The New Jersey State Museum (NJSM) in Trenton is one of the two institutions that contain the largest quantity of Cybis porcelains within their holdings. However, the histories of the museums, as well as the overall focus of their respective Cybis collections, are quite different.
The NJSM, founded in 1895, is one of America’s oldest state museums. Originally located on the third floor of the New Jersey State House, its focus was not on the arts, but instead on the archaeological, industrial and natural history of New Jersey; decorative art was not added until the late 1920s. [Photo of the original exhibit space courtesy of the NJSM website]
The museum was moved into a newly-constructed annex building in 1929 after the addition of art holdings required more space. Even so, the allotted exhibit space was only a few rooms. [Photo courtesy of the NJSM website]
Nevertheless, the museum remained there for 35 years before being relocated to its current purpose-built site on West State Street in Trenton. The opening of the Museum’s new quarters (the main building and the auditorium) in 1965 coincided roughly with the 300th anniversary of the State of New Jersey. The one-storey building in the foreground of this photo is the Auditorium; both were designed by Frank Grad & Sons, of Newark. [photo courtesy of the NJSM website]
In 1983 the New Jersey State Museum became a division of the New Jersey Department of State. The current curator of their Cultural History Department, which includes the decorative arts such as porcelains produced by Cybis, Boehm and Ispanky, is Mr. Nicholas Ciotola.
The Cybis Collection at the NJSM
I am indebted to Mr. Ciotola for my information about the NJSM’s collection of Cybis porcelain. The museum’s holdings comprise more than 300 pieces of Cybis, approximately 11% of which are duplicates of the same item. All of them were donated to the museum between 1967 and 1980. The most recent acquisition was a circa-1984 Eagle Dancer originally presented to Governor Thomas Kean and donated to the museum in 1988. I asked Mr. Ciotola how the NJSM’s collection originally came about.
“Kenneth W. Prescott, the director of the State Museum, started a relationship with Cybis president Joseph Chorlton. The relationship seems to have been initiated by Chorlton, who reached out to the State, specifically to the office of Governor Richard Hughes, with an offer to share the work of the Cybis studio….This contact was around the time that the NJSM was moving into its current building, which opened to the public in 1965. […] The relationship between Chorlton and Prescott eventually resulted in the donation of works to the NJSM, much of this effected by State Museum Curator of Americana James Mitchell.”
In fact, Mitchell was the organizer and director of the major 1970-1971 exhibit Cybis in Retrospect. Kenneth Prescott wrote the Introduction to the catalog that accompanied the exhibit, and Mitchell wrote the Preface that appears on the next page.
The donations of the sculptures occurred in several separate groups spanning more than a decade, beginning with 14 items in 1967 followed by almost 50 more in 1969. All of them were ‘modern’ pieces, meaning those that the studio introduced in 1960 or later. They did not represent every original Cybis retail introduction during that decade because – as discussed in this post – there were 84 of those; but it was a very representative mix of both limited and open (non-limited) editions.
The oldest (circa 1940s and 1950s) examples of Cybis arrived at the NJSM in connection with the Cybis in Retrospect exhibit that ran from November 21, 1970 to January 3, 1971. The studio supplied the pieces for the exhibit, donating them either shortly before or immediately after the exhibit itself. Many of the items shown in the Museum’s holdings database correspond to items indicated in that exhibit’s catalog as being physically on display. However, the remaining pieces were returned to the studio. Those oldest examples are an important part of the NJSM’s Cybis collection.
Approximately 50 pieces were donated by the studio to the NJSM during the 1970s; they were all examples of new retail introductions. Museum records show that the 1970-1976 acquisitions are cataloged as being a ‘gift of the Cybis studio’, but all items donated in 1977 and later are cited as being part of ‘The Marylin Chorlton Memorial Collection of Cybis Porcelain.’ This was a new attribution in order to specifically honor Marylin. A bulk donation of about 80 items was made by the studio in 1980, which means that the museum now had a good proportion of the more than 100 new designs that were introduced during the 1970s. For some reason, the Cybis studio never donated any additional pieces to the NJSM after 1980. This is a shame because there were 273 new designs introduced during the 1980s, many of them extremely successful limited editions, as well as the impressive (and massive) Knight in Shining Armor in 1989. Nevertheless, the NJSM’s collection is a very fine representation of the first 40 years of the Cybis studio’s existence. Let’s take a closer look at the genres that the Museum’s collection represent.
