PREVIEWS OF WORKS FOR SALE AT UPCOMING SHOWS COAST TO COAST MARCH 2016 ISSUE 125

WATCH 6 VIDEOS IN THIS ISSUE AMERICAN

COLLECTOR

Also Showcasing Glass, Ceramics & Wood

Cover AAC125.indd 1 2/3/16 4:48 PM THE ART COLLECTION

OF LAURIE GHIELMETTI

AND HER HUSBAND

REFLECTS THEIR PAST, ARTISTIC PRESENT AND FUTURE. DIALOGUES

BY JOHN O'HERN PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANCIS SMITH

hen Laurie Ghielmetti leaves home for 1 W her office she acknowledges three of Seated Figure, Orange her favorite pieces in her collection. When she Shirt, oil on canvas, 1991, by Robert De Niro Sr. returns home she greets them again—a drawing (1922-1993), hangs in by Marino Marini on the stair landing and, the living room. in the living room where she sits to read her mail, a drawing by and 2 Hanging above the a photograph by Paul Outerbridge. She has a living room fireplace dialogue with the works of art just as the art and is Untitled, November its setting have a dialogue. 1, 1970 by Willem de Plato wrote, “A talent for any art is rare, but it is Kooning (1904-1997), given to nearly every one to cultivate a taste for oil on newsprint paper mounted on canvas. art; only it must be cultivated in earnestness. The more things thou learnest to know and to enjoy, the more complete and full will be, for thee, the delight of living.” Ghielmetti’s delight of living with art began when she was a child and is passed on to the clients of her interior design and art consultant business. “My father was very inspired by art and very knowledgeable,” she says. “We went to museums and galleries even as small children. When we travelled we always went to museums. He often tried to educate us with little asides—about chiaroscuro in the work of Rembrandt and Leonardo, for instance, or the inspiration for the artist, or why artists were so much in the forefront of their time. He was raised by parents who were educated about the history and importance of art and he gave that gift to me. “He also collected. There wasn’t a thread to his collecting,” she explains. “As he traveled he would find things that he found to be inspiring wherever they were—masks from Africa, a drawing by Degas. I took it as a given that people would have things that were meaningful to them in their homes, things that were personal to them.” 1

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CollectorHome_125.indd 50 2/3/16 10:16 AM

COLLECTOR HOME 051

2/3/16 10:16 AM 2 CollectorHome_125.indd 51 ARTISTIC ARTISTIC DIALOGUES 3

Ghielmetti and her husband respond the other. The installation here is very A by Adolph Gottlieb hangs viscerally to the works they bring into their purposeful. There is nothing in storage in the sitting room. “One day I was in a collection. He is often inspired by color; she because I like to live with my pieces. I often conference with a dealer about one of is inspired by form and curved lines. He feel that finding a home for a particular our clients when I saw the Gottlieb,” says was drawn to the color and “voluptuousness piece of art is often dictated by what is Ghielmetti. “After the meeting, the piece of the figure” in their Willem de Kooning around it in the home. It often tells you left with me. I had a hard time finding a and to the color and the subject matter (a when it has found the right spot. How do you place for it and was looking for a place man and his dog) in Seated Figure, Orange know when a room is finished? It tells you. It in a bright room. It ended up in a dark Shirt, by Robert De Niro Sr. announces it. It’s finished for that moment in room because it creates its own light.” She Ghielmetti recalls, “One of my personal time because anyone collecting or in design comments that “every mark in it counts.” mentors in interior design remarked that embraces the idea of change. Changing a She says, “There are no boundaries if you can take in everything in a room single piece often provides that.” on things that appeal to me. In most of in one glance, you’ve failed. You want The dialogues in the Ghielmetti home the pieces the initial thing that captures many nuances. begin in the entry where a monochromatic me is shapes, especially more primitive, “Art and furniture need to have a collage by Esteban Vicente refers to the rounded shapes. dialogue,” she explains. “Each enhances black-and-white tiled floor. “Often, a piece will be a byproduct of

