In Search of Emilio Terry – With New Work by Konstantin Kakanias

October 16-November 12, 2016
EERDMANS 14 East 10th Street New York, NY

Eerdmans Fine Art and Jane Stubbs Books & Prints are pleased to present In Search of Emilio Terry, an exploration of the architect Emilio Terry’s work and influences, featuring a series of new paintings by Greek artist Konstantin Kakanias. It will run October 20 through November 12, 2016 with an opening reception Wednesday, October 19, from 6–9pm.

In Search of Emilio Terry is an attempt to understand the mysterious architect-designer Emilio Terry (1890–1969) through his contemporaries, his library, and his own work. Hailing from a Cuban sugarcane fortune, Terry worked for such clients as Helena Rubinstein, Stavros Niarchos, Charles de Beistegui, the Princesse Caroline Murat, and others at his own discretion and with little interest in publicity. His early work was stimulated by the nascent surrealism movement, but later was dominated by a reinterpretation of neoclassicism that he called the Louis XVII style. As part of his self-taught study of Classical design, he assembled an important library of engravings and treatises from the Renaissance onward. This exhibition will contain several examples of the sources he so often turned to for inspiration as well as work by and related to his circle of friends and collaborators, including Christian Berard, Salvador Dali, Jean-Michel Frank, and Stanislas “Boni” de Castellane.

At the center of the show is a tour of Emilio Terry’s work, from the Directoire salle de bain of the Hôtel de Chanaleilles which Terry restored for Stavros Niarchos to the extravagant theater designed for socialite Charles de Beistegui at the château de Groussay, as experienced by Mrs. Tependris, the fictional heroine of the artist Konstantin Kakanias. Kakanias (Athens, Greece, 1961) is a multi-media artist whose work fuses the worlds of art, fashion, and design. The artist first introduced Mrs.Tependris for an illustrated New York Times Magazine article in 1996.

Kakanias studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and the Studio Berçot in Paris, France. The artist began his career working as an illustrator for newspapers and magazines such as French Vogue and Vogue Italia and creating textile designs for couturiers Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Lacroix. Most recently he created a collection for Swarovski and collaborated with Diane von Fürstenberg and DC Comics to create the comic book Be The Wonder Woman You Can Be. His work is in many private and public collections in Greece, France, Italy, United Kingdom and the United States. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles and Greece.

In Search of… is the first in a series of exhibitions jointly curated by Emily Evans Eerdmans and Jane Stubbs on influential figures of design, literature, and style.