2015 Top Stories in Miniatures Compiled by D. Thomas Fine Miniatures!

It was a GREAT year for the miniatures world! A number of high profile media outlets reported on the topic, giving much needed support and awareness around the small-arts which we know and love!

Here provides a hand-curated list of just a few of the BIGGEST news stories to hit the little world in 2015:

____________________________________________________

Artist "Shrinks" Historical Rooms in Miniature Masterpieces

Henry Kupjack on the CBS Evening News

June 22, 2015

CBS Evening News features this story about reknowned miniaturist Henry Kupjack with an interview by veteran journalist Dean Reynolds. Viewers are invited into Mr. Kupjack's studio and to hear stories about his famous father, Eugene Kupjack, noted for his particiapation in creating the famed Thorne Rooms on permanent exhibition at the Art Institute Chicago.

____________________________________________________

Letter of Recommendation: The Thorne Miniature Rooms

The Thorne Rooms in The New York Times Magazine

September 17, 2015

Writer Charles Siebert takes the reader through the history of miniatures in this story about the acclaimed architectually accurate minature rooms that make up the Thorne Rooms commissioned by Narsissa Niblack Thorne on permanent exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago.

A slide show filled with gorgeous photographs of the collection accompany the story.

____________________________________________________

Grunwald Gallery Brings Magic to Minis

The Miniature at the Grunwald Gallery/Herald Times

August 31, 2015

Fine art miniatures and contemporary art in miniature join forces for "The Miniature" at the Grunwald Gallery at Indiana University/Bloomington. This storytalks about the tiny treasures and other thought-provoking wee-world creations exhibited by miniature artisans including Thomas Doyle, Joe Fig,Michael Yurkovich, Mark Murphy and Althea Chrome among others.

____________________________________________________

Dollhouse Appraised at $8.5 Millon Is on Tour

The Astolat Castle Featured in the New York Times

July 16, 2015

Once again, miniatures are featured in the New York Times in this story about the Astolat Castle, reported to be the most expensive dollhouse in the world and appraised at $8.5 Million. The house began its tour with stopover at the Time Warner Center in New York City, just in time for the 2015 holdiay season!

_______________________________________________________________

Worlds Largest Pint Size Tourist Attraction to Open.

Gulliver's Gate Launch in Crain's New York Business

November 17, 2015

This may just be the BIGGEST story to hit the miniatures world in a long long time about Guliver's Gate featured in Crain's Business News. This new interactive miniatures destination promises to be THE attraction to see when visiting New York City! 49,000 square feet filled with miniature marvels promises to excite, delight and astound and will be located in the former New York Times building in Times Square.

_____________________________________________

It's A Small World

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures in Westchester Magazine

November, 2015

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is featured in a story in Westchester Magazinetalking about the latest gallery installation: Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window in Miniature. The piece, which won top prize at the Philidelphia Flower Show in 2015 was created by artist, author and educator Louise Krasniewicz who writes a blog about miniatures called The Wonder of Miniature Worlds.

Here's to another GREAT year of miniatires in the news in 2016!!

_____________________________________________________

ABOUT D. THOMAS FINE MINIATURES

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is an online and in-store retail destination featuring artisan dollhouses and top quality collectibles including 1/12th scale furniture and accessories. The shop also offers workshops and classes taught by master artisans.

The concept, designed to appeal to collectors, crafters and enthusiasts at all skill levels and abilities, was created, in part, to raise awareness of miniatures as a decorative art form and to introduce the discipline not only to a new generation but to those who may just be discovering it!

The shop also features a gallery space showcasing works in miniature by well-known artists from all over the world.

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is located at 579 Warburton Avenue in the village of Hastings-on-Hudson NY. Gallery and shop hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday from Noon to 5:00 pm. Evening hours are available by appointment.

For more, follow D. Thomas Fine Miniatures on: Instagram Facebook and Twitter.

Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window in Miniature

The newest gallery installation at D. Thomas Fine Miniatures features Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window in Miniature, a special work created in 1/12th scale, by professor of anthropology and artist Louise Krasniewicz.

Louise writes extensively about miniatures and discusses why miniatures are so prevalent in modern culture. In her work she suggests that, when carefully constructed and scaled, miniatures are like stage or movie sets that invite the viewer to visit an alternative place and experience a different world. Her works portray miniatures as imaginative productions, true marvels and wonders of art.

Krasniewicz created this intricate miniature setting, a replica of the main movie set from Hitchcock’s 1954 classic film, for inclusion in “Celebrating the Movies,” part of the miniature settings category displayed at the 2015 Philadelphia Flower Show earlier this year). Her creation achieved First Place and Best of Show.

