That’s right, Driving for Deco is on road again and sharing our weekend finds 2021 with you.
Englishtown Flea Market
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Our first stop, the Englishtown Flea Market in Englishtown, New Jersey. Anthony has fond memories of this place. Many a deco treasure he still enjoys are from here. Years ago, he purchased his first Fortune magazine (January 1935), a reproduction Ladies’ HomeCompanion Winter poster and RCA Victor 5T Radio.
January 1935 Fortune Magazine (photo via amazon.com)
A recreation of the frame my print of Winter was in when I bought it in 1982.
RCA Victor 5T Radio (photo via Worthpoint.com)
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Arriving early, and anticipating a full morning of shopping, we were disappointed in the selection of merchandise. Rather than eclectic mix of old and new, it was primarily new items – in abundance. No weekend finds here. We did enjoy a pretzel, though.
Located a few minutes down the road, this placed is jam packed. And we do mean jam packed! Extremely narrow aisle and Jenga-like displays, this is not for the faint of heart. I noticed a Farberware covered chrome tray with a crow handle fairly quickly. Marked as an egg holder, Anthony had reservations about the cover. But the proprietor was willing to haggle on the price and it was our only purchase. A quick online search and Anthony’s instinct was correct. The carrier is for cordial glasses. The cover – well, it’s for something else. But we have no idea what.
Farberware Brooklyn NY cordial carrier (from the collection of the author)
Underside of carrier stamped Farberware
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Spelunking our way through the back we saw some interesting items. Be forewarned, the air is extremely musty. But be brave. And if you’re willing to dive in, you may find the treasure of your dreams.
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With barely a dint on the day, we decided to “make the rounds”. Essentially, hit up a few of our favorite thrift store closer to home.
Stop one, Good Stuff Thrift Store in Fairless Hills, Pa. This place has a nice turnover of merchandise. And it’s rare we don’t find something worth buying. This weekend was no exception. We picked up a nice Nouveau / Arts & Crafts Bisque vase. Unmarked and well made, for $3.00, we took a chance.
Unmarked Bisque Vase (from the collection of the author)
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Another piece purchased it this Cambridge Caprice console bowl for $6.00. This popular line was produced between 1937 – 1953. It is also available in lovely shade called Moonlight Blue.
Pressed glass console bowl (from the author’s collection)
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And a cup from the Russell Wright American Modern line was a no brainer for $0.50.
Russel Wright American Modern (from the author’s collection)
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But the biggest question mark purchased is this stepped glass bowl for $6.00. Possibly a Lens Bowl designed by Walter Dorwin Teague and produced by Steuben, it is the third of this type we own. Each being a different color and size. We are still researching if they are vintage 1930’s bowls or really well-made contemporary pieces. We’ll keep you posted.
Side view – possible made by Steuben
Lens Bowl – possibly by Walter Dorwin Teague
Purchase at Goodwill earlier this year – smaller version
Side view, less rings – these are heavy pieces
Lens Bowls size comparison. We also have a third bowl in clear glass.
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Thanks for sticking with us through the last year, And we are already planning being on the road again, Driving for Deco and sharing more weekend finds 2021. We hope you’ll join us!
The main entrance to the Brooklyn Museum on Eastern Parkway. Photo by Virginia Rollison from Timeout.com
The Brooklyn Museum, in its namesake borough of New York City, is a must destination for anyone with an interest in Art Deco. The museum’s collection encompasses many areas, but its decorative arts section is truly fantastic. Chris and I did visit the museum back 2016 and will revisit again once the pandemic is behind us. But the museum is currently open to visitors with reduced hours and limited number of admissions. Before visiting please check their website for their guidelines.
The Brooklyn Museum antecedents date back to 1823. The famed architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White designed the neoclassical building for the museum’s permanent home in the Park Slope section of the borough. Construction took place in stages between 1895 and 1927, with the museum doors opening in 1897. The museum is New York City’s third largest and holds over 1.5 million works in its collection. And the breadth of the their catalog is enormous. It embodies the artistic heritage of world cultures. It ranges from Egyptian and African art through works from the 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries and disciplines from painting, sculptures and decorative arts. And the Brooklyn Museum’s collection of Art Deco and Modernist pieces is one of the best anywhere.
