Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/112444
miss the Indonesian gold.��The Korean galleries are amazing.��I love seeing what changes are happening with the Old Master installations. Emily Neff is a magician with the American painting galleries. I usually intend to stay for an hour but I walk out after three. How you and Robert met: the Romans as matchmakers. We started talking about Roman history, and we both loved Suetonius��� The Twelve Caesars. That���s a pretty good indicator that you are a match. Blacksmith to philanthropist: On tales of the original homeowner, the mythic Conrad Schwarz. We knew about the grave of Schwarz in Washington Cemetery (adjacent to Glenwood Cemetery) from Karen Hallet, who owned the house before us.��We went down and found it:��a majestic obelisk made of granite.��I found his obituaries in the Houston papers at the library, and we had a copy of his will.��But the rest was a mystery. Through a friend in Germany, we discovered that there is still a Konrad Schwarz Strasse in Niedenstein, about 15 miles from Kassel [of Documenta fame]; unfortunately, the monument he built in 1911 to the Veterans of the FrancoPrussian war was destroyed.��The street was named for him to honor his trust, which still provides a modest amount of money to needy people in the area. Pretty amazing stuff for a blacksmith from Houston, Texas. Inspirations. Susanna Sheffield taught me to look for honesty and integrity in mark-making. My time with Hiram Butler ��� for five years as his director and then 15 as his business partner ��� was an ongoing education in art dealing. Hiram���s knowledge of prints and works on paper is incredible, and witnessing his ability to ���think big��� is inspiring.��Susanna didn���t suffer fools gladly, and neither does Hiram.�� The pull of the past in contemporary art practice. I love history, and I look for understanding of history in contemporary art.��I have as little patience for artists who don���t know that they are replicating something that someone did 10, 20 or 30 years ago as I would for someone who doesn���t know that Madonna didn���t write ���American Pie.�����I am fortunate to work with smart and talented people like Laura Lark, Geoff Hippenstiel, Jillian Conrad. I could name so many more, who I might add are also really nice. And they are serious about what they are doing. Artists mining history: Darryl Lauster and Ted Kincaid. I totally respect that Darryl���s current work does not shy away from tough political discourse, although he doesn���t hit you over the head with it.��His earlier cast furniture works were an examination of what ���American��� art means. Ted���s knowledge of photography and the history of photography comes into play in such wonderful subtle ways in his fake/ real photographs that they still leave me shaking my head.��That���s not the moon ... ���It was December of 2005. We stepped over the threshold, and it was not a question of if, but of how, we would acquire this amazing house.��� ��� Devin Borden MARCH | PAGE 41 | 2013 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: A cast anatomy skull is combined with Renaissance-inspired Juliska glassware from Kuhl-Linscomb and mineral specimens to create a Vanitas-themed cabinet of curiosities in the corner cupboard. Left: Untitled 1977, a colorful Jasper Johns crosshatch, hangs over a series of Chris Akin drawings inspired by The Menil Collection���s rectory-table marble skull. Lower left, a 19th-century calligraphy drawing from Andrew Spindler Antiques in Essex, Massachusetts. Center, a recent painting by Matt Messinger hangs above an oversized vitrine housing the very petite Sherrie Levine Two Shoes from 1992. Devin Borden and his partner, Robert Briscoe, are the third owners of the house built by Conrad Schwarz in 1895. ���The perfect condition of the original bald-cypress siding and porch details are a testament to the superior craftsmanship and quality of materials available in late 19th-century Houston,��� notes Borden who, with Briscoe (a descendant of one of the first families of Texas), are both fascinated with history. A chocolate tart, paired with Tillen Farms Bada Bing cherries from Central Market, makes an understated but sumptuous dessert. Serve with whipped cream. A wood-and-glass case from the estate of Sue Rowan Pittman is filled and topped with modest examples of ancient glass and pottery from Whisnant Galleries in New Orleans. Resting against the wall, Robert Rauschenberg���s Shirtboard series from 1991. Overhead, Joseph Havel���s Drinks Are Boiling, 2005. For more dialogue with Devin Borden, peruse papercitymag.com.