Gleaner combine located in Heritage Hall at AGCO Hesston, Kan., manufacturing facility. The original Gleaner combine was mounted on a Fordson tractor. Image by AgcoJackson, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. NICKERSON, Kan. (AP) – Cornfields stood tall as a Gleaner combine caravan slowly passed by.
Farmers took a moment on the morning of Aug. 17 to grab a camera to capture the moment, marking the 90th anniversary of a combine that brought agriculture its first self-propelled combine.
The combines slowly skirted along the Kansas prairie. They passed fields—some freshly plowed, others full of crops—as they slowly drove on 82nd and Dutch avenues from the combine’s birthplace in Nickerson to where they are made today at AGCO in Hesston.
“All the people who came to be a part of this (celebration) tells you what a beautiful name the Gleaner combine has created—a legacy that will certainly live on,” said Kevin Bien, Gleaner brand marketing manager for AGCO.
Bill Baldwin, son of one of the brand’s founders, Ernest Baldwin, made sure to be in central Kansas for the three-day celebration. The Ottawa resident excitedly talked to his son, David, about the celebration of their family’s legacy. He did not want to miss it.
“At 85, I’ve never had more excitement in my life than I’m having today,” Bill Baldwin said.
He was in Nickerson at 7 a.m. when a dedication was unveiled at the combine’s 1923 birthplace. A display with an old combine was placed on top of crushed rock, surrounded by a fence.
A sign on west Railroad Avenue just north of N. Nickerson St. tells the legacy of the Gleaner combine. It tells how brothers Curtis, Earnest and George Baldwin developed the universal harvester and named it “The Gleaner” after an 1857 painting by Jean-Francois Millet depicting women gathering grain after harvest.
Bill Hurley, vice president of North American Field Organization for AGCO, was impressed at how the city of Nickerson recognized the Baldwin legacy.
“We appreciate the turnout and the work that the city of Nickerson did,” he said.
Today Gleaners are made in the AGCO facility in Hesston, about 40 miles from Nickerson. Hurley couldn’t say how many combines the company makes per year, but it sells thousands of machines all over the world.
The finale of the three-day celebration to commemorate the Gleaner’s 90th anniversary was a parade that took off from the AGCO parking lot in Hesston.
“It was almost like the good Lord set this up,” Bien said. “We hope (people) come and recognize what a beautiful love affair it has been with the family that has brought so much to the farm equipment industry.”
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-08-24-13 1532GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Gleaner combine located in Heritage Hall at AGCO Hesston, Kan., manufacturing facility. The original Gleaner combine was mounted on a Fordson tractor. Image by AgcoJackson, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Steve Powers, ‘Love Letter to Brooklyn,’ New York City. Photo by Abby Fentress Swanson for WNYC via wnyc.org. NEW YORK – I first saw the large gray and black messages walking through a surprisingly ghost town-like downtown Brooklyn early on a Saturday morning. In capital letters, in and around a Macy’s garage and the Fulton Mall, are the phrases “Euphoria,” “Is You for Me,” “I Was Nurtured Here,” “I am Made to Leave,” and my current favorite, “Busy as a Brooklyn bound B.” Aside from particularly creative and colorful tags, I usually respond more to pictures than words when it comes to visual art, but there was something about the height and the scale of these phrases, their rawness that forced me to stop and look up.
I’m glad I did. Even when the words appear to be straightforward, artist Steve Powers adds a little twist, something perplexing, but often funny and fascinating. Above the words “Onward and Upward” is a fist, which I expected to be rising up in joy or power, but on a closer look appears to be calmly holding a spoon. Instead of a call to action, it inspired a call to eat.
The piece, commissioned by Macy’s, was inspired by conversations with Brooklyn residents and Powers’s own time in the city. While based in Philadelphia, where he’s done a similar love letter series, he spent some time working in Coney Island in the 2003 and 2004. Before he received commissions for legal pieces, Powers was a graffiti writer who went by the tag ESPO. As ESPO, Powers painted poems on roofs and buildings in his hometown of Philadelphia and Syracuse. He also painted a series of quotes by ad man David Ogilvy onto the walls of the New York Ogilvy & Mather offices.
Wherever he paints, Powers is committed to the work remaining a reflection of the community it lives in. As part of his commitment to keeping it local, Powers and his collaborators even used rollers and house paint from a nearby Lowe’s.
