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7John O’Hern, who
has retired after 30
years in the museum
business, specifi cally
as the Executive Director
and Curator of the Arnot Art
Museum, Elmira, N.Y., is the originator
of the internationally acclaimed Re-
presenting Representation exhibitions
which promote realism in its many
guises. John was chair of the Artists
Panel of the New York State Council
on the Arts. He writes for gallery
publications around the world, including
regular monthly features on Art Market
Insights and on Sculpture in Western Art
Collector magazine.CO
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Epurchased a piece by a young artist and he
was thrilled to see the work of other artists
with which his art lives,” says the wife. “We
enjoy having a sense of who these artists
are and how they think...after all, we have
the honor of living with their work”.
Each of their homes was renovated by
the husband with an eye to being faithful
to the past and with careful attention to
detail. Filling each with art was great fun.
While their city apartment was formal,
their modern home had a spare modern
sensibility. Buying a farmhouse turned
them in a new direction and presented an
opportunity to hunt for rustic furniture
and artifacts.
“We fi lled it with unique fi nds...a 19th-
century apothecary from Germany, a
Danish hunt table, several fi nds at a farm
museum which was closing in Brussels. We
found a 19th-century ancestral portrait in a
Hudson Valley antique store and placed a
plaque with our family name beneath it for
a touch of humor. We were surprised that
some people took it seriously and asked
about our distinguished family member!”
Pieces from each of the homes they have
enjoyed over the years—formal, modern
and historic—currently live in harmony
in California. They reflect a lifetime of
memorable chapters.7
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Above the kitchen counter is Untitled III (Mickey Mouse)
by Ellwood T. Risk. On the right is Rachel Perry’s Lost in
my Life (twist ties), archival pigment print.8
Above the bed is Red and Blue Robe, 1999, etching and
aquatint with hand-coloring, by Jim Dine. On the right
is Confucian Altar, oil on linen, by Sungjoon Joh.9
In the sitting area of the bedroom is an oil by Polly
McCaff rey.