people: faces of ’72

The ’70s, a certain era in Western history, had macrame and macrobiotics.  My theory is Eras should be measured on the fives, i.e. 1965-1975.  The first half of a decade is fading the previous one.  A decade only gets its footing halfway to the end.

This picture was painted in 1972, with the residue of the ’60s.  The colors are earthy in a back-to-nature time of avocado or harvest gold kitchen appliances.

It seems to show the same man in various moods and expressions.  Perhaps the model has taken LSD, or perhaps the artist.  Far out, man.  More likely, this is to show multiple facets of a person’s inner life.  Pensive or impassive.

This grouping of faces remind me of artist sketch books, especially Da Vinci’s grotesque faces.

The artist’s scrawled signature is tough to translate.  Is it KRESTY Johngton?  TREJty Tohnyton?  Google is no help so far.  It’s a mystery to me.

People: Japanese Ladies

Title:  Oriental Portrait

Artist:  Unknown

Produced by:  a Palmer Paint Co. designer as Craft Master kit, New Artist 30 Green NA3021-32

Date:  c.1963

Materials:  Oil paint on cardboard

Size:  20” x 16”

Value:  29.99 as seen on ebay [1]

Oriental Portrait is a Craft Master paint-by-number oil painting sold by Palmer Paint Co. in 1963.  It came in a kit with one other Oriental Portrait.  This version has been painted in by an unknown artist.

The Paint by Number trend started in 1950.  Kits included oil paints, brushes and cardboard with outlines of artworks.  Each shape had a number corresponding to a color of paint, so anyone could become an artist.  This invention is attributed to Dan Robbins, a commercial artist, and Max Klein, the owner of Palmer Paint Co. in Detroit, Michigan.  It seems like both of them wanted to be known as the primary inventor.

By 1954, they sold over 12 million kits, leading The Paint by Number Museum to say, “The work of paint by number designer Dan Robbins has been displayed on more walls than that of any other artist,” and call him the most exhibited artist in the world.  “He inspired legions of new artists. He also made painting and displaying art more democratic than anyone could have imagined.” [2]

Paint by Number art has been shown in neighborhood homes, in the White House and at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.  [3]

Title:  Japanese lady (?)

Artist:  See picture below

Date:  unknown

Materials:  Painted ceramic tile with wood backing

Size:  4.5” x 12.75” x 0.25”

Value:  15.00 as seen on internet sale [4]

This thrift store find makes an interesting companion to the Oriental Portrait mentioned above.  This one is painted by a Japanese artist.  The style and detail are different than what the Paint By Number designer’s version of what the average American would like to see on the wall.  West meets East.

Both start with lines drawn by an artist.  Then the colors are filled in.  The tile figure shows beautiful calligraphic lines.  It is three tiles tall.

I am not sure if this depicts a geisha or if it was made in Japan before World War II or after.  It is signed by the artist with black writing and with the hanko or chop seal style of signature.

1. Price comparable on ebay.  https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Japanese-Temple-Geisha-Craft-Masters-Big-Oil-Paint-By-Number-Mid-Century-Vintage-/173584587110?hash=item286a729966

2. Paint By Number Museum.  https://www.paintbynumbermuseum.com/dan_robbins_intro

This painting.  https://www.paintbynumbermuseum.com/painting/30ss

3. Smithsonian. http://americanhistory.si.edu/paint/newLeisure.html

4. Everything But The House.  https://www.ebth.com/items/5982351-pair-of-signed-vintage-hand-painted-japanese-geisha-tiles

Similar pair sold for 30.00 was labeled as 1930s, and was signed by the same artist.

People: boy or girl

This is a printed reproduction of a drawing owned by the Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria.  (1)

Title:  Mauro Gandolfi sitting at a table, his head resting on his right

Artist:  Gaetano Gandolfi, 1734-1802, Bologna, Italy

Date:  c. 1770s

Material of original:  “trois crayons,” black chalk and stumping, heightened with white and red chalk on beige paper  (Stumping is using a cylinder of rolled paper to blend the chalk or pencil marks.)

