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JANUARY | PAGE 18 | 2015 she was in graduate school. "I've always collected the very best pieces by the best artists of my time that I could afford," she says. "Each of the kids had the Warhol Endangered Species prints over their crib or first bed. My rationale was 'These are cheaper than wallpaper' — it's just where your priorities lie." Cindy and Armond, a prominent gastroenterologist, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last year. "I leave the tummy aches to him," she says — and, for the most part, Armond leaves the collecting to her. "Although he does have a very good eye," she says. "We built this house so that we could live with the art comfortably, and the whole family and the children could grow up with contemporary art and not feel that anything was too precious — by that I mean, the oh don't sit there! kind of thing," Cindy says. "That was our perspective in building this home. And the art changed all the time, because we are collectors as well as advisors," she says. As new pieces were acquired and placed, others were put into storage. "There was always a new conversation. They'd walk in the door and say, 'Wow, what's that?'" While she might have been tempted, Cindy refrained from becoming a docent in her own house. Instead, she let the art unfold to her family, each at his own pace. "There was a ground- breaking study done by Bonnie Pitman at the DMA that shows how people have different experiences when they look at art," she says. "That's why museums have to install the galleries to accommodate all the different ways of learning. And it's true even in families that everyone learns differently. In a home setting, the same piece of art can be both meditative and energetic. I let the art reveal itself to them." For Cindy, there's nothing like a slow reveal. "I like to get to know the piece. I don't want it to be 'Okay I get it,' and move on," she says. "I like to sit and look at something and never grow tired of it. That's what I love in art." She's never grown weary of the playful Mike Williams painting in her kitchen, which has been up for years and is long overdue to be rotated out. She tried once to replace it but had to put it back up, admitting "it makes me too happy." These days, the Schwartz house mixes masterworks with pieces by emerging artists that she and daughter Robyn Siegel (now married and working alongside her mother in their art consulting business, CCS Fine Arts) have collected. "We are in New York and L.A. at least once a month, making studio visits, meeting with the artists and visiting our gallery friends," Cindy says. One of her favorites is up-and-coming Dallas artist Jeff Zilm, whose meditative paintings are created using emulsion washed from old movie reels. Almost every month, the Schwartzes host a dinner at home for 20 or 30 people, such as one given right before Thanksgiving for New York-based artist Daniel Turner, whose work they collect. At the Turner dinner, which included local art collectors, Cindy struck up a conversation with a former intern at the Pace furniture showroom, who is now an art collector. They were seated at the dining-room table, a custom project designed by the same architects that designed the house, Allen Buie Partnership, which mirrors the cantilevered plane from the living-room fireplace. "She said, 'I cannot believe you still have these chairs, with the original fabric," Cindy recalls. The chairs, timeless pieces designed for Pace by architect Adam Tihany, were purchased some 20 years ago. In fact, all of the furnishings in the Schwartz house are classics Top left: In the upstairs den, custom glass, steel and wood shelving holds works by Rob Davis (top shelf), Amanda Ross Ho (far left) and Daniel Turner. Knoll Handkerchief chairs. Top right: In the upstairs den, artwork by Rob Davis above two pieces by William Pope. L, large Amanda Ross Ho work and African mask from Bombara. Middle: In the guest bedroom, five paintings by NYC-based artist Matt Conners. Above, left: An installation by Mari Eastman in the reading room includes multiple images and art painted directly onto the wall. Above, right: In the upstairs reading room is a leather sofa from Scott + Cooner. Knoll Saarinen coffee table. Lucien Smith Rain painting at left. Elizabeth Neel painting over sofa. In distance, Walead Beshty photographs and a sculpture by Erik Frydenborg.