Pens With Customer Service

As we all know the world changes and the term “New and Improved” drives me crazy because as we get older, we often crave what we had in the past, e.g. I collect fountain pens.

I have written twice before about this passion of mine. In those postings in 2014 and 2016, which you can find by going to Missives from the Art World and putting Fountain Pens in the search box, I wrote about Santa Fe’s local pen shop, called as you would expect, Santa Fe Pens. I am happy to report it survived the Pandemic and is still functioning.

As I have learned different fountain pens write differently on different kinds of paper, and different nibs help you write differently, I started to collect more and more pens! As nice as Santa Fe Pens is they have a limited selection and I wanted to learn and see more.

A friend who also collects pens suggested that I focus on one area. I love wood so I particularly enjoy wood fountain pens and found online, Lanier pens. Jim Lanier is a wood worker who loves pens. From his home workshop in Washington state, he started a company in 2005 handmaking signature pens. He has a nice choice of different woods but in the end it is the same pen with a different shell. Aside from wood he answers any enquiries personally.

Still there are so many other types of pens that I cannot resist. Several pen stores have come to me through the post or email. One which had an incredible choice of pens was very unresponsive to me and gave me a hard time, so I forgot about it. Just like a bad meal at a restaurant you won’t go back to, although the chef may have changed three times in the interim.

Another email was from a pen store in Columbia, Maryland called appropriately enough “Pen Boutique”. It is both, small in size, and 20 miles from Baltimore … a far piece to go, just to look at pens, but through the internet I learned about the company owner, Leena Shrestha-Menon. In 2004, she had the idea to start a business in a field she was passionate about. … She just loved pens and found it was easy and enjoyable to speak to people about them. She was particularly fond of fountain pens which “glide on the paper”. According to Leena opening her shop, “was not as easy as I thought. Distributors were skeptical, mall management was not swayed by beautiful pens, and financiers thought I was out of my mind.” but she persevered

Leena says, and I believe her, that Pen Boutique’s most important asset is her belief in Customer Service. Once on the mailing list you will certainly get ads telling you about the newest hot pen or ink available, but you also will often see a personal story from Leena about her kids or an illness in the family. When she wrote that she was the victim of a hate crime, she got so many responses she could not handle them all and wrote a general thank you. I have asked her some personal questions a while back like, like where she was from, and learned that she is from Nepal. This is not just a hobby, and she is a businesswoman, so her emails often end, “Keep on Writing” with a selection of pens and ink etc. In this day and age, to feel so close to a business, particularly one online, is incredible. An email that came in recently:

https://manage.kmail-lists.com/subscriptions/web-view?a=MUjjBQ&c=NHGgcq&k=640549845b84bb1f60a51810fae25fc3&m=TqAQXD&r=zUThQts 

To prove again my point about Customer Service, I forgot which pens I had bought from Pen Boutique, I wrote, not having much hope of receiving an answer. But sure enough, and to my pleasant surprise, by that afternoon one of Leena’s employees sent me the list. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have such a personal relationship with more businesses that we interact with? I believe it would make for a much more copacetic world.

In Memoriam: Richard Brockway Stolley

Richard (Dick, as he was known) Stolley died on June 16. I considered him a close friend though I never even dined with him. I am honored to say he was a loyal fan of these Missives.

Richard Stolley at Time/Life Magazine, 1972
Photo: Neal Boenzi/The New York Times

I met Dick on the board of the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe. He was a most self-effacing person and I only learned from others that he was the founding editor of ‘People Magazine’ which became one of the most successful publications in the country. According to The New York Times, it “changed the course of American publishing with its personality driven approach to Journalism I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to point out Facebook, Linked In, & Twitter are its internet age spinoffs.

Dick Stolley was with Time, Inc. for six decades . As a major writer for Life Magazine, he covered the Civil Rights movements of over a half a century ago. His greatest coup was acquiring for his magazine the Zapruder film of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK). I remember the scramble of journalists to get ahold of those frames. How was I to know that over 50 years later I would be meeting that hero of the time.

Dick Stolley looking back

In an interview in the 1970’s he said “pretty sells better than ugly, young sells better than old, movies sells better than TV, TV sells better than sports and anything sells better than politics.” Unfortunately, I fear the last is no longer true.

