Noyes House Exhibition Marks Historic First

At the Noyes House brings together more than 80 contemporary works and opens the iconic Modernist home to the public for the first time.

By Rachel Gallaher

At The Noyes House: Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM, and Object & Thing. The Noyes House, New Canaan, Connecticut. Photo by Michael Biondo. Works pictured [left to right]: Alma Allen, Not Yet Titled (2020); Hugo França, Rings (2007).

At the Noyes House, a collaborative exhibition from Mendes Wood, Blum & Poe, and Object & Thing, opens its doors today on an exhibition of new contemporary art and design at the eponymous New Canaan, Connecticut house of Harvard Five architect and industrial designer Eliot Noyes. This marks the first time that the historic Noyes House has been opened to the public.

Open for both in-person, coordinated private walk-throughs and virtual tours, At the Noyes House allows the opportunity to experience contemporary art and design in an iconic residential setting. Built in 1955, the single-story structure comprises two rectangular modules: one that houses bedrooms while the other contains the living areas. The two sections are separated by an open courtyard and have no internal connection, but they are joined by concrete walkways covered by a flat roof.

The exhibition brings together just over eighty works from thirty-four international artists and designers, including Mark Grotjahn, Antonio Obá, Gaetano Pesce, and Faye Toogood, among others. In addition to the two participating international galleries, Object & Thing—a contemporary art-and-design-fair concept that focuses on the object—is presenting work contributed by art and design galleries: Ago Projects, Demisch Danant, Friedman Benda, Nonaka-Hill, Pace Gallery, Patrick Parrish Gallery, Salon 94 Design and Tiwa Select. The exhibition features a wide range of works, including a number of site-specific pieces inspired by the iconic home and its history.

At The Noyes House: Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM and Object & Thing. The Noyes House, New Canaan, Connecticut. Photo by Michael Biondo. Works pictured [left to right]: Yoshitomo Nara, four drawings (2019); Patricia Leite, Entre Nuvens (2020); Gaetano Pesce, Table Top Vase (2020); Green River Project LLC, Airline Pendant (2020); Gaetano Pesce, Drip Vase (2020); Alma Allen, Not Yet Titled (2020).

“My father conceived of the architecture of the house as a backdrop to seamlessly mingle art with daily life. As I grew up, new artworks were continuously introduced, unfettered by period or style, and existing pieces rearranged as life changed,” comments Frederick Noyes, Eliot Noyes’s son. “This exciting exhibition is a direct continuation of that tradition of bringing fresh ideas to the house. My father would be delighted.”

Highlights of the exhibition include an outdoor furniture suite inspired by the house’s architecture from Green River Project, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané’s aluminum curtain conceived for the courtyard’s back doorway, ceramic works by Lynda Benglis on the house’s piano top as well as on the living room’s coffee table, and Megumi Arai’s boro textile piece made as a bedspread for the platform bed in the master bedroom.

At The Noyes House: Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM and Object & Thing. The Noyes House, New Canaan, Connecticut. Photo by Michael Biondo. Works pictured [left to right]: Alma Allen, Not Yet Titled (2020); Gaetano Pesce, Drip Vase (2020); Megumi Arai, Large bedspread (2020); Antonio Obá, Wade in the water II (2020); Frances Palmer, vase (2020); Gaetano Pesce, Tube Vase (2020).

In-person tours will run from September 15 - November 28, and the virtual tour can be viewed on the galleries’ exhibition pages, as well as Object & Thing’s website.

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