Naked in the City, Hadrian's Wall, Op-Art & George Ohr

IN THE NEWS:

"It really is the naked city -- at MoMA, anyway. For the next few months, daring patrons will squeeze through two live nude "performers" -- alternating couples, opposite and same sex -- who stand in a narrow doorway of the new exhibit, "Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present," opening today." The New York Post Story

Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present

The Exhibition Page at MoMA

"Legions of sightseers attend Hadrian's Wall illumination- "They came, they saw and they clambered on the ramparts – in numbers not seen on Hadrian's Wall since the Romans called it a day and pulled out their legions 1,600 years ago. Drawn by the first-ever lighting of the 70-mile monument from end to end, thousands of visitors filled every local car park, lay-by and footpath, while helicopters and a Nasa satellite recorded the necklace of beacons from above."

The Story in The Guardian

ARTS ALMANAC:

March 15, 1673: Salvator Rosa, Italian Baroque-period painter, printmaker & poet who worked in Naples, Rome and Florence, died.

March 15, 1956: Lerner and Loewe's musical "My Fair Lady" opened on Broadway.

March 15, 1997: Victor Vasarely , the Hungarian-French Op-art pioneer, died in Paris.

IN OUR STORE:

"George Ohr, Art Potter. The Apostle of Individuality"

By Robert A. Ellison, Jr.

“George Ohr (1857-1918) was the most revolutionary art potter of his time. Working in the relative isolation of Biloxi, Mississippi, around the turn of the century, he transformed symmetrical wheel-thrown pots into unprecedented abstract configurations, nearly half a century before the nonrepresentational ideas of the Abstract Expressionists took hold. As an artist, Ohr's goal was to make no two pieces alike. Furthermore, he fulfilled the ideal of the Arts & Crafts movement by doing all of his own work - from digging the clay to firing the kiln. Ohr's eccentric forms and flamboyant personality led to his being dubbed The Mad Potter of Biloxi, but in fact he was an American icon of creativity. Today, his unique works are highly regarded and sought out by collectors and museums all over the country. This exquisitely designed volume contains over 300 unpublished works by Ohr, and features all new photography accompanied by an accessible text. The clarity and number of illustrations will make this book the new essential reference on this extraordinary artist.” $65~

See Our Full Description Here

Tiny Cars, Waltzes, & Louisiana Painters

IN THE NEWS:

"The images on the Flickr slide show serve up a comforting slice of mid-20th-century Americana: the local banker’s slinky ’56 Lincoln Premiere reflects the summer sun outside the hardware store on Main Street. A spit-shined Divco truck delivers fresh milk from the Borden dairy. On the town’s outskirts, where rents are low and hot-rodders use the county road as a dragstrip, a custom ’55 Ford gets a set of loud pipes at a one-bay speed shop. Like photographs pulled from shoeboxes in dusty attics, the images form a parade of memories that, one by one, reveal the focal points and quiet corners of the small town of Elgin Park."

Except, Elgin Park only exists in a shoebox...

New York Times Article Here

Edward Burtynsky is the Ansel Adams of despoliation. Where Adams depicted nature in its sublime state, the Canadian photographer examines the negative impact of man's industrial interventions. Yet it isn't quite that simple, because, as Burtynsky observes in a statement, his large-scale color images are conceived as "metaphors for the dilemma of our modern existence. They search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear."

The Article at Philly.com

ARTS ALMANAC:

March 14, 1681: Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer of the late Baroque period, and sometimes described as the most prolific composer in the history of music, is born.

March 14, 1682: Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruysdael, Dutch landscape painter, dies.

March 14, 1804: Johann Strauss "The Elder", Austrian Romantic composer famous for his waltzes, and father of Johann Strauss II ("The Waltz King"), is born.

March 14, 1903: Adolph Gottlieb, American Abstract Expressionist painter, is born.

March 14, 1923: Diane Arbus, American photographer, is born.

IN OUR STORE:

The first three issues of the New Orleans WPA-era arts magazine, "Arts and Antiques"-

The first three issues (Vol.1 No.1 / Vol.1 No.2 / Vol.1 No.3) of this interesting New Orleans-based arts & antiques magazine, which featured New Orleans and Louisiana-related artists, including a number of working artists. There are a number of stories about exhibitions in New Orleans' Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, an article about Louisiana WPA artists by the by the Director of the Louisiana WPA Federal Art Project, and other stories about then-working New Orleans painters.

