When a child, my father had an old Rockwell poster on the wall. He wasn’t much of an art connoisseur. My favorite though, was a photo taken by his friend who worked for the local daily newspaper and a photo was taken of us kids including neighborhood kids in a horse sleigh attached to his trailer pulled by his 1951 Chevy with mom in the passenger seat. He collected horse sleighs and this photo got front page space in the Sunday Hartford Courant next to other news like Alaska being made a state in 1959, Castro being sworn in as president and “Red Rocket Blasts into Space.” It was a news worthy day but our photo placement was the most important one of course. I have that full newspaper page on my wall today. But that is now second to my most treasured painting.
As an art dealer, I have a painting of an enslaved young girl who escaped bondage in Westerly in 1793. My friend and former chair of the art department at Central Connecticut State University, Dr Cora Marshall, created a series of such paintings around 2007. She researched newspaper rewards of enslaved who escaped from their former (masters)? Described sometimes in detail how they looked and the clothing they left with.
When I saw this exhibit in 2007, I immediately knew it was the most impactful art exhibit I had ever seen and would ever see. I held myself together but as I walked back to my car, the tears came. Cora subsequently gave me the request to find homes for some of these paintings. One of them, a 22 year old named Mary to me has a frightening look and I once thought who would want to gaze at her with such fright. Now Mary is with me forever and she is often the last image I see on my wall every evening.
Growing up our tiny home was filled with weird art and objects. A reproduction Etruscan bas relief of a chariot race hung over the couch. An 18th century spinning wheel. A German cuckoo clock in the hallway. A huge painting of my father on horseback in full military dress that took up the entire wall of the dining room. A 12" marble anatomically correct naked man by some sculptor that I hated. It sat on the stereo and it was embarrassing when friends came over. A Japanese watercolor hung over a custom inlaid dry sink; these two items are still in my mom's home today. We were not rich by any means but my parents taught us to travel the world through books and education. My mom made sure we got every bizarre scholarship available.
If I could have any three cool pieces I'd love:
1) The Cornfield or Lavender Fields by John Constable. The light, the texture and the imagery make my heart happy.
2)A true Knole Sofa, preferably from Vita Sackville West's home in Kent, preferably in red or gold velvet.
3) All my soft furnishings would be designed by William Morris from Liberty of London.
Exactly - the collecting and arranging of objects in ways that catch the attention and reveal the beauty, humor, emotion of any object. That was my experience growing up - and it gave me such an eye for the lovely, often odd, beauty of justapositions. Sounds like your parents gave you a great gift.
Madonnas. So many Madonnas. My parents were rigidly Catholic and had 4 girls, 3 boys. For my dad, the Madonnas were gifts to my mother, who nearly died twice during pregnancy, and when she finally got a hysterectomy at 39, that was the end of intimacy. The other art was some muddy landscapes purchased in Germany when we were stationed there, and various Chinese tourist art from a Taiwan posting. When they died we sold or donated all of it. My art is from art shows I went to in LA where I met the artists and talked about their pieces. I have 3 commission pieces of collage from an artist friend. When I moved out to the woods, I found more artists, and every room has something on the walls or surfaces made by talented hands. All my coffee cups are pottery made here. I love seeing how others interpret this world and I love seeing it in my space. The most precious art was made by a man in prison.
Ooo this is a fun one! We were on a budget so TJ Maxx and Marshall’s supplied our art. I remember this one in particular that was a huge still life of grapes and wine that hung in my mother’s kitchen for years. She finally took it down when she decided that she didn’t like it anymore. I don’t any art hanging in my space, save for a lotus painting I did at a paint party for my 33rd birthday. If I had no budget and could raid the museums of the world, I’d have the following pieces in my home:
My mother LIVED to collect art, so I grew up with a wonderful variety of all kinds of art, with work by nationally recognized artists, as well as local artists. No surprise, I suppose, when I became an artist later in life. Long story there. But I definitely feel that my exposure to art as a child shaped my own preferences and esthetic. Most of the work was not representational. She collected Paul Harmon’s work, Chagall lithographs, Miro lithos, and other abstract artists. Arthur Osver was a well-known abstract artist from my Alma mater of Washington University in St. Louis. We still have two of his paintings. We have work by French artists and Americans alike, Jewish artists and non-Jewish artists. We have an ecumenical and international household, as my husband is from France. Art is a joy. The life that is lived through artists’ eyes continues to live on through their work. It has a final resting place on our four walls, alongside my own art quilts, drawings and paintings. I could not live happily without making art and without the art that surrounds me. It cleanses my palate from the baseness that characterizes our current political moment. As my former professor used to say, “Art on!”…and I do!❤️
I was raised by a single mother and she is an artist. Our walls were adorned with her macrame and driftwood sculptures, drawings, and paintings. She collected rocks, shells, feathers, various and sundry antiques and oddities. She helped me gain a deep appreciation for art and artists. She helped me see the beauty in the things most people would discard for something shiny and new. Our apartment is decorated with an array of art including original works from my mother and my artist friends, a 5' tall wooden angel cut out painted by my husband's grandfather, various artworks we've found at thrift stores and flea markets over the years, and a few pieces of furniture and handicrafts we kept from our fair trade craft gallery. Some of my art is rotated into the mix on occasion along with some things our daughter made when she was younger.
