The Wall Street Journal shows of Donald Bryant’s new duplex in Manhattan. While we quote some of the interesting renovation details necessary for a serious art collection, you can play “Name that Art”:
After buying the unit Mr. Bryant turned to architect John H. Beyer, of Beyer Blinder Belle, the New York firm behind the renovation of Grand Central Terminal, to gut renovate the apartment to showcase art. Some ceilings were lowered by several inches to install air-conditioning and to house museum-quality track-lighting. A wall was erected to create a canvas for a large-scale work; a light gray shade of paint was carefully selected to complement the artwork, and most of the furniture, set off the walls to make visitors feel enveloped in art, is in shades of beige. “We had great bones to work with,” says Mr. Beyer. The downside: The building only allows construction in the summer, causing the timetable to stretch over two years.
The renovation and redecoration cost about $4 million, a sum Mr. Bryant calls irrelevant. “It’s like people asking me how many pieces of art I have,” he says. “It’s the quality” that counts. The couple is buying a home in Connecticut, in part to be closer to artists like Jasper Johns, whose work Mr. Bryant collects.
The Museum Downstairs (Wall Street Journal)
