Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA)

Roy and Carol Doumani first met the artist Robert Graham in the 1970s, at a celebration of his newly completed Dance Door at a home in Beverly Hills. The Doumanis were taken with the monumental bronze sculpture, now on permanent public display in downtown Los Angeles. Planning to build on their own beachfront property in Marina del Rey, they asked Graham if he might create a custom work for their future home. Graham agreed—sort of. Instead of a single new work, the artist proposed designing the entire house. Under Graham’s direction, the singular Doumani House ultimately would include not only dozens of Graham’s sculptures but also commissions from DeWain Valentine, Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, and Tony Berlant, among others, embodying a one-of-a-kind living portrait of the vibrant Los Angeles art scene of the 1980s and 90s.

The home’s fixtures and features became extraordinary opportunities for Los Angeles artists to channel their skill in new and unexpected ways.

Graham’s vision took the form of a U-shaped structure divided into two distinct wings, constructed from white stucco and steel with black glass windows. Completed in 1982, its roughly 6,600 square feet interior encompasses three bedrooms and an open-plan living and dining room, with two kitchens, a pool, elevator, theater, and four-car garage. As for the home’s fixtures and features, they became extraordinary opportunities for Los Angeles artists to channel their skill in new and unexpected ways: the home’s double entry doors were made from stained glass by the painter David Novros, Eric Orr fashioned a skylight water feature, Ed Moses designed a window to frame the ocean view, and Billy Al Bengston and Larry Bell made custom furnishings.

“[Robert] wanted to eliminate the boundaries between art and craft,” Carol recalled to the Wall Street Journal. The artist discouraged the couple from working with an interior designer, which he felt would detract from the home’s identity as a work of art. After the home’s completion, Graham would frequently visit the Doumanis for dinner—not least on gatherings on February 17th (move-in day) when the pair invited contributing artists for reunions to celebrate their work together. Graham designed only one other home before his death in 2008, and it was his own that he shared with his wife, actress Angelica Huston, in nearby Venice. 

“[Robert] wanted to eliminate the boundaries between art and craft..."

Emerging from an explosively influential moment in the history of both contemporary art and Los Angeles, the Doumani House Collection reflects the idealism and embrace of creative freedom that has shaped the California spirit—for both Graham and the Doumanis, art was not an object, but a way of life that imbued every aspect of experience, from floor to ceiling and wall to wall.