Inside the Homes and Studios of 13 American Artists
While we often contemplate artists through their work as seen in the context of a museum setting—a painting on a gallery wall or a sculpture in a great hall, for instance—we less frequently think of the artists in their studios, and rarely do we picture them in their private homes. But the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios (HAHS) program is setting out to change that. Part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, HAHS is a growing consortium of 44 sites established in 1999 out of an initiative developed by Dr. Wanda Corn, a professor of art history at Stanford University, that acknowledged that artists’ homes and studios were unique museums, not only housing collections of artists’ works but also exploring artists’ relationships with the built environment—and preserving that built environment.
“There was recognition that these sites needed advocacy in the museum world but also peerage to talk to about and engage with about best practices, approaches to innovative programming, approaches to appropriate stewardship of what can be incredibly complex institutions,” says Valerie Balint, HAHS’s program manager. “You have sometimes numerous buildings, you have experimental buildings designed by artists, you have highly curated and diverse collections assembled by artists, and then you have the actual workshop where these people produced art. The topics needing discussion, guidance, and mentoring are broad and deep.”
To further the mission of HAHS, Balint has authored the new Guide to Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios ($29.95, Princeton Architectural Press), which invites readers into the program’s 44 institutions and provides both rich imagery and intriguing narratives for each site. “There have been a lot of books of artists’ homes both here and abroad, but they tend to be done in a very scholarly mode, or they’re a monograph on a site, or they’re a big, beautiful coffee table book,” says Balint. “We wanted to strike a balance between really having it be a useful guide, while at the same time being something that could stand alone and be a visual enticement.”
The result is a book that’s as beautiful as it is informative—and it’s the perfect way to experience these sites while many remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Many of us are spending a lot of time in our homes right now thinking about why we choose to inhabit our space in the way that we do, about what conditions we need to be inspired, creative, and productive in our work,” says Balint. “When you think about studio spaces, that’s the same thing. The book allows you to have a sense of what it means and choose to live and work in a place.”
Ultimately, Balint hopes the book will urge you to visit the sites as soon as you’re able for a full immersion into an artists’ space, but in the meantime, we’re bringing you a sneak peek inside them here.