PHOTO: COURTESY BORTOLAM

ristmas Memory , as about freedom of movement—of known but incomplete steps, part historical canon these works in th f the narrator. and part something that eludes or exceeds that canon. A. Everett “Chick” Austin Jr. I wanted to inclu -century period was a key figure in Addict-Love . with figuration, s lives, both Chick Austin became the director of the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1927 at the age of The site of the m 26 and was the center of an artistic and literary social circle in Hartford and New York. figure series. Sam York, centering He embodied the play between expression and constraint that I was interested in. Atheneum from 1 0s and ‘30s, I was anxious about the prospects of using Chick. My anxiety stemmed from the artists who would s as a script complexity of Chick’s sexuality, as a public as well as private dynamic, and the companion of Ro a Frank O’Hara dispersal of his desire—his bisexuality if not homosexuality—and the constraints on plywood hinged f co-mingling that desire, across disparate rooms, social spheres, and geographic locations. The its upper panel a s with the architectonics of the closet (relative to Chick) interested me, as both a repressive The work is a con ssionists. structure, but also as a generative one: generative of persona, of a character, and Wagstaff’s lives. collection of strategies of survival and pleasure. 3 LeWitt’s Incompl e intensely associations with al companion In an inversion of established site-specific logic, these works now return to be resonates from o d intoxications installed in rooms they were never in, but which resonate with the history that on fragmentation n a sense, triggered them. The MATRIX Gallery and Avery Court—the first International Style signal the interru d the museum interior in the United States—sits just above the original Avery Theater, For the most part and restraint where Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson’s opera Four Saints in Three Acts premiered figures—though I in 1934. 4 But this exhibition is not a neat equation; I didn’t want to just reinstall WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 6

CHRISTMAS COLLAPSE , 2005. PHOTO: COURTESY BORTOLAMI, NY

historical canon these works in their referenced setting and somehow resolve that intended gap, ck” Austin Jr. I wanted to include them as components of a larger body of work that has to do with figuration, space, and dispersion.

at the age of The site of the museum itself prompted more associations in relation to the hinged rd and New York. figure series. Sam Wagstaff, curator of painting and sculpture at the Wadsworth terested in. Atheneum from 1961–68, was an early supporter of Tony Smith and a generation of from the artists who would come to represent Minimalism. 5 Wagstaff was also the lover and and the companion of Robert Mapplethorpe. In 2010 I made one foot in the grave , a natural onstraints on plywood hinged figure that has a single Mapplethorpe flower postcard pinned to cations. The its upper panel and a small pile of earth covering a section of its lower extension. a repressive The work is a contemplation on illness and AIDS, which took both Mapplethorpe and aracter, and Wagstaff’s lives. Located on Colt Mezzanine, the sculpture is installed next to Sol LeWitt’s Incomplete Open Cube 6/19 (1974). The pairing was a conscious one for the associations with Minimalism, but also for the poetic theme of incompleteness that rn to be resonates from one work to the other. LeWitt’s project can be seen as a meditation ory that on fragmentation and dispersion. But at the same time, in this setting, the sculptures ional Style signal the interrupted lives of Mapplethorpe, Wagstaff, and countless others. y Theater, For the most part, I’ve moved beyond this body of work—the hinged plywood Acts premiered figures—though I have periodic relapses. For the exhibition, I created two new works. t reinstall WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 7

ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE (RECLINING) , 2010. PROPPED PERFUME , 2008. IN PHOTO: COURTESY BORTOLAMI, NY SCULPTURECENTER, 2008.

Sam-I-Am is located in the center of the Avery Court with Pietro Francavilla’s Venus with Nymph and Satyr (1600). The choice of location once again echoes Tony Smith. In 1966 he created the sculpture titled Fixture , a large, triangulated plywood mock-up, which enclosed the fountain and the Venus sculpture in its entirety. In my work, the hinged figure itself is supported by a thick, black plywood monolith spanning the width of the fountain, lifting the figure up in juxtaposition to the three entwined marble figures beside it.

Inventory of Inherited Masculinities is located in Chick Austin’s former home on nearby Scarborough Street in Hartford. Sited in the rouge-colored, Baroque-appointed living room, the work is placed in direct relation to the latent anthropomorphic conditions of domestic furniture. Both functioning as a monument to high camp and a normative family home, the house created shelter and protection, as well as fantasy, through its largely inward-looking orientation and theatrical embellishments. 6

These final two sites create a frame for the constellation of locations across the Museum’s galleries that make up the exhibition, linking together public and private spaces, and hinging together the individual hinged figures themselves.