In 2019 I wrote a Missive about an interview I had with Dick, with other anecdotes.

https://www.geraldstiebel.com/2019/06/richard-brockway-stolley.html

I have been writing these Missives for about 12 years now and, of course, I love it when people write to say they enjoyed this or that Missive but when someone of Dick’s stature with his background tells me he likes my writing, for me, it validates my efforts.

Unfortunately, in his last few years he moved to a retirement home in the Midwest, so our conversations were left to email. He replied to most of my Missives on Monday morning with just simple statements. I wrote in one Missive that my wife, an art historian, did not agree with me on a matter. His reply was, “Art in America is more powerful because experts like you and your wife do NOT agree!!!”

I told Dick once that my wife edited my blog and then I sometimes reedited it. His reply “more to the editorial point, to the rewrite belongs the victor!”

I do hope many of my readers can identify with his greatest compliment to me, “This gave me something to do and enjoy for 20 minutes, thus relieving my boredom for a change, and I am jammed with gratitude! Merci bien, Dick.”

The Kids Have Arrived

For 4 days at the end of June we had 3 children and 3 grandchildren with us: An embarrassment of riches. Unfortunately, as much as New Mexico needs it we had rain showers and storms during that time interrupting many of our activities.

What is the substitute for actually doing something? You probably guessed it … eating. I am justifying this segway in my Missives under the rubric, the Art of Food.

The first night our son, Hunter hosted an outdoor barbecue, grilling delicious hamburgers and cheeseburgers and his wife, Mallory, prepared all kinds of sides, guacamole, chips, salsa and salad. The next night we went to El Farol, a tapas restaurant. During the pandemic they built a large patio behind the old restaurant and even had a fountain set in with a crane, which our 20-month-old granddaughter adored and kept running around it.

As you probably know in Spanish cuisine tapas are small dishes, so everyone shares and passes them around. In the end it turns out that you eat a lot more food than if you had just one main plate! The good news ... it was all delicious.

I won’t do any other restaurant reviews, but we ate out for a couple of other lunches and dinners. The last night that we were all together was a bit mysterious. I was told it had to do with my Father’s Day present and that was it. All I could think was what other restaurant could we be going to and why was that a gift for me.

Again, we had rain and spent much of the day inside and during the afternoon there was much discussion of a promised delivery. The later it got the more urgent everyone felt it was, by then I realized it was dinner that was coming. When I learned delivery had been guaranteed before 7pm, I went on about how a shipment I had been told “was on the truck for delivery” and had ostensibly sat on that truck for 3 days before it arrived. Adding to the urgency was the baby’s bedtime that had to be kept in mind. Everyone got nervous enough that my wife and daughter went to the corner store and brought back three roasted chickens and a large salad. My daughter set to work on cutting it up and making a lovely platter. But the chicken dinner that was not to be. 

As soon as they finished the doorbell rang and the delivery was made at 6:30pm.

It turned out to be a Sushi dinner … I LOVE sushi. The twist was that it was”DIY”, Do it yourself sushi! In other words, the rice, seaweed wrap, and fish all came separately with some instructions and an online video, which no one watched.

This was a gift from my older son and daughter, and it came from Blue Ribbon Sushi in New York via the website Goldbelly. That is the equivalent of long distance Grubhub or Doordash. The large box that came had ice inside guaranteed to last for 48 hours or more.

The kids got started. My older son, Dan, heated fried crispy rice in a pan. Then all got together to create a sushi platter Here is my granddaughter, Lucy, preparing a spicy tuna roll and “experienced” hands of my son Dan. 

I could take it easy since it was my present! In truth, I wouldn’t have had a clue how to do it and did not realize that my kids were so expert.

 

It was an incredible feast with tuna, spicy tuna, salmon, scallops, and shrimp and . soy sauce, wasabi and ginger also included. Here is the beautiful and tasty result. 

We finished every last bit of it. What a Father’s Day present!

Inspired to be Collectors

Starting where I left off in my last Missive: “Art could never be commercially explained. Why do people fall in love with a piece of art. Unfortunately, in recent times some think of it as investment or fill in the blanks like a stamp collection, but most people still buy for the thrill of discovery and love of the work.”

