Bette Mention in the “Nashville Scene”

With “Memphis in Nashville,” Zeitgeist highlights the Italian design collective who challenged modernism, and did it with style

By Christine Kreyling

Memphis in Nashville

Excerpt: So why would anyone buy this stuff? “It was a hit in the ’80s,” Reilly says, “because that was the period of the great art boom, when prices soared and everyone was a collector. People bought it because it gave them status, which is ironical in that the impulse behind Memphis was to subvert the status that modernism had achieved. I’ve always thought it perfect casting that the home of the couple in Ruthless People–played by Bette Midler and Danny DeVito–is full of Memphis.”

Today people collect Memphis as a period piece to blend with their other periods, Reilly says. “A little of Memphis goes a long way in the interior, which is why it’s best treated as a piece of art. It opens your eyes to see a chair or a table or a lamp as sculpture. Lots of furniture that preceded Memphis did look like sculpture. Memphis just pointed that out.”

Link to rest of article: Nashville Scene

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