Among the unusual 1940s 'papka' composition figures by Cybis is a charming group of six angels, each playing an instrument, called the Angelic Orchestra. They were listed, but not pictured, in the 1971 museum exhibit catalog Cybis in Retrospect. Each angel is approximately 14" high and dates from the earliest years of the Cybis studio. [...]
The very unusual pair of Cybis lady-handle mugs discovered last year were by no means the only ones that were made, after all. While the previous pair were signed M.B. Cybis, this second pair is signed simply Cybis in the same blue paint. Many thanks to the Archive reader who contacted me with photos of [...]
No retrospective of Cybis porcelain could be complete without paying homage to the woman who created the modern studio's Golden Age. This was Marylin Chorlton, the guiding light who was lost far too soon. It's indisputable that without Marylin's direction there would not have been a Cybis Studio as the world came to know it. [...]
During the 'golden age' of the Cybis studio's production (1960s and 1970s) their pieces were regularly chosen to be official Gifts of State from our country to foreign dignitaries. Presidents Nixon and Ford were particularly fond of doing so, in fact, but in reality that process doesn't begin in the Oval Office. So where does [...]
As related in the first Cybis Locations post, the retail success of the studio during the 1960s made it imperative to find a facility with sufficient working space; this was one of the biggest challenges facing its new owner/director Marylin Chorlton. It must of course remain in Trenton, but a turnkey ideal location proved difficult [...]
Often some of the most charming snippets of a 'famous' person's life are the little things that never get put into the official record; here are two accidentally-unearthed bits about Boleslaw Cybis. The Bookplate Sometimes it's easy to assume that an artist would always design things for their own use, and often that's true…but not [...]
Although the Cybis porcelain studio has spent most of its 'life' in New Jersey, its present location is actually the fourth in its history. Three of those four studio locations still physically exist today, decades after some of the finest American art porcelain was first produced within them. The Steinway Mansion in Astoria, NY: 1940-1942 [...]
Rather than simply add these to the 1940s Papka post, I felt this find was big enough (dimensionally speaking) to deserve its own page. It's also very difficult to find any color photographs of Boleslaw Cybis' papka pieces because the only publication in which some do appear (the 1971 exhibit catalog Cybis in Retrospect) was [...]
The third category of 1940s Cybis items, and possibly the smallest in terms of actual production, is their reproductions of 19th-century tableware. Produced for only about five years (ca. 1948-1953) these were quite different from anything else produced under either the Cybis or Cordey branding. They can be generally divided into three groups: lusterware, spatterware, [...]
As shown in this Archive post, occasionally items from the 1940s are found with either a dual signature (Cordey plus Cybis) on the piece; or, in a very few instances and as shown in this post, a standard Cordey item has been found bearing the M.B. Cybis signature instead. There aren't many of either, but [...]
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 