There are few things that settle in my memory and linger there, much like Proust’s madeleine, than does this image of a foyer in an 18th-century Palladian-style villa in the south of France known as Château de Clavary. Less grand than a château, de Clavary is reminiscent of the work of the 18th-century neo-classical architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux, featuring classical proportions, high ceilings, simple moldings, and an elegant and sober presence. Classical perfection aside, it is two quite exceptional features that bring this space to life: a pair of plaster and marble consoles by Emilio Terry, who once worked at de Clavary, and the room’s dominant feature, a mosaic stone floor designed by Pablo Picasso in 1927. Here is a room that marries two ideals in perfect unison and harmony: classicism and modernism. It’s a case of “opposites attract”, where tension is created between seemingly disparate styles, where balance is achieved commingling the raw with the refined. Nature is architecture and design’s greatest teacher, and it is apparent that one-time owner Peter Wilson – then chairman of Sotheby Park Bernet – knew a thing or two about channeling this ideal, here, in the foyer of his villa in Auribeau-sur-Siagne, where he vacationed until his death in 1984.
Château de Clavary was built around 1790. Photo from Living Well edited by Carrie Donovan, 1981.
The story of Château de Clavary prior to Wilson’s stewardship is rich with intrigue. In the 1920’s an American, Russell Greely, moved into de Clavary with a French aristocrat, François de Gouy d’Arcy. Here they entertained the intelligentsia of the 20th-century — Igor Stravinsky, Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc, Constantin Brâncuși, Kees van Dongen, Fernand Léger, Man Ray, Francis Picabia, Isadora Duncan, Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob, Paul Valéry, and the like. Designer Emilio Terry worked at de Clavary during this period, where his design for the dining room remains intact. The couple were also friends with Max Ernst and built a studio for him on the property. Peter Wilson relayed a story about Picasso in an interview with Susan Heller Anderson: “Picasso dropped by one day while he was out driving. He said he had been trying to find the house for a long time and wanted to see the floor. He was very pleased that it was intact and said the house seemed much the same as he remembered it.” That was 1973, a short time before Picasso’s passing.
A movie still featuring the mosaic designed by Picasso, from the documentary “Picasso – Magic, Sex and Death” by John Richardson, Picasso’s authoritative biographer.
Emilio Terry’s design for the dining room remains intact. From Living Well edited by Carried Donovan for The New York Times, 1981.
For as long as I can remember, since discovering this gem, I have searched for more photos of Château de Clavary’s interiors to no avail, until recently when I discovered a post written by Jennifer Boles, of The Peak of Chic, suggesting the eventual demise of connoisseurship, featuring none other than Château de Clavary from a House Beautiful feature published in 1975. I was so beyond thrilled to learn of this article that I wrote to Jennifer thanking her for her curatorial prowess, with a promise to dedicate this post in her honor. So … “Here’s looking at you, kid”!
Here are few of the photos from Jennifer’s post that I can’t resist cataloging here (I am obsessive about filing stories and images in one place for future reference). Read her full post at The Peak of Chic.
Peter Wilson posing on the grounds of Château de Clavary.
A wonderful close-up of Picasso’s mosaic.
The entry hall with a view toward the front door and one of Emilio Terry’s covetable plaster and marble consoles.
The living room with a decidedly English point of view.
Another view of Emilio Terry’s design for the elegant dining room.
READING LIST: Living Well: The New York Times Book of Home Design and Decoration edited by Carrie Donovan, 1981; The Peak of Chic blog curated by Jennifer Boles.
