Esoteric Survey

I came across this painting I've had for years in storage while I was pulling things out for Downtown Modernism. I decided I would sell it. I don't remember when or where I bought it but it was several years ago. Anyway, after second thought, I decided to leave it at home and do some research. It turns out there's an interesting story. The artist is Ivan Bartlett, who was California-born and a Graduate of Chouinard Art institute of Los Angeles. He is most known as a textile designer but was also muralist. This includes a number of  WPA murals .  His work was also exhibited at the San Francisco and New York World Fairs. He was the winner of the 1947 award of the American Institute of Design. He also had a piece in An Exhibition for Modern Living, which was curated by Alexander Girard and held at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1949.  The painting shows points of interest around Chicago, including the Ambassador East hotel. For some reason that stood out to me  The Am...

  A DARK, A LIGHT, A BRIGHT: THE DESIGNS OF DOROTHY LIEBES At Cooper Hewitt  A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes was curated by Susan Brown, Associate Curator and Acting Head of Textiles at Cooper Hewitt, and Alexa Griffith Winton, Manager of Content and Interpretation at Cooper Hewitt. Dorothy Liebes was born in Santa Rosa, California. She studied the history of textiles and art education at university in New York and then continued her textile education in Europe. In 1930 she opened her first studio in San Francisco.   A Long Chair designed by Marcel Breuer was on display as a nod to the one exhibited at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. Dorothy was director of the Division of Decorative Arts. That role allowed her to make a number of connections across the country in the art and design field that would help launch her decades long successful career. The Liebes workshop in San Francisco.  A real crowd pleasing...

  Ellamarie Woolley enamel plaque. This was actually mine before and I sold it to a friend. Luckily I had the opportunity to buy it back. Once upon a time it belonged to Jean Balmer. I lent it to the Museum of California Design for their California's Designing Women exhibition and it made the cover.  Also, a huge coincidence that I picked up the exact Dorothy Liebes tiles that were in the exhibition and book. Bill Stern was a good guy.  More about that exhibition, here .  This Bob Stocksdale piece also has some good provenance. Pamela Weir-Quiton purchased it from Bob himself.  I rescued this DCM without a seat and the backrest on upside down. It had been inside a shabby chic mall for several months and then they moved to the back yard. It was left for dead under the elements and I just couldn't stand to see it that way. A real "chair"ity move, I know. 

Italian lamp Timo Sarpaneva for Opa cookware and smalls. Eames 670/671 hang tag and Kashmir tile by Dorothy Liebes