Chinese paper scroll, ‘Parrots in Branches,’ Chinese ink and colors on paper scroll, 29 x 15 inches. Estimate: $400-$500. I.M. Chait Gallery /Auctioneers image. BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – I.M. Chait Gallery / Auctioneers will conduct an Asian arts, antiques and estates auction on Sunday, Oct. 21, beginning at 11 a.m. PDT. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding. The sale will consist of nearly 600 lots.
Featured will be:
Japanese, Sino-Tibetan and Southeast Asian antiques and artworks from a Pasadena, Calif., collection;
Numerous Chinese scrolls and fans from California, New York and Georgia collections; some purchased at Sotheby Parke-Bernet;
Chinese antiques including; ceramics, ivories, jades, scholars objects, snuff bottles and textiles from an important Midwest estate;
African wood carvings from Florida and New York collections; and
A collection of Japanese ivories, satsumas and other antiques from an important Beverly Hills estate.
Chinese carved and polychrome ivory cabbage, 13 1/2 inches long, wood stand. Estimate $1,200-$1,500. I.M. Chait Gallery /Auctioneers image.
Collection of various carved ivory animals, 5 1/4 inches long (largest). Estimate: $600-$900. I.M. Chait Gallery /Auctioneers image.
Old ivory whale’s tooth, in original unpolished form, 5 inches long. Estimate: $200-$300. I.M. Chait Gallery /Auctioneers image.
Colorful Chinese hand scroll on silk depicting a large continuous landscape with mountains, dwellings and waterscapes, inscription and seals, 266 inches long. Estimate: $1,500-$2,000. I.M. Chait Gallery /Auctioneers image.
Two fine German ivory and silver mounted tankards, 15 1/2 inches high. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc. image. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – On Monday, Oct. 15, Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc. will hold its annual Important and Fine Antiques and Art auction. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding. The auction will begin at 6 p.m. EDT.
The auction features an important and outstanding selection of 18th/19th century English and American silver; two rare and superlative ivory tankards, Vienna enamels, a large figural bronze and malachite clock. a fine Chinese Qianlong imperial dragon brush washer with Spink provenance, additional jades and porcelains, fine art, estate jewelry and furs.
The gallery is known for selling important silver and gold sporting trophies and in June the gallery sold the solid gold 1991 Kentucky Derby trophy for $137,400.
The offerings at the Oct. 15 auction give collectors an opportunity to acquire some rare and fine treasures. Highlighting the sale is a collection of English and American silver with some pieces not seen on the auction market in years. Brian Kogan, president of the gallery, commented that “the artistry of the 18th/19th century English silversmiths to capture the lifelikeness of animals, especially, the horse in silver and gold is unrivaled.”
The auction includes several such examples and most exemplary of this artistry is Lot 220, an impressive silver gilt sporting trophy with finely detailed standing thoroughbred horse finial and chased relief racing scene in a laurel leaf reserve. The 1803 trophy with Neo-Grecian heads and Greek key handles was won for the Bourough Bridge Races by the Earl of Darlington and John Ingleby Esq. and stands 18 inches high. There is also Lot 56 a George III silver gilt covered cup, dated 1814, by maker John Houle with four lion masks and a chased relief racing. The cup and cover weighs a hefty 120 ounces.
There are fine examples by Benjamin Smith, who in his career made silver masterpieces for Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, the jewelers and silversmiths to the royal family from 1798 to 1843, including Lot 278, a pair of spectacular George III wine coolers with a whopping 349 ounces of silver including the silver liners. Also worthy of mention, is Lot 55, an extremely detailed silver gilt handled basket with grapes and leaves dated 1811, and Lot 58, a circa 1821-26 five-piece tea service with amazing chasing and ornamentation. The pieces by English silversmith Paul Storr are always in demand and Lot 277 is the biggest and finest tray by that maker to come to the auction block. Impressive in size at 27 1/2 inches long, the tray dates to 1816 and weighs 167 ounces.
A selection of Tiffany pieces are also up for bidding highlighted by Lot 131 a 14-piece Persian-style sterling silver gilt demitasse set, circa 1876-1891, with beautiful and intricate chasing of arabesques, vines, leaves and tendrils adorning the tray, cups and coffeepot. And in the sporting category the auction features Lot 219, a Tiffany & Co. 14kt solid gold trophy cup and cover for the 1964 Saratoga Special horse race, won by Sadair. The trophy weighs 16 ounces and is engraved with the name of the horse and the owner, Mary B. Hechts.