Size of reproduction:  8” x 11.25”, about the same size as the original

 

Painter Gaetano Gandolfi drew pictures of his children.  This is his oldest son Mauro, born in 1764, Bologna, Italy.  A note on the drawing says it is Mauro.

Or is it?  An expert, Mimi Cazort, thinks it could be the artist’s daughter Marta, b. 1771.  Take a look at this other drawing, owned by the Morgan Library and Museum, NYC.  Portrait of the Artist’s Daughter Marta was made about 1778.  (2)

But then again, here’s another drawing by Gaetano that was auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2008 for 109,250 GBP, about $140,000.  Portrait of a Young Boy looks familiar.  (3)

It seems these are the same kid, same hair, same shirt.  So is it Marta or Mauro?  The Gandolfis were a family of artists.  Mauro became a professor of painting and made prints.  Here is a self portrait he made at age 21.  This painting is in the National Gallery of Bologna.  I can see a resemblance.  Maybe.  (4)

Mauro Gandolfi (1764-1834, 70 years) was born and died in Bologna.  He moved to Paris and worked as an engraver.  He visited New York City and Philadelphia in 1816.  Mauro was part of a family of artists, mostly painters, and he became a professor at his alma mater, the Academy of Fine Arts, Bologna.

His father Gaetano Gandolfi (1734-1802) was born and died in the region of Bologna, Italy.  He painted in the Baroque and Neoclassic eras.  He visited England.  His seven sons were also painters, as was his brother and grandson.

There are more drawings of his children if you search.

Sources:

1. Albertina Museum website, http://sammlungenonline.albertina.at/?query=Inventarnummer=[1871]&showtype=record
2. Morgan Library and Museum website, https://www.themorgan.org/drawings/item/141770
3. Sotheby’s website, http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-drawings-l08040/lot.123.html
4. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauro_Gandolfi

 

 

People: Mean Girls

At the thrift store by the bakery there were quite a few painted portraits.  Here are two of them.  All I know is what is written on the backs.

The woman with top knot is marked Ian Ballantyne and 90/90.  I doubt her name is Ian, so perhaps Ian painted this arresting picture.  Do the numbers mean a class grade?  If so, the teacher could see something in the artwork.  It captures her in a moment of ennui.  Maybe she is bored of posing for a classroom of students.

The lady in red has these markings:  PCT ERIKA CAREY and IAN B and A-.  Also crossed out is: IBallantayneIan…

This painting got a high grade, but not perfect.  It has the starving artist frame made from strips of lattice nailed to the stretcher bars.

Ms. Carey might be the name of the model or the name of the teacher.  This aging blonde stares over your shoulder, and you are about to get an icy blue sneer.  Both of these models have RBF.  They are NOT impressed.

Who is Ian Ballantyne?  Maybe he is someone who makes gifs in China.

http://ianerballantyne.com/

These paintings are in our collection because the artist has talent, even though they could be completer.  The artist has a touch and an eye.

People: Black Velvet Wayne

An American icon, John Wayne, is up there with the others who died too soon:  Elvis, Marilyn, Bogart and Dean.  His image is classic.  He’s probably the top cowboy, sorry Clint.

This was “hecho en mexico” on black velvet by Ruiz(?)  The signature is not easy to read.  The stretchers are 35 inches by 25 inches.

Well, actually Marion Mitchell Morrison lived 72 years and made at least 76 movies.  This pose could be from the movie Chisum.

His expression in the source photograph makes for several good memes with all his tough quotes.

He also looks good on a postage stamp.

This particular thrift store find has some spots.  I suspect a drink got splashed in a historic saloon fight.

 

Mountain Range: Green Ireland

Unimpressive up close.  The brush strokes are shaky and hurried.  Weird choice of tinty colors.  Blobs of paint, here and there.

Back up.  From the right distance, it’s the real thing.  This painting captures a time and place—the emerald isle.

This is an artist that figured out his greens and purples.

Sean O’Connor, 1909-1992, was an Irish artist.  He painted landscapes in Ireland with watercolor and oil paint.  He was an elected Associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy (ARHA), similar to National Academy of Design in the U.S., and exhibited prolifically at the Royal Hibernian Society and the Water Colour Society of Ireland, according to antiques.com.

