STYLE ICON JEREMIAH GOODMAN
This American artist’s watercolour illustrations of rooms are more romantic than any photograph
Who was he? Growing up in the Great Depression, Jeremiah Goodman’s (1922–) fascination with décor was a much-needed form of escape. The Niagara Falls-born artist learned to draw after being given a box of crayons to distract him from a childhood injury. He went on to become a successful advertising illustrator in New York, publishing work in Harper’s Bazaar and House & Garden. His youthful dream had been to make it as a Hollywood set designer; it never happened, but he found himself entering that world in a different way. What makes him an icon? We’re used to images of glamorous interiors filling the pages of coffee-table books. They’re almost always immaculately styled, but less often intimate or spontaneous. Goodman’s paintings are different. Offering glimpses into the homes of the rich and famous – many of which have otherwise eluded the public gaze – they have a candour and charm that formal photographs can’t match.
Goodman had always painted interiors for pleasure, but began doing so professionally after meeting the actor Sir John Gielgud in 1948. Gielgud invited him to England, where he stayed in ‘glorious country houses’ and mingled with the likes of Cecil Beaton. It was all ‘very Brideshead Revisited’, he remembered. Gielgud’s refined drawing room, rendered in soft greys and presided over by a towering chandelier, was duly immortalised in Goodman’s distinctive wash of watercolour overlaid with splashes of coloured gouache, creating a soft-focus, almost Impressionistic effect. Other, more famous rooms followed: fashion icon Diana Vreeland’s scarlet ‘garden in hell’ drawing room, Beaton’s conservatory at Reddish House in Wiltshire, and Tiffany & Co designer Elsa Peretti’s boudoir. Capturing film goddess Greta Garbo’s sitting room – much more ornate than her sober off-screen persona would suggest – was a particular coup. What else should I know? Goodman’s work has made it into the permanent archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, not just for its socio-historical value but also for the artist’s supreme skill. His rendering of light is breathtaking, as is his ability to blend gauzy colour with the precise details of furniture and ornaments. Today, Goodman is still working away in his New York studio at the grand old age of 94. Find out more Goodman’s first London exhibition is on display until 5 December at Colefax & Fowler’s Mayfair showroom (sibylcolefax.com). You can also buy his prints at Dean Rhys Morgan (deanrhysmorgan.com; jeremiahgoodman.com).
Offering rare glimpses into the homes of the rich and famous, his paintings have charm and candour
Illustrations, from left Leonard Stanley’s bedroom in Hollywood. David Hicks’s country house living room. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s living room in Bel-air Portrait Jeremiah Goodman at work in his New York studio