Designer Beth Webb came into her career through the side door of the art world—first as a student in the Sotheby’s Works of Art course in London, then as a gallery rep and later as an art dealer herself. It’s a path that has served her well. Webb’s interiors reflect the sure hand and sharp eye of someone who understands form, line, color, and balance. The serene sanctuaries she creates have an effortless feel that should not be mistaken for a decorator on autopilot. “No room, no home, should give up all the secrets of its décor to prying eyes on a first date,” she writes in An Eye for Beauty.
Webb’s rooms may look monochromatic at first, but a second glance reveals the artistry of a hundred details—a kitchen’s limewashed wood finish, a dining room’s mirrored surface, a curtain’s sumptuous trim. “Slow down,” Webb’s Southern mother use to admonish a young, restless Beth. This book offers a welcome opportunity to do just that.
By Kirk Reed Forrester
Beth Webb: An Eye for Beauty: Rooms That Speak to the Senses (Rizzoli New York, 2017)