As much as the idea of having any work of art to myself for a year appeals on one level, I believe art is for the people. I would rather it be where people can see it than be hidden away in a private collection. I wouldn't mind wearing an Elsa Schiaparelli dress once or spending a day with a Van Gogh or tottering around on the iconic Ferragamo rainbow platforms for a moment-and what fun would it be to live in a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home in the woods? That I could see doing indefinitely.
It's fun to dream, but even if I had more money, I think I'd keep our eclectic mix of art and oddities as it is.
The most memorable for me growing up was a print of Charles Allan Gilbert's drawing, "All Is Vanity," hung by my father in my mother's bathroom as a joke, but it scared the dickens out of me for years with its image of a woman looking at a mirror that resembled a skull. Now, one of my favorites in my own hovel is similar to yours -- a framed child's Native American tunic, made from a burlap bag and hand-painted, which was made for my father when he was little by the Zuni women on the reservation where he grew up, his father being the doctor there. My brother has a pair of ceremonial hand-painted leather gloves that the women made for my father as well. Someday I hope the two things will be reunited. So many questions arise from those objects: Did my grandfather do a good job there? Was his presence appreciated? These gifts give me hope that it was so.
My maternal grandmother worked for the Navy. She traveled the world and bought all sorts of things for the Naval Exchange. Whatever she wanted personally (including an MG from Britain and furniture from Japan), she was able to purchase and ship back to the US at cost and duty-free. She bought a lot of art in Japan, a country she loved and lived in for a few years. In my home growing up, we had beautiful framed embroidered Japanese scenes and prints of The Great Wave of Kanagawa (the ocean). In my home now I have many of my own paintings as well as an old gold pan, Native American moccasins presented to my father-in-law years ago, and framed old calendar pages (one depicts a grizzly bear coming around the path behind a hiker...yikes!) I also have a very old, bleached out bison skull found in a river bed by a good friend many years ago.
Featuring two of Katsushika Hokusai's most beloved and remarkable masterpieces, this breathtaking folding screen is a fantastic accent for any room. On the front, a small group of fishing boats is caught in The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a testament to the tremendous power of nature, against which even the lofty peak of Mt. Fuji appears diminished in the background. The same mountain appears in abstract grandeur on the other side, glowing with the luminous red light it sometimes exhibits in the early autumn when the weather is just right. Reproduced in stunning color and vivid detail, this screen is perfect for anyone who appreciates fine art or Japanese culture.
I have two different room screens from them , the Waite-Rider Tarot 3-panel 6 ft. and a Van Gogh, also 3-panels, six feet
This majestic screen features two of Vincent Van Gogh''s most beloved paintings created later in his career in Arles, in the south of France (a place that biographers say he disliked, but that art historians say inspired him deeply). The front image is the city scene of a local sidewalk cafe, Cafe Terrace at Night, Arles circa 1888, with Van Gogh''s unmistakable "swirling" stars. The back image is View of Arles with Irises in the Foreground circa 1888 featuring the Dutch master''s classic impressionist irises. These lovely fine art prints are attractive, stylish interior design elements made to brighten your living room, bedroom, dining room, or home office. This three panel screen has different images on each side, as shown.
***** Also statues, "too many guitars" and they're definitely functional art, several photos of literally the only celebrity on whom I have developed an authentic "fan crush" - she absolutely instantiates art - a small, framed bowl of cherries my girlfriend painted, Klimt's The Kiss, gift from same GF, some Chinese themed fabric draping a mirror to make workout space less Spartan than it needs to be, etc.
The symbolism of the tarot deck creates an entire psychological system, it's far more than a parlor game tool for "fortune-telling," although that's usually harmless enough outside of spooky mystery novels and horror movies!
* https://www.tarot.com/ = This site is fully into the most naive, uncritical versions of "occultism,"
Sure, it's some of the Renoir, Matisse, Turner, and Japanese screens among others I want to figure out how to put in this fairly large1 BR apt., I guess I could just rotate them from the storage room that's right inside the entrance, when it comes to that.
Just like the Rorschach and Thematic Apperception tests, a set of classic tarot cards portrays ambiguous images of humans in a wide range of situations. Though tarot cards do not function in quite the same ways as projective testing methods, when the cards are used correctly, they can help to better understand the patients, and to help them to better understand themselves.
Below are just a few of the ways tarot cards can be a useful tool in psychotherapy sessions.
My mom is a talented artist in her own right. She regretted not being able to attend the Institute of Art in Chicago after she graduated from high school due to lack of parental financial support and encouragement, but always decorated our home with beautiful artwork. Sometimes she would find interesting pieces at a thrift store; often she would gently open up the binding of a LIFE magazine or a coffee table book, then matt and frame something beautiful she found in its pages.
Later, when my brothers and I were out of high school, she enrolled in our local community college to finally pursue her art school dream, and the art on the walls of our home began being replaced by her original works, which are stunning.
