Steve Carpenter's contemporary villa in Roquebrune Cap Martin

Côte d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty offers this contemporary villa designed by architect Janusz Matecki for American contemporary artist and gallerist Steve Carpenter, located in the Medieval village of Roquebrune Cap Martin, at the gateway to the Principality of Monaco.

Steve Carpenter, a worldly life

Steve Carpenter has worked with Walt Disney, was on Princess Grace of Monaco's favorite guest list and is friends with Ringo Starr. His story is a testament to his courage to risk everything to start a new chapter and live his dream, which has taken him across the United States and Europe.

Hesitant beginnings in the United States

Carpenter began his artistic endeavors by entering drawing contests. A full scholarship to the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts allowed him to study by day while working on the Chicago docks at night. He then entered the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles, a more serious art school, he says, where he studied painting and illustration until his watercolor teacher encouraged him to apply for a job at Disney. Walt Disney hired him as an illustrator in the early 1960s for movies and the theme park. He worked on Tomorrowland and Pirates of the Caribbean for the park and on films such as Mary Poppins.

His departure for Europe

Always wanting to devote himself to his art, he moved to Europe in the 1960s. In Paris, he again worked as an illustrator, this time for the largest television and film agency in Paris, Havas Publicité. In 1968, Carpenter answered a classified ad and became an art teacher at the American School in Monte Carlo.

His friendship with Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco

He designs the first tourist poster of Monte Carlo and sells it for $300 - this is how Princess Grace notices his work. She will go to meet him in his Monaco gallery and it was there that a friendship and working relationship began. Later, he designed a poster for the American International Red Cross, which she was running at the time.

Tourist poster by Steve Carpenter for Monte Carlo, 1970 | Poster for the 29th Monaco Grand Prix by Steve Carpenter, 1971

It is through their common taste for Art in all its forms that the Carpenter couple and the Monegasque Prince and Princess befriended each other, the latter being regular guests at their parties and private events. Carpenter's career in Monaco spans 30 years. In 1996, he was commissioned to create postage stamps for the Principality. He ran his gallery and offered private studio art classes in Monte Carlo.

His return to the United States

Carpenter, who was going through a divorce, decided to return to the United States in the late 1990s and chose Rochester, New York, because of the Zen Center there, which brought him closer to his spirituality. He leaves behind his home and studio in Roquebrune Cap Martin, at the gateway to Monaco.

An atypical villa, in the image of its owner

The villa of 300 m2 is distributed in restanque on four levels. Each floor offers a magical 180 degree view of the Mediterranean Sea and the Principality of Monaco. Atypical and rare property by its architecture, its environment and its history, we like its particular charm, its dominant position with panoramic view on the sea, its garden planted with Mediterranean essences and the proximity of the medieval village of Roquebrune Cap Martin, in absolute calm.

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