Although my other profiles in this Archive focus only on people who worked at or for Cybis, I must now, with great sadness, recognize the passing of someone who was instrumental in forging that studio’s success: Ira Jacobson, owner of Brielle Galleries. In many ways, he was an important driving force that helped Cybis to [...]
Until recently, one of the most elusive Cybis-related publications was the exhibit catalog of the sculptures that were donated to the Mercer County Community College in June 1975. I’m happy to say that, thanks to the helpful people at MCCC, I now have an electronic copy of this ‘publication unicorn’! The book is softcover, with [...]
Helen Granger Young was one of several freelance sculptors who designed for the Cybis studio during the 1970s. Unlike most of their other designers, Ms. Young’s work for them was limited to a single genre: portraits of Native Americans. She was born in Mimico, Ontario, Canada in either 1922 or 1923, depending on which source [...]
Having previously looked at the pairs, companions, and sets that the Cybis porcelain studio produced, it’s also interesting to see what I call their ‘two-fer’ and ‘trio’ pieces. These are sculptures that have more than one subject, both (or all) being of equal design weight/importance. There was also one sculpture that was composed of four [...]
Sometimes you will see a piece of Cybis porcelain with the letters AP or A.P. near the Cybis signature; those initials stand for ‘artist’s proof.’ This term has long been used in the printmaking industry. It originally meant the first (proofing) run of an edition of prints, which the artist/painter would review and make any changes [...]
The 1964 World’s Fair, held at Flushing Meadow Park in Queens County, NY, coincided with the first several years of the ‘golden age’ of the Cybis porcelain studio. It was also the first large-scale opportunity for Cybis to be seen by many people who would have otherwise been unaware of the studio’s existence. The Fair [...]
Among the several distinct style genres of Cybis porcelain (papka, artsy 1940s porcelain, 1950s commercial-mold, and post-1950s) there is a small subset that I call ‘Cordey-Cybis transitional.’ In a nutshell, these are pieces that anyone would mistake for Cordey items except for the fact that they are signed M. B. Cybis, or stamped Cybis, instead [...]
Cybis sculptures that were designed by freelance artist Harry Burger are perhaps the easiest to identify, even though his name never appeared on any of them. He had a particular style that sets his pieces apart as soon as one knows what to look for – whether the item in question was produced by Cybis [...]
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