by Tamara Moscowitz
Topping this week’s reading list are books about two quintessential American interior designers and an eighteenth century French painter whose masterpiece offers a window into that era’s privileged world of art, architecture, and patronage.
Katie Ridder Rooms by Heather Smith MacIsaac, (c) 2011, The Vendome Press
Style Setter
Katie Ridder Rooms brilliantly realizes why this interior designer is a perennial favorite on Elle Décor and AD’s Top 100 list. Ridder’s hard-to-define style is showcased in a progression of rooms including: sumptuous Park Avenue apartments, lofts, a Japanese pavilion, and country houses. These rooms reflect a seamless mix of the eclectic and traditional bathed in a rich palette of primary and secondary colors for ultra chic contemporary interiors. Ridder’s special gift is a sense of daring ─ blue walls stenciled in an oversize paisley motif ─ for stylish, yet eminently livable homes. The Vendome Press, $50.00, pre-order through Amazon.
American Elegance
Jeffrey Bilhuber ‘s 25-year career as an interior designer has secured him a place among a handful of preeminent American decorators. With an eye toward combining historical and modern elements, his interiors reflect an authentic American vision that have attracted a high profile clientele from the arts, media, and business worlds. The Way Home: Reflections on American Beauty features twelve recent projects that takes each client’s goals and demonstrates Bilhuber’s approach to creating a deeply personal home. Rizzoli, $60.00, available through Amazon.
Those Were the Days
Anyone who smiled knowingly after reading VandM’s InTrend article Who’s Got Soul? –Seventieth and Eighteenth century Antiques Are Back on Top will want to pick-up a copy of Fragonard’s Progress of Love at The Frick Collection. Written by the Museum’s Associate Director and Peter Sharp Curator, Colin B. Bailey, the book is a wonderful historical resource on Fragonard’s series of panels and how this unusual work eventually landed in Henry Clay Frick’s mansion. By tracing the “Progress in Love” journey to America, we get an insider’s look into the history of collecting in Europe and America during the two centuries following its completion. Co-published with D. Giles Limited. $44.95, available through Amazon, or the Frick’s Museum Shop, (212) 547-6848.
