Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Book Review: Art House


Some of you may know the name Chara Schreyer, some of you may not. Let me give you a quick biography that in either case will catch you up to speed, or serve as a refresher. Chara Schreyer was born in Germany to Holocaust Survivors, and immigrated to the United States in the early 1950's. She honed her love of art at UC Berkeley, where she studied Art History, and she made her money as the director of Shapell Investment Properties, a famed Beverly Hills based group she started that is responsible for the building of more than 70,000 luxury properties throughout California.

Chara is a trustee of many museums, including LA's Hammer and Museum of Contemporary Art and over the past forty years, has a collected more than 600 pieces of art, including masterpieces by Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Diane Arbus, and Frank Stella.

From the beginning, Chara has worked exclusively with California interior designer Gary Hutton, and for the last forty-years, he has designed five homes for Chara, all of which have one rule: the art must get star billing. And when you have pieces valued in the millions, some that are priceless, why wouldn't they?

Art House: The Collaboration of Chara Schreyer and Gary Hutton takes us on a breathtaking visual tour through the rooms of these five luxury homes, blurring the lines of art gallery and home. Let's take a peek:









Schreyer believes that collecting these fine works of contemporary and modern art is her life's work. She sees herself as custodian, giving a place for the art to live long past her lifetime. 

Thanks to Assouline, and the lavish coffee table book Art House, we all now can explore and enjoy the collections that Schreyer has generously curated in her California homes, forever. It's a beautiful book of architecture, design, art, and history that will keep you glued to the volume, page after page. 

Take a closer look for yourself, and pick up your copy via the Amazon link below: 


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