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CollectorHome_125.indd 52 2/3/16 10:16 AM COLLECTOR HOME 053 2/3/16 10:16 AM 3 the left of the To secretary in the living and is an undated room drawing, figure untitled media on paper, mixed Diebenkorn Richard by the right To (1922-1993). print silver is a vintage Outerbridge Paul by (1896-1958), Ethiopian , 1923. Form 4 La José María Sicilia’s que se apaga, oil, Luz and paper on beeswax 1996, hangs in the panel, room. breakfast “I found the Tony Scherman in New York,” she that “realized she ’90s the in designer interior an As Gimblett. Gimblett. “He’s very inspired by Asian art,” explains, she “especially the shapes and simplicity of loved and of piece the purity the art. I loved Japanese the color, shades of gold and yellow. I like having it edit. to ability Noguchi’s admire I Noguchi. the to next of explosion the but artist, the know didn’t “I continues. reason the absolutely is flower the of bursting the in joy the on Moses Ed by painting a is There it. purchased I going was he when in a gallery saw son my stairs that did.” it!’ We want ‘You’ll said, and called to UCLA. He a lot of the design community was not comfortable showroom a with worked I So art. contemporary with to bring in contemporary art from local galleries. Initially the art community wasn’t excited about 4 , Angkor by New Zealand artist Max by before I knew much about about much knew I before Park David by

Ghielmetti Ghielmetti is also interested in contemporary art. Her Her love of the sinuous line extends to drawings Hanging Hanging above the bed in the master bedroom is a circular piece, him. I see her differently now than when I first saw her.” saw first I when than now differently her see I him. and and photographs of the figure. “I like thespontaneity she of explains. “Often people drawings,” feel they’re a lesser genre, which isn’t the case at all. I like the subtlety of drawings, too. When things aren’t so obviously stated, you can make your own narrative and they can change as you change. I the purchased Nude Female a very fortunate moment when I’m in an art gallery to discuss a presentation for a client,” she continues. that something see I things out pulling they’re “When home.” in my a friend with as to live to be able I want CollectorHome_125.indd 53 5

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the idea. They didn’t want anything to be ‘matched.’ Soon they realized the art was reaching a larger audience and the design community was able to have easy access to valid, vetted art. Today there are art programs in many showrooms in the design centers. Part of our job as art advisers is to educate,” she says. “A house doesn’t become a home until there are pieces of art that reflect you in the past, present and hopeful future. Often art grows with you and reflects who you are. Art in your home shares that path with you 7

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CollectorHome_125.indd 54 2/3/16 10:16 AM COLLECTOR HOME 055 2/3/16 10:16 AM 5 In bedroom master the left to by, works are right, Hans Burkhardt Female (1904-1994), Two , 1938, charcoal Figures on paper; Olga de Moonbasket Amaral, 15, 1988, linen/gold Isamu leaf/ paint; Noguchi (1904-1988), Seated Nude, ca. 1930, on paper; and graphite , Max Gimblett, Angkor 1997-2000, gesso, various polyurethane, wood. golds, 6 sketches watercolor Two Manuel Neri,by which the a gift to were father late collector’s the artist,by in hang Paul the guest room. Blood Red, 1992, Resika’s is to gouache on paper, the right. 7 Helen by A photograph (1913-2009), New Levitt 1940 (printed , circa York hangs in the guest later), with an oil and room, painting, on canvas wax Tony Untitled, 1994, by Scherman. 8 Untitled, 1965, an acrylic Adolph on paper by Gottlieb (1903-1974), hangs in the sitting room. 9 Dug #10, 1994 Revere an oil, Moses, Ed by acrylic, and shellac, hangs on canvas, resin in the stairwell below , The Model in Profile 1964, casein on paper, (1920- Wonner Paul by bronze cast The 2008). is Bull floor Jumper ll, 2004, by Manuel Neri. Behind is Untitled the sculpture , 1993, a (Sunflower) unique Cibachrome Fuss. Adam by photogram John O’Hern, who has John O’Hern, who has in after 30 years retired business, the museum specifically as the Executive the of and Curator Director is N.Y., Elmira, Museum, Art Arnot internationally acclaimed the the originator of exhibitions Representation Re-presenting John in its many guises. realism which promote the New York of Panel the Artists chair of was gallery He writes for on the Arts. Council State including regular the world, publications around Insights and on Market Art on monthly features magazine. Collector Art in Western Sculpture 9

“We “We can all look at art and appreciate things on an Sometimes Sometimes she misses out on pieces because she didn’t intellectual level,” she continues, “but art brought into your into art your “but continues, brought she level,” intellectual all—the of level important most the at you affect to has home soul.” into your an arrow to put has It emotions. move when she was first inspired. There is a David Hockney Hockney David a is There inspired. first was she when move piece in pressed paper pulp in the She stairway. first saw it at an art fair “I in went San back Francisco. to the booth says. she sold,” been had it and closed exhibition the before couple of “A later years I saw the piece on consignment at when as joy of feeling exact same the had and gallery art an first time. it the I saw as you gain new chapters.” new gain you as CollectorHome_125.indd 55