She's 85 and lives in an assisted living apartment now, surrounded by many of her paintings. Her sketch books from those classes are safely tucked away in storage. She still paints when inspiration strikes, and her talent hasn't diminished at all.
Another memory: During the holiday season, she would take all of the artwork off the walls, wrap them in Christmas wrapping paper and tie them with ribbons and Bows, then hang them back on the walls as Christmas decor.
I loved having a creative mom who enjoyed making the holidays, birthdays and other occasions special.
The art in my parents' house was primarily unusual wall sculpture that was bought from a mail order catalogue. 'Decor' rather than art. Or, the art was painted on the walls by my father. For example, the walls of my bedroom were painted with red and white stripes, with blue stars on the ceiling. The room he shared with my mother was painted precisely half forest green and half navy blue. Split right down the center of the room. I am an art addict. Nearly every space in my tiny home is covered. I have collected mostly originals, purchased at second-hand shops, online, given as gifts, and sometimes from galleries. I have an entire wall in my living room that I call the black and white wall. All originals. When I can, I track down the artists and reach out to let them know I've adopted their work. I have a Beatles wall in my dining room. I have a few walls of family photos. If I could have 3 works in my home, I think I'd choose Matisse's le dans, something by Frida Kahlo, and a Georgia O'Keefe piece. I don't love color, but I love the work of these three masters.
My parents had a lovely craftsman house with deep, rich woodwork and “honey beige” walls. My mother was frighteningly religious, so the occasional portrait of Jesus H. Christ was situated among her prized and lovely vintage Audubon prints and old tintype familial portraits, all very somber, but upon opening the door to my bedroom, one could witness a blast of pop art, Kennedy memorabilia and Beatles everything. I had a Beatle for each decade following my tenth birthday, and arranged my art accordingly. The first was Paul M, with his bedroom eyes and perfect smile. Then came Ringo, after I discovered that I, too, was a musician who played drums so badly that my parents bought me a piano. Then came a “finding love, peace and meditation” phase, in which images of George were found everywhere among the scents of nag champa and candles, ok…and maybe a little pit…so shoot me…followed, finally, by pictures of the man I felt I’d waited all my life to marry, John Lennon, whose work taught me to be a radical feminist, anti-war activist who fought for the underdog.
I had an entire wall of Lennon/Ono art, and bought a signed print from his book, “A Spaniard in the Works.” Today, I have a HUGE black and white, framed photo of The Beatles facing Muhammad Ali, which is autographed by Ali himself in gold ink, hanging above the fireplace, and many magnificent mosaics, by Bay Area artist, Kim Larson . They are huge female nudes, which you really must see! (Link below) and a lot of my own artwork, from paintings, to sculptures alongside a huge, magnificent, contemporary Japanese sculptural wall hanging that my daughter, Sarah-Lynda, believes looks like a disastrous car wreck. (I adore it.) If I could have my choice of anyone’s work, I would have one of Andy Goldsworthy’s magnificent stone eggs sitting in the middle of the foyer of the gigantic mansion that I don’t have. (Google them). I’d have an entire room of Keith Haring, and I’d hire performance artists, Marina Abramovich, (whose name I have no idea how to spell) and Lori Anderson, in person, sitting on both ends of a 20 foot long, wooden dining table doing constant performance art for me as I eat my morning oatmeal with fresh blueberries. If Yoko were young enough to still screech, as she did when I saw her at the NY MoMA, she would be there too, entertaining me at breakfast and undoubtedly annoying all the neighbors. I just realized that there are too many beloved artists from which to choose. I couldn’t possibly just select one. I hope the link below works so you can see Kim Larson’s amazing work.
My parents were close friends with an artist in Taos, New Mexico. His name was Thomas E. Lewis, and he was well-known for his landscapes of the American Southwest. My parents had several of his paintings, which my sister and I inherited. They are original oil paintings by Tommy.
I currently have Tommy's paintings on my walls, as well as a few beach paintings and various other types of paintings. In my office, I have an awesome painting of four women, and they say, "Be strong when you are weak," "Be Brave when you are scared," "Be Humble when you are victorious," and "Be Badass Every Day." This painting is one of the coolest things I've obtained. I wish I could post a picture of it here because it is so awesome.
I would love to have black pottery from Native American artist Maria Montoya Martinez. Her work is unique and beautiful.
Jayne Wyman was so pretty! She was better off without him. I love the jacket and photos!
In my house over the mantel was a painting my father made of a sculpture of a woman with one breast hanging out. It was mostly gray and blue and very nice. He was an insurance salesman but his paintings were good and he was very proud to sell a few in his later years I have one of his paintings of a landscape of a rock formation near Big Bear; he spent his last years in the Mojave desert area. I also have another painting by him, and two by my sister, and a small bust of my husband that a sculptor friend made for me, and another painting by a friend of mine. It’s enough art, I don’t really have room for any more, but I am very fond of a Dutch painting at the Met titled, the Smokers. Young Dutchmen having a good time many years ago. I would like to see more of that but if I kept them in my apartment I’d probably be tempted to start smoking again. They make it look so great.
