PhonoArt features works of art found in museums and other commercial formats that have phonograph connections. Click on any piece of PhonoArt to enlarge the view. Click on the Phonographia Logo at the top to return to the previous menu. For additional examples of PhonoArt click HERE or at the bottom of this page.
Arrangement with Phonograph, Mask and Shell Artist: Jan Matulka, circa 1930 Media: Oil on canvas Location: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Interior with Phonograph (Interieur Au Phonograph) Artist: Henri Matisse, 1924 Media: Oil on canvas Location: Private collection Description: This interior scene is from the Matisse period where he wonderfully used a colorful assortment of fabrics and textiles.The wallcoverings, drapes, rug and tablecover provide a rich setting for the open horn phonograph partially cut-off in the picture. The record player is a disc machine and appears to be a wooden horn model.
The Phonograph Artist: Massani, circa 1905 Media: Oil on canvas Location: Unknown
Description: Edison used this painting (in this case as an advertising postcard) in literally hundreds of thousands of Edison Phonograph advertisements.Massani's painting was titled "The Phonograph" but it is often called "The Old Couple.
Unknown Artist: Charles Wysocki, circa 1980 Media: Oil on canvas Location: Unknown
Description: This turn-of-the-century domestic scene depicts a contented cat and dog listening to a phonograph while the woman of the house does the ironing.
Sonora The Aristocrat of Phonographs Artist: Hilma Lehmann, July 30, 1922 Media: Sketch, watercolor Location: Private collection
Description: This sketch was for a Sonora Advertisement for a Trolley Car Sign. Living room scene with the caption "The Friend you need at your fireside for cheerful Winter Evenings." Sonora's trademark was a bell with the slogan "Clear as a Bell."
Dog School Artist: Arthur Thiele, c.1925 Media: Unknown Location: Image from postcard
Gramophone Artist: Alexander Calder Media: Unknown Location: Unknown Unknown
Description: Alexander Calder's signature is written inside the sylistic spiraling grooves of a record (see closeup below)
Cat and Gramophone Artist: Unknown, circa 1990 Media: Oil painting Location: Unknown Description: This Nipper style scene features a cat (instead of the Victor "Nipper" terrier) listening to a gramophone.
15-string Phonoharp Artist: Walter Kitundu Media: wood-constructed turntable Location: Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco, CA 2007
Description: This wood-constructed turntable relies on earthquakes for power. Displayed in the "Beats Per Minute" exhibition at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art.
The Lovers Artist: Unknown, circa unknown Media: Oil Location: Unknown
Description: Romance is a common theme for the phonograph in its "mood music" role. This painting features wine, woman and song
Yeah Yeah Girls Artist: Kerry Beary, 2005 Media: Acrylic on canvas, 20"x20", original Location: Private collection 
Another Smash Artist: Kerry Beary, c.2006 Media: Acrylic on canvas, 12" x 12" Location: Private Collection
Boomerang Artist: Kerry Beary, c.2006 Media: Giclee, 12" x 18" Location: Private Collection, Limited Edition 200
Description from the artist: My inspiration comes from a myriad of things. I collect mid-century, Danish modern, 50's and 60's art, furniture, accessories, and fabrics. My husband and I purchased a modern home in sub-tropical Louisiana, built in 1953, and have been filling it with all things retro, vintage, Tiki, and fabulous! My paintings contain elements from my home, especially the lamps, patterns, and furnishings. My models are a blast from the past: photographs of my mother, who was a 50's and 60's fashion hair and makeup diva, advertisements, and of course the glamour of Hollywood and all those wonderful television shows! Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and so on. The clothes, the hair, the accessories, the decor; these old things are new again and here to stay. We have been collecting and acquiring these items for many years from many places: New York City, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Southern California, and right here in the Deep South!
Le Gramophone Artist: Lucien Philippe Moretti, 1922-2000 Media: Limited Edition Lithograph, 26" x 21" Location: Private Collection, 29 of 125 Description: The art of Lucien P. Moretti combines the keen observations of a dedicated people-watcher and the talents of a gifted draftsman. Moretti was never without his drawing pad, always capturing interesting characters and faces. His sensitivity to the complexities of the human being enabled him to capture a variety of emotions. As a result, his oils and lithographs are populated with a concentration of activity and people, some intense and lively while others are melancholy or wistfully gazing into space causing the viewer to feel and experience similar emotions. There is a new discovery at each viewing of these charming and complex works.
