The sale dedicated to the dispersal of the interior of American artist Cindy Sherman’s Paris apartment reveals a fruitful connection between the conceptual visual artist and the architect-designer duo Luis Laplace and Christophe Comoy, founders of the Parisian agency Laplace.
“The first time I woke up in this Paris apartment, all I had was a bed and some sheets,” confided the American artist Cindy Sherman to AD France magazine in 2013. “I thought I knew myself well enough to create my own living space, but I quickly realized how immeasurably time-consuming that is.”
Her friend, the decorator Annabelle Selldorf, recommended the architects Luis Laplace and Christophe Comoy, who founded Laplace in the early 2000s.
The duo has close ties to Ursula Hauser, co-founder of the Hauser & Wirth gallery, for whom they have designed many professional and private spaces. Hauser & Wirth also represents Cindy Sherman. Design is far from unfamiliar to the artist: her “anti-portraits” are often staged in settings where furniture and objects play a decisive role in constructing her characters (the living room of the recreated New York apartment for Untitled Film Stills #50, 1979, significantly highlights this aspect of her work). “She’s very aware of what’s happening in architecture and interior design,” confirms the duo. “Her design knowledge is impressive.”
Cindy Sherman was quickly won over by the decorators’ approach, characterized by a modernist and international style softened with a chic, very Parisian glamour.
In the living room, across from the fireplace, a large curved Italian sofa faces two 1960s armchairs upholstered in yellow fabric (€1,500 / €2,000). On the coffee table sit two ceramic pieces by American sculptor Chris Garofalo. In the dining room, placed on a Rio rosewood table (Laplace and Co Furniture Line) surrounded by six chairs by Brazilian designer Guglielmo Ulrich (€6,000 / €9,000), stands a sculpture by German visual artist Rosemarie Trockel. Nearby, a pair of Pilot armchairs by Swedish designer Arne Norell (€2,500 / €3,500) and two Marc du Plantier-style consoles, on which sit two Murano glass vases by Massimo Micheluzzi (€1,000 / €1,500).
When they met the artist, Luis Laplace and Christophe Comoy had just returned from a trip to West Africa, bringing back samples of traditional African textiles. Cindy Sherman became passionate about the colors of these large strips of waxed cotton, which were turned into curtains for her windows.
The rest of the auction is dedicated to the photographer’s personal items, including the famous Malle Studio, created for the 160th anniversary of the Monogram canvas for Vuitton, a steadfast supporter of the artist since her beginnings (€50,000 / €70,000).