My parents had a Picasso print in their bedroom, and I remember a print of the Durer Bunny too, plus some sculptures and wall hangings and more. They were outliers, what would have been called Bohemian in those days. There was art all over the house, which got progressively wilder as the 60s morphed into the 70s. At one point I think my sister painted one of the bathrooms black, with little acid inspired sayings taped helter-skelter to the walls. Things like "Adapt or Die". All of the various houses in that time frame were giant art installations.
I took all my art down as I prepare to move east. I will hang it again when I get settled in next month. I have mostly originals from Taos artists, plus some of my own landscape photography. Before I go I want to buy a couple of small works from the artists I like best in Taos. And my artist friend in Petaluma has promised me a piece. And once I am in NY I am sure I will pick up more pieces.
If I could hang anything for a year...maybe Caravaggio, but not the bloody ones. And maybe the Botticelli I call Venus on the Half Shell, AKA The Birth of Venus.
When we were growing up, the only "art" in the house was one of those impressionist city scenes that you buy in the gas station parking lot. That, and lots of diplomas. My house?? It's filled with things that bring me joy...professional pictures of the beaches we basically lived at on Cape Cod, wooden painted oars (I love rowing), and wooden Entering this city plaques at full size, lots of mirrors, and SO many plants. I have always made my home a place of comfort and memories. It is a placed to be lived in, and welcoming. My desk is filled with family pictures, and our Zen room has multiple photos of those we have lost. If I could have one piece of art in my home for a year, my choice would be anything by Banksy, to remind all of us to never stop fighting.
My mom's art choices were unusual. She had a large oil of a Philippino couple in a sugar cane field that my granddaddy got in the Philippines pre-WWII (my grandmother hated it because it was of "those brown people...🙄). I think my sister took it. Another I remember was a modern piece by her cousin, MaryAnn Hartman, a truly weird Thai oil of three dancing women, lots of framed prints (Renoir etc.) And a bunch of old Chinese stuff that was gifted to her by my other grandparents. I have 2 pieces done by another cousin in the 50s that I always knew were there, really interesting modern birds and weird stick figures.
My prize art is 2 signed and numbered seriographs by Eyvind Earle, Green Pastures (chosen as an Earth Day poster decades ago) and Gardener's Ranch, an original Dinner Party (Judy Chicago) poster from the exhibition on Houston back on the 70s that I saw, 3 extraordinary Navajo sandpaintings, a signed Annie Liebovitz poster of the Blues Brothers from 1985, my book shelves as art, a signed Wilson Hurley landscape poster (mom's), lots of dragon sculptures and plates and crows lurking about on door frames, some pieces done by my former law partner, and lots of photographs of my dogs, horses and some family people. There's no room on the walls for anything else!!
I have to have art. I can't imagine living between bare walls. (On the back of my front door is a beat up NYC subway map that isn't available anymore.) One small half wall has multiple dog collars and leashes that I consider to be another art form, just ask any greyhound owner how many different martingale collars they have !!! My shower curtain is mash up of the Japanese Wave and Starry Night. And there are few of the pieces I did during my celtic woodburning days left.
Art from a museum? Monet or Klimt. I don't know....
Kandinsky, Miro...
I think the art we choose tobdisplay is a reflection of who we are as individuals and the beauty we see in the world. It's all very personal...
There are some truly beautiful collars made for greyhounds. Their long necks make for a lovely background for the multitude of designs and colors available. I've seen pictures of rooms devoted to collections of collars and leashes hanging on the walls (one person had a different collar for EVERY day!!). My 2 have 4 different collars each, along with harnesses and other walkie necessities. They only wear them when going out, inside it's just their ID tag thin leather collars. Greys require so much stuff - winter coats and jammies, blankets and cushy beds - be prepared to give up your bed and couch to a greyhound. The 45 mph couch potatoes.... They're aliens with eyes that see right to your soul.
(yeah, ask about my dogs, I'll never shut up !!!!)
When a child, my father had an old Rockwell poster on the wall. He wasn’t much of an art connoisseur. My favorite though, was a photo taken by his friend who worked for the local daily newspaper and a photo was taken of us kids including neighborhood kids in a horse sleigh attached to his trailer pulled by his 1951 Chevy with mom in the passenger seat. He collected horse sleighs and this photo got front page space in the Sunday Hartford Courant next to other news like Alaska being made a state in 1959, Castro being sworn in as president and “Red Rocket Blasts into Space.” It was a news worthy day but our photo placement was the most important one of course. I have that full newspaper page on my wall today. But that is now second to my most treasured painting.
As an art dealer, I have a painting of an enslaved young girl who escaped bondage in Westerly in 1793. My friend and former chair of the art department at Central Connecticut State University, Dr Cora Marshall, created a series of such paintings around 2007. She researched newspaper rewards of enslaved who escaped from their former (masters)? Described sometimes in detail how they looked and the clothing they left with.