Worthy of special mention are two German 19th century ivory and silver mounted tankards. Both lots 160 and 276 are 15 inches high and are profusely carved with hunting parties and hounds. Both have meticulously carved dog finials and elaborately carved handles with masks of wild beasts. Another high qualithy ivory lot is Lot 275, an unusual and elaborate grouping, probably French 19th century, of seven freestanding individual figures in 18th century dress. The quality in carving and the attention to detail makes this set a standout. The central figure has the uncanny appearance of Thomas Jefferson. It is quite possible that the piece might have been done for the U.S. Centennial in 1876.
This auction has so many quality objets d’art and fine art that there is not enough room to list them all.
For information, condition reports, and/or detailed photographs, contact the gallery at 561-805-7115.
Elaine Irwin is the former face of Almay Cosmetics and Ralph Lauren. Her face has graced the covers of dozens of fashion magazines.
INDIANAPOLIS – International supermodel Elaine Irwin is the former face of Almay Cosmetics and Ralph Lauren and has graced the cover of dozens of fashion magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Self and Elle. Her American Beauty cover for Vogue magazine was shot by renowned photographer Richard Avedon. She made the move into runway modeling for Victoria’s Secret and Calvin Klein, and soon became a favorite subject of photographers like Herb Ritts, Irving Penn and Steven Meisel, who were drawn to her soft, natural look. Elaine is a collector of mid-century modern furniture and lighting, especially Danish.
“Even as a kid, I always had a great love of design and later fashion,” Irwin said from her home in Indianapolis, where she lives with her two sons, Hud (born in 1994) and Speck (born in 1995). “My mother worked at the corporate offices of Knoll, the international furniture manufacturer known for their high-end office lines. They were headquartered in Pennsylvania, near where I grew up, and sometimes I’d go and visit my mother and be amazed at all the wonderfully designed pieces they’d have on display. The simple beauty of those pieces, combined with their functionality, really resonated with me.”
Irwin left home at age 16 to pursue a career in modeling and found success almost right away. After her photo appeared in Seventeen Magazine in 1985 (when she was 16), the Boyertown (Pa.) honors student and varsity letter winner in track and cross country was suddenly a much-sought-after face for magazine covers, advertisements and commercials. And, because her photo shoots often took her to exotic locales across the globe, she was further exposed to various furniture designs. Some were part of the photo shoots themselves. Some were just pieces she saw and liked when she was out and about.
Over time, Elaine developed a love and a passion for mid-century Danish furniture and lighting. She has pieces by designer-makers such as Frits Henningsen, Poul Henningsen, Poul Kjaerholm, Grete Jalk, Kaare Klint and Hans Wegner (Wegner is probably the most renowned of the group). She also developed a fondness for the female French furniture designer of the 1920s, Charlotte Perriand, a pioneer and visionary in what was then an entirely male-dominated field. But, for the most part, Danish pieces rule in her collection. “I try to get to Denmark two or three times a year,” she said. “I’ll just drive through the countryside, waiting for an inspiration or something to catch my eye.”
The prize of her Hans Wegner pieces is the stunning set of four armchairs from the rare JH-800 “Flat Steel Series” manufactured in 1970 as part of a high-end executive series by Wegner for Johannes Hansen. They were discontinued shortly after their introduction. “Wegner effortlessly merged grace with function, while creating a smooth balance between the chair’s fluid leather and structured steel,” Irwin said. The JH-813 model (which Irwin owns) is a Wegner masterwork. He first showed the JH-800 series at the 1947 Copenhagen Cabinet Makers’ Guild Exhibition, anonymously. It finally came to market more than 20 years later.
When Elaine first laid eyes on the 1930s-era Frits Henningsen-designed high wingback chair, “it was love at first sight…the unforgettable silhouette, the gorgeous leather aged perfectly, highlighting the rice patina…I knew I had to have it for my collection.” It is considered to be Frits Henningsen’s greatest work, and it has the original upholstery, with exceptional color and texture of the leather. The classic wing chair dates back to the 1700s, with the integration of the “wing” feature to a Berger-style chair, the idea being to capture additional heat around the chair’s occupant while he sat fireside. Henningsen’s chair dates to the early ‘30s and Irwin purchased it at an auction in Copenhagen.
