2021 News -- Art that turned up on First Dibs and in Boston

It's been a while since I've posted here....so long that the site won't let me update my email that's linked to this site...so if you want to contact me, you'll have to send it to marzukimarcy@gmail.com --- the old earthlink one is dead.

Meanwhile, over the pandemic -- a piece of my dad's artwork actually turned up on that very, very, VERY pricey sale site, 1stDibs....

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/decorative-objects/sculptures/abstract-sculptures/james-marzuki-trojan-horse-sculpture/id-f_11283243/

It was one of his more elaborate metal sculptures...

I recognized it immediately as it is one of this Trojan Horse series. (He did one in clay that he always kept in his bedroom).

And, a quick look through his sketchbooks turned up some very detailed sketches of the piece. 

The asking prices was over 3k! Too rich for my blood. Fortunately, a  discerning collector in Spain bought it -- so we have a new sales price record!

And just the other day (which prompted me to update this blog) I heard from a former student of my dad's (now an important ER doctor in Boston) who has this lovely ceramic piece he inherited, (turns out my Dad and his Dad were Park Forest  friends and neighbors) that he was nice enough to share with me. It is part of the New City series, executed in clay (and doubtless very heavy) painted with metallic paint in an artist-made frame:

New City Kharasch 

A sculpture redone...

Found this sculpture some time ago leaning against the wall in the garage. It was never mounted to a base and was in fairly rough shape.  It's carved out of a fairly soft red wood (might be cedar.) There is a through-and-through opening in the stomach and in a smaller one the left knee.

I noticed there was a hole drilled on the bottom "shelf" of the "stomach window" near the front of the sculpture. Looking at my dad's sketches, it probably had a bird (wood or metal) mounted inside the stomach hole that would have been mounted on a short peg. Either the bird broke, or he never finished it. So I filled in the post hole, re-sanded the cracking sculpture, re-stained it and mounted it to a wood base. Since an empty space can be symbolic of loss, I guess it's appropriate.

 This one is obviously part of a series of sculptures of carved women... both are minimally carved on the back.

The new one (I call her Red Woman) is a cool sculpture with a little pinched face that my friend Roger says reminds him of the work of Eldon Danhausen, a sculptor who worked during the same time period. There is a similarity between some of my dad's work and his..

Here is Eldon's on the left with dad's on the right...though Eldon's appears cast, and Dad's are welded.

And they both did work with exposed internal features on figures...

One of dad's medieval physician autopsy figures at left, and Eldon's figure with raised arms (and exposed ribcage) above on right. (Image courtesy Roger)

Word count wise, not much of a blog, I know, but all the drilling and sanding and staining sucked up most of my energy. But was happy to bring the red woman back to life and wanted to put her (tiny) face out there.

New Lost Art Slides Are Back From India!

Well, I went back and forth on the box of slides I found of dad's artwork he had sold. I tried getting a slide scanner, only to find out the cheap ones just project the image and take a second picture of it. Couldn't get it to work right anyway, so sent it back. So I looked for online image transfer services and using the "moe" method ( as in eenie, meenie) picked the one that looked the biggest. Printed out a label and shipped the slides off to California. Only in doing a subsequent search did I find they sent the slides by slow boat to India for transfer...! Peeved, I sent some others to a stateside company, for like a ten cents an image difference. Both were good, I have too admit. The U.S. company got the  slides back faster, though the India place let me download high res images so I had them about the same time as the U.S. ones.....even though I don't really have the slides physically back yet (sorry for misleading title.) So I will have to add some of the info written on the slides at a later date, assuming I really get them back.

But here they are -- there are some cool ones out there I would love to get back, know where they are, or at least be assured they weren't sold for a few cents of scrap. Take a look.

First up is a very interesting steel metal sculpture series. They are all based on medieval medical illustrations. They are all called something like "schematic for medieval surgeons." The figures are partially dissected, like this one:

 And some, like this one, have the actual latin terminologies painted on them in red and gold, like the gilt illustrations in an ancient book.

This taller one (below) was still in the garage when dad died and was gifted to the Lubertozzis, close friends of his.  I hope to keep track of it over the years.  This one was made in 1963, and the others were all photographed around the same time.

One of the New City
mixed media series, from the 1960s, and one of the more elaborate, but dad seemed to have trouble getting it in focus. There are metal figures, found objects (Pepsi bottlecap), and stamped/painted blocks representing advertising signs. Height reminds me of Times Square.

Peanut vender. 1954

Cast aluminum abstract, probably 1960s-1970.

There's a number of cool one-off metal sculptures out there, including one of his biggest -- depicting one figure "handstanding" on top of another.

Love to know
where this
bad boy is.

 Here are two early religious paintings, late 1950s. "Three Kings" and an abstracted crucifixion.

 

And while we're on the topic...

Here's the crucifix dad did for St. Mary's Church in Park Forest, circa 1962, below right. The seven-foot crucifix is  now at the University of New Mexico Newman Catholic Student Center.

Dad made a
smaller version of the crucifix. in 1966.

Here are a few other really cool ones...I will have to add in the details later.

New city (with tv and green cars) at left, 1968.
One of the "Demonstrations" series, circa 1965 at right.

King 1962

Two paintings from the mid-1950s, painted in Albequerque, showing a local church.

Below left: Better pix of "Man impersonating a Sailing Vessel" and figures in wheel.

Below: gold figure in tree; gathering of mysterious beings; one of many Icarus figures.