Love Letter to Brooklyn is located on Hoyt Street between Livingston and Fulton streets in downtown Brooklyn.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Steve Powers, ‘Love Letter to Brooklyn,’ New York City. Photo by Abby Fentress Swanson for WNYC via wnyc.org.Steve Powers, ‘Love Letter to Brooklyn,’ New York City. Photo by Abby Fentress Swanson for WNYC via wnyc.org.Steve Powers, ‘Love Letter to Brooklyn,’ New York City. Photo by Abby Fentress Swanson for WNYC via wnyc.org.
Steiff studio giraffe, early 1980s, 8ft tall, purchased at Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia, retains Steiff button and tag, est. $4,000-$6,000. Morphy Auctions image.DENVER, Pa. – A fine selection of German bisque dolls and a parade of French bisque beauties – including a circle dot Bru – will join Schoenhuts, Googlies and other 20th-century classics at Morphy’s September 21 Doll Auction. The 623-lot sale consists of consignments from a number of discriminating doll enthusiasts, with the largest single grouping coming from a well-refined, long-time Pennsylvania collection. Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.com.
Premium-quality French bisque dolls in the sale encompass quite a wide production range, from fashion dolls to boxed DEPs and productions by Jumeau, Steiner and SFJB. The top-estimated doll is Lot 262, a Bru circle dot bébé with chubby cheeks and deep brown paperweight eyes with amber threading. The Bru is expected to make $15,000-$25,000.
Morphy’s doll specialist Jan Foulke explained that collectors are always on the lookout for late-19th-century bisques like the Bru circle dot bébé in the upcoming auction because they represent the golden age of French doll manufacture. “Dolls made in France around the 1870s and 1880s were exquisite productions,” Foulke said. “No other dolls can match them for their beauty and quality.”
Another French bisque highlight is Lot 130, a very rare circa-1877 mignonette doll with ball joints in both elbows. “Mignonette means ‘sweet little thing.’ It’s a term the French doll makers used in their catalogs to describe this type of small, very appealing doll,” said Foulke. “The doll to be auctioned is only 5-1/2 inches tall and is extremely desirable because it’s as original as the day it left the factory.” Its presale estimate is $2,500-$3,500.
The German bisque character category is brimming with fine Hertel, Schwab & Co., Heubach, Kley & Hahn, and Kammer & Reinhardt dolls. The varied lineup includes child, lady, nurse, Santa and “pouty” dolls. Lot 289, a rare and impressive glass-eyed 21in K&R 114 doll in antique pink cotton dress with matching hat, displays crisp modeling and an especially pouty mouth. Estimate: $7,000-$9,000.
Lot 163, a rare 16in Heubach 7746 character doll is ready to entertain in an antique gold and black ruffle-neck clown suit, pointy red hat with white polka dots, and black buckle-front shoes. His cheeky grin reveals well-molded lower teeth. The doll could make $3,000-$5,000 at Morphy’s.
Ever-popular Googlies will cross the auction block, with the top entry being Lot 19, a saucy Hertel, Schwab & Co. 172 estimated at $3,000-$5,000. Another Googly prize is Lot 436, an A.M. 323 boy doll dressed in a colorful, factory-original lederhosen outfit with all accessories, including tie, hat, wool stockings and leather shoes. A good size at 12 inches, the smartly outfitted fellow is expected to reach a bid of $1,500-$2,500.
Other early productions that collectors are sure to find appealing include turn of the 20th century Chinese Door of Hope dolls (Lot 202, Amah nursemaid with baby, est. $1,200-$1,800), French wax fashion ladies, and black dolls. Philadelphia-made Schoenhuts are led by Lot 338, a 15in all-wood “Miss Dolly” that was introduced to the market in 1915. The example to be auctioned is all original and dressed in its white factory chemise with pink stockings and pink leather shoes. It also retains its original box with graphics of Schoenhut dolls, information about Miss Dolly’s metal joints, and an explanation of how the doll was made. The auction estimate is $1,000-$1,500.
Composition dolls include Shirley Temple, Sonja Henie, the Dionne Quintuplets, a Dewees Cochran boy, Vogue Toddles and many more. Mid-century dolls are abundant in the Sept. 21 sale, as well, with an array of Madame Alexander Cissy dolls, hard plastic Ginnys, Hoyers, boxed Tonis and several other popular types. A quality grouping of Barbies includes a #2, #4, #5, and an excellent Blonde Ponytail #1 Barbie in striped one-piece swimsuit and original box, estimated at $2,000-$3,000.