Poul Hennigsen was a legendary lighting designer who summarized his design philosophy in 10 words: “Form is given in a perfect mastery of the material.” He applied that mindset to the set of four copper wall lamps that Irwin bought out of the same building they’d resided in since the mid-1960s. They were originally designed for exterior use and all have the same rich patina from decades of oxidation and natural aging. It is a PH 4. 5/3 model (the PH is for the designer’s initials, followed by a fraction that represents the shade size). The PH lamps were desk, wall and floor models, patented in 1927 but not manufactured until 1966.
One designer in Irwin’s collection who has both furniture and lighting on his resume is Poul Kjaerholm. The furniture piece is the legendry PK-9 chair, manufactured by E. Kold Christiansen around 1960 and boasting rare original cognac leather and a magnificent patina. It is said that Kjaerholm’s quest for the perfect shape led him to design the PK-9, but in fact it was tulip-shaped sandy imprint on the backside of his wife, Hanne, at a Danish beach that actually led to the chair’s final design. “For that reason it’s often called the tulip chair,” Irwin said with a laugh, “and I guess you could say it really was a labor of love.”
The lighting example is an exceedingly rare PK-101 sculpted candelabra, produced by E. Kold Christiansen from 1959-1966 and then briefly again in 1974. It was made in very small numbers, making Irwin’s piece very desirable among collectors. Kjaerholm envisioned the candelabra as a modern and abstract form of a plant and was designed to emulate a tree. It was constructed of thin steel rods attached to a central tube at 22-degree intervals, making two complete revolutions. He used high-tensile strength steel to reduce the size of the rods that were crafted to accommodate a typical Danish candle used at Christmas.
There’s a masterpiece in Irwin’s collection, and it’s a 20th-century armchair designed by Kaare Klint in 1927 for the lecture hall of the Danish Museum of Art & Design in Copenhagen. Shortly thereafter it took the Grand Prix medal at the 1929 Barcelona World Expo, thus earning it the nickname the “Barcelona” chair. It was actually called by its maker, Rud Rasmusson, the “Red Chair,” due to the golden reddish color of the Niger leather used to upholster it. “It should have been called the Klint chair,” Irwin remarked, “like the master craftsman/designer himself, who perfected the blend of form and function.”
Irwin is quite proud of her rosewood dining set designed by Grete Jalk and made in the early 1960s. The 53-inch circular table is crafted in rich Brazilian rosewood and expands to 11½ feet with the use of four detailed extension leaves. Eight chairs of leather and rosewood complete the set. “These pieces are from the private collection of the manufacturer, P. Jeppson,” Irwin said. “It’s an amazing piece of work and had been in his family home since being built in the ’60s. It’s in outstanding condition and is just a gorgeous set.”
Irwin has an absolute soft spot in her heart for Charlotte Perriand, the spunky firebrand who, at age 24 in the 1920s, muscled her way into an “atelier” position with the famed designer Le Corbusier in France. This was after she had applied for a job at the Le Corbusier studio and was unceremoniously turned away. Undeterred, she set out to convert her apartment into a studio, where she designed a rooftop bar of glass, aluminum and steel for exhibit. Her design garnered much attention and caught the eye of Le Corbusier himself, who issued her an apology and invited her to come work for him.
Perriand worked as a lead furniture designer for Le Corbusier before striking out on her own. In the 1960s, the French ski resort Les Arcs contracted her to help design and develop their resort, emphasizing practical use of small spaces and open living without compromising quality or comfort. One of the by-products of her effort was the tubular steel and leather chair that became known as “Les Arc” chairs. Perriand balanced the thick leather by mounting it to the tubular chrome steel frame with smaller straps. The symmetry between the leather and steel created an overall light feeling and made the chairs versatile for any setting. Elaine owns a set of four “Les Arcs” chairs.
Irwin has accumulated so much mid-century modern furniture and lighting she has actually launched a business to sell it, called Dragonlaine (www.dragonlaine.com). For now, purchases can be made online, but she plans to open a brick-and-mortar store by the end of the year in Venice Beach, Calif. She will have a partner who will dedicate a portion of the space to rare antiquarian books, and that part of the business will be called Dragon Books. The store as a whole will be called Dragon Books/Dragonlaine. The space they have selected is a former art gallery. Elaine said the two will probably exhibit at a few antiques shows per year, to help spread the word.