When I saw this exhibit in 2007, I immediately knew it was the most impactful art exhibit I had ever seen and would ever see. I held myself together but as I walked back to my car, the tears came. Cora subsequently gave me the request to find homes for some of these paintings. One of them, a 22 year old named Mary to me has a frightening look and I once thought who would want to gaze at her with such fright. Now Mary is with me forever and she is often the last image I see on my wall every evening.
Bill Katz, bless you.
Growing up our tiny home was filled with weird art and objects. A reproduction Etruscan bas relief of a chariot race hung over the couch. An 18th century spinning wheel. A German cuckoo clock in the hallway. A huge painting of my father on horseback in full military dress that took up the entire wall of the dining room. A 12" marble anatomically correct naked man by some sculptor that I hated. It sat on the stereo and it was embarrassing when friends came over. A Japanese watercolor hung over a custom inlaid dry sink; these two items are still in my mom's home today. We were not rich by any means but my parents taught us to travel the world through books and education. My mom made sure we got every bizarre scholarship available.
If I could have any three cool pieces I'd love:
1) The Cornfield or Lavender Fields by John Constable. The light, the texture and the imagery make my heart happy.
2)A true Knole Sofa, preferably from Vita Sackville West's home in Kent, preferably in red or gold velvet.
3) All my soft furnishings would be designed by William Morris from Liberty of London.
I'd never leave home.
I love William Morris. I feel the same way. Your answers are fabulous!
Exactly - the collecting and arranging of objects in ways that catch the attention and reveal the beauty, humor, emotion of any object. That was my experience growing up - and it gave me such an eye for the lovely, often odd, beauty of justapositions. Sounds like your parents gave you a great gift.
A Knole sofa truly is art!
Madonnas. So many Madonnas. My parents were rigidly Catholic and had 4 girls, 3 boys. For my dad, the Madonnas were gifts to my mother, who nearly died twice during pregnancy, and when she finally got a hysterectomy at 39, that was the end of intimacy. The other art was some muddy landscapes purchased in Germany when we were stationed there, and various Chinese tourist art from a Taiwan posting. When they died we sold or donated all of it. My art is from art shows I went to in LA where I met the artists and talked about their pieces. I have 3 commission pieces of collage from an artist friend. When I moved out to the woods, I found more artists, and every room has something on the walls or surfaces made by talented hands. All my coffee cups are pottery made here. I love seeing how others interpret this world and I love seeing it in my space. The most precious art was made by a man in prison.
Ooo this is a fun one! We were on a budget so TJ Maxx and Marshall’s supplied our art. I remember this one in particular that was a huge still life of grapes and wine that hung in my mother’s kitchen for years. She finally took it down when she decided that she didn’t like it anymore. I don’t any art hanging in my space, save for a lotus painting I did at a paint party for my 33rd birthday. If I had no budget and could raid the museums of the world, I’d have the following pieces in my home:
1. “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt
2. “The Sugar Shack” by Ernie Barnes
3. “Syzygy” by Lina Iris Viktor
"A still life of grapes and wine!" It gives me a delighted feeling about your mother, Jasmyn!!
My mother LIVED to collect art, so I grew up with a wonderful variety of all kinds of art, with work by nationally recognized artists, as well as local artists. No surprise, I suppose, when I became an artist later in life. Long story there. But I definitely feel that my exposure to art as a child shaped my own preferences and esthetic. Most of the work was not representational. She collected Paul Harmon’s work, Chagall lithographs, Miro lithos, and other abstract artists. Arthur Osver was a well-known abstract artist from my Alma mater of Washington University in St. Louis. We still have two of his paintings. We have work by French artists and Americans alike, Jewish artists and non-Jewish artists. We have an ecumenical and international household, as my husband is from France. Art is a joy. The life that is lived through artists’ eyes continues to live on through their work. It has a final resting place on our four walls, alongside my own art quilts, drawings and paintings. I could not live happily without making art and without the art that surrounds me. It cleanses my palate from the baseness that characterizes our current political moment. As my former professor used to say, “Art on!”…and I do!❤️
I was raised by a single mother and she is an artist. Our walls were adorned with her macrame and driftwood sculptures, drawings, and paintings. She collected rocks, shells, feathers, various and sundry antiques and oddities. She helped me gain a deep appreciation for art and artists. She helped me see the beauty in the things most people would discard for something shiny and new. Our apartment is decorated with an array of art including original works from my mother and my artist friends, a 5' tall wooden angel cut out painted by my husband's grandfather, various artworks we've found at thrift stores and flea markets over the years, and a few pieces of furniture and handicrafts we kept from our fair trade craft gallery. Some of my art is rotated into the mix on occasion along with some things our daughter made when she was younger.
As much as the idea of having any work of art to myself for a year appeals on one level, I believe art is for the people. I would rather it be where people can see it than be hidden away in a private collection. I wouldn't mind wearing an Elsa Schiaparelli dress once or spending a day with a Van Gogh or tottering around on the iconic Ferragamo rainbow platforms for a moment-and what fun would it be to live in a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home in the woods? That I could see doing indefinitely.
It's fun to dream, but even if I had more money, I think I'd keep our eclectic mix of art and oddities as it is.