With the third issue the magazine became a quarterly, and I've been unable to find if there ever was a fourth issue. Anyone know?

Our Full Description

Renaissance Sculpture, Leprechauns & Russel Wright

IN THE NEWS-

-In living color: Painted terracotta sculptures show a flair for the dramatic : "With its intimate new exhibition of terracotta sculpture from the Renaissance, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum reminds us that sculptural innovation in the 15th and 16th centuries was not limited to the bronze and marble inventions of Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini, and Ghiberti. It also involved more malleable materials that were enhanced and enlivened with the addition of color. Wood was one of them. Terracotta — which is Italian for baked earth — was another." Story in the Boston Globe Here

-No, you haven't been drinking too much green beer- there really is a new National Leprechaun Museum in Dublin, Ireland... Story at ArtDaily.com Here

- At the Guggenheim, the Art Walked Beside You, Asking Questions : “This kind of conversation usually only happens when two people are drunk or something, or on the subway,” said Rafay Rashid, 20, a freshman at the State University of New York, Purchase. “There are great things in this world and one of them is talking to people, especially strangers. Rarely do you make eye contact with someone and try to figure out where they’re coming from.” New York Times Story Here

ARTS ALMANAC-

March 13, 1870: William Glackens, American artist and co-founder of "The Eight", also known as the "Ashcan School", was born.

March 13, 1947: The Lerner and Loewe musical "Brigadoon" opened on Broadway.

IN OUR STORE-

"Russel Wright. Creating American Lifestyle"

By Donald Albrecht, Robert Schonfeld & Lindsay Stamm Shapiro.

Published by the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and Harry N. Abrams in 2001.

“A master of 20th-century design, Russel Wright was a prolific and influential creator of items for the home, most famously his curvaceous American Modern dinnerware. Wright designed furniture, appliances, textiles, interiors, buildings, and landscapes, and with his wife Mary developed the concept of lifestyle marketing. Their 1950 Guide to Easier Living helped define a relaxed entertaining and living style that Americans still embrace today. This book describes his career and shows his work in 154 photographs, most in color, including page-filling settings created for this book and images of his Hudson Valley home Dragon Rock.”

$25.00

Click here for more photos

Old Masters, 8-Track Tapes, Stealth Knitters & Garden Design

IN THE NEWS-

- Ever lay awake at night fretting that what the world really needs is an 8-track tape museum? Yeah, me too. Well stop fretting, because now there is one! http://tinyurl.com/ygpwrdy

- Don't look now, but the cobwebs have been swept off and the Old Masters are back! "In a small Dutch town near the Belgian border, a space the size of five football fields brims this week with $4 billion worth of art. There's a $15 million Botticelli, "Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John," hanging on one wall, and a $7.5 million Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington on another. Art dealers are competing to set up the most opulent booths: One Belgian art dealer has smothered a few walls of his booth with dirt to evoke an eighth-century Korean library. The European Fine Art Fair, or Tefaf, opening Friday, is the sale of the season" : http://tinyurl.com/yj2cwop

- BEWARE THE MIDNIGHT KNITTER!! West Cape May, NJ authorities and residents are on the lookout for an unknown person, dubbed The Midnight Knitter, according to The Press of Atlantic City. When darkness falls, the mystery knitter takes to the streets of the shore town and covers tree branches and lampposts with little sweaters : http://tinyurl.com/yhgqf7y

ARTS ALMANAC-

March 12, 1613: André Le Nôtre, French landscape architect, was born. Le Notre was King Louis XIV's garden designer, and designed the park of the Palace of Versailles. His work is considered to represent the ultimate of the French formal garden style.

IN OUR STORE-

“Herb Garden Design”

By Faith H. Swanson & Virginia B. Rady.

Published by the University Press of New England in 1984.

A great collection of designs of herb garden designs for the beginning or advanced gardener, whether you have a tiny plot or a large one. “The plans offered here represent a wide range of possibilities- historic and private, large and small, modest and elaborate- that are easily adapted to individual needs. Designs createdby landscape architects and members of the Herb Society of America were redrafted especially for this book. Each plan offers dimensions, structural details for paths, walls, hedges, and decorating elements in addition to full commentary and a plant list”.

Softcover. 8.5”x11”, 155 pages, black & white and line illustrations.