Irwin has also returned to the modeling scene in a big way, and will be featured in V Magazine as well as W Magazine’s 40th anniversary issue, due to hit newsstands in November. Fans of Elaine Irwin may learn more about her at www.elaineirwin.com.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Elaine Irwin is the former face of Almay Cosmetics and Ralph Lauren. Her face has graced the covers of dozens of fashion magazines.Elaine Irwin, behind the camera for a change, takes a photo of one of the many chairs in her collection.Stunning set of armchairs by the renowned designer Hans Wegner, from the rare JH-800 ‘Flat Steel Series.’When Elaine first set eyes on this 1930s-era Frits Hennningsen-designed high wingback chair, it was ‘love at first sight.’Mid-’60s-era copper wall lamp by Poul Henningsen, one of a set of four bought out of a building by Irwin.The legendary PK-9 chair designed by Poul Kjaerholm, said to have been nicknamed the ‘tulip chair’ in reference to his wife’s tulip-shaped backside.Irwin is quite proud of her early 1960s rosewood dining set designed by Grete Jalk.This armchair designed by Kaare Klint in 1927 for a Danish museum lecture hall is a masterpiece in Irwin’s collection.Irwin has a soft spot in her heart for Charlotte Perriand, the spunky firebrand who became a noted designer in France in the 1920s.
Caryatid Luba stool, 17 inches. Estimate $20,000-$30,000. Leighton Galleries image. ALLENDALE, N.J. – Leighton Galleries’ Oct. 18 auction will feature a large collection of oceanic and African tribal arts mainly from a Mahwah, N.J., estate. Included will be woodcarvings, bronzes, masks, ivory, weaponry and some jewelry. The collection is primarily 20th century spanning from the ’50s through ’70s, as well as some antique pieces. The sale will also include American and Continental paintings, fine silver, 19th century Asian ware, decorative arts, fine jewelry and more.
Internet live bidding will be supplied by LiveAuctoners.com.
Heading up the tribal arts is a caryatid Luba stool acquired by the late South African diplomat H.L.T. Taswell in the 1940s. The piece has a number of attributes classic to a Luba chief’s ceremonial stool including the female’s elongated fingers supporting the seat, her torso decorated with ornamental scarification marks, and her prominent conical breasts. A little more unusual to the piece is the figure’s mouth, which exhibits a slightly protruding tongue between exposed teeth. It is likely 19th century and carries an estimate of $20,000-$30,000.
Several other carvings will be offered, all with moderate estimates ranging from $200 to $800. Included is a 50-inch Wakamba tribe witch doctor signed Kimanga from Kenya, a 77-inch female stick figure from Tanzania, a 73-inch Sepik River suspension hook figure, two Baumum wood and bronze doors from Cameroon, a 38-inch bull giraffe from Kenya, a signed elephant with custom-made ivory tusks from Tanzania and an interesting New Guinea polychrome ancestral carving that the owner purchased from a villager’s hut while traveling down the Sepik River by canoe.
The auction is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 18, starting at 5 p.m. EDT.
For information call 201-327-8800 or email info@Leightongalleries.com.
National Museum of Bosnia and_Hercegovina in Sarajevo. Photo by Mazbin, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.SARAJEVO (AFP) – Bosnia’s National Museum, founded in the 19th century and home to a famed 600-year old Jewish manuscript known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, closed its doors indefinitely Thursday due to political disputes and a lack of funding.
“Such a complex institution cannot function by improvisations. The authorities must provide the funds for employees’ salaries and functioning costs,” museum manager Adnan Busuladzic said.
About 60 employees of Bosnia’s oldest museum, founded in 1888 and situated in the capital Sarajevo, have gone unpaid for about a year, Busuladzic said.
They left the building unstaffed and nailed wooden boards saying “Closed” to the entrance, while several students briefly chained themselves up in protest.
Hundreds of students also marched along central Sarajevo streets demanding the museum’s reopening.
The institution needs some 60,000 euros ($78,000) per month for regular activities and functions, Busuladzic said.
Founded when Bosnia was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire (1878-1914), the National Museum has never before closed its doors, even during the country’s bloody 1992-1995 war.
Busuladzic warned of the “indifference” shown by the local authorities.
The management has already filed a legal complaint against the Bosnian government, accusing it of negligence towards the state institution.
“What happens nowadays, in 2012, 17 years after the war, is a humiliation, a shame and a sin,” said local historian Enver Imamovic, who ran the museum during the 1992-1995 war.