The quickness and certainty of his pencil lines move the viewer’s eyes from face to face, traveling from one activity and emotion to another, but allowing the eye to rest and pause at definite areas to which he guides us. One can imagine looking over his shoulder as he sketches rapidly to capture the constant movements and fleeting expressions of his subject. Very often he includes himself in the scene, usually at work with his easel or sketch pad.
Born in Sureneas, France, in 1922, Moretti received his formal art training at the Beaux Arts School at about age 20.
The Gramophone Artist: J. H. Dowd, circa 1930 Media: Black and white print from book Location: Private collection
Description: J.H.Dowd is said to capture simply and beautifully the characteristic actions and ever changing moods of children, as illustrated in this print.
Dreams of Long Ago Artist: Norman Rockwell Media: Artists Proof - Dreams of Long Ago, 1927 Location: Private collection Description: A man, apparently in his attic and standing next to a Victor record player, looks in a mirror and sees the reflection of the famous Norman Rockwell cowboy painting, "Dreams of Long Ago,." featured on the August 13, 1927 cover of the Saturday Evening Post Cover.
A Funny Story Artist: Unknown, 1911 Published by "Chatterbox" Media: Print, 7 1/4 x 5 1/2
Saluting the Grammy's Artist: Fazzini, c. 2002 Media: 3-D Serigraph, 15"x17.5", limited edition Location: Private collection
Saluting the Grammy's Artist: Fazzini, c. 2002 Media: 3-D Serigraph, 15"x17.5", limited edition 225 Location: Private collection
Birds and Gramophone Artist: Schlomo Schwartz, c.1950 - 1969 Media: Mixed media, watercolor, chalk and gouache Location: Private collection, 19 1/2" x 27" Description: Shlomo Schwartz was born in Bukovina, 1934, imigrated to Israel in 1948. He studied art with Aharon Avni, and continued studies at the Avni Institute of Art and Sculpture under the direction of Moshe Mokadi, his persomal instructors were Marcel Janco, Stematzky, Streichman and others.
Coqui Music Artist: Kaitlin Choi Vuksanic, 2006 Media: Gouache, 2.5"x3.5" Location: Private collection
Unknown Artist: F. Hardy Media: illustration on paper Location: Private collection Description: This illustration by F. Hardy is from the French magazine La Vie Parisienne. The 1929 image depicts a sultry smoking lady playing a record on the gramophone.
Antique car and Gramophone Artist: V. Jakstas Media: Paper Bookplate, 8.0 X 6.0 cm. Location: Private collection
Ex Libris Listening to the Gramophone Artist: V. Jakstas Media: Paper Bookplate, 8.0 X 6.0 cm. Location: Private collection
ex libris bookplate Artist: V. Jakstas Media: Paper Bookplate, 8.0 X 6.0 cm. Location: Private collection Description: Original ex libris bookplate created by the Lithuanian artist Vytautas Jakstas (1935-1994).
PROFESSOR EDISON EXHIBITING THE PHONOGRAPH TO VISITORS, AT HIS LABORATORY, MENLO PARK Artist: Unknown Media: Woodcut engraving Location: Private collection Description: Wood engraving from FRANK LESLIE’S BOYS AND GIRLS WEEKLY Illustrated Journal (New York), dated June 15, 1878. Featured in this issue is the article “WHAT IS THE PHONOGRAPH?” containing the wood engraving (left): “PROFESSOR EDISON EXHIBITING THE PHONOGRAPH TO VISITORS, AT HIS LABORATORY, MENLO PARK” (7” X 9 1/2”).
The article reads, “The simple piece of mechanism known as the phonograph, invented by the now celebrated American, Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park, N.J., must be regards as one of the most astonishing triumphs of the human mind over matter...In mechanism the phonograph is simplicity itself. It consists of a cylinder of brass, mounted on a horizontal axis, supported by two bearers, and revolved either by hand, clock-work or steam power...The groove between the threads of the cylinder surface are intended to govern the trace of the needle or point attached to the vibrator when passing over the revolving surface. The vibrator is a small annular frame of wood, over the orifice of which is placed a thin plate of tin type...”.
Hi-Fi Artist: Julia Gilmore, c. 2000 Media: oil on canas, 24" x 30" Location: Private collection
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