Tom Burr WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 8

PROPPED PERFUME , 2008. INSTALLATION VIEW AND DETAIL, SCULPTURECENTER, 2008. TO SELECTED SOLO

2019 Tom Burr/MA G Wadsworth A Hartford, CT B He lio-Centric 2018 Nó Access , S Savannah, GA Sedimental , Savannah, GA A 2017 Surplus of My M Kunstverein, E 2014 Tom Burr. Scr Studies and T Bard College Annandale-on D 2013 Dressage , Pa Switzerland L 2012 Clouds in Tro Umbria, Italy W

SELECTED GROU

2019 Queer Abstra 1 avilla’s Venus Des Moines, M es Tony Smith. 2018 The Conditio lywood mock-up, Gallery & Am my work, the 2004), Cente P anning the width Hessel Muse (CCS Bard), A ined marble 2017 Benz Bonin B U Skulptur Proj 2016 Question the T r home on nearby Minneapolis, W ppointed living 2015 To expose, to inform, to of hic conditions of Stiftung Lud M a normative Ko ln Skulptu P asy, through its Cölogne, Ger 2014 Take It or Lea Ideology , Ham CA S across the 2013 Outside the L c and private Museum, Hou .

WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 9

Born 1963, New Have TOM BURR Lives and works in Ne SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS SELECTED PUBL

2019 Tom Burr/MATRIX 182/Hinged Figures , 2011 Gravity Moves Me , FRAC Art Institute of Chica Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France Baltimore Museum of Hartford, CT 2009 Bonvicini/Burr , (with Monica Bonvicini), FRAC Champagne–Ard He lio-Centricities , Auroras, Sa o Paulo, Brazil Sta dtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Hammer Museum, Los 2018 Nó Access , SCAD Museum of Ãrt, Kun̈ stbau, Munich, Germany, travelling to The Israel Museum, Je Savannah, GA Museum fu r Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Lenbachhaus Museum Sedimental , SCAD Museum of Art, Switzerland̈ Savannah, GA 2008 Addict–Love , SculptureCenter, New York, NY WORKS IN THE E 2017 Surplus of Myself , Westfa lischer 2007 Moods , Secession, Vienna, Austria Kunstverein, Mu nster, Ger̈many 2006 Extrospective , Musee Cantonal des 1 Chick , 2008 2014 Tom Burr. Screen ̈ , Center for Curatorial Beaux-Arts de Lausanń e, Switzerland Plywood, paint, s Studies and Hessel Museum of Art at 2003 The Screens , Institute for Visual Culture, straitjacket, whi Bard College (CCS Bard), Cambridge, United Kingdom steel ashtray Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 2002 Deep Purple , Whitney Museum of American 42 x 138 x 200 in 2013 Dressage , Parcours, Art Basel, Basel, Art, New York, NY Collection of She Switzerland 2000 Low Slung , Kunstverein Braunschweig, Aarons 2012 Clouds in Trousers , Cittá della Pieve, Braunschweig, Germany Umbria, Italy 1992 White Columns , New York, NY 2 Chicks , 2008 Plywood, wood b SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS dress, vintage tu cover of Four Sai 2019 Queer Abstraction , Des Moines Art Center, 2011 12th Istanbul Biennial , Istanbul, Turkey Thomson and Ger Des Moines, IA 2010 Mixed Use, Manhattan: Photography and 40 x 276 x 252 in 2018 The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Related Practices 1970s to the Present , Collection of Jill Gallery & American Fine Arts, Co. (1983– Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 2004), Center for Curatorial Studies and Madrid, Spain 3 Sam-I-Am , 2019 Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College 2009 Political/Minimal , KW Institute for Plywood, paint, s (CCS Bard), Annandale-on-Hudson, NY Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany photographs and 2017 Benz Bonin Burr with Cosima von Bonin, 2007 Unmonumental: Falling to Pieces in the 21st steel push pins Skulptur Projekte, Mu nster, Germany Century , The New Museum, New York, NY Dimensions varia 2016 Question the Wall Itsëlf , Walker Art Center, 2006 The Eighth Square , Museum Ludwig, Courtesy the art Minneapolis, MN Cologne, Germany 2015 To expose, to show, to demonstrate, to 2004 Whitney Biennial 2004 , Whitney Museum of 4 Bent, Bandaged, inform, to offer , Museum Moderner Kunst American Art, New York, NY Bewildered, (Hea Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria 1998 Model , Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria Painted wood, ba Ko ln Skulptur #8 , Skulpturenpark Ko ln, 1995 Platzwechsel (with Ursula Biemann, Mark 64 3/5 x 59 x 23 Cölogne, Germany ̈ Dion, Christian Philipp Muller), Courtesy the art 2014 Take It or Leave It: Institution, Image, Kunsthalle Zurich und Schweizer Ideology , Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Nationalmuseum, Zurich, Switzerland CA 1993 Sonsbeek 93 , Arnheim, Holland 2013 Outside the Lines , Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX

