Art from the Thrift Store

Welcome to the Blog today, Friends. I am so excited to share these recent finds with you. I occasionally buy framed art from the thrift store…usually smaller pieces or pieces I buy for their frames. Then I reuse the frames for other art work. It’s a system that works quite well and is very cost effective. Sometimes I am very lucky and find a beautiful and valuable piece of art for a thrift store price. The photo above shows a recent purchase. This piece is a professionally framed, pristine serigraph of an ERTE image. It is quite striking in red and black with a silver background. It’s a signed piece although the signature is very difficult to see. The piece measures 40 inches high and 30 inches wide so it is quite large. It’s matted in a red mat outlined in gold. It’s really quite spectacular.

The image depicts a beautiful woman enveloped in a black coat edged in fur with red lines emphasizing the flow of the garment. The woman’s face is partially hidden and she extends a beautifully manicured hand. Her eyes are heavily made up and the whole image is Art Deco at its finest.

A gold colored accent fabric is centered in the back of the coat with gold tassels extending almost to the floor. The coat trails dramatically and beautifully behind the woman as she poses and you can see her red shoes peeking out from under the coat. Information about the image is located at the bottom.

Romain de Tirtoff (23 November 1892 – 21 April 1990), known by the pseudonym Erté (from the French pronunciation of his initials: [ɛʁte]), was a Russian-born French artist and designer. He was a 20th-century artist and designer in an array of fields, including fashion, jewellery, graphic arts, costume, and set design for film, theatre, and opera, and interior decor. (from Wikipedia). Erté was known as the Father of Art Deco. You can certainly see why.

It was really exciting to find such a beautiful piece of art in such perfect condition. This piece is destined for our daughter’s loft apartment. She already loves it.

I know you all want to know the price and it was truly that of a thrift store find. The piece cost $15.00. I think that was an absolute bargain.

Another beautiful art piece found at the same thrift store during the same outing is in a completely different style. This appears to be a hand-colored lithograph probably from an 1850’s image. Without taking the frame apart it is difficult to tell when this was printed. However it is printed on quality paper. It is beautifully detailed and framed as you can see in the picture above. Hummingbirds in vibrant colors are sipping nectar from some lovely illustrated flowers.

The pinks in the lithograph pop because the matting echos the pink color and draws it out. An inner rim of gold in the matting focuses attention on the image.

Here you get a closer look at the image. This is one that we will probably hang in the house. The colors go well with many of the colors that I love to use.

If you have had anything framed lately, you will know how expensive framing can be. These pieces with their beautiful mats would come with a hefty price tag. It’s lovely to be able to enjoy them already framed and in pristine condition.

This last art work I’m sharing today is a beautiful crystal compote in excellent condition. So why is this such a great piece to find at a thrift store? I think this is a piece of Pairpoint crystal. Founded in South Boston in 1837 by Deming Jarves, Pairpoint’s predecessor, the Mount Washington Glass Company became widely known for producing the finest glass made anywhere in the United States. Pairpoint crystal was found in the finest homes in America including The White House. This piece is gorgeous.

The base is beautifully cut with criss-crosses and a square scalloped cut into the outer rim of the base. The criss-crosses go from large ones on the outer rim of the base to quite small ones in the center. The stem has serrated edges and rises to hold the bowl of the piece. The bowl is decorated with daisies and an additional feathered flower as well as cut glass leaves.

As you can see the edge of the bowl is also a serrated edge cut into small triangles. Quite gorgeous. It was exciting to find such a lovely piece in such good condition. I literally took it out of the hands of the Goodwill employee as she was placing it on the shelf.

It was really nice to find three lovely pieces in one morning. There were actually a few more bargains but I’ll be sharing those next week. Thanks for joining me for this thrifting adventure.