- There are more than 30 bird studies, about a dozen of which are limited editions; the oldest, in terms of retail introduction, is the 1950s Great Horned Owl which was cast from a Holland Mold Company mold.
- There are also approximately 30 flower studies, of which eight are limited editions. The oldest in this genre appears to be the 1961 Golden Clarion Lily.
- There are about 50 animals, 14 being limited editions and less than a half dozen being carousel animals.
- There are approximately 20 religious subjects, most of which are madonnas dating from the 1950s.
- The non-religious-genre human figures total close to 100, with about a third of those being limited editions including some of the ‘Portraits in Porcelain’ and several – but not all – of the North American Indians.
- And finally, there are more than a dozen décor items such as boxes, the fanciful turtle and ladybug pieces, and various individual small components such as flowers and leaves that would have been utilized as decorative accents on larger sculptures.
Cybis Exhibits at the New Jersey State Museum
The first Cybis exhibit was the aforementioned Cybis in Retrospect that ran for three months in 1970-1971. This was the largest dedicated Cybis exhibit mounted at the NJSM. A re-creation and update of that exhibit is in my June 2024 post that includes a floor plan and a complete overview of everything that the 1970s visitors saw. That post would not have been possible without the invaluable help of Mr. Ciotola and his staff, for which I am extremely grateful!
Museum records show that a smaller Cybis-related exhibit was displayed in 1974 which ended on September 8th, but other than a local newspaper clipping there are no specifics on file regarding exactly which pieces it contained. The article mentioned only the Carousel Horse as being on display, but there were undoubtedly more.
From March 15, 1980 to June 22, 1989 a long-running exhibit was inside the Auditorium building. Titled The Marylin Chorlton Collection of Cybis Porcelains, it featured 100 sculptures and is described in more detail in my dedicated post which lists each of the pieces that were on display.
The most recent appearance of Cybis porcelain was as part of the extensive Fine Feathered Friends; Birds as Mainstay and Muse exhibit from January 4, 2020 until March 13, 2022. This was a multi-genre exhibit that included porcelains as well as other representations of birds. These two Cybis owls (the 1950s Great Horned Owl at left, and the white version of the 1975 limited-edition Great Horned Owl ‘KooKoosKoos’) were included in the display, as were the 1960 Little Blue Heron and the female bird from the 1965 Solitary Sandpipers pair. There is a fabulous overview of the exhibit on this NJSM page, containing 10 videos narrated by Mr. Ciotola; I highly recommend it!
The New Jersey State Museum‘s collection of Cybis porcelain is second only to their holdings of Lenox which was the largest producer of ceramics in New Jersey and had a longer production lifespan than either the Cybis or Boehm studios; it was founded in 1889 and also offered a much wider range of products. (Lenox closed its NJ factory in 2005, and their sole remaining USA factory ceased production in April 2020.) The NJSM’s Cybis collection is unique in its inclusion of so many of the very early studio creations, and also in having acquired them directly from the studio during a time when there were artists who had actually worked for Boleslaw and Marja Cybis. Given that the last owner of the studio did not choose to preserve any archival material, the NJSM’s collection of Cybis is now even more important. Again, my sincerest thanks to Nicholas Ciotola for his invaluable help and insight into one of the two largest collections of Cybis porcelain in the world!
Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
About the Cybis Reference Archive
What is Cybis?
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The Cybis Archive provides the most comprehensive range of information about Cybis ever compiled within a single source. It is not and never has been part of the Cybis Porcelain studio, which is no longer in business.
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 