The Wall Street Journal October 2019
Written by Rima Suqi | Photography by Stephen Kent Johnson | View Article
Can an Utterly Blank Wall Be Chic?
No art. No wallpaper. Statement-making or sad? Interior designers weigh in on the polarizing topic of the unadorned wall
Timothy Brown, an interior designer in New York, left the walls in a client’s Upper East Side master bedroom (pictured above) completely unadorned, acknowledging that the spot above the Donald Judd-inspired bed was potentially “the perfect place to hang a piece of art.” But the client was adamant that her penthouse aerie remain visually quiet, and Mr. Brown acquiesced. The arches and city views remain unchallenged by distracting art, and help lend the room a divine calm.
Walls boasting artisanal finishes like lacquer or Venetian plaster often function as works of art themselves. Ditto those clad with building materials such as decorative tile, exotic wood or, in the case of a Hamptons, N.Y., home that Mr. Brown is currently designing, stone. “The architect suggested covering the fireplace wall with the same Jerusalem limestone used on the floor,” he said. “It acts as a feature on its own; there’s no reason to put art on that wall.”
