07 September 2011

The Simple Life

The breakfast area of a London dining room decorated by David Mlinaric, circa 2007. Image from "Mlinaric on Decorating" by Mirabel Cecil and David Mlinaric (Frances Lincoln Limited, 2008).


Simplicity is something I've never been much good at achieving, particularly when it comes to outfitting a room. The reductive results either look impoverished or impractical. But if I could achieve the same spare, bold, hushed atmosphere embodied by the picture above, in our house or our apartment, I think I might come close to true happiness.

The Platonic serenity of this image is resolutely modern but also strangely classical, a functional space furnished for the bare minimum of activity and raked by cold, unforgiving light. (Not for nothing was this 19th-century structure in Chelsea the former studio-residence of artist John Singer Sargent, for whom northern light was crucial in the production of his portraits.) It has something of the calm clarity of the paintings recently shown in "Rooms with a View: The Open Window in the 19th Century," the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition of depictions of sunlit European rooms, especially the works of German artist Georg Friedrich Kersting. The room seems empty but is actually quite full, furnished with honest materials spanning the poles of light and dark—curtains of silk the color of fog; plaster stippled an even more evanescent shade of grey; satiny marble; seats of supple leather; a carpet of woven sea grass; and polished mahogany chairs with cornucopiae supports. That exuberant last-named detail, the horn of plenty, is an eccentric chair element though so fitting in a room for meals. I am also keenly appreciative of the lack of overt decoration, a paucity that demands one heed the person opposite and what he or she is saying (or not saying), as coffee is poured and toast is buttered; this is a no-nonsense spot, a place where one cannot hide, where extended silences would be considerably awkward. It contains but it does not cosset. Of this atmosphere I wholeheartedly approve, since a room's decoration, to my mind, should never subsume its occupants.

One must admit, however, that this particular photograph is taken out of context. It is not the small room it seems but instead the breakfast-area end of a spacious dining room in the London residence of financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, shaped by Theis + Kahn Architects and interior designer David Mlinaric. The now-relatively-retired founder of Mlinaric, Henry & Zervudachi is a decorator so brilliant the septuagenarian really should be knighted, though the CBE he received in 2009 "for services to interior design and to heritage" is not to be sniffed at. Consider, for instance, the superb asymmetrical siting of the art here, notably Auguste Rodin's Le Sommeil (one of three marble versions) pushed firmly and idiosyncratically into its corner. There the sleeping woman—a gift from the artist to his American-born last mistress, Claire de Choiseul—commands attention and yet, because of her smoky-white complexion, she seems to fade into the grey wall along with the resolutely plain plinth. And what about that pulsating thread of vivid blue connecting the Yayoi Kusama abstract on the left to the Ben Nicholson canvas on the right to the armchair in the kitchen beyond? Subtly handled, I'd say, and highly deliberate.

To me, this sliver of tailored space embodies everything Mlinaric once said about his approach to fashion, according to an interview posted on the website of the Victoria and Albert Museum: "I always quite liked being smart, tidy and clean and trim." To that, I'll raise a glass.

NB: Other blogs have previously posted images of Sir Evelyn and Lady de Rothschild's London residence, namely Cote de Texas in 2009 and Brilliant Asylum in December 2007. A large article about the house was published in the January 2008 issue of W.


8 comments:

pve design said...

smart, tidy and simple requires a keen eye and restraint.
show us your simple life and room with a view.
pve

John J. Tackett said...

I am a big fan of the work of David Mlinaric.

Although I have a high tolerance for decoration in general, the majority of interiors would benefit from editing.

__ The Devoted Classicist

cotedetexas said...

Thank you so much for mentioning my blog, much appreciated!

hope all is well with you and your family.

JOni

Herry Lawford said...

So interesting; and so beautifully written as always

Barima said...

Much enjoyed; I am trying to learn more about Mlinaric, as well as what makes for a tastefully simple approach

Best from Mode Parade,

BON

Blue Turtle said...

I like everything to be simple. As long as it is functional and in harmony.

J. Harp
writer @ Italian Chandeliers

Anonymous said...

As you may know; I am just the opposite of clean and trim.
I was so fortunate to go on a tour of English sites with Jessica Deustch;(formerly with Sotheby's)
which included David Mlarnick, "someone said....." "you got all the brain-boxes"!! It was Stephen Calloway........and yes she did, Indeed. It takes one to know one!

We saw the best of London......(loved Oliver Messels' fab stuff at the Dorchester) and we did see David Mlanaric's work....and John Fowler's. and the "buttah yellow" room that the brilliant Nancy Lancaster did....and the brilliant (recently departed) Tom Parr preserved!

when I met David and Tom Parr.......the two I couldn't speak because I was so choked up. Nancy Lancaster's former house........(I discovered newly hatched duck eggs!!) and was told "don't encourage them to come into the house! They came in and were eating my houseguest's cereal yesterday!

(Oh be still my heart......I hope I live long enough!! Mine are pretty tame....but come into the breakfast room!!! YES!!!)

And the suite by Oliver Messel in the hotel in London.

David Mlnaric showed us his gorgeous redo of the theatre in London.......and what a delightful; and self-effacing man.

And he is a genius in every way.....and one of them is editing!

Paul Pincus said...

Beyond deliberate, I'd say. This type of rigor is so rare! Genius.

Your posts always make my day, Aesthete.

X,
Paul