An Expert's Guide to Decorating Your Home with Old Masterworks
On the eve of Masters Week in New York, we spoke to Young Huh, the interior designer behind several celebrity homes, about how to incorporate old art in new spaces.
Contemporary interiors are generally not associated with masterwork paintings and drawings. The latter are typically the stuff of great museums and, ahem, auction houses. And private collections are often just that: private. Visualizing living with an old master, therefore, might seem impossible. How could a Rembrandt, for example, pair with an Eames chair? Can a 5th-century Roman vase sit next to a Memphis credenza? Just how far can we go when mixing old and new?
Young Huh, the interior designer behind the homes of Zooey Deschanel and Idina Menzel, thinks it’s easy. A queen of bold color palettes, Huh believes that art – all art – is integral to designing spaces. There’s no need, in her mind, to fear the old and ancient, even in modern spaces. When we consider Huh’s penchant for mixing wildly different patterns in one room, we begin to see the logic in her design ethos: just because things are incompatible on their face, doesn’t mean they are discordant. It simply requires a deft and practiced hand to bring these pieces together in harmony.
When we spoke with Huh, she also made an excellent point regarding the feasibility of collecting art from centuries past: “We have clients say that there are really amazing deals to be had in antiques and old master paintings. While everyone is chasing the modern artist of the moment, why not purchase a painting that has a provenance that stretches generations?”
We couldn’t agree more! Below, Huh gives practical advice for working with art – and antique art in particular – in interior design.
Photograph by William Jess Laird
"Beauty is always easy to work in."
How does art interact with interior design in general?
Young Huh: Art and design go hand in hand. They support and love each other. You absolutely cannot have a well-designed room without art, and you cannot enjoy art without good design to show case it. The conversation and interplay between sculptures and paintings with wall treatment, lighting, architectural details are everything. Think about the Frick Museum now [in the original Beaux-Arts mansion] and compare it to when it was at the Breuer. Both are extraordinary venues and both give such interestingly different experiences with art and design.
What is tricky about including old masters in interior design? And, by contrast, what’s exciting about it?
YH: There’s fear of incorporating old masters in modern interiors. Homeowners and other designers might be intimidated [by the age or the specificity of subjects] whereas they may feel that modern art has no rules and therefore are more open to its installation. Or they may feel they cannot mix something old with more modern interiors. But this is absolutely not true. I always tell people to look at some of the renovated palazzi in Milan for instance. There is a balance between the very old and modern design. The mix is intriguing and feels very now. The magnificence of old master painting is in the painstaking technique and color complexity. Adding such a painting in a minimal modern room with sculptural pre-industrial furniture pieces and simple plastered walls would feel incredibly cool.
How do you approach designing a space when a significant old masterwork is involved? With the art or with the room overall?
I think the role of a designer is to create human connection and bring interest to our surroundings. There are moments when you want to feel wowed by the drama of a larger piece and there are moments of intimacy where you might have a small drawing or a charming genre painting. The architecture of a room tells you when there needs to be something extraordinary here or have several extraordinary moments. I always suggest thinking about the mood or feeling you want to evoke when entering a certain room and that will dictate which direction you should go.
When beginning a project, how do you work with clients to place and install art?
The placement of art is always a conversation. The client may have purchased a property with the art installation firmly in their minds. But sometimes those ideas can change and evolve as design evolves. We will do renderings or colored elevations with art and finishes so homeowners can imagine how certain artworks could look in different places. Sometimes there is a surprise, and you create more impact and interest by installing a large painting on a small wall. You want art to be showcased in the best place and that location may evolve as your feelings about how you want to live or entertain evolves.
What are some examples of homes you designed that included old master artworks?
When we recently designed the home of Zooey Deschanel and Jonathan Scott, they were of the firm opinion that there should be no modern art of any kind. We filled their home with beautiful 19th and 18th-century paintings and tapestries which resonated with a lot of people. We also had a client who wanted very modern interiors but had some art that had been passed down for generations. We paired a Renoir that had a very ornate frame next to Apparatus triangle and circle sconces with a stunning black-and-white marble mosaic floor. It looked amazing.
Is there any interior style that does not work with older art?
How could an old master not fit anywhere?! If you buy a Rembrandt, how could you have trouble placing it? Beauty is always easy to work in. It’s the ugly things that are hard!
Photograph by William Jess Laird
