Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian on artists’ houses: ‘I wanted to understand what it meant to spend one’s life surrounded by and devoted to art’
In her new book, Inside the Homes of Artists, the collector explores the rich variety of residences — from a revamped factory to a Hollywood retreat — that the likes of Julie Mehretu, Tracey Emin and William Kentridge have made their own
Indian-born artist Raqib Shaw transformed a derelict sausage factory in Peckham, south London. ‘It was a magnificent ruin, and no one wanted it’. Photo: © Jean-François Jaussaud. All artworks by Raqib Shaw, courtesy of the artist
In 2011, the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk recalled a visit to the home of the French Symbolist Gustave Moreau in Paris: ‘As I wandered through the rooms of this house-museum, with its creaking floorboards and slumbering attendants, I was struck by an impression that I might almost describe as mystical.’
What is it that fascinates us about the private world of artists? Over the past four years, working on her book Inside the Homes of Artists: For Art’s Sake, which documents 22 such residences, Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian has asked herself this question time and time again. ‘I wanted to understand what it meant to spend one’s life surrounded by and devoted to art, from the perspective of those who create it,’ she says.
The resulting volume is rich and eclectic, vividly exploring, through the photographs of Jean-François Jaussaud, the role houses play in artists’ lives. ‘It has given me a better understanding of their art, their minds, some might even say their souls,’ says Atencio Demirdjian, citing for example her surprise at Tracey Emin’s elegant townhouse in London’s Fitzroy Square: ‘It was so calm and traditional — nothing like what I was expecting — and showed me how versatile an artist she is.’
The entrance hall of Guillermo Kuitca’s refurbished hotel in Buenos Aires, with works by the artist stacked like books beneath Cárcel amarilla, 1994. Photo: © Jean-François Jaussaud. All artworks by Guillermo Kuitca. Courtesy of the artist
Claire Tabouret’s hand-painted tarot ceiling and a 2020 self-portrait with the family dog adorn the mezzanine library of her Hollywood home. Photo: © Jean-François Jaussaud. All artworks by Claire Tabouret. Courtesy of the artist
The houses are located all over the world and include the contemporary apartment of Subodh Gupta and Bharti Kher near New Delhi (‘It’s like creating your own temple,’ says Kher), William Kentridge’s Arts and Crafts residence in Johannesburg, Miquel Barceló’s medieval hunting lodge in Mallorca, and Claire Tabouret’s colourful 1920s home in Hollywood, California.
William Kentridge’s living room in Johannesburg, with a set of small bronzes from his ‘Lexicon’ series stretching across the wall and two plaster heads by his grandmother’s cousin. Photo: © Jean-François Jaussaud. Artworks courtesy of the artist
Many of the houses were rescued from a lifetime of unremitting decay. Julie Mehretu’s Neo-Gothic rectory in Harlem took almost 10 years to renovate (‘the building was a mess, everything had to be redone’). Jean-Michel Othoniel and Johan Creten discovered fine shavings of gold and precious stones when they pulled up the carpets of their derelict jewellery factory in the Marais in Paris. Guillermo Kuitca recalls the horror of his family when he bought a cheap hotel in Buenos Aires: ‘It was a very bad place,’ he says. While Raqib Shaw’s friends thought him ‘drunk or mad’ for sinking his money into a former sausage factory in south London: ‘It was a magnificent ruin and no one wanted it. It was raining outside and inside.’ All speak candidly about the time and effort it has taken to bring these buildings back to a habitable state. ‘I’m an artist,’ says Emin. ‘Why would I want someone else doing up my house?’
Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s grand reception room, with ornately carved gilt panelling and a painted ceiling, is an ideal storage room for ‘unwanted art’. Photo: © Jean-François Jaussaud. Courtesy of the artist
A gilded wooden Bodhisattva Guanyin and a cast-iron cross from a French flea market are among the objects found in the apartment of Subodh Gupta and and Bharti Kher, near New Dehli. Photo: © Jean-François Jaussaud. Artworks: © Subodh Gupta, courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth / © Bharti Kher, courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth
In the book’s foreword, Hans Ulrich Obrist recalls his surprise on discovering a Gustave Courbet painting in Gerhard Richter’s living room, and how the artist credits it with daily inspiration. Atencio Demirdjian pays particular attention to the art on the walls of the homes she visits, and asks the artists about their collections. Some, such as Not Vital and Bernar Venet, have their own foundations. ‘Bernar came to New York in 1966 and fell in with the major players at the time: Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Sol LeWitt,’ she says. ‘They all swapped artworks. To live among those things is truly remarkable.’
Conversely, Francesco Vezzoli has met too many rich people imprisoned by their possessions to be serious about collecting. ‘I should put all my energy in making, not in caretaking,’ he says. Maurizio Cattelan also shies away from anything too grandiose: when asked about his favourite juxtaposition of artworks, he replies, ‘I’ve always found the fridge an interesting display.’
Inside the Homes of Artists: For Art’s Sake is published by Rizzoli. On the cover is Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian’s Gramercy Park townhouse. Photo: © Jean-François Jaussaud. All artworks by Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian, courtesy of the artists
Like J.M.W. Turner, who took flight from fans advancing across the Thames to his home in Twickenham — which he had aptly named Solus Lodge — several of the artists in the book speak about their need for a sanctuary. David Rodríguez Caballero’s minimalist apartment in Madrid is a haven from the noise and the dust of his studio downstairs: ‘I escape to a place of harmony and calm where I can breathe, where I can read. It is a very peaceful bubble and an extension of me,’ he says.
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In his sequence of poems ‘Thanksgiving for a Habitat’, W.H. Auden wrote about how his home in Austria had unexpectedly moved him to ‘tears of gratitude and surprise’. It is a sentiment echoed by many in this book, which in its entirety is a testament to risk, imagination and single-minded creativity.
Inside the Homes of Artists: For Art’s Sake, by Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian and photographer Jean-François Jaussaud, is published by Rizzoli
The Mustique Caribbean Contemporary Art Show & Prize, sponsored by Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian and Ago Demirdjian, will be awarded on 28 December 2024. An exhibition of the longlisted artists takes place on Mustique, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 27-29 December