Although widely known for their three-dimensional porcelain figures, the Cybis studio did also produce some porcelain plaques from time to time. With the exception of the early 1970s Limnettes by George Ivers, all of the other plaques were "dimensional" to some degree; i.e., they do not have a completely flat surface. Other than the Four [...]
Let's play Twenty Questions with a potpourri of Q and A about Cybis porcelains. :-) How do you pronounce CYBIS? It is pronounced see-biss. There is a software company by the same name but their name is pronounced sigh-biss, as in "cyber." Will sunlight fade the colors of a Cybis porcelain? No, the colors will [...]
Before the internet era, the print medium was the only way for art porcelain studios to 'get the word out' to collectors and potential buyers. In addition to newspaper advertising placed by their network of retail galleries, Cybis maintained a steady stream of publications from the early 1960s to the mid 1980s. The Boleslaw Cybis [...]
For the past several months I've been 'digging' into an unusual story, trying to separate fact from fiction. This particular investigative endeavor involves a set of Cybis' North American Indians sculptures. The story begins in the early 1970s, most likely 1972 or 1973. Several newspaper articles about the Cybis studio mentioned that a set of [...]
The transformation from the artist's initial clay model to the finished retail product was something that collectors rarely had a chance to see and appreciate. Shown below are "before and after" photos of a baker's dozen Cybis designs, contrasting their initial (or early) stage with the sculpture that ultimately appeared on the retailer's shelf. Original [...]
A veteran artist of the Cybis studio's 'golden age', William Pae has always been a man of many talents: sculpture, painting, drawing, woodworking and even in the baseball field (but more about that later.) If you have even a nodding acquaintance with Cybis porcelain you've seen his work even though – as was studio policy [...]
The Cybis studio created two very different sets of lithographs (reproductions) of drawings originally done in the 1930s by Boleslaw Cybis. One set is the well known Folio One set of Native American portraits; that set is illustrated and documented in the studio's catalogs published during the 1970s. The other set is far less known [...]
Lynn Klockner Brown was one of the most prolific and longest-resident artists at the Cybis studio, creating more than 60 of their sculptures, 43 of which were limited editions. She designed in all of their genres but had a special affinity for the equine sculptures as well as the Portraits in Porcelain. Born in Lawrenceville, [...]
The two Boleslaw Cybis porcelain lines (Cordey and Cybis) both utilized a number system for their production but approached them in different ways. A working knowledge of both can be helpful when trying to identify the 1950s output of the Cybis branded items in particular. The Cordey Numbering System Cordey items often contain an embarrassment [...]
The coexistence of the Cordey and Cybis studio lines during the 1940s occasionally resulted in some interesting 'crossover' pieces. One such piece is a bust of a bearded elderly man, perhaps a sage, signed MC indicating it was by Marja (a/k/a Maria) Cybis, wife of Boleslaw. This piece sold online in 2011 and these four [...]
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 