The Curated Soul: Maria Hummer-Tuttle and the Architecture of Memory

To enter the residence of Maria Hummer-Tuttle is to step into a space where the concept of decoration is secondary to the act of storytelling. It is not merely a home; it is a landscape of memory, where objects are not defined by their market value or aesthetic trend, but by their ability to hold time, emotion, and narrative weight. Each item serves as a silent custodian of a milestone, a lesson learned, or a fragment of history that refuses to be forgotten.

This curatorial philosophy—where the domestic space becomes a sanctuary for the meaningful rather than just the beautiful—is rooted in a profound understanding of perspective. It is a lesson Hummer-Tuttle absorbed during a trip where she acquired a centuries-old fossil. The purchase itself was modest, yet the seller’s advice resonated with the weight of an ancient proverb: “You should always have in your house something that’s more than 1,000 years old because it puts so much in perspective.”

The Crucible of Choice

That advice transformed from a philosophical abstract into a tangible reality when wildfires threatened Los Angeles, forcing Hummer-Tuttle to evacuate her home. In the urgency of the moment, the hierarchy of “value” was instantly rewritten. Standing by her front door, she did not reach for practical necessities like clothing or identification. Instead, she gathered the irreplaceable: old photographs, the drawings of her grandchildren, small works of art, and that very fossil.

Maria Hummer-Tuttle. Photo by Miguel Flores-Vianna

In the aftermath, as the immediate danger passed and the winds shifted, Hummer-Tuttle reflected on the pile of objects she had instinctively saved. It was a collection devoid of utility but overflowing with humanity. “What lay there was a pile of objects,” she observed, noting the absence of a passport or a purse. “I found that really interesting at the time, as I was putting everything back.”

This hurried exercise in preservation became a pivotal moment of introspection. It forced a re-examination of the items she and her husband have accumulated over a lifetime—a collection now documented in her volume, Objects of Desire. The incident highlighted a fundamental truth about collecting: we do not possess objects merely to own them, but to anchor ourselves against the flow of time.

Dialogues Across Eras

The interiors curated by Hummer-Tuttle are characterized by a sophisticated interplay between the ancient and the modern, creating a visual dialogue that transcends chronological boundaries. The collection does not adhere to a single rigid style; rather, it thrives on the tension and harmony between disparate elements.

One can observe a quiet conversation between a 1925 brass centerpiece goblet by Wiener Werkstätte artist Josef Hofmann and a small brass snail, discovered by Hummer-Tuttle in a drawer at P.E. Guerin, America’s oldest decorative hardware manufacturer. The geometric precision of the Viennese Secessionist piece finds a whimsical counterpoint in the organic form of the snail, bridging the gap between high design and accidental discovery.

Top left: A snail sits beneath a 1925 brass centrepiece goblet. Top right: Fish fossil in stone. Bottom right: A pottery horse tomb figure from the Tang dynasty. Bottom left: Two terra-cotta female dancer figures from the Han Dynasty. Photos by Miguel Flores-Vianna.Detailed view of the collection items mentioned above.

Elsewhere, the gravitas of history is palpable. A pottery horse tomb figure from the Tang dynasty (618–907 A.D.) stands in solemn proximity to La Bicocca, a painting by the German neo-expressionist Anselm Kiefer. The juxtaposition is striking: the ancient funerary object, created to serve in the afterlife, confronts the textured, often heavy materiality of Kiefer’s modern work. Nearby, two terracotta female dancers from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.) capture a moment of fluid movement frozen in clay for millennia.

These arrangements suggest that art is not static. When a Tang dynasty horse is placed before a contemporary canvas, both objects change. The ancient gains a new immediacy, and the modern acquires a deep ancestral root.

A Legacy of Stewardship

Hummer-Tuttle’s approach to these objects is informed by her long-standing role as a patron of the arts. A former lawyer and chair of the Board of Trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust, she possesses a disciplined eye refined by years of civic and cultural service. Yet, Objects of Desire reveals a side of stewardship that is deeply personal rather than institutional.

The book Objects of Desire by Maria Hummer-Tuttle, published by Vendome Press.

The collection is less about the acquisition of status symbols and more about the accumulation of touchstones. Whether it is a stone bearing the imprint of prehistoric life or a child’s drawing saved from a fire, each piece is a vessel. In the end, Hummer-Tuttle’s home suggests that the things we desire are actually reflections of who we are, and more importantly, who we wish to remember.