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  Flavio Poli / Seguso Vetri d’Arte Murano Mid-Century Modern art glass vase c. 1950’s

  FLAVIO POLI (1900-1984) Italy
  SEGUSO VETRI D’ARTE Italy

  Vase c. 1950’s

  Blue and clear Murano glass

  H: 10″ x D: 3″ x W: 4 1/2″

  Price: $1,850

  Designer, businessman, ceramic artist. Born in Chioggia, he attended the Istituto d’Arte di Venezia and began work as a designer in ceramics. in 1929 he switched to glass and for Libero Vitali’s I.V.A.M. he designed animals, splendid Novecento-style nude figures in massiccio glass, as well as bowls and urns with figures resting on the inside, on lids or as handles. He subsequently collaborated with the Compagnia di Venezia e Murano, with the furnace of Mario and Lino Nason and with the engraver Gino Francesconi. in 1934 he accepted the artistic direction of Barovier, Seguso & Ferro, later to become Seguso Vetri d’Arte, and became partner three years later. Together with the master of the principal team Archimede Seguso, Poli was the author of grandiose lighting installations, of corroded vessels, of sculptures in bulicante glass, of animals in massiccio glass shaped while hot, productions which represented a milestone in the development of Murano glass. At the height of his artistic maturity, in the years between 1950 and 1960 he designed a series of sommerso glass pieces in a Nordic style, essential forms and sharp cold colors, which were awarded prestigious prizes (Compasso d’Oro). After leaving Seguso in 1963, between 1964 and 1966 he organized the artistic glass division at the Societˆ Veneziana di Conterie e Cristallerie.

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  Aaron Bohrod / F. Carlton Ball, Monumental, Hand Thrown Pottery Eve Vase 1952-56

  AARON BOHROD  (1907-1997)  USA
  F. CARLTON BALL  (1911- 1992)  USA

  “Eve” vase 1952-56

  Monumental glazed stoneware vase with a brown and cream beige glaze with sgraffito decoration of four stylized nudes.

  Signed: A. Bohrod  F.C. Ball (inscribed)

  Illustrated: Aaron Bohrod: Figure Sketches, Edwin E. Elliott and Howard E. Wooden (Dodge City, Kansas:  Gall and Shaull, 1990) p. 17, fig. 32. A Decade of Still Life: Aaron Bohrod (Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966) p. 41.

  H: 20 3/4 x Dia: 12 1/2″

  Price: $29,000

  ***Aaron Bohrod himself considered this vase his most important work in ceramic. This exact vase is illustrated in “A Decade of Still Life: Aaron Bohrod” in a bisque state. There is a stable firing crack that is visible on the base (see photo) near the Bohrod signature which happened in the firing, but in no way affects the structure of the piece. A letter from Aaron Bohrod himself describing this piece and the history surrounding it also accompanies the vase.

  For more information see: The Potter’s Art in California: 1885-1955, Hazel V. Bray (Oakland: Oakland Museum Art Department, 1980) pp. 56-57.

  A painter of cityscapes, landscapes and trompe l’oeil paintings, Aaron Bohrod lived in Chicago from birth until 1948, when he moved to Madison, Wisconsin. There he was a member of the University of Wisconsin’s art faculty. Bohrod was a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and he also attended the Arts Students League in New York.

