Richard Blow loved Manhattan. But if he were living today, he might head for Brooklyn.
In the 1950s and ‘60s, Richard operated from three gallery spaces, all on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. In those years, it was the heart of the New York art scene. Manhattan still is the art money hub, but today Brooklyn’s Bushwick district is where the creative magic is. Young artists can find cheaper rents; a more stimulating, multicultural, post-industrial vibe; and a growing population of young Millennial art buyers. Richard was a smart marketer as well as a gifted artist. Despite his millionaire sensitivities, Richard’s art from the start was middle-class affordable – and with some exceptions still is. In my imagination, he’d go to Brooklyn for both the intellectual stimulation and the sales.
In fact, he’s already there.
Richard Blow, ““Still Life". Brooklyn Museum. © artist or artist's estate
The Brooklyn Museum was the first major museum in America to exhibit his pietra dura wall plaques and tables.
The now legendary, “Made in Italy” branding movement launched in the U.S. in 1950 with a traveling exhibit. “Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today.” Richard was part of that joint U.S.-Italy sponsored show (along with future Italian iconic brands Gucci and Ferragamo).
Its first stop wasn’t glitzy Manhattan; it was working class Brooklyn. When the 12-city tour ended a year later, the Italian Government gifted to the Brooklyn Museum two Richard Blow pieces.
The two works are not currently on display. But I went to the Brooklyn Museum’s online website and downloaded the images for you.
The first is a wall mosaic (above). The Museum’s 10 x 8 inch “Still Life” (Accession number 54.65.4). is one of 33 works in that still life genre that we’ve uncovered and logged into our Society database – and the earliest still life we’ve found. Richard created and executed it in the infancy of his eventual 26-year career. The mosaic is technically pre-Montici – a true rarity (the Museum notes makes no mention of a Montici logo). It’s graphically bold, sophisticated, fresh. What’s missing are the colors; the Museum jpeg is small, and only B/W (copyright worries). Some day when I’m back in Connecticut visiting my brother, I’m going to make a special trip down to the Brooklyn Museum and see if they’ll let me inspect the original work.
Richard Blow, “Tabletop” Brooklyn Museum. © artist or artist's estate
The second Brooklyn Blow is a piece of furniture. Seventy years after its creation, this Richard Blow tabletop (above) remains strikingly modern. I found this photo on the Brooklyn Museum website a year ago; recently I logged in again and couldn’t find it. I’ve sent an email to the Museum to inquire about its status.
Richard produced pietra dura tabletops from the very first days of his mosaics period. Historically, pietra dura tables were a dramatic, grand staple of the Medici Opificio workshop. Bloomberg Business writer James Tarmey recently wrote a fascinating story of one of the first ever produced.
“In 1568, Francesco I de’ Medici, heir to the Grand Dukedom of Tuscany, commissioned a table designed by the artist, architect, and writer, Giorgio Vasari. At the time, Vasari was one of the most famous artists in Florence. The Medici family had already enlisted him for projects ranging from murals in the Palazzo Vecchio to the design of the first buildings of the Uffizi…. It took more than 10 years to build, and cost a spectacular sum. “Putting it in terms of its comparative wealth, you could buy a painting by Titian— the greatest master of his day— for much, much less,” says Benedict Tomlinson, a London art dealer. “At its time, it was a vastly expensive work.”
It still is.
The 400-year-old, half-ton, semi-precious stone table owned by a long line of royals went up for auction in June 2018 at an asking price of $11.6 million dollars (legs extra).
The most expensive Blow Montici table sold to date cost a mere $22,500 (Sotheby’s 2016). Suddenly, that sounds like a bargain.
Richard’s tables racked up their own accolades during his lifetime; the New Yorker magazine called them the “handsomest” Italian tables on the market.
If you’re a Brooklyn Millennial looking for something Mid-Century Modern hot, keep your auction eye peeled for the next Montici table.
Michael Schmicker