Product Description
Louis W. Rice / Apollo Studios “Skyscraper” American Art Deco hand mirror 1928

LOUIS W. RICE (Designer) USA
APOLLO STUDIOS, BERNARD RICE’S SONS, INC. New York
Skyscraper vanity hand mirror 1928
Silver-plated brass, original beveled mirror
Stamped marks: APOLLO STUDIOS, NEW YORK EPNS within a rectangle, SKYSCRAPER, REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.
For related Skyscraper objects see: (cocktail shaker) Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor, Charles L. Venable (Dallas/New York: Dallas Museum of Art, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995) p. 288; (teapot) Modernism: Modernist Design 1880-1940, The Norwest Collection, Norwest Corporation, Minneapolis, Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Antique Collector’s Club, 1998); (cocktail shaker) American Modern 1925-1940, Design for a New Age, J. Stewart Johnson, exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, American Federation of Arts, 2000) p. 48.
L: 18 1/2″ x D: 5″
The same model can be found in the collection of the New York Historical Society.
Louis W. Rice / Apollo Studios “Skyscraper” American Art Deco hand mirror 1928
KARL BENJAMIN (1925-2012) USA
Geometricized figure 1954
Oil on canvas
Signed: Benjamin 54 (lower left)
For more information see: Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, Vol. 1 to 10, E. Bénézit (Paris: Librairie Gründ, 1976).
Canvas: H: 17″ x W: 6″
Framed: H: 24 1/2″ x W: 13 1/2″
Karl Benjamin was born in Chicago, IL in 1925. He received his BA from the University of Redlands, CA and his MFA at Claremont Graduate School, CA. Benjamin belonged to the Hard Edge group of West Coast painters led by John McLaughlin during the 1950s, 60s and early 70s. He was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Visual Arts in both 1983 and 1989. His work has been featured in numerous museum exhibitions and is included in the public collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, Israel; Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Seattle Art Museum, WA; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, among others. For many years, Benjamin taught painting at Pomona College and Claremont Graduate School, and currently is Professor Emeritus. He lived in Claremont, CA.