See maps on foll Access to the Au for more informa WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 10

Born 1963, New Haven, Connecticut RR Lives and works in New York, New York SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS LOCATION OF WO

T G C Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany eims, France Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD MART Museum, Rovereto, Italy Level 1 B onica Bonvicini), FRAC Champagne–Ardenne, Reims, France Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA H enbachhaus und Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA New York Public Library, New York, NY

N many, travelling to The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN 1 2 skunst, Basel, Lenbachhaus Museum, Munich, Germany Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY S 3 A Center, New York, NY WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION S M na, Austria E Cantonal des 1 Chick , 2008 5 propped perfume , 2008 T e, Switzerland Plywood, paint, steel hinges, canvas medical Plywood, paint, steel hinges, steel thumbtacks, 4 T for Visual Culture, straitjacket, white rubber, steel drafting lamp, vintage magazine ads, feather boa, steel cable gdom steel ashtray 73 x 24 x 100 in. D Museum of American 42 x 138 x 200 in. Collection of Barbara and Howard Morse D Collection of Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip L Braunschweig, Aarons 6 Christmas Collapse , 2005 C y Wood, latex, paint, metal, hardware, glass, W rk, NY 2 Chicks , 2008 paper Plywood, wood balusters, vintage 1970s Chanel Dimensions variable dress, vintage turntable, record and album Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; cover of Four Saints in Three Acts by Virgil Gift of Avo Samuelian and Hector Manuel Q 1 Istanbul, Turkey Thomson and Gertrude Stein Gonzalez, 2016.186a–d Level 3 M Photography and 40 x 276 x 252 in. T 0s to the Present , Collection of Jill and Peter Kraus 7 one foot in the grave (reclining) , 2010 e Reina Sofia, Natural wood, hinges, postcard, soil 3 Sam-I-Am , 2019 31 1/2 x 18 x 96 1/2 in. P nstitute for Plywood, paint, steel hinges, mirror, Courtesy the artist and Bortolami, NY in, Germany photographs and printed material, B U to Pieces in the 21st steel push pins 8 Inventory of Inherited Masculinities , 2019 um, New York, NY Dimensions variable Plywood, paint, steel hinges, Philip Johnson’s Q T seum Ludwig, Courtesy the artist and Bortolami, NY jacket, books, pamphlets Dimensions variable T W Whitney Museum of 4 Bent, Bandaged, Beat up, Beat up again, and Courtesy the artist and Bortolami, NY , NY Bewildered, (Heal Me) , 2008 Provenance of Jacket: M re, Vienna, Austria Painted wood, bandage, metallic chain Philip Johnson K P ula Biemann, Mark 64 3/5 x 59 x 23 3/5 in. Fran Lebowitz Muller), Courtesy the artist and Bortolami, NY Ricardo Kugelmas T Schweizer Tom Burr h, Switzerland Austin House S Holland O

See maps on following panel for location of works throughout the Museum and Austin House. Access to the Austin House is limited; for reservations, call 860-838-4046. Please see website for more information: www.thewadsworth.org and search: Austin House. WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 11

