David Hicks"David Hicks On... Bathrooms, Decoration With Fabrics, And Decoration- 5" w/ DH
About the Item
- Creator:David Hicks (1977, American)
- Dimensions:Height: 12.25 in (31.12 cm)Width: 7 in (17.78 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Bristol, CT
- Reference Number:
David Hicks
Let there be no doubt about it, suave as he was, with his bespoke suits, slicked-back hair and patrician good looks, David Nightingale Hicks (1929–98) was a committed revolutionary. Composing rooms of arresting opulence through his magisterial orchestration of cacophonous colors and patterns, Italian modern mixed with Louis XV furnishings and counterintuitive plays of scale, he forever rocked the stately world of interior design.
As a zealot of style, he took no prisoners. “Dedication to design means ruthless criticism and losing friends,” he once declared. He was not exaggerating. His wife claimed that he conceived his signature high-gloss brown walls as a result of her throwing glasses of Coca-Cola at him during their alarmingly frequent marital spats.
By the time he was 25, Hicks, who had attended London’s Central School of Art and Design and endured a couple of arid years in the art department of the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, had the crème de la crème of London society as clients — and he was being entertained by them! Within a few years, he was courting Lady Pamela Mountbatten, the daughter of Lord Mountbatten, the last British viceroy of India, and the uncle of Prince Phillip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband. They married in 1960 and acquired Britwell, a Georgian pile in Oxfordshire, which became the family seat, design lab and showplace.
The first truly modern interior Hicks ever designed was Lord John Cholmondeley’s penthouse overlooking Hyde Park, in 1967. The graphic boldness of the scheme — brightly colored walls outlined in dark hues and dynamic geometric-patterned carpets — echoed the energy and attitude of the hard-edge painting that was then at the fore. Here, as in all his interiors, he included what he called “tablescapes,” vignettes of artfully arranged objects and artworks that added interest and life to the room. They were soon widely copied. Another landmark interior came in the early 1970s, when he revived Baronscourt, a grand neoclassical house in Northern Ireland, by giving it an entirely contemporary decor.
In addition to his immense creative talent, Hicks had a keen entrepreneurial acumen and vision. While he could have made a fine business simply designing grand homes for the wealthy and titled, he expanded his studio to include offices, boutiques, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs. He had showrooms all over the world, and he embarked on licensing agreements for ranges of vividly hued, geometric-patterned sheets and towels, clothes, umbrellas and bags.
The British designer was as daring as he was debonair, deploying a brazen mix of colors and patterns that came to define the groovy-glamorous interiors of the Swinging Sixties.
Find David Hicks furniture on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Bristol, CT
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Distillerie De Liqueurs E. Eppe c1898 Advert SignageLocated in Bristol, CTOriginal liqueur advert signage in bright pink & sky blue colours w/ silver bottles & a stamp (LR) dated 1898 Art Sz: 11 3/4"H x 17 1/2"W Frame Sz: 15 1/4"H x 21"WCategory
19th Century More Art
MaterialsPaper
- Bespoke Stationary LetterheadsLocated in Bristol, CTRare (8) panel/ (9) per plate framed bespoke stationary letterhead c1930s crests together with (3) preparatory sheets mounted on verso all custom framed Image Sz: 14 1/4"H x 22 1/4"...Category
1930s More Art
MaterialsPaper
- Decoupage Floral Lily of The ValleyLocated in Bristol, CTPaper c1970s mosaic depicting a decoupage lily of the valley floral still life by BJ (signed LL) Bobby Mitchell of 345 East 57th St Sutton Pl NYC ...Category
1970s More Art
MaterialsPaper
- 1911 No's 3 & 4 Map Of The Adirondack ForestLocated in Bristol, CTMap Sz: 38 1/2"H x 55 1/2"W Frame Sz: 40"H x 57"WCategory
1910s More Art
MaterialsPaper
- Interiers Francais Presentes Par Jean Badovici, ArchitecteLocated in Bristol, CTEditions Albert Morance 1925 11" x 9 3/8" Lacking plate 8, 26, 30 & 36 Jean Badovici (6 January 1893 – 17 August 1956) was a French architect and ar...Category
Early 20th Century More Art
MaterialsPaper, Gouache
- Mount Desert Island Region of The Maine Coast 1941Located in Bristol, CTClassic and rare map of the Mt. Desert Island Region of the Maine Coast c1941 by Luther S. Phillips Map Sz: 19 1/2"H x 15 1/2"W Frame Sz: 25 1/4"H x ...Category
