Recently in R HOME…
When the pandemic shut down the world as we knew it — exacerbating the worst of society’s ills as millions lost their jobs, their homes and their ability to feed their families — the renowned interior designer and philanthropist Charlotte Moss was compelled to do something to help.
“The news was breaking my heart when I watched every night,” says the Richmond native and Virginia Commonwealth University alum. “And when I found out … that people were being turned away from soup kitchens and food pantries after being in line for hours so they could feed their family, I said, ‘I’ve got to do something.’ ”
That something, as Moss says, is “Home: A Celebration,” an effort inspired by “The Book of the Homeless,” a volume created by author Edith Wharton in 1916 to help refugees and children in Europe during World War I. Wharton, the author of “The Decoration of Houses” and numerous novels of old New York — including “Ethan Frome,” “The House of Mirth” and “The Age of Innocence” (winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for fiction) — called upon prominent artists, writers, poets, musicians and politicians to contribute essays, poetry and illustrations to assist her with the effort. Theodore Roosevelt, Sarah Bernhardt, Jean Cocteau, Joseph Conrad, Igor Stravinsky, Claude Monet, Auguste Rodin, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Charles Dana Gibson were among the contributors.
