When Contemporary Art Meets a Historic Home

In Morristown, NJ, we curated a collection for a carefully restored 19th-century home turned hospitality space. We built artwork selections around a single question: What can contemporary art add to a space with more than a century of history behind it?

Artwork crediting (from left to right): Gabriella D’Italia, Fields and Furrows, 2024, mixed media on canvas; Fields and Furrows, 2023, mixed media on canvas. Artwork © Gabriella D’Italia. Photography © Stuart Tyson.

Artwork crediting (from left to right): Grace W. Sharpe, Reflections 2022, acrylic on canvas; Keep Movin’, 2023, acrylic on canvas; Moving Through, 2023, acrylic on canvas. Artwork © Grace W. Sharpe. Photography © Stuart Tyson.

Artwork crediting: Grace W. Sharpe, Arc Angle, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Artwork © Grace W. Sharpe. Photography © Stuart Tyson.

Artwork crediting (from left to right): Peter Fiore, Sky 1, 2019, oil on cradled panel; Sky 2, 2019, oil on cradled panel. Artwork © Peter Fiore. Photography © Stuart Tyson.

Artwork crediting (from left to right): Andrea Epstein, Swizzle 1, 2024, collaged monoprint; Swizzle 2, 2024, collaged monoprint. Artwork © Andrea Epstein. Photography © Stuart Tyson.

Artwork crediting (from left to right): Grace W. Sharpe, I Thought It Was Nap Time, 2023. Acrylic and mixed media. © Grace W. Sharpe; Margarita Somnolet, Forest, 2019. Alcohol ink on Yupo paper. © Margarita Somnolet; Margarita Somnolet, The Four Elements - Air, 2019. Alcohol ink on Yupo paper. © Margarita Somnolet; Grace W. Sharpe, Winter Wish, 2024. Acrylic and mixed media. © Grace W. Sharpe. Photography © Stuart Tyson.

Artwork crediting (from left to right): Tamar Zinn, Verdant Suite 6, 2021, oil on paper; Verdant Suite 2, 202, oil on paper. Artwork © Tamar Zinn. Photography © Stuart Tyson.

Artwork crediting: Margarita Somnolet, Highlights, 2019. Alcohol ink on Yupo paper. Artwork © Margarita Somnolet. Photography © Stuart Tyson.

Artwork crediting: Ryniee DeCheser, Collision Course, 2023. Acrylic on linen. Artwork © Ryniee DeCheser. Photography © Stuart Tyson.

Industry: Hospitality
Company Partners: Confidential Client, Studio 1200
Services: Art Program Development, Artwork Sourcing, Visitor Engagement, Installation, Collection Education

Featured Artists: Grace Sharpe, Margarita Somnolet, Andrea Epstein, Peter Fiore, Tamar Zinn, Gabriella D’Italia

Goal + Impact: This historic house turned private hospitality space already had a lot going on — period moldings, layered architectural detail, and a collection of rooms that had held many different versions of daily life. When building a collection for this space, the curatorial question wasn't how to make it more interesting; it was how to add something new without overpowering what was already there.

The answer was contemporary art by local, emerging artists, sourced directly from studios and galleries across the region, most of them with a connection to this specific corner of New Jersey. Installed throughout the house, a significant contemporary art collection now occupies the same rooms as the building's 19th-century bones. The resulting moments, a blend of refinement, playfulness, wit, and visual surprise, directly respond to the building’s unique character, Morristown’s rich legacy, and the singular landscape of the surrounding region.