Museum of Arts and Science (Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences; Brooklyn Museum), Brooklyn, New York, New York, 1910. (Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images)
The Williamsburg Murals
One of the major pieces of modernist art in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum are the Williamsburg Murals. During the mid-1930s, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia began a campaign to remove slum housing. Replacing them were new, low rent apartments having lots of natural light, green spaces and community rooms. One of the first of these projects, the Williamsburg Houses, was built between 1936 and 1937.
Williamsburg Houses street frontage. Photo by Nyholm, from Architectural Forum, May, 1938.
Open green space at the Williamsburg Houses. Photo by Nyholm from Architectural Forum, May, 1938.
Architect William Lezcase (1896 – 1969) wanted art work to be part of the basement community rooms. Commissioning artists through the WPA’s Federal Art Project four individuals created the works for these spaces. But these are very unlike the usual WPA murals going up concurrently in Post Offices across the United States. Unlike the local history theme of most WPA murals these are bold and abstract, reminiscent of Bauhaus art. The commission for these works went to four American abstract artists, Ilya Bolotowsky, Balcomb Greene, Paul Kelpe and Albert Swinden. These were the first public murals of this kind in the United States.
Untitled, oil on canvas. Williamsburg Mural by Albert Swinden, circa, 1939. Image from brooklynmuseum.org.
As the years passed the community rooms became offices or storage spaces and the murals suffering from neglect were painted over. Their rediscovery beginning in the late 1980s is an amazing story of art restoration. These murals on now on loan to the Brooklyn Museum from the New York City Housing Authority.
Untitled by Iyla Bolotowsky on display at the Brooklyn Museum. Image from tru-vue.com.
Below are a few of the great objects in the museum’s collection. Some of these pieces are on display in the Decorative Arts section on the fourth floor. While other not currently on exhibition are viewable in the Luce Visible Storage and Study Center on the fifth floor.
Ronson Touch-Tip
Louis V. Aronson. Cigarette Lighter, “Ronson Touch-Tip,” ca. 1935. Chrome and black-enameled metal, 3 3/8 x 4 3/8 x 2 1/4 in. (8.6 x 11.1 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of David A. Hanks.
Catalog Description
“Ronson Touch-Tip” model, streamlined, tugboat shaped tabletop lighter (a) with wick holder (b). Flat chrome-plated base rounded at one end, square at the other end. Incised all around with two parallel bands painted black. Chrome-plated turret-like top rounded on one side. Side elevation of top is quarter round curved down in back to meet base. All the vertical planes of the top are painted black. Three parallel chrome bands curve around the sides of the front extending about 1/3 of the length. On the horizontal plane at very top are a knob (b) attached to a flint that fits into hole and a finger depressor to activate mechanism.
Polaroid Desk Lamp Model #114
Walter Dorwin Teague (American, 1883-1960). Desk Lamp, Model #114, ca. 1939. Aluminum, plastic, 12 3/4 x 11 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. (32.4 x 29.2 x 26 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund.
Catalog Description
Desk lamp, Model #114. Low, hemispherical brown plastic (bakelite?) base with a cylindrical metal switch at the front and the lamp stem at the rear; wire cord attached through bottom rear of base. Stem is an aluminum cone tapering out from bottom, rising at a slight angle; four vertical slots at bottom rear of stem. Top of the stem is an irregularly shaped half circle punctured with circles and four screws with plastic heads that attach to the shade. Brown plastic shade in general shape of three-dimensional isosceles trapezoid with basically straight sides but rounded on all edges, and widest at the front. Shade slopes downward on top toward the front. Center of shade is slightly raised with four slots for ventilation along the rear and two on each side of the raised section. Interior of shade is spray-painted white and has two metal reflectors, curved one at back and flat one on inside top; underside covered with a thin, soft piece of green or brown plastic, held in place by a wire frame (intended to produce glare-free light).
