Saturday, December 24, 2011
RANDOM 341 OBJECTS
All antique nuts, me included, have one thing in common: We tend to put things back thinking one day we’ll have time to research, clean, fix up, frame or do something else creative with them. Some of us call “that room” full of stuff our “project room.” Others think it as investments. Then there are those like my dear spouse, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, who now calls all my little treasures “Choices.” As in: “One of us is leaving. It’s your choice; me or all your cwap.”
8 ANTIQUE ETCHINGS: Cincinnati, SWAIN, Brunet DEBAINES, L. H. Meakin, WESSEL-$82
I asked her how long I had to decide. From her reaction, I could tell it wasn’t long.
Pencil signed by a student of Frank Duveneck in Cincinnati - Francis William Swain (1892 - 1937)
The following from Edan Hughes’ wonderful book: “Artists in California, 1786-1940.”
A painter, etcher and illustrator, Francis Swain was born in Oakland, California and studied at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1907 to 1913. He served in World War I and then established a studio in San Francisco at 127 East 3rd Street. In 1925, he moved with his family to New York City. He also studied with Frank Duveneck and Frank Van Sloun in Cincinnati and was a student at the Pennsylvania Academy. Francis Swain was a member of the California Society of Etchers and the Cincinnati Art Club. He died at Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island, New York in 1937.
There may be a signature within all the grasses, but I don’t see anything – front or back. Nice paper though.
On back: “The Old Abbey – Debaines – PROOF” We know it to be Bolton Abbey. Etching circa 1882-1883
Maybe it reminded him of home. On the back, it says in pencil: “Carried through Great War by Lt. Albert Fishbone (?) to decorate quarters.”
I NEED TO ASK ABOUT THIS ONE! i drool over this chest. the handles, the escutcheons, the edge details. i want this as a bed. tho, the top white handles need to be glass or drop handles.
Friday, December 23, 2011
RANDOM ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA
FALUN/FAHLUN- town of sweden, also called dalarna or dalecarlia. bare + rocky. town of timber. mining + smelting. oldest copper mines. since 17th c, the copper decreasing. kills plants, but no cholera or other epidemics(no rodents?). pop 1875, 6,694.
the odd black 'critter' hails from dalarna.
FAMILY-repeat! slaves-thralls rome.
famines- war, pestilence, + famine.
FAN- no electric.
FALUN/FAHLUN- town of sweden, also called dalarna or dalecarlia. bare + rocky. town of timber. mining + smelting. oldest copper mines. since 17th c, the copper decreasing. kills plants, but no cholera or other epidemics(no rodents?). pop 1875, 6,694.
the odd black 'critter' hails from dalarna.
FAMILY-repeat! slaves-thralls rome.
famines- war, pestilence, + famine.