In fine, new condition. $20~

http://tinyurl.com/y9s8juk

Ducks, Chihuly, Eastlake & Amish Quilts

IN THE NEWS-

- Every artist has a Muse, and for some artists those Muses say- DUCK!! "This idiosyncratic and the only true collection of artworks has been collected, maintained and cultivated by the interDuck group of artists who, at the same time, have dedicated themselves to researching the history of art from the duck perspective. In the course of this work, they arrived at a sensational insight: ducks have been living among us since the beginning of time itself - in all epochs, on all continents and in nearly all known forms of artistic expression" : http://tinyurl.com/yj8gkwj

-Photographer Annie Leibovitz has made a deal with her creditors that will let he retain ownership of her negatives : http://tinyurl.com/ycrjvoy

-A new art center/museum featuring Dale's Chihuly's glass is drawing praise & controversy in Seattle: http://crosscut.com/2010/03/05/urban/19644/

ARTS ALMANAC-

March 11, 1820: Benjamin West, English-American historical and portrait painter, died.

March 11, 1836: Charles Locke Eastlake was born. Best known today for the Victorian furniture style named after him, Charles Locke Eastlake followed in the footsteps of his uncle, Charles Lock Eastlake, as Keeper of the National Gallery in London. As a furniture designer and architect he helped to popularise William Morris's theories of decorative arts in the Arts and Crafts style, and in 1868 he published his very influential book, "Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery and other Details".

IN OUR STORE-

“Quilts from the Indiana Amish. A Regional Collection”

By David Pottinger.

Published by E.P. Dutton, in conjunction with the Museum of American Folk Art, in 1983.

DISCUSSION: The catalog of a fine collection of Midwestern Amish quilts gathered by the author from Amish families in the mid 1970s. Most of the quilts date from the first three decades of the 20th century.

DESCRIPTION: Softcover. 8.5”x11”, 88 pages, color illustrations.

CONDITION NOTES: A little light soil, some light wear, otherwise clean and nice. $20~

http://tinyurl.com/ylqqmro

Caravaggio, Mayan Plumbing & Medieval Tiles

IN THE NEWS-

- By at least one amusing new metric, Michelangelo’s unofficial 500-year run at the top of the Italian art charts has ended. Caravaggio, who somehow found time to paint when he wasn’t brawling, scandalizing pooh-bahs, chasing women (and men), murdering a tennis opponent with a dagger to the groin, fleeing police assassins or getting his face mutilated by one of his many enemies, has bumped him from his perch : http://tinyurl.com/yzx5yqg

- Add plumbing to the mysterious arts of the ancient Maya, investigators report. In a Journal of Archaeological Science study, anthropologist Kirk French and civil engineer Christopher Duffy of Penn State report on a conduit designed to deliver pressurized water to Palenque, an urban center in southern Mexico, more than 1,400 years ago : http://tinyurl.com/yz4e49h

- The New York Police Department wants the public to know that the figures soon to be gazing down from buildings near a midtown park are an artist's body casts — not residents in distress. Police spokesman Paul Browne said Tuesday that the department was worried the upcoming outdoor exhibit might spark 911 calls reporting possible jumpers : http://tinyurl.com/y9hgdfs

ARTS ALMANAC-

March 10, 1867: Hector Guimard, French Art Nouveau architect and furniture designer, is born.

March 10, 1915: Harry Bertoia, Italian-born American sculptor and designer, is born.

IN OUR STORE-

“Two Letters on the Origin, Antiquity, and History of Norman Tiles, Stained with Armorial Bearings”

By John Henniker.

Printed in London by John Bell, Bookseller to His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, in 1794 .

DISCUSSION: The earliest work in English located by Solon dealing specifically with tiles, and now very uncommon. The author’s brother, a Captain in the English military, had been a resident of Caen and sent the first description of the armorial tiles to the author, who then tried to interest British antiquarians in them, with apparently limited success.

A scarce and desirable tile book.

DESCRIPTION: Hardcover. 5.5"x8.5", 114 pages plus 3 engraved plates reproducing twenty tile designs.

