Perfectly Natural

We took some photos this weekend of the gorgeous curves and colors that surround us in NH- decayed squash to seed pods. Rago is having a Discovery Auction of gorgeous modernist pieces that reference the organic, keeping them, some sixty years later, as relevant as they were the day they were produced. Our affinity for these works, it turns out, is perfectly natural.

1. Decayed white squash

2. Lot of three vessels by Russell Wright at Rago

3. Mushroom in NH

4. Howard Werner Stool, Rago

5. Seed Pod, NH

6. Harrison McIntosh Vase

Heinrich Kuhn and William Morris

Heinrich Kuhn image autochrome via Art-Port

William Morris, Leicester Pattern at Historic Style

Heinrich Kuhn, Miss Mary and Edeltrude, circa 1910 via Venetian Red

We've walked into two rooms in the last year or so with William Morris wallpaper- they are always a surprise...graphic, with palettes that are somehow beautifully grayed and sunny at the same time. Seeming strangely modern to us, the wallpapers, like the photography of Austrian Heinrich Kuhn transports us to a turn of the century world that seems more familiar than we realized it could be- the skies, it seems, have always been blue, the grass is green and a warm day in the country is still blissful.

William Morris, Fruit (or Pomegranite) via Historic Style

Heinrich Kuhn via Iconology

William Morris, Fruit (or Pomegranite) Wallcovering via Jamie Hempsall Interior Design

Heinrich Kuhn's autochrome of little Hano via The Blue Lantern

William Morris, Pimpernel

William Morris designed room with Pimpernel Wallcovering

From the book Heinrich Kuhn: The Perfect Photograph via Published Art

William Morris Artichoke Wallpaper and Branches Upholstery

Heinrich Kuhn, Miss Mary and Edeltrude Lying in the Grass

William Morris' Artichoke Pattern at Morris & Co

Not Quite Neutral

Lovely curves of a linen sofa via Remodelista

Allison Watt, Cream Head Study at Feren's via the BBC

We've paired the work of Scottish painter Allison Watt with neutral rooms from various sources. Disciplined, cream-based palettes feel soft and calming while Watts' John Currin meets Julie Speed world of lyrically gestured blondes are disturbing as they beautiful- a gesture too stylized, an element just out of place.

Concrete Bathroom sink via Style File

An Allison Watt portrait of a man with wash basin

Cozy reading space via Martha Stewart Online

Allison Watt, Study for Crown of Thorns at Christie's

Hudson Valley living room via Apartment Therapy

Allison Watt, Hunger and the Horse's Head

Kitchen via Remodelista

Allison Watt, Study for Rosecutter via the BBC

Winold Reiss and RG Munn

Winold Reiss, Erika Lohmann

Looking at current auction offerings, we noticed that RG Munn has some lovely Navajo textiles coming up for auction. The geometries and the color saturation brought the portraiture of Winold Reiss to mind- he's a favorite and during 20's through the 40's, no one captured the vibrancy and grace of the southwest better.

RG Munn Navajo textile

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Winold Reiss, Dan Bull Plume

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Winold Reiss, Steals Always and Beverly

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Winold Reis, Young Woman

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Winold Reiss, Turtle

Modern in Black and White

Not specific to time, movement, aesthetic...a black and white stream of consciousness begun on an evening stroll across The High Line :

1. Gehry's IAC Building taken on The High Line

2. Marcel Duchamp by Edward Steichen

3. Dada Antiquerist via dafont.com

4. Robert Heller Airflow Fan via Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

5. Laure Albin Guillot, La Cantate du Narcisse via e-flux

6. Teague's Polaroid Desk Lamp

7. Frantisek Drtikol, Dancers

8. Zeitgeist via Topography Served

9. Noguchi's Nurse SOS Speaker for Zenith

Breathtaking

Gehard Demetz woodcarving

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Galerie Half interior

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