Despite the pieces having been produced in the same studio, it’s usually easy to distinguish Cordey and Cybis from each other by sight; their styles were very different. Most Cordey items were Old World/European/Dresden in flavor, while the first-decade Cybis retail pieces were either religious (most) or animals and birds (some.) They were also marked [...]
Author: The Cybis Archive
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Base Behavior at Cybis
Fear not: This is neither a juicy scandal nor a moralistic lecture. It’s an overview of all the Cybis retail sculptures ever produced on or with a base, and there’s a more interesting variety of them than one would think. All Cybis bases fall into one of two categories: either physically attached to the sculpture [...]
Spotlight on Marja Cybis (1905-1958)
Although the studio always emphasized Boleslaw as its founder, his wife Marja Cybis was a talented artist in her own right and no doubt contributed just as much to its success as he did. Unfortunately she has gotten short shrift in Cybis studio literature, relegated to a brief mention or a description in a timeline. [...]
Two 1940s Papka Fairies by Marja Cybis
Recently an Archive reader sent me photos of two charming little papka figures made by Marja Cybis in the early 1940s (1940-1942) while the studio was in the Steinway Mansion. Although best recognized for her papka angels – such as the Angelic Orchestra – these figures are in her whimsy/folk-art style. My first reaction [...]
Lights, Camera, Action: the Cybis Porcelain Short Films
By far the most elusive items for this Cybis researcher were not made of porcelain, papka, or paint-and-canvas, but rather of celluloid: Three short 16mm films that were created during the 1970s and early 1980s. This is the story of the films and of my search for them. Of Queens and Kings and Other Things [...]
Can’t Find Your Cybis in The Archive? Here’s a Cheat Sheet.
Are you trying to identify a Cybis porcelain whose name is unknown to you? Here are a few helpful tips for locating it within this website. Human Figures As of March 2021, there is a Visual Index for the identification of human figures and busts. However, it's important to read the introductory paragraph before you [...]
The Cybis ‘Bonnet Girls’
Despite many of us being engaged in digging out from the latest snowstorm, Spring actually has arrived in some places which may bring to mind (for those old enough to remember it!) the classic Irving Berlin song "Easter Parade" popularized by the 1948 movie of the same name: In your Easter bonnet, with all the [...]
Copyright Years Appearing on Cybis Porcelain Sculptures
Unlike other porcelain studios such as Boehm, Royal Worcester and Connoisseur, Cybis did not indicate the issue (retail introduction) year on their sculptures; when a date appears on a Cybis piece it refers to the copyright registration year. Cybis and Cordey items produced during the 1940s were not formally copyrighted, and all of the 1950s [...]
Identifying Unsigned 1950s Cybis Porcelains
The first decade of the Cybis porcelain 'brand' existence was a bit of a Wild West show, to say the least. Unlike subsequent decades which came under Marylin Chorlton's ownership, most of the 1950s pieces are both a blessing and a curse to collectors. A curse because almost all of them were cast from commercially [...]
More Cybis Q and A (sort of)
As a lighthearted (read: not to be taken seriously) followup to my recent Twenty Questions About Cybis post, here are some questions posed by a creative friend/Archive reader/collector in a humorous vein, and my responses likewise. Why was Aunt Pauline so foolish as to have ever paid so much for these things in the first place, [...]
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