A Collection for the Country

Our collector, who has decided to remain anonymous, grew up on Long Island with her two older sisters and art collecting parents in a home filled with art and Scandinavian modern furniture.

- JOHN O'HERN

My parents would go to community art fairs and local galleries when they were on trips,” she says. They would buy something. I find myself doing the same thing. I could remember where I bought a painting or sculpture and it would remind me of that adventure.”

Her new home in Connecticut had the good bones of bright and airy Danish/ Japanese design. She has added on and clarified the openness, furnishing it with contemporary, clean-lined furniture with a lot of natural wood. Primarily, however, she has acquired a stunning collection of contemporary realist art which she began buying while the house was under contract. She had to wait 5 months to take possession, which gave her plenty of time to shop art and furniture. I could buy abstract art,” she explains, but it would have to have e color and balance that I look for in my representational art. My apartment in New York has a different look because I lived in London for 17 years and our home was Victorian. I have more period pieces in New York. When I moved out here, I didn't want to bring anything from the city or to buy anything with an urban look. I wanted this to look like Connecticut."

I commented on the number of pieces in her collection that incorporate reflections notably in paintings of silverware in paintings by Leslie Lewis Sigler but also in still lifes and landscapes throughout her home. She replied, "Reflections make it more real. I often wonder how they did that and look closely to see what I can find in the reflections."

She relies on galleries to recommend work to her but has also bought online through sites such as 1stDibs where she bought one of her favorite paintings, Carol O’Malia’s True Blue, 2019, from the Julie Nester Gallery in Park City, Utah. The painting of a pile of pillows reminds her of the comfort of home.