CONDITION NOTES: Bound in period marbled boards with a new leather spine and new endpapers; boards worn and scuffed. Very minor internal toning and a few light pencil notes but overall internally a very nice copy with wide margins. $600~

http://tinyurl.com/ydpgbv2

Watercolors, Barbie, & Gustav Stickley

IN THE NEWS:

-Pigments of imagination: a new exhibition at Manchester's Currier Museum of Art traces the sweeping history of American watercolor : http://tinyurl.com/ylrhpdr

-Pancho Villa Rides Again Thanks to Mexican Photo Archives : http://ow.ly/1fObz

-Suicide Raises Legal Issues in Indian Artifacts Cases. The suicide of a government informant may affect the prosecution of 23 defendants charged with looting Native American artifacts and archeological sites : http://tinyurl.com/yhssku7

- Lost in Time, Letters Capture American Grief for a President -A new book documents letters of condolence written to Jackie Kennedy after JFK's assassination : http://tinyurl.com/yl56spd

ARTS ALMANAC:

-March 9, 1858: Gustav Stickley, American designer and maker of Mission furniture, is born.

- March 9, 1959: The Barbie Doll is introduced at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

- March 9, 1989 – Robert Mapplethorpe, American artist, dies.

IN OUR STORE:

"Gustav Stickley"

By David Cathers.

Published by Phaidon in 2003.

“Superb new photography of individual furniture pieces, archival photographs, and scores of reproductions from the pages of The Craftsman and other ephemera of the early 20th century illustrate this outstanding monograph of designer and craftsman Gustav Stickley. "Eclipsing all others, this book is now the definitive study of Stickley and his production," said Choice magazine. Though best known as a key proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement, Stickley was also an entrepreneur and manager who assembled a talented team to produce lamps, metalwork, textiles, plans for houses, and interiors; this book includes an appendix on Stickley's significant collaborators, along with a detailed bibliography and chronology”.

Hardcover. 10”x12”, 238 pages, color and black & white illustrations, dust jacket.

In fine, new condition. $45~

http://tinyurl.com/yhrjktz

"At Home With Gustav Stickley. Arts & Crafts from the Stephen Gray Collection"

Edited by Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser & Linda H. Roth

Published by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in 2008.

DISCUSSION: “Stephen Gray is among those few who, early on, recognized both the inherent beauty of Arts and Crafts furniture and the value of the Craftsman Ideal. His collection includes many of the rarest forms and has few equals, but in two regards, it is almost singular: Stephen Gray lives with this major collection and has embraced the Craftsman Ideal in a beautiful, simple, personal, regionally sensitive manner. He lives in a nineteenth-century country house and has integrated an important collection with the ideas of decorating, lifestyle, and sensitivity to environment that were central to the Craftsman enterprise. Through Stephen Gray’s collection, it is possible to explore the disparate values of the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Arts and Crafts interior, and the tensions inherent in the pursuit of an aesthetically simple Ideal life.”

DESCRIPTION: Hardcover. 9”x11”, 119 pages, 100+ color illustrations.

CONDITION NOTES: In fine, new condition. $50~

http://tinyurl.com/ylaqx27

“The Early Work of Gustav Stickley”

Published by Turn of the Century Editions in 1987.

DISCUSSION: “This book is a compilation of rare drawings from the 1901 Chips from the Craftsman Workshops, 1902 retailers’ plates, Gustav Stickley’s 1901 catalog, and the Supplement to Catalogue D from 1905. The material is arranged in chronological order. The original pages have been reorganized in some instances in the interest clarity and appearance. The book includes some contemporary photos of rare and important examples of Gustav Stickley’s work from before 1905, as well as illustrations of lamps, shades, hanging fixtures, and wicker furniture pieces. This book should help to resolve some questions regarding the design, design evolution, and production of Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman furniture.”

DESCRIPTION: Softcover. 7”x10”, 174 pages, black & white and line illustrations.