Left: Golden robed figure, or possibly part of Icarus series.
Right: New cityscape in cast aluminum.

Lost, sold, gifted art of Jim Marzuki

Wood Abstract. Cement base. CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SLIDE SHOW.

Welded steel. Figures in a wheel.

My dad would occasionally snap photos (mostly slides) of his work....sometimes he wrote notes on the slide. I have never found any photos of artwork that is still here, so I am guessing he took pix before he sold of gifted a piece or put it in a gallery for sale.

He made notations on some, but not all of them, which tells me he "intended" to keep track of the pieces he sold, and who he sold them to, but like so many of us, did not always follow through.

"Family" 1963 Glazed Terra Cotta. Sold to Mrs. C. Winston, Flossmoor

Mounted Warrior terra cotta. 1961

But these are the pieces that are out there...pieces YOU may have -- and if you do, I would like to hear from you.  (I'm talking to you, Mrs. C. Winston formerly of Flossmoor, Illinois, or the children of other collectors like you).

Because these are transferred from old kodachrome slides, the image quality is not so great. I have put what was written on the slides in the caption, or, if no notation, what i know about the piece.  I just recently (12/13/11) found two more boxes of slides. Some are better photos of the ones shown here, others are some really fantastic metal sculptures, "New City" woodblocks, and a few paintings. I'll be posting more after I get the slides transferred.


 

Whimsical birds. These are brass, I believe, with fused glass marbles as accents.  The taller one (dad cut off the head, not me,)  appears to be a rooster. The smaller is an imaginary or exotic bird. These were likely made as gifts.  Just found another slide. (with head). they are identified only as "Sculpture abstract," thanks, dad.

This one was sold to my family pediatrician, Dr. Vrla, who was a wonderful and very gentle doctor with a heavy accent and hairy hands, but I loved him and saw him all the way through high school at the little medical center in Olympia Fields just off US Route 30.

"Group" 1962 Terra Cotta Glazed. Sold to Dr. V. Vrla

New City series

Here is the front and back of a piece...It's not labeled, but it's from the "New City" series (I have a similar, billboard shaped one where the figures are executed in clay),  so I'm calling this one "New City 8-2" Heavily gessoed/painted wood, with small metal figures, on a natural wood base.

This one, (above) is also from the "New City" series, but is done in cast aluminum on  natural wood base.

Triangle vehicle (left) was bought by Helen Johnson of Park Forest at the Park Forest Art Center gallery in the 1970s; She was nice enough to send me a picture. It's similar to a "bird vehicle" that was gifted to John and Judy Mendelson of Park Forest (not shown).

"Small Monument to Victory"

Here's one that had a title written,
but no seller info:
"Small Monument to Victory,"
1963. Welded steel.
This looks to be a larger piece, probably 14-20".














Below, one of my dad's smaller pieces:
"Motherhood." Welded and braided steel,
1963, sold to Doctors Abrams and Sherman.  An almost identical one was sold to Mr. E. Franks.

"Motherhood"

As they used to sing on the "Gilligan's Island" opener (at least in the first season) "...And The Rest:"

Warrior figures on horseback, ceramic. Found another slide:
"Mounted Warriors." (I was close). 1961. Terra cotta. Sam
Hageman, Park Forest, owner

Ceramic warrior. Just found another slide it was called "Winged Warrior." Terra cotta. Owned by Don Madgwick, Park Forest. I remember him.

Golden Heron creature. Actually, this is called "Decoy for Magic Birds,: 1963, Bronze on steel. Owned by "Hall."

Dad sometimes combined metal finishes...black steel with a golden feature, which i have just found out (from the slides) is bronze on steel. A number of his early 1960s figures show this mix.

I found another slide of this hobby horse one...It's actually called "Broken rocking horse" Not sure if that's a title or if the piece was broken. It is a black steel hobby horse with a golden child sitting atop it with a flag.









This piece  (with the head cut off) is titled "Warrior" (Destroyed) Slide is dated 1960. Pretty sure that means dad took it apart or it got destroyed some other way. Pretty hard to screw up welded metal, as i know from experience. i constantly knock these things over and break pieces off. thankfully, i have a welder in chicago heights who puts them back together.

My dad shot these "Icarus" sculptures against the sky, with tv antenna in the background. I still have the central figure (woman with bird) but the Icarus sculptures were sold/gifted.

Love this one (right). Have no idea what the title is, but I call it "The Vivisectionist" (note the exposed viscera). 1966.
Would love to have this one back...

Below, three views  of a piece from my dad's series on demonstrators ..(though as these two are face to face, it could be a dialogue). Someone kindly sent me many different angles on this piece -- and i can't remember who. dammit!

The tumbler, i've found out is part of the Icarus series. this his him after the wings began to burn.

"Icarus" brazed steel, owned by Mrs. Bruce Carlson, 

Park Forest

Will take a while to get the rest of these slides sent out and scanned

Here are some of the people they were sold to:
(they would have all lived in the south suburbs of chicago in the 1960s.)

mr. e. franks
don madgwick
mrs. bruce carlson, park forest
r.j. claussen, park forest
sam hageman, park forest
e. v. (or c.v. or ev ) hansen, olympia fields
william oberholtzer, 413 stanton, park forest, later of homewood-flossmoor, passed on in 2008

"Dancer Impersonating a Sailing Vessel" 1960-61

There are a lot better photos of these in this latest batch of slides. will re-post sometimes after the new year.

"Family" 1963. Terra cotta glazed.