Hanging Around The House

 Hanging Around The House

This past weekend we had a few guests over the house that were first timers.  That meant it was time for a tour.  While the basement is a man cave, you can’t help but notice all the artwork among the upstairs walls.  Most of it is aviation art, but there are others with images of scenery and nature.  Christina is happy that I have allowed these prints to infiltrate the aircraft offerings.  What she didn’t realize at first, is that I really enjoy them too.

Images of scenery have always inspired me.  Mountains, lakes…really any landscape.  I have also enjoyed photography.  With the combination of the two it should be of no surprise that I enjoy the works of Ansel Adams.  His innovation and ability to capture life from behind the camera is breathtaking.  In November of 2005 I had a chance to travel to Boston to see an exhibition of his craft at the Museum of Fine Arts.  It contained many never before seen examples of his work.  There were movie shorts on the history of his photography and the lengths he went to get the perfect shot.  It was a lot to take in.  I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the exhibit.  It included 180 photographs taken by Adams, as well as a documentary about him, a home movie, two cameras and numerous rare books and magazines.

Two years later I would travel up to the Berkshires.  I would go to The Clark to see an exhibition of Claude Monet, The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings.  Another artist known for depictions of landscape, however his were paintings not photographs.  His painting, Impression, Sunrise, gave rise to the name of the Impressionist movement.  Monet once simply stated “Landscape is nothing but an impression, and an instantaneous one, hence this label that was given us, by the way because of me.”  It was the first exhibition to focus on his graphic works, including pastels, finished drawings, and sketchbooks.

A few years before seeing these two exhibitions, I stumbled upon the Images of Nature Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming.  It was the works of Thomas D. Mangelsen.  I was to find out he is recognized as one of the world’s premier nature photographers.  Christina and I fell in love with one of his works, High Noon on the Oxbow Bend.  It depicts a battle between a bald eagle and an osprey above Jackson Lake.  The scenic background of Mt. Moran of the Grand Tetons reflects upon the surface.  We would make this our first artwork purchased specifically for our new home.  We would add three more of Mangelsen’s works to our place.  We have reproductions of Ansel Adams and Claude Monet works too…but I am not in the 1% to afford the real thing.  However, the landscape of our home is dominated with my aviation art.  It is evident everywhere.

It started for me at a young age.  As mentioned before, I have always been enamored with aircraft.  As a youth, I would buy and build airplane models.  But this was only part of the bounty.  I would select the model based on the artwork upon the box, also making sure there were no creases.  I would cut out the pictures and proudly display them throughout my room.  Eventually, I came across a paperback book with the works of an aviation artist.  I removed the 8 x10 pages and plastered them on my walls.  A few years later, I would find a magazine that sold aviation lithographs.  I was able to afford two of them, since they were not high-end limited additions.  I still have those prints to this day.

In the mid 90’s I purchased my co-op.  I was finally grown up…per see.  My tastes however remained the same.  Ironically, it was on a trip to a Steelers game that would reignite my aviation art passion.  While searching the mall for the Steelers fan shop, I came across something rather unexpected.  It was a gallery, and it was filled with aviation art.  I spent more time in there than the Steelers store.  The money I had put aside for a new jersey, was now used on my first print of any worth.  They also armed me with brochures of other aviation artists.  No more box tops for me.

I was hooked.  But outside of this gallery in Pittsburgh, I had no idea where to find them.  Thumbing through the brochure I came across a print that I knew I had to have.  Zero Encounter by Robert Taylor.  Not only did it depict my favorite airplane, but also 3 pilots of whom I had read their novels signed it.  Unfortunately it had an issue date of 1990, and it was now 1998.  The original artwork was sold out, and I could only obtain it on the secondary, and much more expensive, market.  I scoured the Internet, and even in it’s infancy, I was able to find a stockpile of the prints.  It would seem the artist donated several of them to a museum in Texas so they could sell them to raise money.  And wouldn’t you know it, they were offering them at the original 1990 price!  This print would remain my favorite to this day.  It is displayed directly in front of my spot on the couch.

Over the years I have become quite the collector.  Recently, I took inventory of my items since we were redoing our homeowners insurance.  I came across a print in the living room of which I had no idea of its worth.  It was a companion print, meaning it was bundled with another larger print.  I had wanted the smaller print without having to purchase the set but it is almost impossible to buy them separately.  Finally, I was able to find just the companion print for auction on eBay and was lucky enough to have the winning bid.  Now, as I searched online to find a price for the individual piece, all I was able to discover was a review for it.  At the end of the article it stated it did not know how much it was worth individually, but a rare one came to market in 2001 on eBay and was sold for $550.

Mr. Walsh had set the price.