Posted 13 years ago
Brasspounder
(3 items)
This piece hangs above my fireplace mantle. For many years I was in the business of collecting and selling exotic birds. Shirrell Graves had a studio here in San Francisco. He worked in water color and gouache. This piece, like so many of his may have been hung upon a wall whilst he filled in the blanks.
My comment may seem trivial here-- after all, nature herself has filled in the blanks-- but is there not an openness to it? Doesn't it just make you want to jump right in!
Now, in the 1950s, Ms. Botke's work got picked up by the five and dimes (todays "dollar" stores). Cheap reproductions abounded, and they were crappy.
Amongst California Women Artists a few years back, one of her pieces fetched fifty grand. That is wonderful but it is not the point here.
Question, was Shirrell a guy or a girl? You have me confused.
Love those galahs! And the bush seems Australian, too! Or are they magnolias?
I think it is really good. Those parrots are wanton vandals. They hack at anything for sport. The beauty of that flower they are eying off is in imminent danger of destruction; not to mention the branch they are perched on ..... they'll gnaw through it too and be surprised when there's nothing supporting them as they yell and scream with delight... and off they fly!
The quality seems much better than some others I've seen on the net.
Is this an original?
Did he/she design for fabrics?
Now I've got it! This one is Jessie Arms Botke. I got confused with Shirrell Watson Graves. Thank you for introducing me to this Californian artist, a great talent given what I've just seen on the net.
Again: is it an original?
"Original"-- yes. But the way that Shirrell (Mr. Graves) worked his media was such that there might be one hundred of these "originals".
Botke -- sorry, my ineptitude with this site got doubled up--
The Botke is a print. The actual piece would be now tens of thousands of dollars. However, there are many thousands of "dime store" copies that would not bring pennies if anything on the open market. The eye quickly speaks to their inferiority. In my youth, us peasants delighted in the free Audubon Calendars and such. At the time it was "grandma art".