Margot, your apartment sounds wonderfully adorned!
It's "eclecti-funky", but it makes us happy!
The most memorable for me growing up was a print of Charles Allan Gilbert's drawing, "All Is Vanity," hung by my father in my mother's bathroom as a joke, but it scared the dickens out of me for years with its image of a woman looking at a mirror that resembled a skull. Now, one of my favorites in my own hovel is similar to yours -- a framed child's Native American tunic, made from a burlap bag and hand-painted, which was made for my father when he was little by the Zuni women on the reservation where he grew up, his father being the doctor there. My brother has a pair of ceremonial hand-painted leather gloves that the women made for my father as well. Someday I hope the two things will be reunited. So many questions arise from those objects: Did my grandfather do a good job there? Was his presence appreciated? These gifts give me hope that it was so.
What a beautiful story, Sherill, and wonderful that you still have these gifts in your family - thanks for sharing!
My maternal grandmother worked for the Navy. She traveled the world and bought all sorts of things for the Naval Exchange. Whatever she wanted personally (including an MG from Britain and furniture from Japan), she was able to purchase and ship back to the US at cost and duty-free. She bought a lot of art in Japan, a country she loved and lived in for a few years. In my home growing up, we had beautiful framed embroidered Japanese scenes and prints of The Great Wave of Kanagawa (the ocean). In my home now I have many of my own paintings as well as an old gold pan, Native American moccasins presented to my father-in-law years ago, and framed old calendar pages (one depicts a grizzly bear coming around the path behind a hiker...yikes!) I also have a very old, bleached out bison skull found in a river bed by a good friend many years ago.
What a cool post! - From roomdividers dot com:
Featuring two of Katsushika Hokusai's most beloved and remarkable masterpieces, this breathtaking folding screen is a fantastic accent for any room. On the front, a small group of fishing boats is caught in The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a testament to the tremendous power of nature, against which even the lofty peak of Mt. Fuji appears diminished in the background. The same mountain appears in abstract grandeur on the other side, glowing with the luminous red light it sometimes exhibits in the early autumn when the weather is just right. Reproduced in stunning color and vivid detail, this screen is perfect for anyone who appreciates fine art or Japanese culture.
https://www.roomdividers.com/CAN-HOKU-1.html?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0ruyBhDuARIsANSZ3wqD6sjmspUVUY6PExJdZrb4RrU2WtmDxnBrr_EFwCpjah_Yurc4PoQaAudxEALw_wcB
I have two different room screens from them , the Waite-Rider Tarot 3-panel 6 ft. and a Van Gogh, also 3-panels, six feet
This majestic screen features two of Vincent Van Gogh''s most beloved paintings created later in his career in Arles, in the south of France (a place that biographers say he disliked, but that art historians say inspired him deeply). The front image is the city scene of a local sidewalk cafe, Cafe Terrace at Night, Arles circa 1888, with Van Gogh''s unmistakable "swirling" stars. The back image is View of Arles with Irises in the Foreground circa 1888 featuring the Dutch master''s classic impressionist irises. These lovely fine art prints are attractive, stylish interior design elements made to brighten your living room, bedroom, dining room, or home office. This three panel screen has different images on each side, as shown.
***** Also statues, "too many guitars" and they're definitely functional art, several photos of literally the only celebrity on whom I have developed an authentic "fan crush" - she absolutely instantiates art - a small, framed bowl of cherries my girlfriend painted, Klimt's The Kiss, gift from same GF, some Chinese themed fabric draping a mirror to make workout space less Spartan than it needs to be, etc.
https://www.roomdividers.com/CAN-TAROT.html?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0ruyBhDuARIsANSZ3wrHiVNyKWxXFplGdAGso9j9rOo0CKRcP1Virv65G4Y51JjFfRd7hFsaAuJKEALw_wcB
The symbolism of the tarot deck creates an entire psychological system, it's far more than a parlor game tool for "fortune-telling," although that's usually harmless enough outside of spooky mystery novels and horror movies!
* https://www.tarot.com/ = This site is fully into the most naive, uncritical versions of "occultism,"
just sayin'.
https://psychcentral.com/pro/using-tarot-in-psychotherapy
^^^^^ This is what I am talking about, something much more involved and potentially revelatory.
Wow! Thanks for the link too!
Sure, it's some of the Renoir, Matisse, Turner, and Japanese screens among others I want to figure out how to put in this fairly large1 BR apt., I guess I could just rotate them from the storage room that's right inside the entrance, when it comes to that.
I've done that with paintings....not a lot of wall space so I trade them out. It works out great! They are beautiful screens Richard!
Look what I found, this is the psychological and/or philosophical aspects of tarot I have explored:
https://psychcentral.com/pro/using-tarot-in-psychotherapy
Just like the Rorschach and Thematic Apperception tests, a set of classic tarot cards portrays ambiguous images of humans in a wide range of situations. Though tarot cards do not function in quite the same ways as projective testing methods, when the cards are used correctly, they can help to better understand the patients, and to help them to better understand themselves.
