News — new products

On Mondays we visit the photo booth with new products from our collection. This week we are spotlighting Rheinhold's Monkey with Skull (RHE01, RHE03), Cycladic Idols, (CYC01, CYC02) and a new scarab (EG08).    The original bronze sculpture Monkey with Skull or also known as Philosophizing Monkey attracted a great deal of attention at the Berlin Art Exhibition in 1893. It was Rheinhold's first sculpture as a professional sculptor and was an immediate commercial success. The Berlin bronze foundry H. Gladenbeck & Sohn marketed various versions of the adorable monkey. A copy even graced Nikolai Lenin's desk at the Kremlin from 1922 onwards. One...

Portrait of an Egyptian Amarna princess, 19th Dynasty, circa 1340 BC
Pharaoh Amenhotep IV ruled the New Kingdom from 1353 to 1336 BC. The remarkably long skulls could indicate a hereditary physical deformity, but could also have been caused by the binding of the infants' skulls.

Day of the Dead Celebration (Día de los Muertos) is a three-day event in Mexico (early November) and parts of the US in which people celebrate their ancestors. They wear skull masks as a tribute to death and rebirth. The art associated with this ritual originates from Aztec and early Mexican eras and is characterized by images of skeletons, skulls, and folkloric costume.

Here in Los Angeles, the Getty Museum is having an art show through mid-October 2012 which surveys the Character Heads (1770-1783) created by F.X. Messerschmidt. We learned about Messerschmidt's studies of human facial expressions when we added four bust reproductions to our Museumize.com collection: Ultimate Simpleton, Vexed Man, Yawner Man, and Strong Man. Reproductions of Messerschmidt Portrait Heads are available for purchase at Museumize.com. Parastone Museum Collection. From the Getty's description of the show, "The exhibition demonstrates how Messerschmidt's intriguing heads are linked to the 18th and 19th centuries' fascination with expression and the "passions," as well as with the...

I wanted to make mention of the new cat figurines we carry from famous French illustrator Albert Dubout. These cats are silly, playful, and all around fun to look at! Dubout was a famous French illustrator who had a very large portfolio. His illustrations were seen in many books, magazines, journals, set designs, advertisements, record sleeves, and even movie posters! This particular series features the every day lives of our friendly felines. The Dubout cats are fun! The subtle expressions on their faces make you chuckle because they portray real cats so well. These cats are very meticulously produced utilizing...