After Bosnia’s inter-ethnic war that pitted Muslims, Serbs and Croats against each other, the Balkan country was divided into two semi-autonomous entities, the Muslim Croat Federation and Republika Srpska overseen by a weak central government.
The 1995 Dayton peace agreement ending Bosnia’s war failed to envisage a central ministry of culture. The civilian affairs ministry is in charge of the coordination of cultural projects and international cooperation.
Bosnian Muslim, Croat and Serb political parties have still failed to reach an accord to finance the museum and other institutions through the central budget.
In January, the national library had its heating cut just as Bosnia was hit with freezing temperatures.
The Bosnia National Museum’s problems are not unique. The Gallery of Modern Art has closed its permanent collection to the public since September 2011.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
National Museum of Bosnia and_Hercegovina in Sarajevo. Photo by Mazbin, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
The Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim, published under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
DUBAI (AFP) – A replica of India’s world-famous Taj Mahal, four times the size of the original, is to be built in Dubai as what is to be billed as the world’s grandest wedding venue, one of its developers said.
It took the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan 22 years to build the marble mausoleum for his queen 360 years ago, but the copy, to be known as Taj Arabia, is expected to take only two years.
The billion-dollar project will be set in the heart of the 41-million-square-foot Falcon City of Wonders on Emirates Road, said Arun Mehra, chairman of sub-developers Link Global Group, at the annual Cityscape Global real estate exposition in Dubai.
“Marriage is a celebration. It needs to be announced and glorified. Currently Dubai is not regarded as a wedding destination. People go to Bali and other exotic places to marry. Now they will come to Taj Arabia,” Mehra told Gulf News.
Surrounded by lush green landscaping, including the famous Mughal Gardens, the “New City of Love” will have several architecturally themed residential and commercial buildings.
Taj Arabia will be a five-star hotel property with 300 rooms. It will be flanked by seven mixed-use buildings, two of which will have 200 serviced apartments.
“Traditionally in the UAE and the sub-continent, marriage is not just a union of two people but also their families. The serviced apartments beside Taj Arabia will be ideal for wedding guests as they will have 10 large bedrooms and a hall,” said Mehra.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
The Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim, published under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.Nightscape of the high-rise section of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Image by .EVO. from UAE, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Olafur Eliasson’s better-known installations include ‘The Weather Project,’ 2003, at Tate Modern in London. Eliasson used humidifiers to create a fine mist in the air via a mixture of sugar and water, and installed a semicircular disc composed of hundreds of monochromatic lamps that radiated yellow light. Photo by Thomas Pintaric, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
DNIPROPETROVSK, Ukraine (AFP) – Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson opened one of his famed light installations Thursday in the unlikely setting of an industrial Ukraine steel plant owned by one of the ex-Soviet state’s biggest tycoons.
The conceptual collections’ unveiling was attended by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych — formally there to cut the ribbon on a $700-million unit developed by the tycoon and political powerbroker Viktor Pinchuk.
“Art has the capacity to suggest visions, states of uncertainty, and new stimuli, whereas factories, to ensure smooth production, are of necessity governed primarily by order and predictability,” Eliasson said at the joint opening. “[But] I saw this commission as…a setting where human values and needs come first, where a degree of unpredictability and aesthetic experience is embraced in the factory’s everyday life and in the city of Dnepropetrovsk.”
The five permanent installations are spread out across the buzzing halls of Interpipe Steel — an energy pipes and pieces producer that plans to go through 1.3 million tonnes of steel per year.
“This is a great event for Ukraine,” Yanukovych said. “It’s the first metallurgical factory built in our country in forty years.”
One of the of installations is called “Dnepropetrovsk Sunrise” and symbolizes the “industrial renaissance of Ukraine”.
The work features two intersecting ellipses made of metal rising 60 meters (200 feet) high. There is also a series of mirrors arranged on the wall of a workshop and still more pieces that, like the rest, will remain open to visitors.
The tycoon Pinchuk called the show “an encounter with the future.”