  Aaron Bohrod was an American artist who was nationally known in his lifetime. He was the subject of frequent exhibitions and gallery shows in various locations, generally focusing on a particular chronological period of his artistic production. The recipient of numerous prizes and awards (including two Guggenheims and the purchase prize at the “Artists for Victory” exhibition of 1942-43 at the Metropolitan Museum in New York), he was both proficient and prolific as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and as an illustrator. In addition, he was the author of several books on art and an autobiography. Although he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York with a number of well-known and influential teachers, the one who exerted the most profound influence on him was John Sloan, who taught him to value both the Old Masters and the visual reality of the urban American scene. Bohrod returned to Chicago after studying with Sloan in New York “determined to do in my own way with my own city what Sloan had done with New York.” (Bohrod’s stylistic development has been typically characterized in terms of his early relationship to the gritty urban realism of the Ashcan School with which Sloan was associated and his later magic realism style with its virtuoso and meticulous technique and witty visual repartee, almost as if they were two separate and unrelated developments. Although his own description of the origins of his unique still life approach in his autobiographical book, A Decade of Still Life, may have guided critics to look at his oeuvre in this way, a closer assessment reveals clear connections between the earlier and alter periods. Before 1940, for example, he had created a prototype of the still lifes that were to become his hallmark. By the mid 1950s, he began to dedicate himself to the creation of paintings that are by turns resonant, mysterious, evocative and humorous. The studied and careful detail of the bricks on the buildings foreshadow the care that Bohrod will lavish on each of the carefully observed and realized objects in his later still lifes, while the anecdotal detail predicts the accumulation of objects on which his later work depends. The polished and masterful technique of this later work also suggests the Old Masters to whom he was introduced by Sloan.

  F. Carlton Ball (1911-1992)
  F. Carlton Ball was born in Sutter Creek, California, He studied art at Sacramento Junior College before enrolling at USC. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1933. He later did graduate studies under Glen Lukens at USC. He taught at several colleges/universities, such as the CCAC (his first position in 1935), Mills College, University of Wisconsin at Madison, University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale, USC University of Puget Sound and etc. From our research, we believe his last teaching position was in Tacoma, Washington, at the Tacoma Community College. Primarily known for his throwing, he did combine his pots with the decorative artistry of his first wife Kathryn Uhl Ball and most importantly, the Wisconsin artist, Aaron Bohrod. He exhibited at the Association of San Francisco Potters, 1952 Los Angeles County Fair’s 6000 Years Art in Clay and the Crocker-Kingsley of Sacramento, California, to mention a few locations. Exhibited at the Nationals in 1941-1949, 1951-1960 and 1966.

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  Ane Christensen Contemporary British Sterling Silver Bowl 1999

  ANE CHRISTENSEN (b.1972) born in Copenhagen, Denmark/ based in London, UK

  Bowl  1999

  Sterling silver

  Marks: AKC, 925, Z, British hallmarks

  H: 2 ½” x L: 12”

  Price: $5,950

  The starting point for all of metalworker Ane Christensen’s tableware is a single sheet of metal. Her aim is to develop a three dimensional object from a flat sheet without adding or removing any elements. Japanese paper packaging influences Ane’s work, but a more important influence is the half finished or half demolished structures of building sites that she says can hold unexpected sculptural qualities.

  Ane graduated from the Royal College of Art and has since been involved in exhibitions in London, Denmark and Copenhagen, including more recently at Collect, V&A.

  Ane makes pieces in a variety of metals including silver, stainless steel and powder coated copper.

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  Paul Flato, signed, Important “Elizabeth Arden” Trompe L’oeil black suede and red leather “Wrapped Package” Necessaire containing silver, gold and enamel envelopes, postmarked New York, Dec. 31st, 1938

  PAUL FLATO (1900-1999)

  Paul Flato, signed, Important Necessaire in the shape of a Trompe L’oeil black suede and red leather “Wrapped Package” containing silver, gold and enamel “Envelopes / Packages” Made Expressly for Elizabeth Arden, postmarked and dated New York, Dec. 31^st, 1938

  Sterling silver and 14K gold details with black and various colored champlevé enamels as trompe l’oeil mailed package/envelopes addressed to Elizabeth Arden and postmarked New York Dec. 31^st, 1938 in the forms of a cigarette case, powder compact, watch and lipstick case with an additional red leather change purse and comb all within a black suede with red leather interior “wrapped package” envelope case detailed with red enamel seals and gold twisted cording