There’s much more to attract collectors’ attention on auction day, including cloth and Swiss wood dolls, artist dolls (Sashas, R. John Wright, etc.), teddy bears, a grouping of 19th-century Neapolitan crèche figures, and a varied selection of doll clothes, accessories and furniture.
“Over the past several years we’ve seen a disparity in auction prices – up, then down, then up again on the same model of doll – and in every case it was the originality and condition of the doll that determined what it sold for,” said Foulke. “I think the September 21st auction is going to please collectors who want fresh, original dolls in excellent condition.”
Morphy’s September 21 Doll Auction will commence at 9 a.m. Eastern Time, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers. For additional information, call 717-335-3435 or e-mail serena@morphyauctions.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.liveauctioneers.com.
Steiff studio giraffe, early 1980s, 8ft tall, purchased at Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia, retains Steiff button and tag, est. $4,000-$6,000. Morphy Auctions image.French Bru circle dot bebe, 23in tall, kid body with bisque socket head and lower arms, est. $15,000-$25,000. Morphy Auctions image.German Kammer & Reinhardt 114 character doll, 21in tall, est. $7,000-$9,000. Morphy Auctions image.French bisque mignonette doll, circa 1877, 5½ in tall, est. $2,500-$3,500. Morphy Auctions image.German Hertel, Schwab & Co. Googly doll, 12in tall, est. $3,000-$5,000. Morphy Auctions image.Rare German Heubach 7746 character doll, 16in tall, est. $3,000-$5,000. Morphy Auctions image.Blonde Barbie #1 with blonde ponytail, striped one-piece swimsuit, original box, est. $2,000-$3,000. Morphy Auctions image.German Hertel, Schwab & Co. 141 character doll, 20in tall, est. $3,000-$5,000. Morphy Auctions image.French fashion lady doll, 17in tall, bisque head, shoulder plate, arms and lower legs on kid-over-wood body, est. $4,000-$5,000. Morphy Auctions image.
Why an ice stand would be decorated with stag heads and wolves is a mystery, but this 14-inch-high piece of majolica, used to serve dessert, sold for $8,610 at Neal Auction Co. in New Orleans.
BEACHWOOD, Ohio – A Minton majolica centerpiece was auctioned in May as an “ice stand.” Minton & Polson was established in 1793 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The company started making majolica in about 1850. Some of these early pieces, marked “Minton,” inspired majolica made after 1873, when the company often used the mark “Mintons.” Ice stands were pictured in the company’s 1851 catalog. They were tall pieces meant to be used as spectacular centerpieces on a dining table. Each was a tall pedestal with a vase or dish-shaped piece at the top, a large “stem” and a group of small bowls or plates surrounding the pedestal, sometimes at two levels. The stands held ice or ice shavings and sauces for dessert. But as one expert has said, they were “more ornamental than functional.” An 1865 Minton ice stand decorated with stag heads, wolves and pine cones sold for $8,610 at a May 2013 Neal auction in New Orleans.
Q: For years my family has owned an antique spool bed (the kind with spool-turned head and foot boards). Everyone always called it a “Jenny Lind bed.” Please tell me why.
A: Jenny Lind (1820-1887) was a world-famous opera singer known as the “Swedish Nightingale.” She became a huge celebrity in the United States when she toured here in 1850-’52 at the invitation of P.T. Barnum, a master promoter. American advertisers used her to promote everything from hats and gloves to pianos and beds. Lind is said to have slept in a spool-turned bed while on the tour—so furniture makers started calling the popular style a “Jenny Lind bed.” The style still is often advertised that way.
Q: I have inherited a picture of what looks like an oil painting. There are two buildings in it, one with a “Morton Salt” sign. The picture is signed “H. Hargrove” and has a round seal on the back with a number and the phrase, “Collectors Corner, Inc., Certificate of Authenticity.” Is it worth much?
A: “H. Hargrove” is a name used by painter Nicolo Sturiano. He was born in Italy in 1941 and came to the United States in 1964. He worked as a winemaker at a New York State vineyard while he began painting as a hobby. When his nostalgic American landscapes became popular, he left the vineyard and moved to Greenwich Village in New York City. Collectors Corner of Indianapolis sold Hargrove prints in the 1980s through a home party plan. Hargrove is still working and has a studio in Toms River, N.J. Your limited-edition print sells for $25 or less.