Eliasson debuted in Ukraine last year at a Kiev art centre also owned by Pinchuk.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Olafur Eliasson’s better-known installations include ‘The Weather Project,’ 2003, at Tate Modern in London. Eliasson used humidifiers to create a fine mist in the air via a mixture of sugar and water, and installed a semicircular disc composed of hundreds of monochromatic lamps that radiated yellow light. Photo by Thomas Pintaric, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Merle Spandorfer of Cheltenham, Pa., whose work is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will have paintings prominently displayed at the Einstein Medical Center Montgomery. ‘Dark Forest,’ acrylic on paper, 18 by 16 inches, is not one of them. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Rago Arts and Auction Center.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) – You might think that, waiting in a hallway for a family member to get out of surgery, or staring at the walls from your hospital bed, you’d welcome some interesting, engagingly diversionary artwork.
Daniel Day, director of Health Environment Art Services, is here to tell you that you would not.
Day, who has spent the better part of two years selecting art for the new Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, which opens Saturday in East Norriton, says research, like his instincts, is clear.
“Views of nature are much more preferred than abstract and contemporary art,” he says. “When you’re in a high-stress situation, you want something familiar, not challenging, not agitating.”
It also matters where art is placed in a hospital. As Day likes to say, “You don’t realize how important that is until you put the waterfall picture in the ultrasound unit,” where bladders are full.
At Einstein Montgomery, the biggest landscape of all is the one visible across Germantown Pike from the hospital: the bucolic view of Norristown Farm Park, with its iconic barn in a field.
The hospital has a glass wall that angles out facing the field, which gives hallways, foyers, and those patients lucky enough to have rooms on the Germantown Pike side as soothing a vista as can be envisioned. Much of the art throughout the building echoes that pastoral scene.
Day, who has spent two decades selecting art for hospitals all over the country, said the Einstein directors were clear: They wanted the artwork to reflect the community’s demographics, values, geography, and in selected areas, its artists.
Moving out of Norristown – the hospital will replace Montgomery Hospital, which closes simultaneously – and into the younger, more-affluent exurbia of East Norriton, Einstein knew what it didn’t want on its walls: urban scenes, harsh colors, and, with a few exceptions, art depicting people.
“The hospital wants people to feel comfortable in the setting,” Day said. “If the work reflects the community, it sends a comforting message. It’s the vision this community has of itself. It sends the message, ‘We know who you are.’”
At the Atlanticare Medical Center in Atlantic City, that means beach, ocean, boats and photographs of Jersey Shore lifeguard races by Rusty Silverman (message: We’re here to rescue you!).
In East Norriton, that means, in large part, barns, wildlife, streams, nature, and, frankly, more barns – photographs and paintings, with local artists chosen competitively.
“They wanted to not bring the city in here,” said Day’s partner, Annette Eisenman. “It doesn’t serve the city.”
Day led a recent art tour of the hospital and discussed the psychological and aesthetic concerns that informed his choice of art (within Einstein’s budget, a figure the hospital declined to disclose).
When he began in his field, Day said, he went into hospital boardrooms to speak about the healing power of art, and people viewed him skeptically, as if they expected him to bring out “the crystals and candles.” Now, research has caught up with what he believed then.
He tells hospitals that patients who have had a view of a nature image as opposed to a brick wall recorded earlier discharges and fewer requests for pain medication. “I use that on CEOs when they say, ‘How can it save me money?’”
Coming from Houston, he was relieved to be in a place where four seasons could be depicted, but acknowledged, “It’s really hard to find positive winter scenes.”
The hospital wanted to involve the community, so Day put out a call for art. In the end, works from 16 artists were selected, including from Mamacita, which is a mothers’ cooperative of 11 artists who contributed 44 smaller works to a single large piece now located outside the labor-and-delivery waiting area.
Their original art fills a gallery along the hallway that leads from the hospital to the Medical Arts Building. The titles of the works – Plymouth Township Park at Twilight by John Bandish, Shield From the Wind by Michelle Billetta, for example – give a sense of what Day was after: softer colors, tranquil themes.
Paul Meyer, executive director of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, has four photographs on canvas of scenes from the arboretum, and three from the Wissahickon Valley.
One prominently displayed artist is Merle Spandorfer, 77, of Cheltenham, whose work is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her uplifting 30-by-45-inch Orange Glow was inspired in part by her experience as a breast-cancer patient treated by an Einstein doctor.
In general, Day shies away from red for obvious reasons (blood), but he made an exception for a piece depicting Elfreth’s Alley (the only city image, though a benignly historic one) in bold redbrick. It’s the last piece in the hallway gallery, placed there in part as a signpost (to get to the hospital from the Medical Arts Building, go to the painting of the red Elfreth’s Alley building, etc., etc.).
