Robert Kushner

Seraphina II

1983

Red Grooms’ “Ruckus Manhattan” in the mid-1970s humorously transformed Grand Central Terminal into a 3-D caricature of New York City. “I wanted to do a novelistic portrait of Manhattan from Battery Park to Grant’s tomb,” Grooms explained. The comic-book inspired interactive installation included iconic landmarks—the subway, Central Park, the Apollo Theater...

Red Grooms’ “Ruckus Manhattan” in the mid-1970s humorously transformed Grand Central Terminal into a 3-D caricature of New York City. “I wanted to do a novelistic portrait of Manhatt...

Artist: Beniamino Bufano (1889-1970) Title: Laura Year: 1970 Medium: Lithograph Image size: 18 x 12.25 inches Sight size: 19.5 x 13.5 inches. Framed size: 27 x 21 inches Signature: Signed, lower right Edition: 125. This one: 83/125 Condition: Very good Frame: Framed in black lacquer frame, black mat. Frame in good condition. This fine lithograph is by Beniamino Bufano (1889-1970), a well-known artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Museo Italo-Americano has this work in their permanent collection and indicates that it was pulled in 1970 at he Bank Street Atelier in New York in 1970. The print is in very good condition. The frame is in good condition with some light scratches. Beniamino Benvenuto Bufano was born in San-Fele, Italy on Oct. 14, 1889. At age three Bufano's family brought him to NYC where he spent his childhood and was educated by private tutors. He studied at the ASL in NYC from 1913-15, the pupil of James L. Fraser, Herbert Adams, and Paul Manship. He came to San Francisco in 1915 to work on a sculpture for the PPIE. For awhile he worked in the studio of coppersmith Dirk van Erp. He then traveled extensively for four years in France, Italy, India, and China. After returning to San Francisco in 1921, he remained there the rest of his life except for visits to the Orient and Europe. Always a radical, he lost his teaching position at San Francisco Institute of Art in 1923 because he was too modern for the conservative faculty. He later taught at UC Berkeley and the CCAC (1964-65). Henry Miller wrote of him, "He will outlive our civilization and probably be better known, better understood, both as a man and artist, five thousand years hence." His work, simple in style and monumental in scale, includes smoothly rounded animals in granite and icons sheathed in stainless steel. Only five feet tall, Bufano was a controversial, free spirit until his death in San Francisco on Aug. 16, 1970. Member: SFAA; NSS; American Artists Congress. Exh: Whitney Museum (NYC), 1917; Arden Gallery...

Original Alhambra Theatre Maurice Chevalier vintage lithographic poster. Artist: Charles Kiffer (1902 - 1992). Size: 19.25" x 27.25". Archival linen-backed antique vintage poster; ready to frame. An original lithograph was done for the inauguration of the new Alhambra Theater, featuring Maurice Chevalier. Over the years; Kiffer designed 13 for Chavalier from 1927 - 1963. (Kiffer also designed for Josephine Baker, Edith Piaf, and many other performers.) Today this version with the text of the Alhambra Theatre Maurice Chevalier is a rare poster. Mid-century-modern. The Alhambra was a music hall located at 50, rue de Malte in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. It opened on August 11, 1866. This image with the familiar tilted hat is a recognized image associated with several different poster designs created for the actor Maurice Chevalier. In addition to the images created for the French cabaret; a similar image is also associated with the liquor poster...