Happy Holidays!

December 17, 2022: Hi all. I'm still here, just been very busy (who of us is not?) I'm working on updating Maison Newton bit by bit, it's been awhile since I changed things up. Happy Holidays to all, soon the Winter Solstice will arrive and then the days will start to get longer once again, hooray!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

The Look for Less: Traditional Home Visits Designer Joseph Abboud -- Part 5

Hola everyone!

I'm hoping to duplicate the feeling (if not the imagery) of the horse painting above the fireplace in Joseph Abboud's living room. 



The print edition of the magazine described:  A Roberto Dutesco photograph of horses creates a focal point at a console table supported by neoclassical columns.  But, it isn't the right painting!  Another horsely image holds center place in the dining room, a painting by Jeffrey Terreson. But it isn't the right painting, either. I could find no mention of the artwork above the fireplace either in the print magazine or at the Traditional Home website, so I don't know who created it or if it is a print or painting.

As you know, horses are tres popular these days and have been for awhile now.  I started seeing them crop up in decorating blogs months to a year ago.  As a chessplayer, I understand the fascination with horses in, perhaps, a more tactile manner.  They have an ancient connection to the game.  As a romantic, I understand the amazing, nearly telepathic bond that can develop between such a magnificent animal and his or her human.  As an historian, I appreciate the long relationship that mankind has had with equines.  The earliest evidence of man domesticating horses in some form or other dates back nearly 8,000 years.  In fact, that word - equine - is from the Latin equinus, from equus, horse.  That rather begs the question, though, because of course there was language BEFORE LATIN (B.L.).  Latin is one of the branches of the Indo-European language family from which many languages have descended, including the so-called "romance" languages and ancient written Sanskrit in which the earliest Hindu legends and myths were recorded thousands of years later.  A linguistic reconstruction of the original word for horse in the earliest form of Indo-European, called "proto-Indo-European" (or PIE) says it is something like ekhwos.   Our English word, horse, comes from Old English hors, which comes from the Old High German hros.  I can definitely see the ancient linguistic link between ekhwos and horse

I find all of this absolutely fascinating but you're probably bored to tears. My goal is to find something  reasonably priced, and I do not mean a giclee print costing $300 or more!  They seem to be everywhere these days:

Home Decorators:  by Liz Jardine, Steed Wall Art, a very large 40" x 50", $379

Home Decorators: by Sofia Fox, Winter Stallion Wall Art, 40" x 40", $355

Home Decorators: by Sofia Fox, Tribute Wall Art, 40" x 40", $$355

There are lots more giclee at Home Decorators, but you get the point.  Those prints are beautiful, and large, but too expensive for my miniscule budget.  And, since it's Home Decorators, I did not think it likely I'd find comparable prints at other popular shopping sites for lower prices. 

Soooooo, I looked for posters.  I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but for the price and spacial impact they can make they're hard to beat when one is on a budget. 

This poster caught my fancy.  From allposters.com, it's called Whoa Slow Down, an art print by John Saunders (42" x 32", $83.99):


The individual expressions on the horses' faces are priceless and the color tones are neutral, but there's lots of spirit and action in the print, nonetheless.  Unframed, it's got a 2" border around. 

Art prints are created on paper similar to that of a postcard or greeting card using a digital or offset lithography press.  allposters.com offers many options, including having this print on canvas (40" x 30" would be $219.99, other sizes available), or a 42" x 32" wood mount for $197.99 (with border); $184.99 with border trimmed, other sizes available.  About wood mount:   thick piece of beveled hardboard for a clean and sleek style. Made from high-quality materials for durability, the art is finished with a protective UV coating. You can buy them framed, too (pricey -- I think you can do it yourself for less).

This Black Beauty (who hasn't read that classic book as a girl?) at art.com spoke to me:



Lepa Zena print by Marta Gottfried.  The 40" x 30" art print is on sale right now for $64.99 (reduced by $5).  Art.com offers all kinds of different canvas and framing options.

The print above the fireplace (photo above) looks large.  Finding a poster that approaches the same size - not so easy.  For instance, check out this poster I found at Amazon:

The Dance Wild Horses Animal Poster Print 24 x 36 inches
$16.95

Framing this beautiful poster with a nice border and large frame to fill in the space above a mantel would be costly, but I'm thinking still half less than one of the glicee prints from Home Decorators. 

Here is another 24 x 36 inches print, Horse Trio by Robert Dawson, 31.45: 

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