JUSTINE B. CUSHING

CUSHING, Justine B. Artist of interior decoration, died May 5, 2023, at home in Southampton New York. Inspired by family members the artists Howard Gardiner Cushing, Lily Cushing Emmet, and Mary McFadden, Justine created rooms that combined chinoiserie and modernism. Her work will be remembered for the comfort of Sister Parrish, her first employer, and the grandeur of Vincent Fourcade, her friend. Justine was the daughter of Justine Cutting Cushing and Alexander Cochrane Cushing, who founded the ski resort Squaw Valley, site of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games. Justine attended Greenvale School, Truckee Elementary, Foxcroft School, and graduated from Radcliffe College with a degree in Fine Arts in 1962. Justine is the granddaughter of Mary Josephine Amory and R. Fulton Cutting, whose family built the William Delano designed townhouses at 15 East 88th street and the adjoining buildings on 89th street that serve St. David's School. Justine was descended from Samuel Bayard and Anna Stuyvesant who came to New Amsterdam in 1647 with Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch director general of the colony of New Netherlands. Justine was named after the poet Eliza Justine Bayard, whose grandfather William Bayard founded the mercantile company Bayard and Leroy, which underwrote the financing by New York State of the Erie Canal; William Bayard also served on the first Board of Directors of the Bank of New York with Alexander Hamilton, who died in Bayard's living room after Hamilton's duel with Aaron Burr. Justine's 19th century forebearers also include Robert Fulton and William Cutting, sons-in-law of Robert Livingston, who founded the Fulton Ferry Company in 1814, as well as John Perkins Cushing who, from 1803 to 1827, ran the Chinese operations in Guangzhou for his uncle Thomas Handysyd Perkins, the merchant prince of Boston. Justine's great-grandfather R. Fulton Cutting was a benefactor of The Cooper Union School, the American Cancer Society, the University Settlement House, The Association for the Improvement of the Poor, The City and Suburban Development Company for low income housing, and the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company. Justine grew up in a converted first aid station in Squaw Valley, where her parents had moved in 1949 from Wheatley Hills Long Island. Justine helped her parents to host guests at the 1960 Olympic Games. Justine began sewing in the home economics classes at Truckee school, which would lead to her prolific production of afghan blankets and needlepoint carpets that could be said to rival those produced by the nuns at Mme. De Montespan's Convent of St. Joseph. After graduating from Radcliffe, Justine was briefly subscription editor for The New York Review of Books. Justine also worked at the American Foundation of Art Research, while she being asked to model by Diana Vreeland. Justine worked at the decorating firm Parrish Hadley before setting out as an independent decorator whose work was photographed by Vogue, House and Garden, House Beautiful and Architectural Digest. Justine's decorating work was profoundly influenced by the chinoiserie paintings of her grandfather Howard Gardiner Cushing. Throughout her life, Justine fought against depression, an illness she shared with her 19th century cousins, the four daughters of Edward Darley Boit and Mary Lousia Cushing Boit. Justine died of metastatic breast cancer. Justine was a member of The Colony Club, Piping Rock, The Meadow Club, The Bathing Corporation of Southampton, The Regency Whist, and the Cavendish Club. Justine is survived by her sisters and their families. Donations in Justine's name may be made to The Cushing Gallery, The Newport Art Museum, 76 Belleview Avenue, Newport, RI 02840.

View the online memorial for Justine B. CUSHING