The painting is, “Patchwork Fields in Shanara,” says a card scotch-taped to the back.

As far as I can tell, Shanara, Shannara and/or Shanara Cross is a rural area in County Kerry (southwest Ireland.)  It is west of Killarney National Park.  A lot of O’Connor’s other landscapes are of the Killarney area.  Is it possible that this painting shows Ireland’s highest mountain, Carrauntoohil from a distance?

One of the condition flaws of this piece is the frame.  I believe it is the original frame, simply because other paintings sold online show the same frame.  This one has rusty brown spots on the left side of the cloth liner.  Maybe I’ll try to clean it.

This oil painting is on canvas board.  It’s labeled Daler Board for Oils, handmade in Wareham, England, Patent No. 634920.  It’s in a stock size, 18 x 14 inches.  The Daler Board Company was founded in 1946 after Terry Daler returned from a German prison camp.  According to Wikipedia, Ken Daler “created a new type of surface for oil painting that pulled the thick oil colour off the brush. Cardboard was sealed and primed through a mesh (a net curtain).”  This board looks more like masonite than cardboard.

So that means this painting was made between 1946 and 1992.  One of the works with a matching frame is dated 1972.

Many of his paintings are sold.  Prices range from $100 to $1471 in U.S. dollars.  That makes me happy with paying $6.99 at the thrift store.

If this scene inspires you to visit the land of Eire, I’m sure John and Eileen O’Shea would welcome you to their bed and breakfast, the Farmstead Lodge in the locale of Shanara Cross.

The Maiden, The Mountain

The Swiss Alps are awesome and beautiful.  Their imposing appearance challenges the mountaineer and the artist.

This pair of hand-tinted etchings are exquisite up close, but from a distance can be overlooked as maybe some souvenir postcards.  Our love for the mountains can also bring ubiquity.

Hans Frey made a lot of mountain pictures, as you can see on this website:

https://sites.google.com/site/cataloguespolygraphicum/hans-frey

In fact, the picture above is among the smaller ones near the end.  My first guess of the subject is the Dents du Midi, “teeth of noon,” near Lake Geneva, but I’m not so sure.

Frey either lived 1877-1935 or 1900-1983, in Munich, Switzerland, or Austria.  Some of his works were sold at Paul H. Wilde, Etchings, Prints, Fine Framing, 2427 Broadway, New York.  Neither of these have a gallery mark on the back.

The other of these aquatints is not represented on that website, but you can find one like it, “eiger.moench.jungfrau.” It is five up from the mass of tiny mountains at the bottom.

Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are peaks in the Alps.  This northern wall is, “one of the most distinctive sights of the Swiss Alps.” [Wikipedia.]  After trains and a tunnel, this area became an enticing vacation spot.  In 2001, it was named a World Heritage Site.

Jungfrau is a maiden, a virgin, lovely but imposing.  Six Swiss Army recruits died climbing Jungfrau in an avalanche in 2007.

Mountain Range: Smoky

Smoky mountains.  The mist and the fog heavy on the ridges.  Feel it, quiet and thick.  Breathe in the silence.  Shrouded in gray.

Shrouded.

Shroud.

A shadow of death is here, but calm and beautiful, in the distance.  No fear.

The trees look on without a word.

This is a sober twilight view of the mountains painted by Betty Jane Posey.  She had her own art gallery in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in the Smoky Mountains.  She painted landscapes, barns and flowers in the 1970s to at least the 1990s.   It’s easy to see them on the web.  Of all the pictures I saw by Posey, this one is the one I like.

I have not found biographical information about her, but Posey was (is?) part of the Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community.  In 1997, she and Kathy Shields Guttman created a book filled with anecdotes and recipes from the people around them, the crafting community.  It’s called, Whop Biscuits and Fried Apple Pie.

Untitled

Betty Jane Posey

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Paint on stretched canvas

12” x 24”

Mountain Range: Orange Ya Glad?

This is a color-rich scene with mountains in the background.  This picture by Lee makes me think of scenic painting for the stage.  An actor could enter stage left, or maybe an opera star could sing in front of the flat bush props.