Q: My father-in-law died in 1962 and left a bottle of Chivas Regal 12 Year Old blend. It has never been opened and has all the stamps required at the time. Does it have any value other than the normal price today?
A: James and John Chivas began making blended whiskey in Aberdeen, Scotland, in the mid-19th century. The Chivas Regal 12 Year Old Blend was introduced in 1938. The Chivas Regal brand was bought by Pernod Ricard, a French group, in 2001. Full bottles of liquor should be kept in a cool, dark place, but even with proper storage, the liquor may deteriorate after a few years. Full bottles can’t be sold privately in some states. You could open the bottle and drink the whiskey, although if it was stored in a hot or sunny place, the taste may have changed. Modern liquor bottles have very little resale value.
Q: I have a hanging scale marked “Patented Aug. 19, 1884, makers of balances and scales of every description, John Chatillon & Sons, New York.” It also reads “Butcher’s scale,” and has numbers from zero to nine on the dial. Can you give me any information about this?
A: John Chatillon & Sons was founded in New York City in 1835. The company made spring balances for butchers. By 1883 it was making balances, scales, cutlery and other goods. The Chatillon brand is now owned by Ametek Inc., based in Berwyn, Pa. It still makes springs and scales, as well as other force-measuring instruments for industry. Value of your scale is about $50 to $75.
Q: In late 1982, my husband bought a small Timex personal computer for $105 (including taxes). We still have the computer, without its box, and the original receipt. He used it exactly once. Should I keep it or toss it?
A: You have a “Timex Sinclair 1000” computer. It was the first computer produced by Timex Sinclair, a joint venture of Timex Corp., a U.S. company, and Sinclair Research of England. The computer was sold as “the first computer under $100.” Timex lost out to competitors like Commodore, Atari and Apple, and dropped out of the computer market in early 1984. Timex Sinclair 1000s frequently are offered for sale online. Prices range from about $40 to well over $200. So, rather than tossing the computer, you might want to recoup some of your money by selling it. You can learn more about Timex Sinclair computers at OldComputers.net, a site dedicated to obsolete technology.
Tip: Never wrap a painting in bubble wrap so that the wrap touches the painted surface. In time, the plastic will leave marks.
Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or email addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
CURRENT PRICES Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
Hummel figurine, boy with toothache, missing bee mark, no. 217/2, 5 1/2 inches, $50.
The best book to own if you want to buy, sell or collect—and if you order now, you’ll receive a copy with the author’s autograph. The new Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, 2014, 46th edition, is your most accurate source for current prices. This large-size paperback has more than 2,500 color photographs and more than 35,000 up-to-date prices for more than 700 categories of antiques and collectibles. You’ll also find hundreds of factory histories and marks and a report on the record prices of the year, plus helpful sidebars and tips about buying, selling, collecting and preserving your treasures. Available online at Kovelsonlinestore.com; by phone at 800-303-1996; at your bookstore; or send $27.95 plus $4.95 postage to Price Book, P.O. Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.
Why an ice stand would be decorated with stag heads and wolves is a mystery, but this 14-inch-high piece of majolica, used to serve dessert, sold for $8,610 at Neal Auction Co. in New Orleans.
‘Clouds over Olana’ by Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), oil on canvas, 1872. GREENPORT, N.Y. (AP) – The on-high views of the Hudson River that inspired Frederic Church’s classic landscape paintings remain largely as he saw them in the 19th century. The river below his hilltop home still shimmers in the sun and there are still stately mountains in the distance.
Keeping those views unmarred by the trappings of modern technology is the focus of a legal fight over plans for a 190-foot emergency communications tower 2 miles from Church’s old estate, Olana.
While backers of the tower call it a necessary choice between a nice view and public safety, opponent say the plans are tantamount to someone trying to deface one of the old master’s paintings.
“The views from Olana are integral to an understanding of who Frederic Church was and why he was such an important figure in American history,” said Sara Griffen, president of the Olana Partnership, which manages the National Historic Landmark in cooperation with the state. “When you look at those views, you are looking at a three-dimensional painting.”
The lawsuit filed this month by the partnership and the conservation group Scenic Hudson touches on a thorny question: How sensitive should developers be within the “viewshed” of historic sites?