CONDITION NOTES: A little light cover soil, but otherwise in fine, clean condition. $20~

http://tinyurl.com/yg9tep5

Tulips, Vasari, Rock 'N Roll & Nutmeg Graters

IN THE NEWS:

- A new exhibition has just opened at the Rijksmuseum, featuring its most beautiful prints and drawings of tulips from the 17th and 18th centuries. "Individual tulips, tulips in bouquets, in the garden, as the design for a silver ornament, and featured in allegorical scenes. The highlight of the presentation will be the tulip book created by Jacob Marrel between 1637 and 1639. Complete tulip books are extremely rare, and the Marrel is seldom exhibited in public." : http://tinyurl.com/yfownnd

- Michelangelo letters up for grabs as Renaissance archive goes up for sale. The government in Rome fights to keep the Giorgio Vasari archive leaving Tuscany after purchase by mystery Russian : http://tinyurl.com/yh3h2k7

- Worcester Art Museum exhibit chronicles rock & roll photography. "Rock & Roll became the American rite of passage in the twentieth century. Each generation since World War II has created various concoctions of African-derived blues and European folk ballads, mixed with American jazz. The visual expression of this music, and its history, are represented in Selections from Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present. Rock & Roll intentionally speaks a language that adults cannot understand, capturing the anxiety of youth, its pent-up fury, and awakening sexuality. The photographs reflect these feelings and ideas, with all their contradictions, excitement and energy. In Rock & Roll, many Americans have their first genuine experience of art. When melody, rhythm, and lyrics speak directly to the listener, a young life can be changed. The exhibition includes the work of photographers who used their cameras to explore and interpret the music, striving to share its creative energy. These images are different from those executed for marketing and publicity, examples of which are also exhibited, presenting another paradox of twentieth century culture. Selections from Who Shot Rock & Roll includes the work of over 100 photographers. Among them are candid shots, photographs of live performance, publicity portraits, and album cover art." : http://tinyurl.com/ydcahwe

IN OUR STORE:

"Silver Nutmeg Graters"

By John D. Davis.

Published by the University Press of New England in 2002.

DISCUSSION: The production of silver graters for nutmeg, the most stylish of spices, began in the late seventeenth century. An elegant nutmeg grater quickly became an essential part of "the punch equipage", the key to genteelly preparing and serving this ubiquitous tipple. This catalog of the Dr. Robert Green Collection of nutmeg graters features a stunning assortment of fashionable English graters from seventeenth century London and eighteenth and nineteenth century Birmingham, handsome twentieth century American graters designed by Gorham and Tiffany & Co., and more –100 in all.

DESCRIPTION: Softcover. 8”x8”, 80 pages, 45 black & white illustrations.

CONDITION NOTES: In fine, new condition.

$20~

http://tinyurl.com/yzdjeek

Art Intrigue, Mondrian, & Lustre Pottery

IN THE NEWS-

* "The Art of the Steal," a break-out favorite at the Toronto Film Festival in September, documents what some call a vast conspiracy to commit the largest act of cultural vandalism since the Second World War. Or maybe not- http://tinyurl.com/yfku5sx

* For art lovers, Western Mass. awaits: In beautiful surroundings, a cornucopia of exhibitions, including new shows at Mass.MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) and the Sterling and Francine Clark Institute - http://tinyurl.com/ykysytj

* If the shoe fits, they’ll copy it! Proponents press for new copyright protection for fashion designers against low-priced knockoffs, asking why original ideas in literature, art, movies & music are protected, but fashion isn't - http://tinyurl.com/ydkhzjb

ARTS ALMANAC-

* March 7, 1872 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch painter, who was an important member of the De Stijl group, is born.

* March 7, 1893 – Milton Avery, American artist sometimes called the "American Matisse" because of his colorful and innovative landscape paintings, is born.

* March 7, 1994 - The United States Supreme Court rules that parodies that poke fun at an original work can be considered "fair use" that doesn't require permission from the copyright holder.

IN OUR STORE-

*FEATURED BOOK*

"Collecting Old English Lustre. Illustrated by Reproductions of Specimens from the Author’s Collection"

By Jeannette R. Hodgdon.

Printed in Portland; Southworth-Anthoensen Press in 1937.

DISCUSSION: An interesting early book by one of the early American collectors of lustre pottery. Hodgdon had read just about everything written on pottery collecting and quotes liberally from earlier authors while mixing in her own observations from her years spent scouring American and English antique shops. Beautifully set-up and printed by the Southworth Anthoensen Press on heavy cream paper, and illustrated with specimens from Hodgdon’s collection, this elegant book provides a charming and entertaining look at the early days of collecting lusterware.

DESCRIPTION: Hardcover. 7”x10”, xv + 44 pages, plus 14 black & white plates; publisher’s boards with paper label and blue cloth spine.

CONDITION NOTES: Covers with light soil, small light spot near the bottom edge, otherwise clean and nice.

$65~

http://tinyurl.com/y9jtfsu