Art Geeks

At the end of a tree-lined lane adjacent to Tanglewood, the sudden appearance of imposing white stucco blocks comes as a surprise, even if you know it’s coming. Built in 1941, the Frelinghuysen Morris House was the home and studio for two artists who, fresh from a sojourn in Paris and inspired by Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoie, wanted a blank canvas for their colorful murals.

George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen were both abstract artists, a power couple in the 1930s International art scene.  The house is a modernist time capsule, filled with furnishings by the greats of prewar American and European design: Gilbert Rohde and Paul Frankl, among others. Paintings that Morris collected are casually hung throughout the home—Picasso, Leger, Miro; a Paul Klee down the hall. All were friends and acquaintances George had made during his time in Paris, and he and his wife traded their own work to build their collection.

The Eastridge Design team was wide-eyed when we toured the house this summer. We stopped for a rare photo op at the foot of the staircase, where a large mural of floating forms climbs the curved wall, echoed by the lyrical black lines of the stair railing. I’m flanked by our senior interior designer Jon Andersen-Miller, and his husband, architect Matt Andersen-Miller, who is also my cousin. The unseen team member is behind the camera, my photographer and dear friend, Pam Connolly. For four serious art nerds, there’s no better way to spend a beautiful afternoon in the bucolic Berkshires than geeking out in a windowless museum.

Photography by Pam Connolly