1940s More Art
MaterialsLithograph, Paper
- Map of Palestine or Judea, Illustrating the History of the New TestamentBy Rev. Nathan B. RogersLocated in New York, NYPen and ink on paper, laid down on canvas, mounted to wooden scroll bars Signed and dated lower right: “Drawn by N. B. Rogers August. 1843” Inscribed with an ownership inscription on the verso: Rev. E. D. Daniels, Palmer, Mass. Provenance: Rev. Eugene Davidson Daniels, Palmer, Massachusetts, 1871 This extraordinary manuscript map is a rare survivor of the devotional and educational culture of New England in the first half of the nineteenth century. Although at first glance resembling a large-scale engraving or printed publication, this precisely rendered wall map was entirely drawn by hand, the product of meticulous research by a minister working in isolation in rural Maine. The map shows New Testament era cities, towns, tribal areas, and political borders as well as physical features such as rivers, lakes, mountains, and hills (indicated by half-tone cross-hatching). On to this geographically accurate rendering of the Holy Land, Rogers has located and inscribed significant locales mentioned in the Gospels and has annotated these places with relevant citations from the Bible. He further records these by plotting the travels of Jesus on what resemble a series of trails across the Holy Land. Each is distinguished by a different pattern of dots and dashes – correlated to an explanatory table at the lower right. From this we know that these lines document the “Flight into Egypt and return,” “Travels of Christ from Nazareth to Jerusalem and return,” “Travels from the commencement of his Ministry to the first Passover,” “Travels from the first and the second Passover,” “Travels from Jerusalem to Galilee after the 2nd Passover,” and “Travels from the third Passover to the Crucifixion.” An inset map of “Jerusalem...Category
19th Century More Art
MaterialsCanvas, Paper, Ink, Pen
- Regency Period Engraving of a Prize BullLocated in London, GBA Regency Period engraving depicting a prize bull and set within an ebonised and parcel gilded frame. Bearing the inscription: “PORTRAIT of the SHORT HORNED BULL...Category
Early 19th Century Other Art Style Animal Prints
MaterialsPaper, Ink
- Claude Lorrain Landscape with Hermes and the Muses, Aquatint by Richard EarlomBy (after) Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée)Located in Greven, DEClaude Lorrain landscape with the God Hermes, Amor and the Muses. Richard Earlom aquatint c1817 by Lorrain, Claude le/Earlom, Richard Countryside with ...Category
19th Century Baroque Landscape Prints
MaterialsPaper
- German Female Artist, Study or Portrait of a Girl, Expressionism, RealismLocated in Greven, DEHelene Rutkowski is an artist who was born in 1862. The maker's first piece to be offered at auction was "Baumbestandene Allee im Herbst" at Quentin Auction House in 2021. She worked in the style of Realism and Expressionism and her works remind one of Käthe Kollwitz. This beautiful drawing...Category
20th Century Realist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsCharcoal, Handmade Paper
- Putti in a Landscape, Putti playing, flowers, Berchet, French Art, Old MasterBy Pierre BerchetLocated in Greven, DEPierre Berchet, Drawing of Putti playing in a landscape, Painter of decorative history subjects; trained under La Fosse; worked in France and during the 1690s...Category
17th Century Baroque Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsHandmade Paper
- View of Castle of Vianen, Batestein, Dutch Golden Age, Schouman, Old Master ArtBy Aert SchoumanLocated in Greven, DEThough he is most celebrated today for his extraordinary work as an artist of ornithological and zoological subject matters, Schouman was also a prolific documenter of landscape in his native Holland. The present drawing, which depicts a view of the Castel of Vianen, fits securely into a corpus of drawings Schouman produced on the same scale and in the same distinctive combination of media, examples of which are today housed in the collection of the Koninklijk Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen, Middelburg. Castle Batestein (also called Batenstein ) is a castle disappeared from the Netherlands . It was built on the banks of the Lek in the small town of Vianen, then in the province of South Holland (now in the province of Utrecht ). The castle was burned down in 1696 and then demolished. Remains only the Hofpoort (or castle gate...Category
18th Century Baroque Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsHandmade Paper, Pen