LOCATION OF WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION ARTIST TALK TOM BURR any Thursday, June 6, 6:3 Level 1 Level 2 Free with museum ad Los Angeles, CA Art After Dark , 5–8pm rk, NY Stairs from MORGAN 2 Prospect Street To Front Street MN to AVERY 3 CURATOR TALK 1 2 rt, New York, NY PATRICIA HICKSON 3 Emily Hall Tremaine C 6 Thursday, August 29, Free with museum ad

s, steel thumbtacks, 4 her boa, steel cable

Howard Morse 5

hardware, glass,

can Art, New York; Hector Manuel Level 3

ning) , 2010 card, soil

rtolami, NY

culinities , 2019 s, Philip Johnson’s 7

rtolami, NY 1 I explored eroding public sp engage with conceptions of way into thinking about scu through this work, always st sub-cultural respite and ass unleashing, it was my hope, transformed it into my own color, as well as shifting the 2 The Complete Stories of Tru Austin House 3 While the idea of the closet, is often grounded in very sp in relation to the pressure o 4 Four Saints in Three Acts is a at the Avery Memorial Theat first comprehensive Picasso 5 Sam Wagstaff curated the s the exhibition came to be kn 8 institutional presentations o sculpture show at the Wads tin House. 6 In 1930, Chick Austin and hi Palladian villa they had seen see website decorated with Italian Baroq became the social theater s WA MATRIX 182 Brochure-4.qxp_WA MATRIX 182 Brochure 5/24/19 9:58 AM Page 12

ARTIST TALK TOM BURR Thursday, June 6, 6:30 pm Free with museum admission to Art After Dark , 5–8pm 600 Main Street Hartford, Connecticut 06103 AN 2 t CURATOR TALK (860) 278-2670 PATRICIA HICKSON Emily Hall Tremaine Curator of Contemporary Art thewadsworth.org

6 Thursday, August 29, noon Free with museum admission MATRIX 182 is generously supported by the Howard Fromson Fund for Exhibition and Educational Programs. The MATRIX program is supported by the Wadsworth Atheneum’s Contemporary Coalition. Additional support for MATRIX 182 has been provided by Bortolami, NY. Sustaining support for the Wadsworth Atheneum provided by Newman’s Own Foundation and the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign.

1 I explored eroding public space through the lens of Robert Smithson, building out and away from his conception of the earthwork towards a form to engage with conceptions of naturalness, neutrality, and difference; I adopted Tony Smith’s approach to physicality and his black chromatic density as a way into thinking about sculpture in relation to its other: actual lived spaces. Bars, dark rooms, theaters, and hybrids of these typologies emerged through this work, always straddling the line between sculptural status and a space or place of interiority. Queer architectural types, spaces of sub-cultural respite and assignation, were layered over and through the logic of Minimalist form, attempting to produce a sort of fantasy of form , unleashing, it was my hope, both closely felt pleasure and a gap of critical distance. And in 2000 I borrowed Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc (1981) and transformed it into my own Deep Purple pulling Serra into the work as a figure, up and against my own presence. Through altered scale, material, and color, as well as shifting the conditions of site-specific practice, Deep Purple performs an act of mimicry and impersonation. 2 The Complete Stories of Truman Capote at Romaromaroma, Rome, 2005. 3 While the idea of the closet, and of being “closeted” is an oppressive and dangerous space to exist within, it also produces affects and conditions, and it is often grounded in very specific architectural locations where someone can be “out” or not. Modes of behavior, or dress, and of survival, are developed in relation to the pressure of the closet and the dual existence it creates. 4 Four Saints in Three Acts is a modernist opera written by Gertrude Stein with music by Virgil Thomson. The opera, featuring an all-black cast, premiered at the Avery Memorial Theater on February 7, 1934, to a sold-out audience. Chick Austin had planned the production to coincide with the opening of the first comprehensive Picasso exhibition to be mounted in the United States. 5 Sam Wagstaff curated the seminal exhibition Black, White and Grey at the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1964. While expansive and varied in its inclusions, the exhibition came to be known, along with Kynaston McShine’s 1966 Primary Structures exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York, as the first institutional presentations of Minimal Art. Wagstaff also worked extensively with Tony Smith during this period, presenting Smith’s first large-scale sculpture show at the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1966. 6 In 1930, Chick Austin and his wife Helen Goodwin Austin built their wooden house on Scarborough Street in Hartford. Modeled after a sixteenth-century Palladian villa they had seen in Italy, the house stands in stark contrast to the neighboring homes. Often noted for its stage-like quality, elaborately decorated with Italian Baroque furnishings on the first floor in contrast with the Modern Bauhaus-style bathrooms on the second floor, the house became the social theater space for Chick Austin and his circle of friends.