Frelinghuysen Morris House

If you find yourself in Lenox, Mass., and love art, architecture and design, I highly recommend a visit to the home of the artists and collectors Suzy Frelinghuysen and George Morris.  We were fortunate to take a tour today, which turned out to be a private tour, with our wonderful guide Lorraine (pictured).  The house was completed in 1942 and is an Art Deco jewel box filled with artwork by Picasso, Braque, Miro and many other noted 20th century artists including many frescoes, sculptures and paintings by the owners themselves.  In addition, the house is filled with furniture by many of my favorite designers of the 20th c. including Wolfgang Hoffmann, Alvar Aalto, Paul Frankl and Gilbert Rohde.  One of the things I found most beautiful about the house was the broad mix of pieces and styles of both the art and furnishings.  The house is very personal, warm and intimate and you get a sense that they really just collected what they loved.  

A highlight of the tour was a story that Lorraine told about when George Morris was studying with his teacher and mentor Georges Braque in Paris.  A fellow student was having trouble with a work and told her teacher Braque that she "was having trouble making a wheelbarrow that she was painting look like it was on the ground".  Braque said to her "well then, just paint your wheelbarrow in the sky".  That is going to be my new mantra....Just paint your wheelbarrow in the sky!