Wilshire Center

Tight structure underlies the diverse oeuvre of painter, industrial and graphic designer Winold Reiss. It runs through the highly stylistic, art nouveau designs he did for hotels and restaurant interiors as well as the mosaic murals he completed for the Cincinnati Union Terminal.

As a way of dealing with space Reiss favored a sharp-edged compression of strictly simplified forms. This and a keen color sense allowed him to layer multiple forms in his murals without visual confusion. Simplification also gives his portraits of stylish women, painted as decorative embellishments for posh banquet rooms, a fluid immediacy. In the two portraits in this showing the sitters’ garments and bodies are strong solid shapes that place emphasis tightly on the face and hands a la Gustav Klimt. Then, taking a page from the radiance and shallow space of Byzantine icons, the figures are painted on gold or silver leaf so the backgrounds catch the light and figures are pushed forward.

Reiss was one of a number of decorative designers in the 1920s who favored the simple geometry and quality minded aesthetic principals of the arts and crafts movement. For that reason he endeavored to be a complete craftsman, taking creative responsibility for even the wallpaper in the rooms he designed. His interior spaces show the influences of architects like Frank Lloyd Wright but make quick nods to the decorative elements in cultures as diverse as ancient Greece and Mayan architecture. This combination makes for an interesting blend of severe classic mass and ornate decoration that manages to feel pure and decadent all at once.(Turner Dailey, 7220 Beverly Blvd., to May 20).