John Howe, Columbia County’s fire coordinator, is among the officials in this hilly, rural county about 100 miles north of New York City who say the sturdier tower—a latticed, antenna-style spire six times wider than the two towers it would replace—is needed to remake an inadequate emergency communications system. The planning board in nearby Livingston gave its approval in July to build the tower.
“We try to be sympathetic, but the reality is this is our best site. It has to go somewhere,” Howe said. “And if this doesn’t work, we may have to put up three or four towers at considerable cost.”
Church was among the most famous of the Hudson River School painters, a group known for their romantic depictions of the young country’s natural landscapes. He built a grand Persian-inspired home on a high spot of land by the Hudson and carefully picked spots on his hillside to paint sweeping valley vistas.
The 130,000 annual visitors to Olana see some things Church never saw, from an old cement plant by the river to a separate trio of radio station towers prominent just to the south. The two towers already perched atop what is known as Blue Hill are difficult to see from the house when trees are in full leaf, but they are visible from other points at Olana.
Jeffrey Anzevino, director of land use advocacy for Scenic Hudson, said the current towers are 2 feet wide and held steady with guy wires. The new latticed tower, 13 feet at the tree line and tapering to 4.3 feet at its top, would be far easier to see, he said.
“Our real issue is we want to make sure the proposed facility is as minimally visible as possible,” Anzevino said.
Anzevino, whose group has protected 1,600 acres of land that can be seen from Olana, believes there are compromise solutions that could be negotiated. He said he was encouraged the Federal Communications Commission this month called for a review of the proposal under the National Historic Preservation Act.
The lawsuit against the planning board and applicant Eger Communications claims the board gave approval without taking into account the “significant environmental impacts” of the tower, as required by state environmental law. The lawsuit cites a recent letter from the state’s deputy commissioner of historic preservation supporting that viewpoint.
Mark Eger’s attorney, Jacqueline Phillips Murray, said the board did its job. She said the state found no significant visual impacts of the current towers when they went up in the early’90s and there does not need to be another review for this replacement tower of the same height in the same location.
“God forbids that something happens,” Murray said. “By filing this lawsuit, Olana and Scenic Hudson have made a conscious choice to put the lives of citizens and visitors to Columbia County at risk.”
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-08-24-13 1703GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
‘Clouds over Olana’ by Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), oil on canvas, 1872.Olana Mansion, Hudson, N.Y. Image by Ralf Müller. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
The clock tower of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Image by Capt. Albert E. Theberge, NOAA Corps. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – Visitors to the Black Hills of South Dakota will have another tourist attraction on the map next summer.
The Rapid City Journal reported a replica of Independence Hall in Philadelphia—the birthplace of democracy—is under construction between the Reptile Gardens and Bear Country exhibits on the way to Mount Rushmore.
The replica will house a three-dimensional sculpture that represents John Turnbull’s famous painting depicting the moment when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress.
The project’s developer, Rapid City businessman Don Perdue, has commissioned artist James Van Nuys to recreate the painting into sculpture. Van Nuys developed a multimedia approach, using fiberglass, plastic, fabric, wood and other products.
Van Nuys enlisted other artists to assist with completing the sculptures that are dressed in historically accurate clothing. The clothing is treated with acrylic and paint to transform the cloth into a sculptured canvas.
“I’ve been very fortunate in assembling a team of phenomenally talented people to help make these figures,” Van Nuys said.
Purdue said he hopes the same patriotic loyalty that brings people to Mount Rushmore will prompt visitors to stop at his display.
“Democracy is important,” Perdue said. “Patriotism is important.”
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-08-24-13 1903GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The clock tower of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Image by Capt. Albert E. Theberge, NOAA Corps. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
The buying is brisk and always rewarding at Cranford United Methodist Church’s semiannual antiques fair, slated this year for Sept. 21 from 9-4.
CRANFORD, N.J. – Twice a year, antiques enthusiasts head to Cranford, New Jersey for an outstanding outdoor antique show and sale held at the Cranford United Methodist Church. This year’s event, slated for Saturday, Sept. 21, promises to offer the same high level of quality as in the past, with dealers selling fine antique and vintage items Brimfield style, under tents and on tables.
Collectors can expect to find period furniture, fine and decorative art, porcelain, pottery, period ceramics, silver and jewelry at the sale. Additional categories include linens, textiles, books, musical instruments, toys and dolls; postcards, tools and antique advertising, as well as tobacciana, clocks, metalware, holiday collectibles and historical items.
