Mid-Century Art + Design - San Francisco

Prints, Paintings, Furniture, and other Mid-20th Century Artifacts. This blog will update our status and inventory. For questions or comments, please contact us at info@dustymodern.com. Or find us on twitter at @dustymodern. We like talking about this stuff.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Krishna Reddy and a Beer


Do you know Krishna Reddy? An Indian sculptor and printmaker probably best known for this sculpture. I've always found his prints compelling. Tactile. Deep. Like this one:
And this one:


And this one, too:


So imagine my surprise, while I was enjoying a Racer 5 IPA with lunch, to discover a Krishna Reddy work in my glass:


Uncanny.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Houze Glass at Christmas



One of my more easily satisfied collecting interests is Christmas-themed Houze Glass. This is our small collection of them. The Pennsylvania company opened in the 19th Century, and continued on until well into the 20th. They may have done many things, but what I know them for are these mid-century small trinket trays/plates. They did them commercially as advertising tchotchkes for small businesses (e.g., a gold-printed portrait of the Kankakee Federal Bank home office), and made them for special-events - you might receive a "Happy Birthday!" tray in lieu of a card. They also decorated them for Christmas. I love the austere fonts (see "Merry Christmas" and "Noel" on the trees to the lower left of the picture), and the cartoon styling some of them have (check out the birds, lower right, from 1959, and the reindeer, top left). Graphic design that's perfectly period. Pretty common on eBay and Etsy. Always fun to discover one you haven't seen before, or to pick one up for a pittance. No need for collecting desperation, though, they made plenty of them.

John Levee Lithograph


John Levee lithograph. Circa 1955-60. 26" x 20" inches. Signed artist's proof ("epreuve d'artiste"). Edition size unknown, but other Levee prints from the era seem to be in the 20-50 range (his "A Preface and Four Seasons" portfolio from 1959 was issued in an edition of 150, plus an hors commerce aside of 20).

Very good condition. Some minor toning at the edges, and the paper is rough at the edges, presumably as issued.

Levee, an American who has long lived as an expat in France. is one of my favorite abstract expressionist / lyrical abstraction artists of the late Fifties. This is a great, chaotic, dramatic print.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Current Art Inventory



Unique works:
William Dole
Jules Engel
Giuseppe Napoli
Leonardo Nierman
Richard Reynolds
John Saccaro
Rolph Scarlett
Russell Twiggs
Glenn Wessels

Prints:
John Axton
Jean Arp
Hans Burkhardt
Rolf Cavael
Bernard Childs
Roy De Forest
Leonard Edmondson
Johnny Friedlaender
Terry Haass
Robert Goodnough
John Hoyland
John Hultberg
Lee Krasner
Walter Kuhlman
John Levee
Frank Lobdell
Conrad Marca-Relli
Gabor Peterdi
Ludwig Sander
Jack Tworkov

Friday, March 2, 2012

Art Consulting Services

If you find yourself interested in acquiring Mid-Twentieth Century abstract art, from Abstract Expressionism, to Hard Edge and Post-Painterly Abstraction, I'd be happy to help find what you're looking for. More importantly, I'd like to guide you to things you didn't know interested you.

I can help source art for institutions and individuals, and perhaps educate you on your art choices. I'm particularly interested in matching collectors with underappreciated artists whose work is at least as impressive as that of many "names."

Services can range from gratis to a percentage of a purchase, and I'm always happy just to discuss mid-century abstraction.