In individual hospital rooms, the art – generally from catalogs – tends toward photos of trees, flowers, birds and pastoral architecture (i.e., barns). But in the cafeteria, a piece with a barn in the middle is bordered by more abstract images, providing a bit of a break for those who might feel oversoothed.
In general, subject matter is a sensitive issue.
“Showing people art in a hospital can be very sensitive,” Day said. “The goal of art is to portray a scene you can put yourself in. The view stops being healing and starts being storytelling. If you have a person with their back to you walking toward trees, my immediate thinking is, Where are they running to? It doesn’t allow you to put yourself in the image.
“Art with a person in it is putting another person in your private moment. Mom’s never going to go on a picnic.”
People in hospitals tend to remember what they were looking at during their stay. “Our memory hormones are on overdrive,” Day said. “When you’re in the ER and get bad news, you want the artwork to be a positive distraction. You want it to be a beautiful picture of a pathway through the trees. You don’t want the artwork to be intrusive, to be aggressive. That will be the artwork that etches into the memory bank when they get the bad news about Mom.”
For a similar reason, there are no photos of families or mothers with babies in the labor-and-delivery area. “Not everyone walks out with the baby they had planned for, and the last thing they want to look at is an idealized representation of that.”
Day favors artwork of pathways in the cardiac-related areas. “Pathways are very restorative and healing,” he said. “They’ll say, ‘Get up, get up.’”
Even though a person’s personal art preference might tend toward more abstract or challenging works, in doesn’t carry over to a medical context. Annette Eisenman said she experienced that personally in a doctor’s office.
“I was waiting for test results in an area full of abstract art,” she said. “I had to shut my eyes, it was so agitating.”
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Online:
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Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.philly.com
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-10-03-12 1526GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Merle Spandorfer of Cheltenham, Pa., whose work is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will have paintings prominently displayed at the Einstein Medical Center Montgomery. ‘Dark Forest,’ acrylic on paper, 18 by 16 inches, is not one of them. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Rago Arts and Auction Center.
Henry Moore sculpture. Image courtesy of Love At First Bid.
NEW YORK – Love At First Bid is gearing up for its third sale, to be held Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012. Having begun as a specialty house for jewelry and vintage clothing, Love At First Bid’s upcoming auction marks a departure into a more inclusive selection of quality merchandise.
“We’d been approached to handle a variety of estates and decided to expand into fine and decorative arts after testing the waters in our previous sale,” said founder and president Annegret von Winterfeld.
The auction will open with an exceptional collection of fine, costume and studio jewelry including a significant private collection of vintage Bakelite jewelry and several pieces by Miriam Haskell, Kenneth Jay Lane, Valentino, Dior, Guy Laroche. The pieces are joined by many other stylish examples.
A small but choice selection of fine clothing and accessories will also go on the auction block. Featured designers include Hermes, Chanel, Gucci, Celine, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Oscar de la Renta and Schiaparelli.
Most noteworthy, however, is the collection of fine art from the estate of New York City art dealer and one-time president of the Old Masters division at M. Knoedler & Co., Jack Tanzer. Tanzer, who also collaborated with Hammer and Adelson Galleries, amassed a collection of old and modern master drawings, paintings and sculpture. This collection includes works signed or attributed to Henry Moore, Jo Davidson, Ralph Blakelock, Zero Mostel, Emile Boudin, Fletcher Martin, Rosa Bonheur, Jean-Leon Gerome, Edward Burne-Jones, Sonia Delaunay, Tony Rosenthal, J. L. Gericault, and Frederick Judd Waugh. Accompanying this impressive group are works from a private collection by Hunt Slonem, David Loeb, along with a very interesting early Andy Warhol mixed-media depiction of a boldly painted tie.
To contact Love At First Bid regarding any item in the auction, call 646-580-7443.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Philadelphia Phillies teammates Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt (legibly) autographed this picture, 1979-1983. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Regency-Superior Ltd.
Editors Note: Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt has signed countless autographs and has tried to make each one easy to read.
Since when did the signatures of today’s celebrity athletes become worse than your local physician’s scrawl on a prescription slip?
Yes, I know, some now put their uniform number under their scribble. Have the constant paparazzi-like, autograph-stalking fans caused players to rebel by putting a bumpy line with a number as their autograph? Is it the chicken scratch on the ball that fans seek, or is it just being able to say, “I was there”?
