This and That: A Blog

 I went to an estate sale last month.  It was the second day, so items were half-off the stickered prices.  I would have bought more if they hadn't had so many little things (figurines and salt and pepper shakers for instance) in boxes sealed with plastic wrap for one price.  There would be one or two things I liked in a $10 box.  I overheard quite a few other shoppers complaining about this among themselves.  Four things at 50¢ each...  Japanese bone china Persian cat.  A menu cover from an Alaska Steamship Company cruise, copyright 1941.  It's a print by Joesphine Crumrine, called Mageik .  There were at least eight different dog menu covers by Crumrine.  Inside right would be the daily menu, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.   This poor little basset started out life as a pincushion, however he was used as a planter and is quite worse for wear now.  A thrilling find! Rio Hondo pottery bud vase, 1930s - 1940s.  I l...

  Y ang Jian is a figure in Chinese mythology.  I found this mid-century half-tone print of Y ang Jian in an Italian frame in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  It's not unusual for his third eye to be missing, as exports (the print isn't Italian, only the frame) "softened" the supernatural elements for the Western markets. Also, his celestial dog is often left out of these small prints, focus is on the central figure.    There's an alphabet haiku for Y here .

Not an X for a title or subject of the artwork, but for the red X I see across the image.  It may not have been the artist's intent, although it would fit his theme.  This is a print of Franz Marc's Fate of the Animals , painted in 1913, here renamed by the publisher, for an American market, to Animals at Bay .  The artist wrote on the back of the original canvas, " And all being is flaming, suffering ," or " And all being is flaming sorrow ."  Marc had a sense of foreboding, a premonition of society's apocalyptic shattering.  He sensed the coming World War, and his painting depicts the price of human conflict on nature, the animals innocent victims.  The dark portion of the painting was damaged a few years later, after the artist's death, in a warehouse fire.  Using photos, the artist Paul Klee, a friend of Marc's, restored it, but used brown tint to show an obvious difference, although it was never discovered why he did so.  I got this in the ...

 T urquoise Memories (what I believe the title reads - the signature and title are in silver on the black border, in cursive) is a monotype, a print created by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface and transferring that image onto paper.  A monotype is one of a kind.  I bought this at Goodwill for $5.21.  There was a gallery sticker on the back, " Monotype $550 "!  I can't read the artist's signature, but obviously not an amateur attempt for that price. A T poetry form can be found here . 

  S udden S hower over S hin-Ohashi Bridge , by Hiroshige Atake.  My print is either a late Edo-period (1857-1868) or early Meiji impression (late1860s-1870s), both considered "original period" impressions printed from the original blocks, using the same pigments and techniques as the first edition (1857).  There would be a seal to date it more accurately, but it's currently matted and framed.   How it came to be in my family is a sad story.  My father bought this, and a few other Japanese prints, from Japanese neighbors who was selling their belongings prior to going into WWII internment camps in California.  He paid 50¢ each.   My S poetry form is here . 

 This is Q ueen Isabel , my name for her.  I have always seen a woman in a royal type headdress, and my imagination sees the background as ship sails!  You're welcome to see something else, that's the beauty of an abstract without any artist information.  To me this looks like a black ink print over paint.  I bought her at a Goodwill for $5.39, in an amazing, and expensive, frame and matting.  A Q poetry from can be found here .

  M agpie Goose (artist's title) is a limited edition (154/500) print by Australian artist  Doris Gingingara  (1946-1999).  I bought it as Goodwill for $2.06 with the signed and dated (9/99) Certificate of Authenticity on the back. I've written a Mondo poetry form for this one  here .

L is The Lighthouse, a lithograph copyright Henry B. Sandler Co. Inc. New York City published around 1962-1964.  The artist of the original painting is shown as Alfieri, most likely a publisher house artist or contract artist.  The name Alfieri is found on multiple Sandler Co. prints from the 1960s.  I found this in its original frame (Sandler lithographs were sold in frames, ready to hang) in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  10¢ a pound glass price!  An L for Lanturne poem can be found here . 

  G reen Pheasant (referred to as Pheasant until the 1920s when publishers used Green Pheasant  in import titles), original painting by  Sakai Hoitsu, print  c. 1923-1925. This belonged to my paternal grandmother who may have purchased it at Gump's in San Francisco, which was a major importer of Japanese art and woodblock prints. There is a bit more to it along the left, but it had been folded for decades to fit an inappropriate frame.  There's a G for the Gogyohka form poem here . 

  I bought this antique print, F rost Breaking,  1850s-1880s, in 1969 or 1970 in Portobello Market, London, when I was 13 years old.  It's a photo-engraved electrotype (electric engraving).  First, the original artwork was photographed, then a metal plate was etched using electric current, and the plate used to print the image.  An F poetry form can be found here .

The E ye of God , or  L’Oeil de Dieu , is not the title Salvador Dali gave this print, however it is the dealer title, or marketing name.  He created it for one of the illustrations in The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini .  This is not from the book, it's a later print.  While some think " Oh!  A Dali print!  That's valuable! "  Not really.  Dali would sign multiple blank pages that would later be used for prints.  This is signed in pencil in the margin. It's worth a few hundred, but as my mother used to say, " Not enough to retire on ."   I actually got this at a yard sale with a pile of other artwork for $20 total, so less than $1!  My P post is another one from the same sale, and that is actually worth more.  The E poem for this artwork is here . 

  The D eath , by Charles-Fernand de Condamy, print date 1880-1910, from Goodwill for $5.21 in frame not shown. The poem for D is here . 

 This triptych (a single composition divided into three parts that are meant to be viewed together) etching, Freedom , is by Barbara Whipple (1921-1989).  It's number 15 of 35.  Her etchings are quite valuable.  I'm not so fond of this I wouldn't sell it, as I only paid $2.24 at Goodwill!  I don't know a lot, but I know to pick up numbered prints for cheap, just in case! This information was on the back of the mat.   I've not seen one of these before, but learned that in several states there are laws requiring disclosure of edition size, medium, and master plate status of prints, also called a Certificate of Authenticity.  Art dealers can be fined for selling prints without this. Art dealers would refuse to buy a print without one too, as they would be unable to sell it.  I wonder if having it makes my Whipple more valuable?   On a different day at Goodwill I got this 4" carved wooden mask, probably from Bali.  This might be th...

Recent finds at St. Vincent de Paul. Two antique hand-colored steel engravings for $3.00 each.  They are both custom framed and matted, approximate frame size is 9.5" x 7.25".  Since they are under glass, there is some glare in the photos. Westminster Abbey From St. James Park, about 1740 That's the title, the print is not from 1740.  It's c. 1871 printed for the serial volumes  Old and New London , by Cassell, Petter & Galpin, which was published between 1873 and 1878.  Fleming SC in the bottom right corner means the engraver was Fleming, the SC, the abbreviation for " sculpsit ," Latin for " engraved it ." Interior of the Albert Hall  It's likely this too is from  Old and New London. No engraver information, which isn't unusual as many illustrations in the series were anonymous or credited only in editorial records. The organ is the Henry Willis Organ, shown at the opening ceremony April 29, 1871. It was originally powered by two stea...