Hotel Art
My family treated each other to two nights over the holidays at a bougie hotel experience in Encinitas instead of forcing one member to host Christmas. The pricey hotel experience …
Traditional Japanese Woodblock Prints by Yoshida
RF owns two exquisite Japanese woodcuts. She couldn’t make out the signature, but I did. Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950) became a leading artist of the Shin-hanga “new print” movement of the …
Connection to Order of Knighthood Medal
This early 19th century medal, an Order of Knighthood, may share a connection to my partner’s family history. You see, my partner’s last name is Flandrick, Province of Flanders, with …
Royal Antediluvian Order of the Buffalo
HH owns a 1920s sterling and enamel medallion from the Royal Antediluvian (‘before the flood’) Order of the Buffalo in red, white, cobalt, and turquoise. Fattorini and Sons LTD, Jewelers, …
Duncan Phyfe’s Neoclassical Style
HH’s grandmother from Boston told him Duncan Phyfe made the table she left him. Almost everyone with an East Coast grandma runs the risk that she’ll say Phyfe made her …
The Banana Connection
In November of 2024 a banana duct-taped to a white plaster wall sold for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Auction. Conceived as an edition (series) of five, titled Comedian, …
Beautiful Sommerso Glass
FF owns a nice midcentury example of a technically challenging type of glass. Sommerso, or “submerged,” a technique developed in Murano Italy in the 1930s required skill and dexterity. His …
Barye’s Camel Reproduction
PP owns a twenty-inch plaster cast of a dromedary (Arabian) camel ‘after’ (reproduced from) a sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875), the great bronze artist/animalier of the mid-19th century. Sculpture of …
Rejuvenate with Japanese Singing Bowls
Post election we need deep relaxation, pain relief, digestive help, cure for migraines, repaired immune system, elimination of toxins (too much wine), and better concentration. I thought this the time …
Tradition, history, power, and beauty of Kifwebe Mask
The word Kifwebe means “mask” for the people of the Congo River basin, the Luba and Songye tribes. High-ranking, ruling elite men in a tribal secret brotherhood called Bwadi Bwa …