This spring, while with the Phillies in camp, I asked the clubhouse guy to get me some famous Phillies on balls for my charity auction. I must sign thousands every year for charity. It’s funny how you get tired of the same requests over and over until you need one.
Anyway, I get 10 signed balls given to me in a box that I bring home. A few weeks later, I’m doing inventory on some items I have gotten for the auction and I open the box of balls and I can’t read any of the signatures. I study and study, hoping to see a curve or a clue that would lead me to the name.
I asked my wife if she recognized any. None. I made out Roy Halladay, Jim Thome and Jimmy Rollins. A couple had the number – thank you, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee and Hunter Pence. That was a great clue, at least for me, but what about the person who buys it at the auction and may not know the numbers?
Signatures became valuable on collectible items back in the 1980s. At least that’s my recollection. The autograph itself has been a cherished item for as long as I can remember. I stood next to the players’ field entrance at Crosley Field in Cincinnati as a kid in the’60s one night hoping to get Willie Mays. No such luck.
I have signatures I value, not because they are worth money, but because of how they were given to me.
As a kid, my grandmother was on a plane with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. How that happened, I don’t know, but she brought me all three of their names on business cards. The first says “Best Wishes, Gary Player.” The next says “Good Luck Mike, Jack Nicklaus.” The next is “To Mike, Best Wishes, Arnold Palmer.” All say “Sept 11, 62,” which I believe my grandmother wrote in the corner.
I was 12 years old in 1962. I’m looking at these cards now, I know all these men personally; have played golf with them. I know Player’s and Nicklaus’ kids. I was given the autographs 50 years ago of these famous golfers and I still have them. I can read them. You could read them. That’s when an autograph was just that – a memory, an experience, something to look at that reminds you of good times.
I remember signing my first autograph in 1970. It was after the first game of the College World Series with Ohio University. We beat Southern California, and as we were boarding the bus a little kid had a ball and we all signed it. I thought it was the greatest thing, putting my signature on a baseball. The first of a zillion, every one of which can be recognized.
As most all of us who have taken advantage of our signatures having value, I have profited immensely from the memorabilia industry. Quite honestly, it has kept many of us from having to find a job after our careers ended, and for that we are thankful.
My signature’s value has never changed over the years. Sure, I know there is a class system in the industry, certain signatures retain value and others don’t. In my case, one reason it has retained value is it’s neat and you can read it. It is legible, shows respect and looks as though I put some effort into the process of creating a collectible item.
I’m not in the class of Andre Dawson or the late Harmon Killebrew. Their signatures are artwork. Their slow, methodical signing technique shows immense respect for their names and the items on which they appear.
What’s the point? The point is this generation and its athletes have allowed the autograph phenomenon to assimilate into a game, of sorts. Who will be where and when, and what scam do seekers need to run to take advantage of the moment? It’s a game the fans and players play every day. Collectors using small children and pretty girlfriends to get sellable merchandise, hiding out at various locations with briefcases, planning their attack just to get a scribble.
No longer a handshake, smile and a short conversation and the personalized autograph that seals the memory. Now you get a scribble. And for some reason, fans accept it as normal.
So, I got my dozen balls for the charity auction. I was excited that those guys scribbled for me, but I had to put some sort of sign next to each ball so people would know who signed them.
Am I off base here, thinking that there is some link to one’s level of respect for his signature as it relates to his respect for where it might be displayed? Or has the environment hardened the players to the point of not caring either way?
Don’t be surprised if the future of those famous athletes’ autographs is simply their uniform number. Why not? At least you can read it. And it suffices for proof that the fan and the athlete shared space. Actually, I think a stamp makes more sense. Think about it, conversations aren’t part of it, handshakes either, why not a legible stamp? Bop, bop, bop – think how many more can be done in the same time, albeit the value of each one would certainly drop.
Probably too much to ask for a wholesale change in attitude from both sides. As if the players will sign neat and speak to the fans while signing, and fans and collectors will respect the player’s right to privacy in certain areas and not stalk them near hotels and airports.
Autograph utopia: Neat signatures, kind words, handshakes, no pushing or shoving, quality opposed to quantity. Any chance?
Me, I just want to know which Phillies signed those balls.
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AP-WF-10-02-12 1518GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Philadelphia Phillies teammates Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt (legibly) autographed this picture, 1979-1983. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Regency-Superior Ltd.
