Letting in the Light
October 2007
George and Terry Saunders are masters of the art of compromise and know that keeping an open mind makes for a happy collecting marriage. George once sat for hours at a shop on the rue du Seine as Terry and her sister got absorbed looking at a cache of Line Vautrin jewelry. But he learned something from this experience, and today is a fan of Vautrin’s mirrors, two of which he now owns.The couple’s 1920s Chicago high-rise apartment represents the merging of their sometimes-differing tastes. Filled with Vienna Secessionist and Art Deco pieces, contemporary British paintings and Abstract Expressionist works, the residence is a fitting showcase for the fruits of 22 years of avid collecting. "There was never a chance we were going to furnish a home with Louis XVI furniture," says George. "We like straight lines, simple things. And the Secessionist and Art Deco material certainly fit the bill."
"I’m more the Abstract Expressionist fan in the family," admits Terry, "so we’ve settled on work that is figurative but abstract." That shared taste includes works by contemporary British painters Ian McKeever, Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff. Still, their home remains a testament to diverging interests. For example, in the den is George’s "Portrait of Lincoln in the Manner of Gilbert Stuart’s Unfinished Portrait of George Washington," a 2004 oil-on-canvas by Don Pollock, a Chicago-based artist known mostly for his landscapes. Terry’s taste is reflected in the entrance hall, where she displays Ab-Ex painter Milton Resnick’s "Bondo," a 1982 oil-on-board.
In 2001, the couple realized that it was time to give their residence and the collection within more light. "It had all sorts of moldings and cornices and chair rails, and it was very dark," Terry says of the previous design. "As I got older, I decided what I wanted was simplicity and light."
The couple enlisted the help of architect Paul Florian and the late designer Julie Thoma to create the perfect environment for their collection: a clean, uncluttered space where every object has its place.
Florian started by streamlining the residence, adjusting walls and reorienting rooms to let in more light. "We looked at one huge gesture, like a curved wall the full length of the apartment," he says, "but we opted for a kind of classic modernism with a warmer, more muted palette." While Florian outfitted the space with unique details—such as a Donald Judd–like glass-backed box on the living room wall that functions as display space and allows sunlight to pass through from the kitchen—he was determined to avoid a stark, gallery-like effect.
Pointing to a substantial Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann cabinet in the entry hall, Florian says, "These are very beautiful pieces and need a certain amount of space to be seen, but they are glamorous in themselves, so you don’t have to support them with a whole lot."The heart of the apartment is the long, commodious living room with a large window overlooking Lake Michigan. Here, Thoma (who was married to Richard Wright, the Chicago auctioneer who specializes in 20th-century design) combined the clients’ furniture with designs of her own in three distinct seating areas. Thoma’s pieces include a pair of simple, modern sofas that flank the fireplace and a Jean-Michel Frank–style sofa, which is surrounded by a richly hued zebrawood screen. These new items work companionably with the turn-of-the-century Josef Hoffman chairs and table and the 1930s-era pieces including chairs by Otto Schultz and a cocktail table by Gilbert Rohde. "Night Snow II" (1985), a large, colorful, mixed-media work by McKeever, dominates one wall, while smaller works by his compatriots Auerbach ("Study of Primrose Hill," a 1978 oil on board) and Kossoff ("Head of Chaim," 1986) face McKeever’s piece on the opposite wall.
The result is a finely appointed and graceful residence, neither calculatedly austere nor determinedly impressive. Throughout, the couple’s art (including works on paper by Gustav Klimt, Robert Motherwell and Antoni Tapiès), decorative objects (ceramics by Jean Mayodon, silver designed by Henning Koppel, mirrors by Piero Fornasetti) and furniture (dining chairs by Koloman Moser, a lamp by Giacometti, nesting tables by Jean Royère) are arranged with a certain understatement.
In 1985, when the couple moved in, they undertook some remodeling with Chicago architect and designer Michael Lustig, who urged them to acquire Secessionist and Art Deco furniture. The couple acquired their first serious painting in 1986—a small, oil-on-board portrait by Auerbach ("Reclining Head of Gerda Boehm," 1978)—at the suggestion of the art-loving son of a business partner. "My first reaction was lukewarm at best," George admits. "But the more I looked at it, the more I liked it. And this place needed some good art."
Over the years, they have acquired furniture from Wright and Richard Himmel Antique and Decorative Furniture of Chicago and art from Edward Thorp and Michael Werner galleries in New York and Marlborough in London. And, as other collectors can relate, the Saunderses have watched some treasures slip away from them. Terry still laments their failed bid for a pair of standing lamps from Maison Jansen early in their collecting career. "It’s so hard to find a pair of lamps, and these were the right size and the right scale," she says, explaining that the lamps sold for just a little over the couple’s discussed bidding cap. "I could kick myself for not taking them."
However, she did win in the instance of the candelabra in the entrance hall—thanks to George’s open mind. "My sister pointed it out, and I thought it was fabulous, but George said, ‘No, no,’" Terry says. "But after looking at it about three times, he said, ‘You know, it is really nice.’ I didn’t buy it until he liked it as well."
Thomas Connors is writes regularly on art and architecture and his work has appeared in publications such as Town&Country and Interior Design.
Colletti Gallery, Chicago
312.664.6767 collettigallery.com
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
212.245.6734 gseart.com
LA Louver, Venice, Calif.
310.822.495 lalouver.com
Marlborough Fine Art, London
011.44.20.7629.5161 marlboroughfineart.com
Paul Florian Architects, Chicago
312.670.2220 florianarchitects.com
Stephen Solovy Fine Art, Chicago
312.664.4860 stephensolovy@netscape.net