Below are just a few of the ways tarot cards can be a useful tool in psychotherapy sessions.
{More}
My mom is a talented artist in her own right. She regretted not being able to attend the Institute of Art in Chicago after she graduated from high school due to lack of parental financial support and encouragement, but always decorated our home with beautiful artwork. Sometimes she would find interesting pieces at a thrift store; often she would gently open up the binding of a LIFE magazine or a coffee table book, then matt and frame something beautiful she found in its pages.
Later, when my brothers and I were out of high school, she enrolled in our local community college to finally pursue her art school dream, and the art on the walls of our home began being replaced by her original works, which are stunning.
She's 85 and lives in an assisted living apartment now, surrounded by many of her paintings. Her sketch books from those classes are safely tucked away in storage. She still paints when inspiration strikes, and her talent hasn't diminished at all.
Another memory: During the holiday season, she would take all of the artwork off the walls, wrap them in Christmas wrapping paper and tie them with ribbons and Bows, then hang them back on the walls as Christmas decor.
I loved having a creative mom who enjoyed making the holidays, birthdays and other occasions special.
What a lovely tradition...and fun, too!
We didn't have a lot of money, but she always found creative ways to make up for that so we really never noticed.
The art in my parents' house was primarily unusual wall sculpture that was bought from a mail order catalogue. 'Decor' rather than art. Or, the art was painted on the walls by my father. For example, the walls of my bedroom were painted with red and white stripes, with blue stars on the ceiling. The room he shared with my mother was painted precisely half forest green and half navy blue. Split right down the center of the room. I am an art addict. Nearly every space in my tiny home is covered. I have collected mostly originals, purchased at second-hand shops, online, given as gifts, and sometimes from galleries. I have an entire wall in my living room that I call the black and white wall. All originals. When I can, I track down the artists and reach out to let them know I've adopted their work. I have a Beatles wall in my dining room. I have a few walls of family photos. If I could have 3 works in my home, I think I'd choose Matisse's le dans, something by Frida Kahlo, and a Georgia O'Keefe piece. I don't love color, but I love the work of these three masters.
Great choices!! O’Keefe, Khalo, Matisse!
Fascinating painting choices by your father!
My parents had a lovely craftsman house with deep, rich woodwork and “honey beige” walls. My mother was frighteningly religious, so the occasional portrait of Jesus H. Christ was situated among her prized and lovely vintage Audubon prints and old tintype familial portraits, all very somber, but upon opening the door to my bedroom, one could witness a blast of pop art, Kennedy memorabilia and Beatles everything. I had a Beatle for each decade following my tenth birthday, and arranged my art accordingly. The first was Paul M, with his bedroom eyes and perfect smile. Then came Ringo, after I discovered that I, too, was a musician who played drums so badly that my parents bought me a piano. Then came a “finding love, peace and meditation” phase, in which images of George were found everywhere among the scents of nag champa and candles, ok…and maybe a little pit…so shoot me…followed, finally, by pictures of the man I felt I’d waited all my life to marry, John Lennon, whose work taught me to be a radical feminist, anti-war activist who fought for the underdog.
I had an entire wall of Lennon/Ono art, and bought a signed print from his book, “A Spaniard in the Works.” Today, I have a HUGE black and white, framed photo of The Beatles facing Muhammad Ali, which is autographed by Ali himself in gold ink, hanging above the fireplace, and many magnificent mosaics, by Bay Area artist, Kim Larson . They are huge female nudes, which you really must see! (Link below) and a lot of my own artwork, from paintings, to sculptures alongside a huge, magnificent, contemporary Japanese sculptural wall hanging that my daughter, Sarah-Lynda, believes looks like a disastrous car wreck. (I adore it.) If I could have my choice of anyone’s work, I would have one of Andy Goldsworthy’s magnificent stone eggs sitting in the middle of the foyer of the gigantic mansion that I don’t have. (Google them). I’d have an entire room of Keith Haring, and I’d hire performance artists, Marina Abramovich, (whose name I have no idea how to spell) and Lori Anderson, in person, sitting on both ends of a 20 foot long, wooden dining table doing constant performance art for me as I eat my morning oatmeal with fresh blueberries. If Yoko were young enough to still screech, as she did when I saw her at the NY MoMA, she would be there too, entertaining me at breakfast and undoubtedly annoying all the neighbors. I just realized that there are too many beloved artists from which to choose. I couldn’t possibly just select one. I hope the link below works so you can see Kim Larson’s amazing work.
That’s all she wrote.
https://images.app.goo.gl/BKLqwXWegx6M7qiH9
My parents were close friends with an artist in Taos, New Mexico. His name was Thomas E. Lewis, and he was well-known for his landscapes of the American Southwest. My parents had several of his paintings, which my sister and I inherited. They are original oil paintings by Tommy.
I currently have Tommy's paintings on my walls, as well as a few beach paintings and various other types of paintings. In my office, I have an awesome painting of four women, and they say, "Be strong when you are weak," "Be Brave when you are scared," "Be Humble when you are victorious," and "Be Badass Every Day." This painting is one of the coolest things I've obtained. I wish I could post a picture of it here because it is so awesome.
