Continuing the review of Cybis’ literature-based portraits naturally leads to their interpretations of characters and creatures from Greek, Roman and Asian mythology.
The actual appearance of the first two mythological studies is unknown. One, titled Greek Head, is known only from a single text list of names in the 1974 catalog; I am going to assume it has a mythological connotation until/unless I can discover more about it. That list provides no details and so my assumption that it dates from 1960 or later is based on an educated guess. It is, of course, possible that this was a 1950s piece even though the majority of those were religious in nature.
A definite mythological study was Europa and The Bull which appears on the Spring 1963 price list as a limited edition of 200, in white bisque only, for $350. Size is given as 18″ which, if it refers to height instead of width, indicates a very large piece. See this post for a photo of what this almost certainly looked like.
The first mythological sculpture for which a photo has been found is Bull ‘God of the Thunderbolt’ which was released in 1960 as a limited edition of 100 and completed in 1965. His name combines two of the most common symbols associated with Zeus/Jupiter: the thunderbolt and the white bull. It is 12” high and 14” long. He appears on the 1963 price list but there his name is shown simply as Bull. He is the animal portion of the Europa and The Bull sculpture.
Chinese Goddess ‘Kwan Yin’, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and compassion is 13.5” high. Produced only from 1972 – 1976, the original declared issue of 750 was supposedly (see below) closed after only 350 were created. Her retail price went from $1250 to $1450 during that span. She was originally sold with an accompanying vitrine but it’s not known when (or if) that practice was discontinued.
There is understandable confusion about the edition size of Kwan Yin. Analysis of the early-1970s Cybis price lists show that the reduction took place between the autumn of 1975 and the spring of 1976. However, not only have several undoubtedly-authentic Kwan Yins numbered in the low 400s come to light, but also one with a number in the mid-600s! Several possible reasons for such ‘over-numbering’ are discussed in Edition Size Discrepancies. There were only 350 Kwan Yin that went out of the studio door BUT that doesn’t mean that all of their numbers fall between #1 and #350.
This piece was designed by Harry Burger, who also created the Cybis Chess Set given to the USSR at the 1972 Moscow Summit. Other spellings of this deity’s name include Guanyin, Quan Yin and Kuan Yin. I was curious about why she is depicted as standing atop a crustacean, so I did some research and learned that one of her attributes is as a rescuer and protectress of those who travel or work on the sea. Many coastal villages in Asia contain temples to Kwan Yin and she is one of the most popular deities in those regions. By the way, that crustacean is definitely a shrimp rather than a lobster. The tip-off is the front legs: Lobsters have those large claws containing that delicious meat! The Cybis Kwan Yin’s ‘ride’ doesn’t have those, which means it’s a shrimp. A definitely not-shrimpy shrimp, but a shrimp nonetheless, LOL. As for the flower, Kwan Yin is traditionally associated with the lotus which is an aquatic plant.
The Lakota Sioux tribe of Native Americans worshipped Wankan Tanka as the Great Spirit that created the world. This sculpture was issued in 1979 as part of the studio’s North American Indians series, to represent the Sioux. It is slightly taller than 18″ overall. The edition of 200 sold for $3500 at introduction and was completed in the mid-1980s. The more common spelling of the name of this Native American deity is Wakan Tanka, but Cybis chose to title theirs as Wankan. He was created by freelance artist Helen Granger Young.
Persephone, daughter of Demeter and wife of Hades. The original version of Persephone is 14.5” tall and is a completed limited edition of 200 that was introduced in 1982 at a price of $3250. She was sculpted by William Pae and is larger in body scale than any of the other Cybis full figure portraits; if she had been sculpted standing, in the same scale, she would have been about 18” high. Although she was supposedly completed in 1987 at $4400, the studio was still offering pieces marked ‘AP’ to visitors during the early 1990s.
During the Brielle Galleries’ spring 1982 “Cybis party” during which Persephone was introduced, guests could watch as art director George Ivers painted a white bisque version.
Cybis created two Hall of Fame versions of Persephone during the 1990s:
Persephone II is 12.5” tall and was an issue of 500 in autumn 1990, at which time she sold for $2500. Other than the height, there are various decoration differences in the Hall of Fame replicas versus the original 1980s piece (color of bodice trim, type and color of flowers in her hair, on her lap, and on the back of the rock.)
Persephone III (the second Hall of Fame replica) is smaller, at 10.5” tall, and was an issue of 1500 introduced in either 1991, 1992 or spring 1993. Her price in November 1993 was $1850 and it is unlikely that more than a few were made.