The family-friendly, day-long antiques fair opens at 9 a.m. and runs till 4 p.m. Admission and parking are free.
The Cranford United Methodist Church is located at 201 Lincoln Ave, Cranford, NJ 07016, next to the Cranford Public Library. Cranford is in Union County, New Jersey, approximately 30 minutes’ drive from Manhattan.
The event is being produced by EstateSalesByOlga.com Dealers may reserve an 18 x 30ft space, including two parking spots, for $40. For additional information, contact Olga or Mike by calling 908-272-4857 or emailing ocr@estatesalesbyolga.com.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The buying is brisk and always rewarding at Cranford United Methodist Church’s semiannual antiques fair, slated this year for Sept. 21 from 9-4.
Banksy, ‘Slave Labour (Bunting Boy),’ stencil and spray paint on render with additional Golden Jubilee bunting, 48 x 60 in. Unique street work. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Fine Art Auctions Miami.
LONDON (AFP) – The auction of works by Banksy, the world’s most infamous graffiti artist, has angered residents of looted London neighborhoods and “embarrassed” the artist as the sale of street art becomes a lucrative enterprise.
Hollywood A-listers Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are fans of the British artist’s stenciled designs, known for their irreverent humor and political activism.
One of his most famous works is painted on the Israeli separation wall and depicts a young girl flying away while clasping a bunch of balloons.
Other notable designs by the Bristol-born artist include a demonstrator throwing a bouquet of flowers, instead of a rock, and a stencil of two British policemen wrapped in a passionate embrace.
The Sincura group, a VIP concierge company which promises to “acquire access to the inaccessible” sold a Banksy stencil in June.
Slave Labour, which depicts a kneeling child working away at a sewing machine making small British flags, appeared in 2012 on the side of a shop in the London district of Wood Green, the scene of serious disorder during the 2011 riots.
The mural was quietly removed and later sold at auction for more than £750,000 (800,000 euros).
The sale enraged local residents, who said they felt “robbed.”
“We feel very strongly that this piece was given freely by Banksy to our area, it belongs to the community and it should be returned to Wood Green,” local councillor Alan Strickland told AFP.
At the end of July, a similar operation saw another painting disappear from Tottenham, another north London district which had been at the center of the 2011 riots.
The work No Ball Games, which shows two children preparing to throw a sign prohibiting ball games, will be “renovated” before being sold in 2014, according to the Sincura group.
A third sale, Flower Girl, is planned for Dec. 5 in Beverly Hills.
This stencil depicts a small girl with a basket in front of a huge plant in which the flower has been replaced by a surveillance camera with a rat’s tail, a recurring motif in Banksy’s work.
As with the other sales, proceeds from the painting, which originally appeared on the wall of a service station in Hollywood, will go to the building owner, not the artist.
For Richard Howard-Griffin, director of Street Art London, which organizes guided graffiti tours of the British capital, these auctions bring to light the “naked profiteering and untrammelled capitalism, which illustrates the greed inherent within human nature.”
The reclusive Banksy, whose real name is reported to be Robin Gunningham, did not respond to AFP requests for an interview, but his views on the subject are expressed in Oscar-nominated documentary Exit through the Gift Shop.
“So those famous auction houses have all of a sudden started selling street art, everything was a bit crazy, suddenly it all became about the money, but it never was about the money,” he said.
On his website (www.banksy.co.uk), Banksy invites people to freely download photos of his graffiti works and quotes Henri Matisse to convey his thoughts on the sales.
“I was very embarrassed when my canvases began to fetch high prices, I saw myself condemned to a future of painting nothing but masterpieces,” he writes.
Another illustration of the perverse effects of his popularity arose recently in Los Angeles.
A disused water tank, on which Banksy in February 2011 wrote “this looks like an elephant,” and in which lived a homeless man, was immediately sold off.
Without shelter, the unfortunate occupant received a sum of money from Banksy, allowing him to stay for one year.
“There’s no better guy than Banksy,” the man told Britain’s Independent newspaper. “He helped me more than anyone in my life.”
In a sign of Banksy’s marketability in a world he claims to despise, the story of this man is now being told in a theater show called “Banksy: The Room in the Elephant,” which is currently playing in Edinburgh.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Banksy, ‘Slave Labour (Bunting Boy),’ stencil and spray paint on render with additional Golden Jubilee bunting, 48 x 60 in. Unique street work. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Fine Art Auctions Miami.
