The Selby and the PAPERMAG Present: At Home with George Lois
A PAPERMAG Exclusive
By Kim Hastreiter
Photographs by The Selby
You can tell a lot about someone's personality by looking at how they live -- something photographer Todd Selby has been capturing brilliantly for years through his candid portraits of creative types in their natural habitats. We're thrilled to present our new collaboration with the photographer right here on PAPERMAG. We'll be sending the Selby to shoot portraits of the most interesting, talented and aesthetic people we know in their homes. The Selby will be releasing these photos in the coming weeks on theselby.com, but a sneak peek will first be launched exclusively on PAPERMAG.
To kick things off, we thought it would be fun to feature a series of homes inhabited by three amazing friends of ours who are creative legends: George Lois, Al Maysles and Vladimir Kagan. Here, the Selby captured the amazing Greenwich Village home of legendary ad man and creative guru Lois, where he lives with his artist wife Rosmary amidst all of their extraordinary art and cultural collectibles.
In the spirit of the Selby, who gives his subjects a questionnaire to fill out when he shoots them, we asked Lois a few questions about his life at home.
How would you describe where you live?
I've lived in a warm, beautiful, homey, museum of art for 50 years with my wife of 59 years, among a loving family and joyful memories of my sons Harry and Luke growing up there.
The bedroom of my son Harry, who died when he was 20, remains my family's shrine to his sweet memory.
What do you love most about where you live?
I love living in the friendly atmosphere of Greenwich Village on a beautiful brownstone street, in a modern structure that elegantly fits in with the historic street line, in a spacious apartment with a 50-foot living room.
What is your most recent purchase?
A glorious bronze, Corinthian helmet (560 B.C.). Itss classic form and battle-worn patina are thrilling. (I've been seen by some of my family and friends strolling through my apartment wearing it. Awesome.)
What is your oldest treasure?
A 7,000 year-old (!) Anatolian steatite pendant of a remarkably carved ram's head. (Half the people in dumbed-down America still believe the world is 5,000 years old!)
What is your favorite chair?
I have chairs by Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, the Wiener Werkstadt, the Bauhaus, American Windsor chairs -- great chairs in every room in my apartment. But I guess my favorite is a Mies Brno chair, that I bought when I went to work in 1953 at CBS television, and have sat in to do my work for almost 60 years.
Your favorite piece of art?
I've been a rabid art collector all my life, but a Calder mobile that hangs in my living room gets my attention every day. I'm awestruck by its suspended abstract elements moving in perfect balanced harmony, a thousands works of art in one, continuously changing.
Check back throughout the week to see the rest of our "legends." And of course keep your eyes peeled -- there's lots more to come on PAPERMAG.
To kick things off, we thought it would be fun to feature a series of homes inhabited by three amazing friends of ours who are creative legends: George Lois, Al Maysles and Vladimir Kagan. Here, the Selby captured the amazing Greenwich Village home of legendary ad man and creative guru Lois, where he lives with his artist wife Rosmary amidst all of their extraordinary art and cultural collectibles.
In the spirit of the Selby, who gives his subjects a questionnaire to fill out when he shoots them, we asked Lois a few questions about his life at home.
How would you describe where you live?
I've lived in a warm, beautiful, homey, museum of art for 50 years with my wife of 59 years, among a loving family and joyful memories of my sons Harry and Luke growing up there.
The bedroom of my son Harry, who died when he was 20, remains my family's shrine to his sweet memory.
What do you love most about where you live?
I love living in the friendly atmosphere of Greenwich Village on a beautiful brownstone street, in a modern structure that elegantly fits in with the historic street line, in a spacious apartment with a 50-foot living room.
What is your most recent purchase?
A glorious bronze, Corinthian helmet (560 B.C.). Itss classic form and battle-worn patina are thrilling. (I've been seen by some of my family and friends strolling through my apartment wearing it. Awesome.)
What is your oldest treasure?
A 7,000 year-old (!) Anatolian steatite pendant of a remarkably carved ram's head. (Half the people in dumbed-down America still believe the world is 5,000 years old!)
What is your favorite chair?
I have chairs by Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, the Wiener Werkstadt, the Bauhaus, American Windsor chairs -- great chairs in every room in my apartment. But I guess my favorite is a Mies Brno chair, that I bought when I went to work in 1953 at CBS television, and have sat in to do my work for almost 60 years.
Your favorite piece of art?
I've been a rabid art collector all my life, but a Calder mobile that hangs in my living room gets my attention every day. I'm awestruck by its suspended abstract elements moving in perfect balanced harmony, a thousands works of art in one, continuously changing.
Check back throughout the week to see the rest of our "legends." And of course keep your eyes peeled -- there's lots more to come on PAPERMAG.
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