Aphrodite, the goddess of love in Greek mythology, designed by Lynn Klockner Brown. She is 8 ½” tall, and was a declared edition of 750 in 1983 at $875.
In the 1980s Cybis launched a series called “Classical Impressions” that were at first made in plain white bisque to evoke the look of Parian. Among the first in the series were the two mythological characters below.
Leda and the Swan was a 1986 limited edition of 500, sculpted by Gertrude Fass, which had an issue price of $1450 in white bisque as shown, which was the only available version initially. By 1988 Cybis had added a separate “color” edition of only 200 priced at $2250, while increasing the white version to $1750. I have never seen a color version but would love to! Both editions were closed in the late 1990s. Although not a tall sculpture at only 9”high, the base is 13” wide. The story of Leda, Queen of Sparta, being visited by Jupiter/Zeus in the form of a swan was also the subject of a sonnet by William Butler Yeats. According to some versions of the myth, the offspring of this union was Helen of Troy.
Speaking of that legendary beauty, see my Artist Profile of William Pae who created this beautiful Helen of Troy clay model that was, sadly, never produced by Cybis.
The dynamic study of Icarus, the mortal who dared to fly too close to the sun on his manmade wings, is an impressive 19” tall to the topmost wingtip, about 15” deep front to back, and about 18” wide overall. He was an edition of 500 priced at $1800 at introduction in 1986 which increased by almost $200 in only two years. Like Leda, he was later also offered in color and, like her, both editions were closed sometime in the 1990s. I have never seen a high-number example of this piece for sale and I am pretty sure that not many of either were made. Additional views of this piece are shown in the Classical Impressions post.
This study is called Dream of Venus, introduced in 1988 as an addition to the Classical Impressions series. At 20” high, this Roman counterpart of Aphrodite is one of the tallest bust/torso sculptures created by the modern studio. Unlike Leda and Icarus, she was offered from the start in two colorways: a 500-piece white bisque edition for $950, and a 200-piece color version for $1475. In 1990 Cybis changed this to a single edition size of 500 in a choice of either bisque for $1275 or color for $1975.
Other limited edition mythology-based studies were the hippocampus Sea King’s Steed ‘Oceania’ and Arion the Dolphin Rider (details about both are found in All at Sea with Cybis).
Two centaurs (Cybele and Theron) cavort in Cybis Flights of Fantasy.
There were several versions of Pegasus (pegasi?): Pegasus and Pegasus Colts ‘Flight and Fancy’ were limited editions. Pegasus ‘Free Spirit’ was an open edition.
Eros (Cupid Head) on base. He was produced as an open edition starting in 1974 and is 10” high including the base. There can be considerable variation in the skin tone of this sculpture; I’ve seen examples ranging from barely-tinted white, to a charmingly natural blush (most common), to what can only be described as a ‘California beach-boy suntan’ version which is shown in the second photo! His original issue price was $135.
It took quite a few more years for Psyche, Eros’ True Love to make her appearance but she finally did in 1980 as a 9” high open edition companion to Eros, on a matching wooden base for $195. She was designed by Gertrude Fass. The mythological Psyche was an exceptionally beautiful human girl who was rescued from certain death by Eros. After undergoing many trials and tribulations she was eventually reunited with Eros and given the drink of ambrosia by which she became a goddess, her particular purview being the soul. Their daughter Hedone, by the way, was the goddess of pleasure, enjoyment and delight…. from which we get the word “hedonist”.
Psyche also has the distinction of being one of only two designs that Cybis ever licensed to be used as the basis for something made by another manufacturer. Both were dolls made by The Hamilton Collection in the early 1990s. Although neither of these dolls were actually made by Cybis, photos and details can be found in their own Archive post.
These two unusual glazed versions of Eros and Psyche were among the items offered in 2019 when the remaining stock of the Cybis studio was liquidated at auction. Both are experimental pieces that were never made for retail sale.
Update, February 2025: This piece, which was among the many auction lots of studio back-stock that were liquidated in 2019 and 2020, was initially assumed by me to represent a cherub. The Cybis studio was fond of cherub figures, so this was a logical assumption; I plonked him down in the Angels post and called him ‘flying cherub’.
However, a trove of new information about freelance designer Gertrude Fass included this photo of an eerily similar figure identified as ‘Cupid’. I immediately realized my cherub-assumption error, have re-titled the Cybis item as Cupid in flight, and moved him here. He is not an exact copy of the Fass figure shown above, but the this photo was among a group of known Cybis pieces by Mrs. Fass, and so it appears that the studio used her original Cupid as the design base.
Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
About the Cybis Reference Archive
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