‘O Sabado’ (The Saturday), 2000, by Beatriz Milhazes, screenprint. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Phillips de Pury & Co. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – She’s the toast of New York and beloved in Paris and London, but Beatriz Milhazes thinks there’s no place like home.
More than a decade after her last show in her native Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s highest-paid artist is gearing up for a homecoming of sorts, a major retrospective spanning most of her 30-year career. The exhibition, opening Thursday at the Paco Imperial Cultural Center in downtown Rio, brings together more than five dozen paintings, silk screens and collages covered in Milhazes’ signature riot of saturated color, concentric circles, upbeat flowers and meandering arabesques.
“I’ve shown in places that are obviously very exciting for any artist, but in a way showing in your city—I was born here and still live and work here—kind of grabs you more, excites you more, stirs you up more,” Milhazes told The Associated Press in a Friday interview as she supervised the installation of the exhibit, entitled “Meu Bem,” Portuguese for “My Dear.” “It’s being able to say, ‘Mom, look what I’ve done.’”
Milhazes has plenty to show off. The 53-year-old has exhibited in the Venice Biennial, had a solo show at Paris’ Fondation Cartier and has works in the Reina Sofia National Museum in Spain and New York’s Guggenheim and Museum of Modern Art.
In 2008, her painting O Magico, or The Magician, sold for more than $1 million, or around four times what was expected, at a New York auction, making her Brazil’s highest-paid living artist. She broke the record again last year when her Meu Limao, or My Lemon, went for $2.1 million at another auction in New York.
Though she once quipped it took her 25 years to become an overnight success, Milhazes said her slow path to international fame helped her cope with the spotlight.
“The first decade of my career, in the 1980s, was very local. It was only in the 1990s that I started showing work outside of Brazil, first in Latin America, Mexico, Venezuela and then in New York. Then came Europe and Japan, but all very gradually, little by little,” said Milhazes, running her fingers through curly locks that recall the wavy patterns of her work. “During that process, sometimes I would leave for a bit and spend time in these other countries. But I never cut my ties with Rio. And that was an important decision. I need to feel that link with home, that understanding of what home is.”
Rio, a chaotic, coastal metropolis of 6 million, has informed Milhazes’ work from the beginning. Early collages featured snippets of fabrics culled from the costumes worn in the city’s world-famous Carnival celebrations, and her work still bursts with the swirly paisleys and arabesques that recall the its exuberant vegetation. There’s also something very Rio in her eye-popping palette, with its fiery oranges and yellows that evoke the city’s fierce summer sun, the blue of its limpid skies, the pinks and purples of áipeátrees in lavish bloom.
So alive with colors and shapes, Milhazes’ work seems to vibrate off the wall. Havana, a large 2003-2004 acrylic that’s part of the Rio exhibit, keeps viewers’ eyes busy as they jump from the kaleidoscopic flower burst at the center to the peace sign camouflaged amid a patchwork of bright hues to the flitting butterflies, sagging bunches of grapes, droopy roses or piles of tropical fruit.
Ilha de Capri, or Capri Island, from 2002, explodes with superimposed flower burst and hypnotic bull’s eyes of concentric circles against a background of vertical stripes. Tentacles unfurl from the red-hot core of the 2006 collage Ginger Candy, made in part from the flattened wrappers of Chinese sweets.
Though she rejects the word “style,” Milhazes defines her approach to art as geometric abstraction.
“I was always trying to bring together ‘high art’ painting with elements from my own culture here in Brazil. They are two very different worlds,” she said. “To be a proper painter you obviously have to look at the tradition that comes from Europe but at the same time, I didn’t want to stray from my life here in Brazil.”
Instead of painting directly onto the canvas, Milhazes developed a technique in which she uses acrylics to paint shapes onto plastic and then transfer them onto canvas, building palimpsests of intricate layers.
In reproductions, her work can look so perfect it appears computer-generated. But up close, it’s alive with little imperfections that make it even more irresistible to the eye. The paintings’ resined surfaces are strewn with scraps of paint, and traces of lines and smudges of color are still visible beneath layer after superimposed layer.
Frederic Paul, curator of the Rio show, said that despite its festive appearance, Milhazes’ work is fundamentally inscrutable.
“When you look at the paintings from up close, you don’t understand them at all,” he said. “You will never really know Beatriz’ work. You will always discover it.”
