Friday, October 27, 2017
Coulter Machine Age Modern Table Lamp
Italian Mirror
Maison Jansen Style Coffee Table
Condition: Very good vintage condition with very minor wear to finish.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Caned Bench
Gorgeous Hollywood Regency style caned bench/ settee with tufted seat. The bench retains its original topaz velvet upholstery. 44" l.,17.5" d., 26" h. American, c. 1960's SOLD
Condition: The upholstery and caning are in excellent vintage condition. The wood frame is in very good vintage condition with minimal age appropriate wear to the legs.
Mushroom Floor Lamp
Art Deco Bar Cart
Condition: Very good vintage condition with no rust or pitting on the chrome and minor age appropriate wear to the glass.
Mushroom Lamp
Condition: Very good vintage condition with age appropriate patination on the base.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Modernist Chandelier
Condition: Very good vintage condition.
Chinese Chippendale Style Pagoda Mirror
Condition: Very good vintage condition.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Good Common Sense
I came across this post tonight while I was looking something up on the blog. I posted it a little over 5 years ago, but it seems particularly relevant today, so I thought it might be worth another look.
Over the last few weeks, there have been some particularly interesting conversations had in the shop. The topics have been wide ranging, but there has been lots of talk about how much the world has changed over the last twenty some years. Art, pop culture, the media, pace of life, towns vs. cities, work and family have all been lively topics of conversation.
A little while ago, after a wonderful dinner where lots of the same topics were discussed, a friend sent me two letters written by Sherwood Anderson to his son. Sherwood Anderson is one of my favorite American writers and the letters are very poignant. One line that really resonates in these letters is "If I had my own life to lead over I presume I would still be a writer but I am sure I would give my first attention to learning how to do things directly with my hands. Nothing gives quite the satisfaction that doing things brings." As I was working on my February window last night and drawing out the design and painting the letters, etc. by hand, I thought about these letters again and thought I would share them. Please share with anyone you think might enjoy reading them. There's nothing like some good common sense to put what at times seems like a frenetic world into perspective. Also, please don't consider me posting this as advice. I would prefer not to be guilty of what Sherwood Anderson says of small businessmen.
From Sherwood Anderson to his son John:
Over the last few weeks, there have been some particularly interesting conversations had in the shop. The topics have been wide ranging, but there has been lots of talk about how much the world has changed over the last twenty some years. Art, pop culture, the media, pace of life, towns vs. cities, work and family have all been lively topics of conversation.
A little while ago, after a wonderful dinner where lots of the same topics were discussed, a friend sent me two letters written by Sherwood Anderson to his son. Sherwood Anderson is one of my favorite American writers and the letters are very poignant. One line that really resonates in these letters is "If I had my own life to lead over I presume I would still be a writer but I am sure I would give my first attention to learning how to do things directly with my hands. Nothing gives quite the satisfaction that doing things brings." As I was working on my February window last night and drawing out the design and painting the letters, etc. by hand, I thought about these letters again and thought I would share them. Please share with anyone you think might enjoy reading them. There's nothing like some good common sense to put what at times seems like a frenetic world into perspective. Also, please don't consider me posting this as advice. I would prefer not to be guilty of what Sherwood Anderson says of small businessmen.