E & J Bass Company Cocktail Glasses and Ice Bucket
Elsa Tennhardt (American, born Germany, 1899-1980). Stem Glass, Part of Five-piece Set, Patented 1928. Silver-plated brass, 4 7/8 x 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (12.4 x 7 x 7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund.
Catalog Description
Cocktail glass on stem, silver-plated brass; part of a set with ice bucket, stem glasses, and salt and peppershakers. Glass has triangular base and irregularly shaped, curving stem that supports inverted cone-shaped bowl with three applied, triangular decorative motifs.
Russel Wright Coffee Urn
Russel Wright (American, 1904-1976). Coffee Urn, ca. 1935. Spun aluminum and walnut, 16 x 13 x 8 1/4 in. (40.6 x 33.0 x 21.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Paul F. Walter.
Catalog Description
Coffee Urn. Spun aluminum, wood. Spherical form on cylindrical stand. Spherical wood knobs on metal cylinders for handles, final, and pourer. Narrow cylindrical spout at base of sphere. Metal percolator basket with lid in interior.
Air King Radio
John Gordon Rideout (American, 1898-1951). Radio, 1930-1933. Plaskon (plastic), metal, glass, 11 3/4 x 8 7/8 x 7 1/2 in. (29.8 x 22.5 x 19.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by The Walter Foundation.
Catalog Description
Radio, plastic case with metal and glass parts. Rectangular, box-like form of light green plastic with two narrow steps attached to each side. The front decorated with series of seven vertical striations from top to bottom, and four horizontal ones near base. Black on/off and volume buttons to right and left near base and large green tuning knob at center of face. Near top is metal (brass?) plaque showing a male and a female figure in ancient dress placing their hands in middle of abstracted symbol (for radio wave?).
Revere Normandie Pitcher
Peter Muller-Munk (American, born Germany, 1904-1967). “Normandie” Pitcher, ca. 1935. Chrome-plated brass, 12 x 3 x 9 1/2 in. (30.5 x 7.6 x 24.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, H. Randolph Lever Fund.
Catalog Description
“Normandie” pitcher of chrome-plated brass. Streamlined, in plan, a teardrop shape with a flat, strap handle curving out from lip of rounded rear side of pitcher, and down to same rounded side of base. Body of pitcher comes to a point at front end, forming a straight line running from pouring spout to base. Top of pitcher dramatically raking up from handle at rear to point of pouring spout.
Weil-Worgelt Study
The extent of the change in 1930s modernism in less than a decade is seen to best advantage by a comparison of the Williamsburg Murals to the Weil-Worgelt Study of 1930. The biomorphic forms of the murals would soon become a popular furniture trend starting in the late 1930s. While the study is an excellent of the pure early style of French modernism of the 1920s.
Alavoine of Paris and New York. Weil-Worgelt Study, ca. 1928-1930. Lacquer, glass, leather, veneered panels, 119 x 201 1/2 x 176 1/4 in. (302.3 x 511.8 x 447.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Raymond Worgelt,
Catalog Description
Designed by the New York office of the Parisian decorating firm Alavoine, this elegant study, made for an elite client, was a conservative interpretation of the Art Deco style; this can be seen in the geometric paneling of palisander and olive wood veneers and the large abstract lacquer panel, designed by Henri Redard and executed by Jean Dunand. A small, concealed bar, with etched glass walls that salute France, is hidden in the corner in defiance of Prohibition, which forbade alcohol consumption in the United States from 1919 to 1933. Interestingly, while this room was furnished in the Art Deco style, the public rooms in the rest of the Worgelt apartment were furnished in a more conservative French eighteenth-century-revival style.
Detail: Concealed bar, showing etched glass panel with stylized Parisian landmarks.
Detail of the abstract lacquered panel designed by Henri Redard and executed by Jean Dunand.
So if you love Art Deco and / or Modernism and you find yourself in Brooklyn, stop in at the Brooklyn Museum, you’re sure to enjoy your visit.