John Hoyland Print

I'm pretty excited about this. An early (1964) John Hoyland print in a very small edition (only 17 were printed). Hoyland is a British abstractionist and member of the Royal Academy of Arts. To read more about him, go here. When I obtained this print, it had some condition issues that needed to be addressed. After careful conservation work by the terrific Anita Noennig, it's looking just great. The picture really doesn't capture its combination of boldness and delicacy. It's quite large as well - the frame it's in is 40" wide by 29" tall.

Scene from a New Gallery

From our first weekend. The prints on the left side will be the subject of our first show - Late Career Prints from the New York School. They include Sam Francis, Jack Tworkov, Ibram Lassaw and Conrad Marca-Relli. If you want a better view, you'll have to come by! We will have an opening reception on the evening of September 24, from 5-8 p.m.

California Abstraction

The William Dole collage and Don Clausen painting in the store are discussed below. Right now, in addition to those, I have a John Saccaro watercolor, and a Guy MacCoy painting. The Saccaro is from 1958. It is black & white and jarring and slashing and terrific. He is one of the important exponents of "The San Francisco School." This work is notably different from his oils. The MacCoy painting, "Pagan," is multi-colored and sharp-edged. It probably dates from the 1960's. It comes from the shuttered Fresno Metropolitan Museum.

Here is the Saccaro watercolor:

Art Descriptions

Preparing labels with descriptions of the prints and paintings so I don't talk everyone's ears off about them - "Oh, I love this one, this guy is from . . . "

Now Open

Opening tomorrow. Hours will be Friday - Sunday, noon to six. Come by!

Hey, This Looks Like a Store

Opening Soon

I need to frame a few things and figure out how I want to hang everything, but I'm close to opening. Probably a "soft" open next week.

Furniture stock

Right now we have a Muriel Coleman desk, a McCobb Planner group small credenza, a Knoll credenza, a George Nelson steel frame sofa and coffee table, a pair of Eames DCM's, a collection of American of Martinsville pieces, and a sofa of unknown make - I would guess Thayer Coggin. A few other smaller pieces as well.

SFMOMA's "Calder to Warhol" Exhibit

I have prints from many of the artists in this exhibit. From the 1964 "One Cent Life" portfolio, I have works by Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Mitchell, Sam Francis, and Andy Warhol. This was a large edition, but its prints are hard to come by. I also have an unusual Agnes Martin print (she made very few), and a selection of Ellsworth Kelly lithographs (see the entry below).

William Dole - In the Mirror

This piece was exhibited by the Pasadena Art Museum in its "California Collage" show in 1962. This collage is later in the history of abstract expressionism, but it's as good an example of pure composition as I've ever seen. This is what abstraction is supposed to be - great choices, placement, and balance. Based on this alone, Dole should be mentioned with the greats of California abstraction - Diebenkorn, Kuhlman, Corbett, Dugmore, and others.

We Have a Logo!

Designed by graphic artist and designer Brian Mello. I am really crazy about this. It suggests the Herman Miller logo, while having a gravity all its own. It's also in Futura, the font of the future - and today. Thanks to Brian for his phenomenal work.

Here We Go

Dusty Modern will be opening in San Francisco in August 2010. It will feature fine art, prints, furniture, and other artifacts from the 1940's through the 1970's, with an emphasis on the sweet spot in between. The opening show will feature a few late-career prints by New York School abstract expressionists, including Marca-Relli, Tworkov, and Lassaw. We'll also have many other prints and unique works on hand, as well as furniture from Florence Knoll, Paul McCobb, Muriel Coleman, and others. Here are two of the prints we'll feature in our opener.



A Conrad Marca-Relli print from 1977, produced in an edition of 75. Marca-Relli is a key New York School collage artist, who produced a series of prints for Poligrafa in the late Seventies. We have a few from this series, none of which I've seen for sale in the U.S.



Ibram Lassaw was primarily a sculptor, but made a lovely set of synapse-like prints in the early Seventies. This print is from 1970, in an edition of 100. Early in the Fifties, he was a member of "The Club," which included artists like Willem De Kooning, Franz Kline, and Ad Reinhardt.

Updates soon on the start date and additional inventory.