BELLAS ARTES

Workstead designs one-of-a-kind interiors and pieces that balance beauty with necessity, and this book presents a special blend of their tour-de-force historic renovations and innovative yet elegant new constructions. Over the past decade, the multidisciplinary design firm has earned rapid and wide acclaim for both their residential interiors as well as for larger-scale projects, such as the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn and the Rivertown Lodge in Hudson, New York. In all their projects, Workstead considers both clients and community, working with local artisans to create meticulously crafted modern interiors, architecture, and furniture designs inflected by history. As T: The New York Times Style Magazine put it, Workstead “are known as sophisticated pack rats who surround themselves with objects that have a story to tell,” and described their collective design philosophy as “a cozy, updated version of early Americana, with wood plank floors and a mix of vintage and refined custom-built furniture pieces that are almost Scandinavian in their restraint.”

Interior decorator Summer Thornton believes in designing with the wildest abandon: her world is one of nickel tubs, marble fireplaces, whimsical textiles, surprising patterns, and secret gardens. Often described as maximalist with a modern, fresh sensibility, Thornton manages to achieve highly polished, sophisticated interiors that indulge in a lighthearted, almost irreverent sense of whimsy. In her first book, she will inspire readers to follow their creative impulses and make their own rules. Let yourself be transported with the dreamy, fantastical homes arranged by theme in Wonderland. “Fearless Romantic” features Thornton’s own gorgeous city house. “In Here Comes the Sun,” peek into an over-the-top tropical vacation home that’s centered on citrus. Look for her to misbehave a bit in “Good to be Bad.” If refinement is more your cup of tea, the polished settings in “The New Formal” are fit for a queen. Plus take a deep dive into the most colorful technicolor homes she’s ever designed in “Super Saturated.” With outstanding photography from A-list photog-raphers including Thomas Loof, Bjorn Wallander, Annie Schlechter, and Melanie Acevedo, and styling by AD contributor Mieke ten Have, Wonderlandis a celebration of personal expression and fearless escapism.

Julia Morgan was truly a pioneer of her time—among other accomplishments, she was the first woman architect to be licensed in California, in 1904. Through her remarkable life and legacy, this book celebrates the Beaux-Arts architecture of California. Focusing on Morgan’s most famous project in the state, Hearst Castle, to which she devoted more than 30 years of her life, this volume also examines, for the first time, Morgan’s fabulous early buildings in the style. Morgan designed more than 700 buildings across California, many of which are designated landmarks today. Deepening the reader’s understanding of California archi-tecture, this book also places into context Morgan’s ambitions, her influences and inspirations, as well as her daily practice and challenges as a woman shaping an extraordinarily prolific and highly successful career in a man’s world. To better understand the Beaux-Arts training Morgan underwent in Paris, the reader is taken through the challenging, highly arduous Ecole des Beaux-Arts curriculum, which Morgan completed, a lone woman among men. Also explored, in detail, is the story of how the studio and kilns of California Faience, a Berkeley ceramic artisan’s shop, became the supplier of tens of thousands of tiles designed by Morgan and overseen by Hearst himself to decorate their architectural master-piece overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

This first comprehensive survey of the life and work of Luigi Lucioni (1900–1988) places him in the context of fellow Regionalist painters Grant Wood, Charles Sheeler, and Maxfield Parrish. Lucioni is known for meticulously rendered still lifes, landscapes, and arresting portraits drawn from his close-knit circle of queer New York artists and cultural figures, including Paul Cadmus, Jared French, George Platt Lynes, and Lincoln Kirstein. In the early 1930s, Lucioni discovered Vermont, whose landscapes reminded him of northern Italy. It was there that he met Electra Havemeyer Webb, who was to become his single most important patron. For more than 50 years, the New York City–based artist spent every summer painting landscapes of trees, barns, and buildings in Vermont with sharply observed realism and a cool, precise style. Key scholars examine Lucioni’s oeuvre, materials, techniques, and his role in American modernism.

Cotton presents rooms that mix historical and modern influences, resulting in luxuriously sleek interiors for casual, yet sophisticated, living. The glam-orous spaces—many designed for art-world clients, including Cindy Sherman and Lisa Yuskavage—are anchored in tradition but reflect the relaxed sensibili-ties of our time. Cotton shares his multiscaled approach to design—successful turns with his varied collections, which are often included in his interior projects. Furniture, lighting, wallpaper, tableware, and terra-cotta planters are part of his repertoire. Cotton’s industrial designs—like his interiors—embody an intelligence and under-standing of design history. This book, the designer’s first, documents the groundbreaking work of a rising and notable talent and should be in the libraries of designers and connoisseurs of fine living.