Since I closed my gallery in New York in 2014 I have called myself an art consultant. Not that I am averse to my former profession and, every once in a while, might sell something! Most of the time, however, I simply encourage people to love art and collecting. This Missive is a prime example.

https://www.stiebel.com/history

I guess I should be charging for these consults but since I do not depend on them to eat, I often do it without charge. I believe the one advantage to growing old is all the experience and knowledge we have gained along the way.

Here in Santa Fe, I have a very small office in a small office building. You can imagine my surprise, or possibly not, when a very beautiful woman, a model, came in and sat down opposite me. She was just coming through Santa Fe with a group focused on its art and especially the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the artist’s home.

She had seen my name possibly from “Missives from the Art World” or the provenance in an auction catalog and mistakenly thought I had a gallery here. I had disabused her of that thought before she arrived, but she wanted to see me anyway. She had bought some paintings in a sale from a former clients of ours, Jayne and Charles Wrightsman. Charles died some time ago but Jayne lived on to 2019 as a powerful trustee of the Metropolitan Museum. She left most of the art in their homes to the Metropolitan but some of what remained, possibly pieces that were already duplicated in the Met, went to auction.

Jayne Wrightsman
(Cecil Beaton/Condé Nast, via Getty Images)

My visitor was a new collector who wanted to learn more about Mrs. Wrightsman and the art world. She asked a very intelligent question, which few ask “Can you recommend some books from which I could learn more.” I was thrilled, here was an individual who wanted to get involved in an area that she clearly had not been able to spend much time studying being very busy with her career.

Another great experience I have had in recent months was contact with a lawyer who is in my children’s age group, and lives in Valentine, Nebraska. Was there really a town by that name? Well, it seems it is very popular around the time of a holiday by the same name as people can send cards with the Valentine post office stamp on their envelopes. My new friend had found me on the web and was interested in the same collector as the model. He turned out to be seriously interested in French 18th century decorative arts, the field in which my gallery had been preeminent. I could not believe it. He was also intrigued by many other kinds of older art, and we began corresponding about the art world. He had particularly enjoyed my missives on the clients we have had over the years. So, to make what has become a very long story short, I have a pen pal and we correspond on a regular basis about art, auction sales and other related subjects.

I am going to end with a story I recently saw online about a couple who live in another small town, Minot, North Dakota. What sparked their interest in art in the first place I have no idea but a trip to a New York art fair sold them on collecting. In my opinion they did everything right learning from the most qualified dealers in vetted art fairs and going on from there. Read their story and let me know what you think.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-inside-collection-rob-eric-thomas-suwall?utm_source=braze

Mentorship is the most rewarding endeavor whether you give it or take it. Not sure if you would think of it In that way, but after collecting Native American art for about 30 years there is so much that I do not fully comprehend about Native American life and culture, and I am so excited to have a few Native Americans in Santa Fe who are willing to teach me as we go along.

What’s It Worth?

These days before starting a new Missive I have to look whether I have written on the same subject before. When I searched for this title, I found I had but you probably don’t remember, because it was about 550 Missives ago in 2010. At that time, I was speaking of quality and discussing a French 18th century console table. 

This time it is about paintings and the market in general. Since I do not believe in buying art as investment, I have not been paying enough attention to the incredible prices that some art brings.

In 1962 the Louvre had to find a value at which to insure the Mona Lisa, said to be the most valuable painting in the world. The value that was put on it at the time was an unprecedented 100 million dollars. Why? I would say because of all the hype, that has surrounded it after it had been stolen in 1911. There is now a new kind of bullet proof glass which it hides behind in a gallery where a nearby Titian and Veronese are ignored by hordes of visitors.

In 2017, however, a painting attributed in whole or in part to Leonardo after having long been thought of as a copy and dating from the first decade of the sixteenth century brought a bit over 450 million dollars. I will be honest with you, if you had asked me whether to buy this painting, I would have advised against it considering that if it was doubted before it might fall into doubt again.

If you want to feel a bit better about this figure, with inflation the 1962 valuation of the Mona Lisa would be the equivalent of $860 million today. I am sure that is part of the issue. Today people figure the net worth of a work of at in percentage related to inflation … but how many people can afford that kind of money? Not many, and that is why the art world is thought of as elitist. 