When Alfred Hitchcock planned the set for Rear Window, he made the windows that looked into the Greenwich Village apartments appear to be miniature movie screens, showing the drama within each cramped space. The love stories played out in the windows of the abstractly named characters—Miss Torso, Miss Lonelyhearts, the Songwriter, The Newlyweds—depicted a possible version of the life of Jeff Jeffries, the wheelchair-bound photographer, watching his neighbors. When Jeffries suspects one of his neighbors of murder, the parallel stories framed in the apartment windows all contribute to the mystery.

“Cramming all of that, along with the details of the apartment of the murderer Lars Thorwald, into a scale-model replica of the Rear Window set was the challenge,” claims Ms. Krasniewicz. “It demonstrates numerous scratch building, painting, design, lighting, and construction techniques as well as providing the perfect demonstration of the notion of “worldbuilding” that is defining the newest approaches to miniatures” she goes on to say. Louise believes that when seeing miniatures as built worlds rather than just play things “we have the possibility of entering that world and experiencing its wonders.”

By viewing a scaled replica of an enormous Hollywood stage set, the viewer can take in evidence from all the scenes at the same time and enjoy the connections between the stories played out in the windows.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window in Miniature will be on display in the Gallery at D. Thomas Fine Miniatures until November 25, 2015.

About the Artist

Louise Krasniewicz, PhD, is an adjunct in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania where she teaches anthropology courses on anthropology, popular culture, and movies. She is also affiliated with the Cinema Studies Program and is a fellow at the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. Her academic training in media studies and anthropology made her an expert on pop and geek culture phenomena and the theoretical frontiers digital media. Krasniewicz is the author of numerous books including biographies of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Johnny Depp, and Walt Disney, and a study of the California recall election. Louise’s passion for miniatures include the study of ancient miniatures across times and cultures, miniatures in film, and miniatures at World’s Fairs. Krasniewicz’s insights may be found in her blog The Wonder of Miniature Worlds…past & present, in theory and practice.

About the Film

Hitchcock’s Rear Window was released by Paramount Pictures on September 1, 1954 and relates the story fictional photographer of L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries (played by James Stewart) who passes time by watching the private lives of his neighbors through their open windows when confined to wheelchair in his Greenwich Village apartment while recuperating from an accident during a summer heat wave. The film explores man’s fascination with voyeurism and the attraction of being watched and observed. Rear Window received four Academy Award nominations and in 1997 the film was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically and aesthetically significant.

About D. Thomas Fine Miniatures

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is a retail and gallery destination featuring fine scale collectibles. The shop also offers workshops and classes taught by master artisans on making miniatures. It’s located in the historic lower Hudson River Valley in the Moviehouse Mews, once The Hastings Theater (opened in 1920) and attended by local resident Billie Burke – who played Glinda, the Good Witch, in the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz and Flo Ziegfeld, of the Ziegfeld Follies. The address is 579 Warburton Avenue in the village of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. Gallery and shop hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Sunday from Noon to 5:00 PM. Evening hours are available by appointment.

Museum of Miniatures Pt. 1: The Kathleen Savage Browning Collection

Summer is finally here—the official season of both the road trip and the getaway. There’s no better time to take a “little” vacation? (pun intended). In the spirit of summer, we are featuring a short series of posts that will spotlight the absolute best miniatures museums from around the world. We have chosen each of these places because of their rich, unique collections of upscale miniature pieces by some of the most established miniaturists of all time. Needless to say, each and every one of these places is more than worth the visit.

The Kathleen Savage Browning collection at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center is the perfect museum to start off this series. This museum boasts one of the largest, most extensive personal collections of exquisite 1/12th scale pieces of all time.

Kaye Savage Browning, the collection’s proprietor and owner, has been collecting miniatures since 1974. Since then, she has traveled the world in search of the finest miniature creations.

In 2007, Ms. Savage Browning opened the 3300 square foot gallery in order to share her collection with the public—the collection has grown to include thousands of miniatures, roomboxes, homes and exhibits.

Visitors of all ages will enjoy viewing discussing the many historically accurate miniature replicas pieces, which depict objects and scenes from a wide array of time periods, and preserve important cultural sites in miniature.

The museum is also home to a number of rare exhibit pieces, such as the Spencer House—a 1/12th replica of the ancestral home of Lady Diana, the Princess of Wales, created by famed miniature artisans, Mulvany and Rogers. Each and every detail of the 18th century replica has been created by hand in an exact likeness of the historical landmark in London.

Mrs. Savage Browning’s collection is truly quite remarkable in every sense of the word. The museum is an absolute must-see for all who love miniatures, from the casual collector, to the ardent miniaturist.

The museum is located at 215 Sutton Street in Maysville, Kentucky and is open to the public Tuesday-Friday from 10am until 4pm, and Saturday from 10 to 3. You can also visit the collection’s website for more information or check out the KSB Blog to read some great posts about the collection and other miniature topics.

(Photo Credits: Pinterest, KSB Collection Website, American Towns, Cincinatti Magazine, Facebook)