Paper Treasures

One of the things difficult to convey about this project is pleasure of the handling the paper ... the photos, newspaper clippings, typed manuscripts... I hope this small movie-like collage will offer a sense of the paper treasures ...

click here for collage

"Reflections" and self portraits

I forgot to mention in the last post that the painting called "Reflections,"  also included two small self portraits ("SP") of the artist.

This "SP" is "reflected" in the center of the bottle. Here, Duphiney stands with his pallette in his right hand.  With his left hand he is applying paint to a canvas. Of course, this is an artifact of the SP -- he was right handed but the image was created from a reflected surface -- like looking in a mirror; right is left and left is right.

This "SP" is "reflected" in the upper right of the bottle. Again, Duphiney appears to be holding the pallette in his right and painting with his left -- but as stated above this would be a "mirror" image.

 I say, "of course" but once I saw this, I had to look at other studio pictures to be sure I was right. The others do indicate that he was a right handed painter. Not important, just interesting (to me anyway).

UPDATE (Feb 2011)
OMG! I just got a color photograph of "Reflections" from family!  WOW!  Here it is in color:

Looking around the Studio

So, back to the inside of his studio at the Fleur-de-Lys. As I've stated before, I love looking at the interesting things in the room and seeing and recognizing objects in the room either because I know the objects first hand or through other paintings, or simply because they are interesting.  For instance, starting with the following glimpse in his studio ...

First, how cool to see the portrait in such an early stage and with the sitter in the room! (I don't yet have a date on this photo, but I can't help but notice how young my grandfather is -- his hair is NOT gray here. Mike wondered what was on top of his head, but that appears to be a ornamental hook). He is working on the portrait of James E. Dunne, Mayor of the City of Providence from 1927 to 1939. (I'll check with City Hall to get a date of the portrait).  My grandfather has just started painting, but notice that he has sketched in the arm and leg positions as well as the view of City Hall beyond the window. I've posted Dunne's portrait in a previous blog -- when I found an on-line color version of the portrait -- albeit cropped and poor quality. (To see that blog click here or to see Dunne's portrait click here.)

Secondly, and back to the studio, I am drawn to the amazing drawing or painting hanging over my grandfather's head -- an angel taking a little nap. Over her head it banner that says "SLEEP". Wow, wish I had seen this work in person. To take a closer look at this lovely angel...

I zoomed in to take a closer look at the sleeping beauty and I could actually see the artist’s name, Stacy Tolman! Stacy Tolman was another well-known Providence artist. He also had a studio in the Fleur-de-Lys, and had two other connections with my grandfather that seem to go with a studio in the F-d-L; Tolman taught at RISD and was also a member of the Providence Art Club.  Click the following "hot" link to see a portrait of Tolman painted by his friend, my grandfather, Wilfred I. Duphiney: Portrait of Stacy Tolman.

And, back again into the studio. Continuing clockwise, my eye is next drawn to some of the objects/props on the upper shelf:

*A spinning wheel (yawn...an early, overly used icon of early America life).

*a small statue of Winged Victory of Samothrace. (As a classics major this caught my eye! In my twenties, my friend Julia and I, went to museum after museum on a whirlwind tour through Greece, Italy and France. I sought this statue out at the Louvre, and was not disappointed;  I bought a larger than life poster of the statue, dragged it around Europe and it hung in my bedroom for years.)

*a hooka pipe (While associated with pot/hashish in my era, the water pipe was a popular method for smoking tobacco in the middle east, and let's face it, it was and still is, a cool souvenir to take back home to the west. In fact, I bought one as a gift while in Greece in 1984, and also dragged that around Europe with the poster of Winged Victory and a gorgeous Venetian glass vase that I still regret giving away.)

And then, I spied...

* THE bottle! I recognize it instantly, as it was the subject and the medium for one of my favorite paintings by my grandfather. Aptly, it was called "Reflections". Here it is below:

Looking at the image of "Refections",  I now see that many of the objects in this painting can be seen in these old photos of his studio. So for instance, above, you can see the small copy of Winged Victory of Samothrace. Another "reflection" seems inspired by the nude statue I noted with the Bishop's portrait which was later "blotted out" (click on nude statue in the background); the hand gesture suggests it is the same statue anyway. However,  if it the same statue, it seems my grandfather exercised artistic license in this portrayal as the "reflected" sculpture seems to have breasts and the actual sculpture did not. The statue in the lower left of "Reflections" I saw in the window of his studio in my previous post as was the bust (click here).

