For Art's Sake

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A stepped doorway hints at the Art Déco details inside Jane and Marc Nathanson’s 1920s Los Angeles residence. They hired designer Richard Hallberg to add a gallery for their art collection, but the scope of the project expanded to include renovations of the house’s first floor and garden.

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Over the living room’s fireplace is a 1960 Franz Kline oil. Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1984-85 GE Tobacco Section is at left.

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Beneath John Chamberlain’s 1983 chromium-and-painted-steel Archie HaHa, a tree-form console lends “whimsy to the stark geometric forms of the original architecture,” notes the designer.

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“Ebonized-walnut floors were laid, and the original plasterwork was painted stark white for a simple background for the art,” says Hallberg. Two other Warhols—a 1964 Double Elvis and a 1973 silk-screen portrait of Mao—also hang in the living room, along with Ellsworth Kelly’s 1998 oil Yellow Black. Bergamo lounge chair pillow fabric. Schumacher carpets. Gilt console from Therien.

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In the dining room, an 18th-century rock-crystal chandelier serves as a dynamic counterpoint to the space’s paintings: from left, Robert Rauschenberg’s Artesian, 1980; Basquiat’s Venus, 1982; and Picasso’s Tête d’Homme, 1971. Rogers & Goffigon chair and drapery fabrics.

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Gilbert and George photographs from 1972 and a 1970 Cy Twombly oil hang in the new wing’s family room. “Richard created harmony between the addition and the existing house,” says Jane Nathanson. Glant linen on chaise and large pillow. Small pillow covered in pieces of carpet from Mansour.

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The lower gallery. Katharina Sieverding’s Maton 1/4B, 1969/73, left, and 1974 Cibachrome prints by William Beckley hang at rear. A Frank Gehry-designed armchair is flanked by a 1986-87 Frank Stella, left, and a 1989 Julian Schnabel.

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Standing in the garden is a 1963 Alexander Calder stabile. Perennials chaise and pillow fabrics; Santa Barbara Designs umbrellas.

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Jane Nathanson