For this 250th post added to the Cybis Archive, I decided to do something special: A re-creation (as much as is possible) of the 1970-1971 New Jersey State Museum exhibit Cybis in Retrospect. However, I have also expanded the original exhibit contents to include what I believe to be some of the best representations of [...]
Well, after all of the hoopla surrounding the Cybis studio’s supposed (yes, there is definitely a question) Golden/50th Anniversary in 1989, it turns out that there was a little bit of revisionist history going on. Say what?!?? The Cybis Studio’s 40th Anniversary In 1980, the Cybis studio incorporated "40th anniversary" into their advertising campaign. Obviously, [...]
I’m using the word ‘runaway’ to describe the in-all-directions editions and nomenclature of the star players in the Cybis studio’s late-1980s wedding series. Trust me: The plot of the 1999 Julia Roberts/Richard Gere movie was simpler than this one! Cybis finally inaugurated a wedding-theme porcelain series in Spring 1987 with five open (non-limited) editions. Only [...]
Because the Cybis studio ultimately ran amok with their ‘Collections’ categories, I think it’s time to create a final and definitive overview of which sculptures – based on logic and reason – are connected to the various holidays and celebrations. I have based this solely on the appearance of the sculpture; the assignments have nothing [...]
In 1927, two years after Boleslaw and Marja Cybis married (and with financial help from their parents), the couple began to construct a home and studio in Placówka, near Warsaw and the Vistula River. Boleslaw Cybis knew this area from his time in the nearby Kazimierz Dolny in 1924. Some of the art in Cybis [...]
Although freelance artist Dolores Valenza was a relative latecomer to porcelain sculpture, she first began creating art as a very young child. She credited her numerous visits to The Brooklyn Museum as being one of her earliest influences and was especially drawn to the work of the Impressionists. Later she attended the Pratt Institute which [...]
What was once a brief moment of idle curiosity several years ago has recently blossomed into a question that resulted in the title of this post. It was rather a surprise because, given the type of art created by Boleslaw Cybis himself, Staffordshire export china would seem a very unlikely genre to appeal to him. [...]
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. [...]
This post falls into the morbid-curiosity category, inspired by the flood of Cybis porcelain ‘variations’ and ‘resurrections’ that began during the 1980s and rapidly gathered steam through the next two decades. So, how should we define a 'new, original' Cybis design? A decorative variation is NOT a new design! Sticking a bowtie and two tiny [...]
Although two of my Archive posts (Signatures & Marks, and Authenticating, Part Two) delve into the subject of the various Cybis signature formats, I hadn’t addressed the occasional discovery of pieces that have no signature at all, despite being undoubtedly a Cybis-made item. There are three possible scenarios that can account for a Cybis sculpture [...]
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 