I recently discovered, via a Polish tourism site, an article from 10 years ago about a circa-1940s ‘lady head bust’ made at the early Cybis studio. It was in a small museum in the village of Kazimierz – a town familiar to anyone who has read the 1920s Paintings or the Timeline posts. Boleslaw Cybis [...]
The 1980s limited edition Sleeping Beauty is one of the most difficult pieces to find in a truly mint (un-damaged) condition today. There is an area of porcelain lace that seems to attract breakage like a rare-earth magnet. Unfortunately, most online sellers either don’t know or don’t disclose the extent of the damage and so [...]
The Cybis studio was known for their limited-edition human figures, especially the series that was marketed as the ‘Portraits in Porcelain' collection. However, the identity of the artists who actually created (sculpted) them was never publicly revealed. What we regard as the modern Cybis studio began after Marylin Chorlton took over the artistic reins after [...]
This post is an attempt to unravel the tangled skein that is the production history of the third Cybis portrayal of Cinderella, known as Cinderella ‘Belle of the Ball.’ It reads rather like a mystery novel, complete with unexpected twists and turns. Let’s begin with a quick glance at the first two Cybis Cinderella pieces. [...]
I am occasionally asked for advice regarding the best venue in which to offer any of the Cybis North American Indians series. My reply always begins with this sentence: “Well, those can be a bit tricky." The purpose of this post is to explain why. One reason is that the subject of the series (Native [...]
Certain Cybis porcelains are known for having alternate decorative retail versions of the originally-issued piece. The bunnies are a prime example, especially Bunny ‘Bon Bon’ who can boast having 13 of them! I have also found seven versions of Bunny ‘Snowflake.’ The creation of variants/spinoffs was less common among the human sculptures, however. The human [...]
Hallowe’en is just around the corner; what better time to present a screamingly garish example of a dual-signed (Cordey and M.B. Cybis) lady bust? Although most Cordey pieces were not exactly shrinking violets when it came to design, I was truly taken aback by the color choices on this one – especially because it is [...]
The Cybis porcelain studio issued two main types of retail sculptures: numbered limited editions which were made in a specified quantity, and un-numbered designs that continued to be produced and offered at the will (or whim) of the studio. Those were termed ‘Open Editions’, and when the studio decided to cease offering a design, it [...]
Because there are relatively few surviving records of the first decade of Cybis porcelain retail items, it’s always exciting when something comes to light that was never mentioned in any of their publications. Invariably, the circa-1950s human figures turn out to be religious subjects: a madonna, a saint, or a Jesus figure. So, when an [...]
Earlier this year, an Archive reader alerted me to an unusual Cybis child figure and asked what it was. It appears to have been part of a numbered series of child figures representing different countries, but which were very different from the ‘Children of the World’ retail portrait busts. The child figure itself was taken [...]
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 