Back to prices. For part of my wife, Penelope’s career at the Met, she worked in the 20th Century Department, at the time, directed by Henry Gelzahler. He was described by New York Magazine as, ‘the most powerful and controversial art curator alive’. He was also the darling of all the artists. He spoke to Andy Warhol every day and Arnold Newman photographed him at home. 

David Hockney solidified his reputation as a great artist with his painting of Henry Geldzahler and his significant other, Christopher Scott (1969). Not the other way around as some people think. The painting, however, never belonged to Henry and Christopher but in 2019 it brought £37,661,250 or $49,557,100 at Christies, London. Why? Because it was a watershed moment for Hockney and Henry who had become a very important personage in the formation of the New York style. 

What is most astounding is that this painting was at the bottom of the list of the ten most expensive ten paintings sold that year. Of course, iconic names topped the list such as Monet, Koons (could have fooled me), Rauschenberg whose painting does include an image of JFK, also Cezanne, Picasso and Warhol.

On the National Day of Reflection in the UK, Banksy's “Game Changer” sold for £16,758,000 having had an estimate of “only” £2,500,000 5o 3,5000,000. The painting appeared at University Hospital, Southampton, England after the first wave of Covid-19. It appeared with this note, ‘Thanks for all you’re doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if it’s only black and white.”

After 10 months Banksy donated it to Southampton’s Hospital Charity which put it up for auction. The proceeds are to be used to support the wellbeing of University Hospital staff and patients as well as benefiting associated health organizations across the United Kingdom.

Banksy is the “Nom de plume” for a street artist whose work has appeared on buildings and other publicly visible surfaces including self-built physical prop pieces. Though never identified for sure his biography goes on for pages on Wikipedia! So why did that painting bring a fortune? Surely all the publicity his work has gained over the years has helped. His work is popular, his prints have sold very well and, particularly this past year, people want to support the good works of the medical community. 

Art could never be commercially explained. Why do people fall in love with apiece of art. Unfortunately, in recent times some think of it as investment or fill in the blanks like a stamp collection but most people still buy for the thrill of discovery and love of the work.

The Designer

For the past 12 years since I started Missives from the Art World, my wife has been my editor and we are still married after 45 years! In my last blog on “The Packaged Show” I left out one word that was vital, and she wrote it in! That word was, “Designer”. 

What brought this home was an obituary in the New York Times about Stuart Silver, who was a museum designer who began his career as a designer at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. He was suddenly promoted from making signs and posters to head of the Design Department. The person who promoted him was the innovative director of the Museum at the time, Tom Hoving ... https://www.geraldstiebel.com/2016/09/thomas-p-f-hoving-1931-2009.html

Silver is best known for his design of the block buster “Treasures of Tutankhamen” which was a travelling exhibition as discussed in my last Missive presented at the Met in 1978. As usual one individual, Stuart Silver, received all the credit. Obviously, the head of a group does not do all the things she or he is given credit for. In this case another young designer in the Met department had originated the Tut entrance concept and continued working out the problems of numerous other blockbusters for Stuart: his name is Clifford LaFontaine. I saw his genius in the one museum exhibition where I curated with my wife called “The Grand Gallery” at the Met 1974-1975. When he went on to become an independent designer my wife subsequently worked with him on exhibitions for other museums and I enlisted him to create installations in our gallery.

As we have remained close friends over the years, I wrote to Clifford about this Missive, and he reminded me to include the critical importance of lighting as it could make or break an exhibition. The genius in that area he developed for Met blockbusters was Lamar Terry, another individual who got no credit for his role which revolutionized how works of art were lit. Penelope called him, “The Prince of Darkness” because before there can be light there is none. To quote Clifford, “He made everyone else, at least, look as smart as they thought they were” which certainly could be said of Clifford as well.

You might not have thought of something Clifford brought up as critical in exhibition design, and that is money. The designer has a budget within which they must remain. In order not to waste money there must also be a comprehensive and detailed plan for the concept and placement of every work otherwise, staff time will be wasted which adds to the cost.