From Sherwood Anderson to his son John:
The following year, after Sherwood took eighteen-year-old John and his sister Marion to Europe, John remained in Paris to study painting. Drawing on his own artistic experience and the parallels between writing and painting, Sherwood sent John another poignant letter of advice in April of 1927, adding to history's finest definitions of art and stressing the importance of discipline in cultivating "talent"The best thing, I dare say, is first to learn something well so you can always make a living. Bob seems to be catching on at the newspaper business and has had another raise. He is getting a good training by working in a smaller city. As for the scientific fields, any of them require a long schooling and intense application. If you are made for it nothing could be better. In the long run you will have to come to your own conclusion.The arts, which probably offer a man more satisfaction, are uncertain. It is difficult to make a living.If I had my own life to lead over I presume I would still be a writer but I am sure I would give my first attention to learning how to do things directly with my hands. Nothing gives quite the satisfaction that doing things brings.Above all avoid taking the advice of men who have no brains and do not know what they are talking about. Most small businessmen say simply — ‘Look at me.’ They fancy that if they have accumulated a little money and have got a position in a small circle they are competent to give advice to anyone.Next to occupation is the building up of good taste. That is difficult, slow work. Few achieve it. It means all the difference in the world in the end.I am constantly amazed at how little painters know about painting, writers about writing, merchants about business, manufacturers about manufacturing. Most men just drift.There is a kind of shrewdness many men have that enables them to get money. It is the shrewdness of the fox after the chicken. A low order of mentality often goes with it.Above all I would like you to see many kinds of men at first hand. That would help you more than anything. Just how it is to be accomplished I do not know. Perhaps a way may be found. Anyway, I’ll see you this summer. We begin to pack for the country this week.With love,Dad
In relation to painting.Don’t be carried off your feet by anything because it is modern — the latest thing.Go to the Louvre often and spend a good deal of time before the Rembrandts, the Delacroixs.Learn to draw. Try to make your hand so unconsciously adept that it will put down what you feel without your having to think of your hands.Then you can think of the thing before you.Draw things that have some meaning to you. An apple, what does it mean? The object drawn doesn’t matter so much.It’s what you feel about it, what it means to you.A masterpiece could be made of a dish of turnips.Draw, draw, hundreds of drawings.Try to remain humble. Smartness kills everything.The object of art is not to make salable pictures. It is to save yourself.Any cleanness I have in my own life is due to my feeling for words.The fools who write articles about me think that one morning I suddenly decided to write and began to produce masterpieces.There is no special trick about writing or painting either. I wrote constantly for 15 years before I produced anything with any solidity to it.[...]The thing of course, is to make yourself alive. Most people remain all of their lives in a stupor.The point of being an artist is that you may live.[…]You won’t arrive. It is an endless search.I write as though you were a man. Well, you must know my heart is set on you. It isn’t your success I want.There is a possibility of your having a decent attitude toward people and work. That alone may make a man of you.
Heritage Chinoiserie Console
Just the right size. Handsome, Heritage Chinoiserie console with walnut inlay top with Greek key border and black lacquered base with floral decoration. 30" h., 30" w., 15.5" d. American, c. 1970's SOLD
Condition: Excellent vintage condition.
F B Decorative Arts Mirror
Condition: Excellent vintage condition.
Maison Jansen Style Gueridon Table
Sophisticated Gueridon table in the style of Maison Jansen with brass ram's heads, brass hoofed feet and a glass top. 26" h., 25" diam. Italian, c. 1970's SOLD
Condition: Very good vintage condition with minor wear to finish on base.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Yasha Heifetz; Abstract Lamp
Heifetz Manufacturing Company of New York began in 1938 as primarily a lighting company, but they also produced decorative accessories, sculptures and some furniture. This Modernist sculptural lamp features a base which is composed of hand carved, cerused oak and copper. The tall fiberglass shade is original. The lamp is signed on the back of the base. 30" h., 16" w., 9.5" d. American, c. 1950's
Condition: Excellent vintage condition. SOLD
Condition: Excellent vintage condition. SOLD
Friday, October 6, 2017
Oli Goldsmith; Mountain Valley Friends
Mountain Valley Friends, 2017
Mixed media on board
20" x 16" unframed
$1,050.00
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Oli Goldsmith
Reunited. Oli Goldsmith was the first artist we represented in our Port Hope shop nearly a decade ago. After a bit of a hiatus, we couldn't be happier to be working with him again and showcasing this vibrant body of new work.
Oli was born in Toronto in 1979 and has been showing his work publicly since the age of 16. His collage paintings combine digital output and transfer processes with paint, ink and other traditional media-combining the old with the new. Disparate and often bizarre elements combine and play off of one another in surprising, provocative and often humorous ways. How the mind plays into subtext and suggestion, the subliminal elements often explored in surrealism and automatism, are directly connected to Oli's working process. The constant surprise of the results and the satisfaction derived from the creative act are what motivates his work.
Oli's paintings reside in private, public and corporate collections worldwide, including Maple Leaf Foods, Johnson & Johnson and The Sagamihara City Collection in Japan. In 2000, he was commissioned to design the packaging, with original artwork, for Canadian rock-band Our Lady Peace's Spiritual Machines. He also directed and animated the award winning music video for the song In Repair from the album. The album packaging was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Album Artwork and the video was nominated in six categories and won awards for Best Post-production, Best Director and Best Video.
Contact Patches (Barber Shop Sunset)
Mixed media on board
60" x 48" unframed
$4,900.00
Uni-Polar Order
Mixed media on board
60" x 48" unframed
SOLD
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Keri Davis of Toronto! She is the winner of the $500.00 MTA gift certificate. The bag containing the gift certificate was the 'A' in ART HISTORY. Thanks to everyone who entered the contest!