 I find looking around his studio so interesting.  On the wall behind my grandfather is a drawing he did of his mother...another favorite of mine.  Here is a better and full photo of that drawing called "Mother at Eighty".

Add caption

 Well, more later.

  

In his Fleur-de-Lys Studio

I continue to be fascinated by images of my grandfather's studio for several reasons. First and foremost, I am interested because they are moments in time in his studio. And if that were not enough, the studio itself, is so interesting!















My grandfather's studio was in the Fluer-de-Lys building on Thomas Street in Providence. I'm not sure when he began a studio there (later I'll check with the Providence Art Club) but in this pile of papers I am going through there are photos of him in the studio that date back to around 1930 (so at least as early as that), and I know he maintained the studio until his death in 1960.

The Fleur-de-Lys Studios, is a brick and wood tudor revival building with a stucco face and two especially interesting windows described in the NHL papers as looking like "loosely angled folding-screens". It is  located at 7 Thomas Street on College Hill in Providence. Built in 1885, it was collaboratively designed by artist Sydney Burleigh and architect Edmund Willson. Now, and for quite some time actually, it has been owned by the Providence Art Club. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1992. The NHL nomination papers state, "The Fleur-de-Lys Studios is a key architectural monument to the American Arts and Crafts Movement. It is significant in the history of the movement itself and in the history of American architecture." Here is an image by Daniel Case (who grants permission to reproduce and share this image via Creative Commons).

The Artist, the Bishop, and the nude statue

In going through the photos of my grandfathers work, I have truly been enjoying the occasional peeks into his studio -- on many occasions there are works of art I recognize -- his own paintings of family and friends hanging on a distant wall, other commissioned work leaning against a table, paintings, reliefs and other artifacts now in the homes of family, and more.  But today's peek into my grandfathers studio really made me chuckle and I may not have noticed it had there not been three slightly different versions of the same image.

The subject of the image was my grandfather with palette in hand before the larger-than-life (8x5) portrait of Bishop McVinney. My first humorous thought was of how my grandfather would have tackled the 8ft high portrait -- he was only about 5 ft himself. Clearly he managed just fine -- but as I am short myself, I did imagine it was a physical challenge to paint this portrait.

That little chuckle was eclipsed however by the three different versions of this image.  In the first image, standing behind my grandfather is a statue of a nude youth. I might not have thought anything of it, except that the second image painted it out with an unknown red substance, and the third image appears to be a copy of the second -- but now b&w (instead of the red).  I'm not sure who altered the photos -- my grandfather or the PJ staff photographer who took the image for the newspaper.

Ah propriety, makes me chuckle to think it could have been such a scandalous image -- especially in Rhode Island in 1954!  (-; 

Oh, the power of the internet!

Wow, 20-something years ago, when I took on this project last, it was so hard to know who ANY of these people were with the little information on the back of an image.  Today, I found info on Tolman, Mathewson, Dunne! I think, rather than starting this project "late", I had started it too early!

When finding info on former Providence Mayor James E. Dunne, I found a link that connected to cropped image of the paining -- albeit very poor quality -- but it gave a hint of the beautiful color in the portrait, rather than these b&w and sepia images I am scanning.  Ahhh color, you make my heart sing! But for now, these images and spartan notes are doing swimmingly!  http://www.pbase.com/laura_sebastianelli/image/131022498

 

UPDATE 4/5/2011:  Be sure to see a later post http://duphineysfacesofri.blogspot.com/2010/12/looking-around-studio.html. It is a photo of Mayor Dunne sitting for the portrait as my grandfather paints early in the process (or it least it is staged to look as such).

New beginnings ...

This project has had a couple start and stops over the years ... but having just moved to a new city, presently being unemployed, and recovering from knee surgery this just might be the right combination of events to really dig in to this project. (-:

My main thrust right now is scanning old photos that documented my grandfather's artwork -- especially but not exclusively -- his portrait work. Once scanned, I am loading them onto my photography website in their own gallery, here. (That's just for you, mom! Go ahead and click on the highlighted words if you want to go to the place I am referencing. Hope that helps!)

The site, www.PBase.com, is an excellent site for images -- I use it for my own photos (I would describe my own images as those of an enthusiastic amateur).  There is not much room for anything other than notes of/for the photos, however, so I thought a blog might be a place to record and share thoughts on the project.

I expect those interested in this blog will primarily be family members, but I also believe that, artistically speaking, since it is now 50 years after my grandfather's death, he may be just now coming into his own among art appreciators.