Esoteric Survey

Large ceramic platter by Felix Tissot. This was made while he was living in California, prior to his move to Mexico. There's also a iron bowl from Japan, a welded metal sculpture and a 1940s cerused oak stool.

The Cité Frugès housing complex (1924-1926) was designed by French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier.   French industrialist Henry Frugès commissioned Le Corbusier to design 135 housing units  for  workers in his sugar factory in Pessac, outside Bordeaux. The goal was for the cost to be such that an average worker could afford to purchase a unit with one year's salary. The minimalist architecture, which was extremely different than what people were used to at the time, did not appeal to the workers and  only 51 units were actually built. It was still the first large-scale residential development by Le Corbusier.   Seven prototypes were designed for the project. The units are individually-owned. Some have been restored and as we cane see here, some have not. The town of Pessac, where the development is located, purchased this " skyscraper"  unit and it operates as a museum. The docent who showed us around was so...

ROWAC stool designed by Robert Wagner Chemnitz. They were used in the classrooms and workshops at the Bauhaus . Oh yeah, and I finally stopped off at the dunes to take a photo. I guess the off roaders don't go out when it's 107 degrees...wimps! I've bought so many wire baskets over the years hoping it was the one shown in this photo of Good Design 1953 at the Merchandise Mart, Chicago.  I finally found the right one. Here is the designer, Helen Pope, holding it. I also picked up another Edward Durell Stone table/bench. Plus, a  Kipp Stewart & Stewart MacDougall bench for Wichendon. Wood Maurice Grossman cup for the collection Baby weed pot

J.B. Blunk: Nature, Art & Everyday Life at the Oakland Museum of California I began making wood sculpture in 1962. I knew how to use a chainsaw and it was one of those things. One day you just start. - J.B. Blunk Mage and Flying Stone  were both included in an exhibition at  The Landing  in 2015.  Hawk Arch below was as well. Bronze Clay A great number of the pieces in the exhibition came directly from the Blunk house .  J.B.'s buckskin shirt The stone sculpture on the right reminds me of Isamu Noguchi's  Radio Nurse . Noguchi was a big influence on Blunk. Maquettes This incredible stone sculpture is from the house as well. The Oakland Museum has been a longtime fan of Blunk. The Planet  was commissioned by the museum in 1969 and is still enjoyed daily by visitors, especially the kids. Correspondence regarding the commission was...