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“Meu Bem” runs at Rio de Janeiro’s Centro Cultural Paco Imperial from Aug. 29-Oct. 27.
Mauricetown Academy building, a former school, in Mauricetown, N.J. The village consists of roughly 200 buildings, many historically and architecturally significant. Image by Smallbones, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
MAURICETOWN, N.J. (AP) – In the middle of the 19th century, Mauricetown was a prosperous shipping village. Hard against the west bank of the Maurice River, it was home to ships’ captains and their families, and the businesses that they operated.
They were well-traveled men, cultured, and often blessed with prosperity, and the homes they constructed reflected their success.
For the past several days, a large group of graduate students from the University of Delaware made the trip to Mauricetown and other areas of Cumberland County to study, document and preserve the unique architectural history of a bygone era.
Each student was assigned a building, some, like the McGrail House, originally built by the Compton family in Mauricetown. Some of the students are preparing for careers in preservation work, museum work or for nonprofit organizations like historical societies.
They all share a love of antique architecture and the study of building techniques from the past.
“It is definitely a different type of architecture than we are used to seeing in Delaware,” Cate Morrissey told The South Jersey Times. Morrissey is a research associate with the University of Delaware’s Center for Historic Architecture and Design.
“One of the hypotheses about Mauricetown is that perhaps the ships’ captains were a little more worldly and brought back some of what they saw abroad. The houses are a little more elaborate and decorative.”
Many of them still stand today, and the little hamlet exists as an enclave of Victorian architecture and idyllic small town life that contrasts sharply with the heavily developed urban and suburban sprawl covering much of the Delaware Valley region.
“We are hoping to create a permanent record of the buildings as they are now,” said Michael Emmons, who is seeking a master’s degree in historic preservation.
“We want to try and shed some light on the building practices of the past. There is definitely a sense in Mauricetown that the people here really appreciate their history.”
It is also refreshing for the students to work in buildings that have been so lovingly cared for over the years. Many of the structures that they study are either dilapidated, in serious disrepair, or slated for demolition.
“It has been incredible,” said another graduate student, Laura Proctor. “We didn’t realize how helpful everyone here would be, especially as far as the folklore.”
And through their studies, the University of Delaware students are discovering some interesting aspects of 19th century home building in South Jersey.
One example, according to Proctor, is how homebuilders found stone for construction.
Mauricetown, like most of Cumberland County, is a land of sandy soil, due to its proximity to the Delaware Bay shoreline, and there is very little naturally occurring stone or rock in the area.
If a ship’s captain wanted a slab of marble for a step, or a bit of granite to make a mounting block, or the stones to construct a foundation, it would have to be imported.
“We noticed these things and wondered, where did that marble and granite, that beautiful nonnative stone come from?” Proctor said.
Luckily for the resourceful builders there was a considerable store of stone available, just down along the river’s edge.
“Ships would use stone as ballast,” said Proctor. When they came up the Maurice River to take on trade goods the stone in the ships’ holds would be tossed into the river.
“People would scavenge the stone from the river and use it for foundations, or doorsteps,” Proctor said.
It is through such small details that a portrait of the area’s historic houses, and of the people who built and owned them, is developed.
Another way is to search through source documents from the period, many of which are still preserved by various government establishments, some dating back to the very beginnings of America.
One example is probate inventories, compiled to document a person’s possessions upon his or her death.
“The surrogates office still has the original probate inventories for some of these homes,” said Dr. Rebecca Sheppard, acting director of the university’s Center for Historic Architecture and Design.
Even original will books from as far back as the 1700s still exist, and are preserved by local historical societies.
Next May the Vernacular Architecture Forum will be visiting South Jersey for its annual conference, and much of what the graduate students discover during their time here will be presented to the public.
There will also be a bus tour with historians and preservationists giving lectures and sharing information about design and architectural history. One of the stops will be Mauricetown.
Students will also be giving presentations of what they learned for the local communities and historical societies.
The study of Cumberland County homes was wrapped up on Friday.
So far, the community has made an impression on the group from University of Delaware.
“It’s a really neat place,” said Cate Morrissey. “I really like Mauricetown. It is nice to see a more undeveloped landscape.”
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Mauricetown Academy building, a former school, in Mauricetown, N.J. The village consists of roughly 200 buildings, many historically and architecturally significant. Image by Smallbones, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
