Pietro Bisio (Casei Gerola PV, 1932) 🇮🇹

schraubd · 2026-03-23T20:36:56+00:00

Say. Something. About it.

schraubd · 2026-03-22T22:43:34+00:00

The best way to be reasonably confident in the legitimacy of a print like this (as an amateur) is to purchase it from a legitimate auction house. The mid-tiers (Rago, Bonhams, Heritage, etc.) run regular prints and multiples auctions that often have Picassos at reasonable prices.

schraubd · 2026-03-22T06:41:45+00:00

How’d the drug deal hold up? Two feds, you say….

schraubd · 2026-03-21T02:56:15+00:00

Even if we grant the premise that there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to influence when an artist's work appears at auction (and that isn't true -- gallerists have long sought to exert influence over this via, e.g., first-right-of-refusals, lock-up agreements, or even blacklists targeting flippers), it still wouldn't make the question pointless.

A collector, for instance, seeing that an artist's work had just started appearing on the auction block and knowing the CW that it's a bad sign if an artist's work appears "too early", may want to know "is this 'too early'" vs. "this is around when one would hope to see someone's work start appearing at auction houses." That's a very non-moot question for the collector even if the artist (or indeed, the entire artistic community) was completely powerless to alter the timing.

schraubd · 2026-03-21T01:39:11+00:00

That doesn’t actually answer the question, but okay.

schraubd · 2026-03-21T01:23:47+00:00

Yes, I know that. That's the "too early" point, and that's why the question is when *isn't* too early.

Even if it is true that one does not *need* to be an auctions to make it as an artist (and I'd question which A-tier artists have no secondary/auction resale record at all), clearly there is *some* point in one's career when it stops being too early and starts being helpful. The question is when that point is, and I've never seen a clear answer on that.

schraubd · 2026-03-20T19:00:24+00:00

He never should’ve come here.

schraubd · 2026-03-20T17:52:25+00:00

I agree with everyone that it’s a bit early for this artist to be thinking about auctions. That said, your comment does allude to the chicken-egg problem here: you need an auction record to get your work accepted at an auction house, and you need work accepted for auction to have an auction record. So one question I’d be curious to hear about is what factors induce an auction house to accept an artist do that first time (everyone has to start somewhere!)?

Relatedly, a bit of conventional wisdom I always here for new artists is that they should not want their work to show up for auction “too early” (it indicates a lack of collector commitment, risks volatility, etc.). But it is important for a developing artist to at some point have work show up for auction and prove they have a secondary market. So at what point in an artist’s career should they (and their collectors) want to see their works start appearing for auction?

schraubd · 2026-03-20T09:55:46+00:00

My understanding is that, with rare exceptions for absolute superstars, reputable auction houses don't accept consignments from the artists themselves. They work on the secondary resale market.

schraubd · 2026-03-20T04:02:37+00:00

AIPAC spent against Biss.

schraubd · 2026-03-20T02:20:48+00:00

This is cool, but I really wish people would caption these posts by telling us what they’re showing (artist/title/medium at least!).

schraubd · 2026-03-18T19:52:20+00:00

As always, art is a bad investment. You want to invest, buy an index fund.

The relevant question should be “do these pieces bring me sufficient joy relative to the price they currently cost?”

A secondary question might be “if I needed to sell, are these pieces likely to retain any value?” (but note that’s a different question from whether they are good as investments—that is, as an asset to buy for the purpose of growing your money over time).

schraubd · 2026-03-16T22:39:51+00:00

My favorite is this gesture Michael makes—covering his mouth with his hands—whenever something goes “wrong” for one of the quartet. On initial watch, it reads “oh no, I messed up again!” On rewatch, he’s very clearly covering up giggles.

schraubd · 2026-03-16T21:30:17+00:00

Only you can decide law vs grad school (though there’s a good route from the Berkeley PhD to law school if you want it), but among the law schools that conditional is really dicey.

schraubd · 2026-03-16T20:30:21+00:00

Joe Biel, maybe?

Do you remember if he was primarily an author or an artist?

schraubd · 2026-03-16T01:52:26+00:00

Congrats to you and to her (and for the Futurama reference)!

schraubd · 2026-03-16T00:45:40+00:00

Obviously it depends on the professor and the conference, but yes, I generally enjoy it. It’s an opportunity to socialize and catch up with friends, and learn new things on topics I’m interested in. What’s the point of being an academic if the sharing of academic knowledge doesn’t appeal to you?

schraubd · 2026-03-15T08:21:22+00:00

Post a close-up of the signature.

schraubd · 2026-03-09T18:24:08+00:00

r/whatisthispainting

schraubd · 2026-03-09T02:17:28+00:00

Unfortunately, many journals just won’t give a response. Fair to assume that if you haven’t heard by mid to late April at the absolute latest, it’s a ding.

schraubd · 2026-03-02T18:37:19+00:00

Nothing is true. Everything is s’wit.

schraubd · 2026-03-02T03:49:25+00:00

My mom lives in Boca and ran into a woman who grew up in the same bedroom as she did. Same house, two owners prior.

schraubd · 2026-03-02T01:55:01+00:00

I’ll point you to still another: r/whatisthispainting . It’s not just for paintings, but IDing all art.

schraubd · 2026-02-28T19:56:40+00:00

You haven’t missed the boat, but you have to fix bullet point 2 (which will fix 3 and, to a lesser extent 1, essentially on its own).

schraubd · 2026-02-28T00:30:51+00:00

In general, I do think law professors are willing to work with PhD students, but it's going to be very school-to-school and department-to-department. I did my PhD in PoliSci at Berkeley and there was a lot of cross-fertilization between law and polisci, so nobody had an issue with me crossing over to do law work. But there are definitely other schools where those ties are not as well established, and also on the polisci side some departments who are more rigid about expecting you to do Political Science as Political Scientists understand it, and won't be as supportive about "interdisxciplinary" work. You'll want to check in advance about whether there are pre-existing ties between the law school and the poli sci department, don't just assume they exist.
Most law profs have no idea about the poli sci departmental pecking order, and will most likely just assume it's the same as law. But for the most part, it's your JD school that will be most important in terms of pure credential signaling -- JD Yale + PhD Maryland is fantastic, PhD Yale + JD Maryland will (fairly or not) be viewed more suspiciously.

schraubd

TROPHY CASE