Type-A Collector

In the California desert, an overachieving couple express a passion for art and furnishings

Edie Cohen -- Interior Design, 8/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Cindy and Paul Levy rarely do anything halfway. Cindy Levy, a University of Southern California MBA, played on the pro tennis circuit before moving to New York to work as an investment banker. Paul Levy, a graduate of the Air Force Academy, cofounded Rational Software, then took it public before it was acquired by IBM. The morning of their Napa Valley wedding, they ran a marathon.

The Levys approach their current interest, contemporary painting, with equal gusto. Before marrying, each had sampled the New York gallery scene, and the success of Rational Software propelled them onto the international art circuit. "It motivated us to start collecting," says Cindy Levy. As did the purchase of a residence in Rancho Mirage, California.

Built in 1969 by Lawrence Lapham, with interiors by Stephen Chase of Arthur Elrod Associates, the "desert modern" concrete house melds Frank Lloyd Wright influences and Mayan allusions. The 8,000-square-foot one-story plan is more or less a rectangle, with canted granite walls rising to meet a tiered ceiling with wood-framed floating planes covered in rattan.

Interiors needed work but not demolition. The 2,000-square-foot public zone incorporates living, dining, work, and den areas arrayed along a 100-foot-long front-to-rear axis—an arrangement that the couple left virtually intact, down to the original sectional sofa and its cotton upholstery. But the Levys installed mesquite flooring to replace most of the burnt-orange ceramic tiles in situ, retaining them only for a central runway and part of the dining sector. And an existing koi pond received pewter-tone glass tiles and two fountains. "The humidity helps in the desert," Cindy Levy explains. Substantial restructuring occurred in the 1,000-square-foot master suite, where architects Antonio Santamaria & Associates of Palm Desert fine-tuned closets and a sybaritic bath.

Perhaps as expected, the Levys trusted their own eye exclusively when it came to developing the art collection. "The house had a lot of wall space to fill," Cindy Levy points out. "Still, it's never about, 'Would this go there?' It's whether it'll last for the long run." Working primarily with the Modernism and Hackett-Freedman galleries in San Francisco and the Forum Gallery in New York, the Levys found themselves drawn to work by California artists that the couple could meet in person.

The Levys' first acquisition, the relatively calm Willard Dixon landscape River Fishing, hangs in the guest bedroom. They selected an edgier pair of Mark Stock paintings, The Butler's in Love—Minute Significance and Synchronize, for the dining area. "They're provocative," says Cindy Levy. "At dinner parties, they get people talking."

Across the tiled runway, the living area displays three paintings with intentionally disturbing narratives. "They're more complex," she continues. "For my children to understand art, I needed some difficult pieces." American Prayer—one of a half dozen paintings by Gottfried Helnwein, whom the couple discovered at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia—shows a boy with prosthetic arms praying to Donald Duck. "This Disneyland view of America symbolizes, to us, optimism for the future," she says. Adjacent, the Andy Warhol–esque Earth Angel by Jerry Kearns pictures Elvis as a cowboy hero, backed by historic images of the Kent State University shootings and napalmed Vietnamese children. Disenchantment, a Stock oil of a troubled woman, hangs near the fireplace's bronze hood.

The Levys have collected furniture with the same eye applied to their art collection, opting for modern classics with global provenance. A pair of T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings slipper chairs and ottomans, upholstered in chenille, form one "viewing section" along the living area's expanse. Another grouping comprises a lacquered cocktail table topped by Murano glass and a chenille-upholstered sofa, both by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Two Gio Ponti chairs and a Paul Frankl cork bench provide seating for contemplation of Odd Nerdrum's oil Twin Mother by the Sea and Eric Goulder's Nymphaeum, a bronze. For the dining area, the Levys chose 12 of Achille Castiglioni's Fucsia pendants to illuminate Robsjohn-Gibbings's x-design bleached-walnut table and silk-upholstered chairs.

Antique rugs soften all the hard surfaces. Persian ones delineate areas in the public zone. Navajo ones bring their traditional geometry to the master bedroom.

The master suite is a personal gallery, featuring commissioned portraits of both Levys. Helnwein captured their intensity through moody individual depictions in oil and acrylic on canvas. On one of the bedroom's granite walls, the couple appear side by side, interpreted via a deep-blue photo-realism. Stock's Gaze, an oil, shows them together as a ballerina and clown. On the artist's invitation, they came to his studio, dressed in costume, and were photographed for preliminary sketches. "It was a collaborative experience," remembers Cindy Levy. "Mark captured our love and passion."

Opposite: For their dining area in Rancho Mirage, California, art collectors Cindy and Paul Levy chose Mark Stock's oil on canvas Synchronize and oil on linen Butler's in Love—Minute Significance. The x-design bleached-walnut table and silk-upholstered chairs are by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings.

Right: As a contrast to the living area's granite wall, the Levys placed Israel Levitan's untitled torso in cedar near a 19th-century marble Buddha from Myanmar.

Opposite top: The Levys replaced original burnt-orange floor tile with mesquite in the living area and the adjacent work area, furnished with a glass-topped Oskar table by Isao Hosoe and leather-covered armchairs by Mathias Hoffmann. Opposite bottom: In the public zone, a tiled central runway extends 100 feet from front to rear. A Gio Ponti chair, upholstered in leather and suede, faces away from the existing koi pond, updated with glass tiles and two fountains.

Above: A 19th-century bronze Buddha from Thailand, a walnut-topped cocktail table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, Achille Castiglioni's Arco lamp, and a Persian rug complement the original cotton-upholstered sectional sofa and ottoman, both by Stephen Chase of Arthur Elrod Associates.

Below: Countless discussions about Gottfried Helnwein's oil and acrylic on canvas American Prayer and Jerry Kearns's oil on canvas Earth Angel have taken place on Robsjohn-Gibbings's chenille-upholstered slipper chairs and ottomans, which flank his mahogany tripod table.

Below: New tile, flagstones, and a whirlpool refresh the pool area, where an existing fire pit remains. The 13-foot-long terra-cotta wine vessel was imported from La Mancha, Spain.

Above: A silk-cushioned cork bench by Paul Frankl provides a perch from which to contemplate Eric Goulder's bronze Nymphaeum. Odd Nerdrum's oil on canvas Twin Mother by the Sea hangs above.

Opposite: For the master bedroom, the couple commissioned Stock to paint both Levys in Gaze, an oil on canvas, and Helnwein to portray Cindy Levy in Cindy, an oil and acrylic on canvas. Navajo rugs surround Philippe Starck's beech bed, Soeur Jeanne.

Chair fabric (dining area): Larsen. Table, chairs (dining area), leather-and-suede chair, cocktail table, slipper chairs, ottomans, tripod table, bench (living area): through 20th Century Interiors. Pendants (dining area), floor lamp (living area): Flos through Modern Living. Serving platter (dining area), sculpture bases, marble buddha (living area), wine vessel (pool area): Montana St. Martin Gallery. Chairs (work area): de Sede through Modern Living. Table (work area), bed, chair (bedroom): Cassina through Modern Living. Persian rugs (living area): through Marcel de Claremont Rug Gallery. Sofa, slipper chair, ottoman fabric (living area): Henry Calvin Fabrics. Quilt (bedroom): Garnet Hill. Rug: through Christie's. Desk, lamp: through Modern Way. Plasterwork: Thomas Zapp Plastering. Floor installation: Whitcomb Floors. Glasswork: Tandem West Glass. Framing contractor: RMS Construction. General contractor: BLS Construction.