An installation view of Tallmadge’s works for the Opus One rotunda (from left): Le Printemps, Les Éléments, and L’Hiver.
Photo: BORIS ZHARKOV, Courtesy of Art/Artefact
Napa Valley’s Opus One Unveils Artworks by Rosalind Tallmadge Inside Its Newly Renovated Winery
Art adviser Audra Kiewiet de Jonge and designer Joan Behnke commissioned the five nature-themed works to add the finishing touch to the grand rotunda
The Napa Valley vineyard Opus One, a collaboration between two late icons—Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild and vintner Robert Mondavi—has a storied history because of the pedigree of its sought-after Bordeaux-style blend. But inside the winery itself, something was missing. Specifically, there were five niches in the grand rotunda that had been empty since the building opened to the public in 1995. As part of a recently completed multimillion-dollar renovation and expansion by architect Scott Johnson of Johnson Fain, who crafted the initial structure, the recesses are finally filled with visually compelling works by artist Rosalind Tallmadge. “It sets the tone for entering Opus One,” the artist says of the commission. “It felt like a big, impactful thing.”
Rosalind Tallmadge (seated) and Audra Kiewiet de Jonge at Opus One Winery in Napa Valley, California. Photo: SETH DANIEL J MEDIA
Working with art adviser Audra Kiewiet de Jonge of Art/artefact and designer Joan Behnke, who refreshed all the interiors, Tallmadge wanted to honor Opus One’s mission of world-class viticulture. A nature theme made perfect sense. “I drew up a proposal based on the four seasons,” says Tallmadge. “A fifth panel is inspired by the terroir of the vineyards.”
Although she calls the works “paintings,” they are as unconventional as Opus One was when it was established in 1978, with a French baron joining forces with the talented American upstart. “They have a minimal, contemporary look, but it’s combined with the old-world process of gold leaf in a nod to their collaboration,” says Tallmadge.
“It sets the tone for entering Opus One. It felt like a big, impactful thing”
Rosalind Tallmadge
The four seasonal canvases, named in French—Le Printemps, L’Eté, L’Automne, L’Hiver—were done on sequined fabric with varying shades of gold leaf applied; one has a pewter cast, another a rose-colored tone. The addition of mica flakes and glass microbeads ups the ante on the textural beauty. The fifth one, Les Éléments, has an appropriately more solid makeup, with hand-sliced mica stone and powdered glass on a wood panel.
An installation view of Tallmadge’s works for the Opus One rotunda (from left): Le Printemps, Les Éléments, and L’Hiver. Photo: BORIS ZHARKOV, Courtesy of Art/Artefact
The niches are bathed in natural light, and the lively refraction the works produce was somewhat inspired by one of Tallmadge’s icons, painter Mary Corse, who also embeds microbeads in her work. “With this oculus skylight, it has an amazing effect,” Tallmadge says. “It’s not a white cube space.”
In her role as art adviser to Opus One, de Jonge selected Tallmadge in part because “works by female artists are underrepresented in the collection,” she says of the hundreds of objects the winery has amassed. “These works give you more and more as you experience them.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2023 Collectors Issue under the headline “Magnum Opus.” Subscribe to the magazine.
Cover: An installation view of Tallmadge’s works for the Opus One rotunda (from left): Le Printemps, Les Éléments, and L’Hiver.
Photo: BORIS ZHARKOV, Courtesy of Art/Artefact