Each element is thoughtfully painted with vibrant hues.  It’s almost like paper doll pieces cut out and arranged individually.  Here’s a tree.  Here’s a bush.  Here’s a rock.  They overlap each other.

The lake gleams, but is not reflecting the mountain or plants.  It’s hardly reflecting the sky. Is it dawn or dusk?  The orange light of the sky doesn’t affect what we see.

All the parts form something that grabs my attention.  I hope Lee continues to paint and study color, because there is definitely something interesting about the fearless combinations here.  Look at the foreground ground:  a lot of paints used in an appealing but primitive way.  Beautiful dirt.

This thrift-store picture was painted by Lee on canvas over masonite.

Charles In Charge, or Not

Not  a coin, not a medallion—what is it?  It caught my eye at the thrift store.  It’s sort of bubblegum colored, but made out of a hard resin.

Solving a mystery is fun.  The first clue is the writing around the edge: Latin, which translates, “Charles – the second – of God – a favorite – Sovereign – Britain – France – and Ireland – King – Sure – Defender.”

This is the Great Seal of the Realm.  At least one side of it.  I always imagined kingly documents were sealed with something the size of a signet ring.  This is more than five inches across.  Apparently some seals were this big, put inside a box that dangled from the document.

Pennsylvania only wishes they had one of these.  Their charter was given by King Charles II to William Penn in 1681.  That document used to have a seal like this, but green.  They lost it.  [1]

Looking at the beautiful artwork, we see Charles II himself:

“The King on horseback …, his head uncovered, …, his hair flowing over his shoulders and back. The King is clad in armour with a cloak fastened over his right shoulder and flying behind his back, and is riding with single curb rein; in his right hand is a straight sword …, his foot spurred and placed in the stirrup. The horse is rearing and is harnessed with bridle, saddle, saddle-cloth, and a strap passing round the whole length of its body; from behind the saddle fall three straps across the flanks of the horse hanging almost perpendicularly towards the ground.” [2]

Where is he going?  The bridge below the horse is London Bridge, after it was “falling down,” but before the 1666 Great Fire of London.  The scene shows London past the River Thames from Southwark.  The big buildings are churches. Under the stallion’s belly is “old” St. Paul’s Cathedral before it was destroyed in the fire.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre would have appeared on the near shore under his foot, except it had been closed by the Puritans along with all the other theatres.

Charles II (sort of) became king when his father Charles I was executed after the English Civil War.

In 1649, Scotland proclaimed him king, but England was led by Oliver Cromwell.  Charles II was defeated by Cromwell in 1651, and fled to Europe for 9 years.

After Cromwell died, Charles II returned to England on his 30th birthday 29 May 1660, and became king.  He tried to enact religious freedoms, i.e. tolerate the Catholics.

He was known as the Merry Monarch for the hedonism of his court.  The country returned to normal after Cromwell’s Puritan rule.  He had no children–except 12 illegitimate children by seven mistresses.  Princess Diana is descended from two of his illegitimate sons, and Prince William could become the first monarch descended from Charles II.

He was nicknamed “Old Rowley,” after one of his stallions.

Earl John Wilmot said,

 “We have a pretty witty king,

Whose word no man relies on,

He never said a foolish thing,

And never did a wise one”

Charles II responded, “That’s true, for my words are my own, but my actions are those of my ministers.”

During his reign:

1660  Restoration (of monarchy from restrictive Puritan republic.)  Also, Restoration Comedies were cynical, bawdy and sharp plays.

1665  Great Plague of London

1666  Great Fire of London

1681  Gave land to Wm. Penn to pay a debt.  That became Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Charles II was a contemporary of scientists Robert Boyle and Sir Isaac Newton, and of architect Sir Christopher Wren.  [3]

His seal half-way looked like this reproduction. There would have been a design on the other side too.  This replica was probably made by The British Museum Cast Service in the 1970s.  Very detailed for a fake piece of history!

 

Sources:

1  http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/documents/1681-1776/pennsylvania-charter.html

2  SOURCE: Public Records Office. United Kingdom.  http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/documents/1681-1776/pennsylvania-charter.html

3  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England