Ost welcomes me into her kitchen. An expansive space that includes an attached butler’s pantry, it’s clearly the heart of the Charlottesville-area home. With its dramatic black and white tiles, it has an old-world charm evocative of some splendid Wiener Werkstatte café. I want to linger in the space, but Ost leads me down the hall into a salon. A large square room, the walls have a sumptuous olive green and gold faux finish. On two long walls, red shelves—contemporary minimalist versions of a Chinoiserie cabinet—hold an extensive collection of German Jugendstil pewterware including a monogrammed plate once owned by the actress Sarah Bernhardt. It is a beautiful room, dark and exotic, evoking a stage set designed by Baskt or Cocteau. I sit on a yellow leather couch. An orange marmalade-colored cat snoozes in front of the fire on large cushions tossed casually on the floor. Ost offers me a dish of Tibetan tea. She and her husband are practicing Tibetan Buddhists and have been dedicated supporters of Tibet for many years. The tea was made by a Tibetan woman who, along with her husband and two children, is staying at Estouteville at Ost and Kuttner’s invitation while they establish themselves in the area.
Beatrix Ost, “Trixi” to her friends, was born in Stuttgart in 1940. In her youth she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and with Expressionist artist Oskar Kokoschka in Stuttgart. An accomplished sculptor and painter for many years, her work has been exhibited in Virginia at Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News, and at various venues in New York and Germany. Ost is also a film producer, screenwriter and actress. A resident of the U.S. since 1975, she divides her time between Charlottesville and New York City. She has also modeled and acted (in movies and on stage), and is an expert skier and gourmet cook.
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