I would love to have black pottery from Native American artist Maria Montoya Martinez. Her work is unique and beautiful.
Jayne Wyman was so pretty! She was better off without him. I love the jacket and photos!
In my house over the mantel was a painting my father made of a sculpture of a woman with one breast hanging out. It was mostly gray and blue and very nice. He was an insurance salesman but his paintings were good and he was very proud to sell a few in his later years I have one of his paintings of a landscape of a rock formation near Big Bear; he spent his last years in the Mojave desert area. I also have another painting by him, and two by my sister, and a small bust of my husband that a sculptor friend made for me, and another painting by a friend of mine. It’s enough art, I don’t really have room for any more, but I am very fond of a Dutch painting at the Met titled, the Smokers. Young Dutchmen having a good time many years ago. I would like to see more of that but if I kept them in my apartment I’d probably be tempted to start smoking again. They make it look so great.
My parents had a Picasso print in their bedroom, and I remember a print of the Durer Bunny too, plus some sculptures and wall hangings and more. They were outliers, what would have been called Bohemian in those days. There was art all over the house, which got progressively wilder as the 60s morphed into the 70s. At one point I think my sister painted one of the bathrooms black, with little acid inspired sayings taped helter-skelter to the walls. Things like "Adapt or Die". All of the various houses in that time frame were giant art installations.
I took all my art down as I prepare to move east. I will hang it again when I get settled in next month. I have mostly originals from Taos artists, plus some of my own landscape photography. Before I go I want to buy a couple of small works from the artists I like best in Taos. And my artist friend in Petaluma has promised me a piece. And once I am in NY I am sure I will pick up more pieces.
If I could hang anything for a year...maybe Caravaggio, but not the bloody ones. And maybe the Botticelli I call Venus on the Half Shell, AKA The Birth of Venus.
When we were growing up, the only "art" in the house was one of those impressionist city scenes that you buy in the gas station parking lot. That, and lots of diplomas. My house?? It's filled with things that bring me joy...professional pictures of the beaches we basically lived at on Cape Cod, wooden painted oars (I love rowing), and wooden Entering this city plaques at full size, lots of mirrors, and SO many plants. I have always made my home a place of comfort and memories. It is a placed to be lived in, and welcoming. My desk is filled with family pictures, and our Zen room has multiple photos of those we have lost. If I could have one piece of art in my home for a year, my choice would be anything by Banksy, to remind all of us to never stop fighting.
Fitzified, you’re such a gentle genius. Love what you said about your reason for Banksy.
My mom's art choices were unusual. She had a large oil of a Philippino couple in a sugar cane field that my granddaddy got in the Philippines pre-WWII (my grandmother hated it because it was of "those brown people...🙄). I think my sister took it. Another I remember was a modern piece by her cousin, MaryAnn Hartman, a truly weird Thai oil of three dancing women, lots of framed prints (Renoir etc.) And a bunch of old Chinese stuff that was gifted to her by my other grandparents. I have 2 pieces done by another cousin in the 50s that I always knew were there, really interesting modern birds and weird stick figures.
My prize art is 2 signed and numbered seriographs by Eyvind Earle, Green Pastures (chosen as an Earth Day poster decades ago) and Gardener's Ranch, an original Dinner Party (Judy Chicago) poster from the exhibition on Houston back on the 70s that I saw, 3 extraordinary Navajo sandpaintings, a signed Annie Liebovitz poster of the Blues Brothers from 1985, my book shelves as art, a signed Wilson Hurley landscape poster (mom's), lots of dragon sculptures and plates and crows lurking about on door frames, some pieces done by my former law partner, and lots of photographs of my dogs, horses and some family people. There's no room on the walls for anything else!!
I have to have art. I can't imagine living between bare walls. (On the back of my front door is a beat up NYC subway map that isn't available anymore.) One small half wall has multiple dog collars and leashes that I consider to be another art form, just ask any greyhound owner how many different martingale collars they have !!! My shower curtain is mash up of the Japanese Wave and Starry Night. And there are few of the pieces I did during my celtic woodburning days left.
Art from a museum? Monet or Klimt. I don't know....
Kandinsky, Miro...
I think the art we choose tobdisplay is a reflection of who we are as individuals and the beauty we see in the world. It's all very personal...
(Next time, ask about the books we have....!!!)
I love this: “One small half wall has multiple dog collars and leashes that I consider to be another art form…”
There are some truly beautiful collars made for greyhounds. Their long necks make for a lovely background for the multitude of designs and colors available. I've seen pictures of rooms devoted to collections of collars and leashes hanging on the walls (one person had a different collar for EVERY day!!). My 2 have 4 different collars each, along with harnesses and other walkie necessities. They only wear them when going out, inside it's just their ID tag thin leather collars. Greys require so much stuff - winter coats and jammies, blankets and cushy beds - be prepared to give up your bed and couch to a greyhound. The 45 mph couch potatoes.... They're aliens with eyes that see right to your soul.
(yeah, ask about my dogs, I'll never shut up !!!!)
Wonderful to hear!!