  Marks: FLATO (4x), Sterling, 14K, Pat. Pending (2x), Elizabeth Arden, New York

  Dec. 31^st, 1938 (script signature and date in champlevé enamel, four pieces)

  Provenance: Elizabeth Arden (born Florence Nightingale Graham 1884-1966), Private Collection London, Private Collection New York

  For more information about Flato and his close friendship with Elizabeth Arden see: Paul Flato Jeweler to the Stars, Elizabeth Irvine Bray (Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd. Woodbridge, Suffolk UK, 2010) pp. 40,79,88 and 142 (for related gold stamped and addressed envelope cases)

  Black suede and red leather case: H: 4 ¼”x W: 7 ¼” x D: 2”

  Paul Flato was one of the most successful jewelry designers of the 1930’s and 40’s and in his heyday was as famous as Tiffany & Co. and Harry Winston! Flato made custom jewelry for Doris Duke, Millicent Rogers and Linda and Cole Porter. However, he was particularly well known and liked in Hollywood and was the favored jeweler to stars such as Rita Hayworth, Katherine Hepburn and Greta Garbo who all wore his jewels both on and off the movie sets. In fact, he designed the jewelry for six films including “Holiday” starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in 1938. Flato designed jewels for and was a close friend of the legendary cosmetics tycoon, Elizabeth Arden and together they shared a particular bond and love of promotion, politics and racehorses.

  “Around 1940, Flato had a very large pink diamond set in a ring, in a very creative and ingenious maneuver, he contacted Elizabeth Arden’s public relations department. In a memo entitled “Arden Plan for Publicity on the Pink Diamond,” Flato presented ideas for a dual promotion of Arden and Flato: Mr. Flato has available a large pink diamond, weight about 25-35 carats. He has shown it along with other jewelry at fashion shows but has never promoted it. The ring is still available. Elizabeth Arden, his close personal friend and a good customer, has been studying jewels in order to develop new nail-polish and make-up. I was told that she was creating a line of make-up linked to colored stones…. We took up with Miss Wobber her publicity chief the idea of naming her natural or rose nail-polish “PINK DIAMOND” and we would co-operate on publicity… Miss Arden likes the idea so well she wants to do a new nail-polish and lipstick called “PINK DIAMOND.”

  ELIZABETH ARDEN (1884-1966)

  Florence Nightingale Graham, who adopted the business name Elizabeth Arden was a Canadian born American entrepreneur who built an enormously successful cosmetics empire in the US and at the peak of her career was one of the wealthiest women in the world! Early in her life, she briefly worked as a bookkeeper for the E.R. Squibb Pharmaceuticals Company and began spending many hours in their laboratory learning about skincare. She went on to work as a beauty culturist and in 1912 traveled to France to learn beauty and facial massage techniques. Arden revolutionized cosmetics, bringing a scientific approach to her make-up and skin-care formulations. She innovatively brought modern eye makeup to North America, introduced the concept of the “makeover” in her salons where she created foundations that matched a person’s skin tone creating a “total look” and was the first to make a cosmetics commercial shown in movie houses. In the early 1940’s, she also started a fashion business with Charles James and Oscar de la Renta on staff. During WWII, Arden addressed the needs of women entering the workforce and created a lipstick called Montezuma Red for the women in the armed forces that would match the red on their uniforms. Elizabeth Arden began expanding her international salon operations as early as 1915 and eventually opened salons in virtually all the major cities in the world. By the end of the 1930’s, it was said that “There are only three American names that are known in every single corner of the globe: Singer sewing machines, Coca Cola, and Elizabeth Arden.” A fact proved by Heinrich Harrer in his book “Seven Years in Tibet,” where he stated that it’s possible to buy Arden products —- even in Tibet. From the 1930’s through the 1960’s, Elizabeth Arden was considered the most upscale cosmetic brand with celebrated clientele that included Queen Elizabeth, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Wallis Simpson, Jacqueline Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.