Clifford also stressed that for an exhibition to be considered a success the entry to the show must be enticing and the exit must be memorable. Here is what the New York Times wrote about the Tutankhamen design in the obituary for Stuart Silver “He put visitors in the position of questing archaeologists. They began by walking up a staircase leading to a photo mural of the gloomy entrance to King Tut’s tomb in Egypt. The first gallery was bathed in darkness, recreating a cryptlike atmosphere. Each object in the show appeared in the order in which it had been removed from the tomb.” How much more exciting is that than just putting objects in vitrines.

But let’s look at a much simpler situation, if you wish to exhibit a collection of Mark Rothko’s then the most basic decision is important. What color do you paint the walls? If you put a Rothko on a white or black wall it will pop but if you put it on a green wall it will counteract the effect of Rothko’s very subtle colors.

Here again lighting becomes vital to the installation. My wife recalls struggling to light a Rothko with a series of large abstract paintings by other artists in an exhibition at the Met. After lighting the other canvases, she finally hit upon using just ambient light to allow the Rothko’s colors to softly vibrate.

At the Tate Modern an installation called “Inner Space” is an example of an exhibition playing one Rothko against another and giving visitors a chance to absorb the variations in the artist’s vocabulary.

Photo by David Silltoe for the Guardian

At the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam with the title, “Rothko and Me”. A visitor could become immersed in a single Rothko alone in an intimate setting.

It is amazing how the installation can make a show with the same objects a success in one venue and a failure in another.

The Packaged Exhibition

I presume all those who bother to read my Missives have gone to special exhibitions at art museums, but have you thought about how they came about?

Often, they are exhibitions brought together from the museums own holdings, possibly a newly acquired work or collection that the museum wishes to feature.

Then there are the shows that are put together from scratch where a single curator or a group of curators or the Director come up with an idea and with the permission of the Director, they scour museums here and abroad in order to find the works that cover their desired theme. The next question is will they be able to get the works lent? They generally seek partner venues to share the expenses.

Today, however, I wish to speak of the packaged or traveling exhibition. This show was not organized by the exhibiting institution but by another entity. There are a few companies that still put exhibitions together and offer them for a rental fee to smaller institutions lacking the resources to originate shows.

Larger institutions wish to show off their collection and put it on the road. This can be a considerable source of income as well as bragging rights, earning publicity for the institution. A prime example is The Barnes Collection founded in 1922, and when it realized its declining finances in the 1990’s began a world tour charging huge rental fees to create an endowment while controversy raged over its eventual disposition.

The Barnes Collection

More recently the wildly popular Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernists exhibition from the Gelman Collection in Mexico City arrived at the Albuquerque Art Museum after having been on the road for many years. An exhibition with such popular artists is a boon to the venue bringing in an increased number of visitors. However, funds must be raised in advance as additional ticketing income rarely covers the costs of an exhibition fee plus considerable expenses in relation to shipping, insurance, installation, publicity and staff time.

Diego and Frida

What does the curator on the receiving end do before all the objects arrive? Here is where the creativity comes in. The curator will work with a designer to make the works fit to best advantage in the venue space and convey to visitors the point of the show.

The curator may choose to organize the works chronologically so that the visitor can see a timeline and see how styles might change. Artists develop over time and their styles change along with the years. The curator might also like the idea of comparison for instance taking works from the French Royal Porcelain Factory of S«evres with the German Royal factory of Meissen. The former would be in soft paste porcelain where the color melts into the material and the latter in hard paste where the color stands on top of the ceramic. These would also speak to the sensibility of their time and place. The venue curator can also write label copy to bring home their interpretation to their audience.

Sevres

Meissen

Another possibility is to add to the exhibition. Museums may agree to partner on an exhibition because they have related works in their permanent collection. That not only enriches the visitor experience but shows off and validates the museum collection. It might also be an opportunity to bring in related loans. The Albuquerque Museum decided to add photographs of Kahlo and Rivera to show with the paintings and drawings from the Gelman collection and did a complimentary exhibit of prints as well.

This is only a marginal gloss on a subject to which a number of books could be written. Each exhibition has its own issues. Although curators have to work with what they are given, viewing the same exhibition in more than one museum reveals the significance of the role of the curator at each venue.