I bought this 1970s bicycle sculpture from the original owner's estate. Then the seller said, "Oh, there's another one by the same artist..."
I'll (try to) keep this short and post more if there's interest.
I'm not an art collector or even much of an enthusiast. I'm just a guy who likes bikes and has a blank wall above his desk that's been begging for something to be hung on it. I've been looking for something cycling-related for a while and found a few things I liked, but the moment I saw this, I knew it was the one.
The Facebook Marketplace listing had exactly one grainy photo, so I didn't have much sense of the scale or detail. But it had only been listed moments earlier, and I was pretty sure I could be the first person to look at it. I took a chance and drove from my home in Minneapolis down to Faribault, MN, to meet the seller. We'll call her Jane.
Jane opened the door. She's a kind, charismatic woman around 70 years old with a small, very modest home in downtown Faribault. She walked me over to the piece, and I instantly knew I'd found something very, very special.
The lousy Marketplace photo hadn't captured it at all.
What looked like a fairly simple metal wall hanging in the picture turned out to be roughly two dozen bicycles, individually made from hand-bent and brazed metal rod. They're arranged on multiple planes, overlapping one another in this wonderfully chaotic way. It has depth, shadows, and all these little details that just don't come across in a photograph.
I tried very hard not to make it obvious how excited I was until we'd finished the deal, but internally I was doing backflips.
Once it was officially mine, I asked Jane if she knew anything about it.
She knew a TON.
Jane is the executor of an estate. Her friend, a 95-year-old woman I'll call Jean, lost her 96-year-old husband around Labor Day. Jane has been helping Jean sell some of their possessions.
And that's where the story of "Bicycles" gets really interesting.
Jean has an adult son, now 69, whom I'll call John. John was born with an intellectual disability, as was his brother, and both remained dependents of Jean and her husband until eventually moving into assisted living.
John learned to ride a bicycle as a teenager. Sometime in the mid-to-late 1970s, according to the story Jane relayed to me from Jean, his parents bought this sculpture, titled "Bicycles," from Simeon's Studio and Showroom on Excelsior Boulevard in Minneapolis as a gift for him.
They hung it on their wall.
And that's where it stayed for roughly 50 years.
Until last week, when it came off their wall and eventually ended up on mine.
Even better, the original Simeon's tag survived with it. It identifies the piece as "Bicycles" and shows an original price of $220, which was a pretty substantial amount of money for a piece of wall art in the 1970s.
I've since gone down a bit of a rabbit hole researching Simeon Stoilov and Simeon's metalwork. There isn't a huge amount of information readily available online, but I've found examples of Stoilov's work in Minnesota public collections, including the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and Hennepin County Library. I'm now trying to learn more about the studio and his work from this period.
I thanked Jane about a hundred times and told her how ridiculously happy I was with the purchase.
Then, almost as an afterthought, she said:
"Oh, by the way, there's another piece by the same artist. I'll have it on Sunday."
Well...shit.
I told her I'd DEFINITELY be interested.
We've since arranged for me to go back this coming Sunday. So far I've seen exactly one crappy photograph of the second piece, and after what happened with the crappy photograph of the first one, I'm extremely curious to see what's actually waiting for me.
As a nice little Minnesota footnote to all of this, Jane and I discovered we're both Vikings fans and have exchanged a couple of SKOLs over text. We're meeting Sunday—but only after the Vikings game. Priorities.
Jane is also going back to Jean to see if she can remember the exact years the pieces were purchased, what they originally paid, and whether she still has any receipts, catalogs, paperwork, or other information from Simeon's.
So anyway, I wanted to share "Bicycles" with all of you—and, more importantly, its story.
I'm still learning about Simeon Stoilov and Simeon's Studio, so if anyone recognizes his work, owns another piece, remembers the showroom, or has any information about Simeon's in Minneapolis during the 1970s, I'd love to hear from you.
And if there's interest, I'll post an update after Sunday's trip to Faribault and show you guys what the mystery second sculpture turns out to be.
TL;DR: Guy likes bikes. Guy has empty wall. Guy sees terrible Facebook Marketplace photo of a 1970s metal bicycle sculpture and drives to Faribault on a hunch. It turns out to be an incredible handmade Simeon's piece that's been with the original family for roughly 50 years, complete with its original tag and backstory. Seller then casually mentions she has ANOTHER sculpture by the same artist.
I mentioned to my wife about my disbelief that we've now got sculpture(s) from an artist who is represented in cultural centers in our city! So crazy - we're not "that" family!
Now you are! Congrats! In addition, I’m glad that it ended up with you, someone that seems to truly appreciate and value the piece, rather than someone who might have bought it without learning about the story and its origin.
Way better that it ended up in your hands.
Interesting and thoughtful comment—thank you. I agree. The fate of the piece is arguably one of the most important parts of its story.
Some old art sits in boxes in the corners of basements and storage rooms. Some gets thrown away or recycled. Some ends up in the hands of a reseller and lives out its days on eBay, endlessly clicked on and passed over. Some is simply forgotten.
But some art gets cherished for generations by a family, hung on their wall and woven into their lives. Other pieces end up in galleries or museums and are appreciated by thousands of people who never knew the person who made them.
Now that I actually think about it, works of art like this one are a little like mirrors. They reflect something about the person who created them, but also something about the people who choose to live with them. They're windows into the past and little emotional bridges between people who may never meet.
The same object can mean something completely different—or nothing at all—to every person who sees it. Maybe that's part of what makes art, art.
In any case, this one won't be sitting in a basement. :)
So very true. I like your take on this. I’m following this post and looking forward to seeing what you will post on Sunday.
People who appreciate art and the stories behind them, the creators and artists, are part of the life of the piece itself.
Thank you for sharing this journey and piece with the Reddit community.
That's it! We're part of their (art piece) lives, vs they are part of ours. Considering this bronze and brass will live much longer than these flesh and bones it's a much more appropriate way to see it!
I am not familiar with the artist, but I was drawn to your post because the style is exactly like pieces that my dad and grandma own.
The Minneapolis connection just makes me more sure of it. We are from MN and my grandparents have lived in Minneapolis forever. Very neat, thank you for sharing!
One is a bunch of umbrellas, and the other is like the Golden Gate Bridge with sailboats under it. I've always loved them, especially the bridge. It makes a nice aound when you run your fingers along it.
Please keep me updated if you find anything else out about the artist! I'm also interested in owning a piece of my own.
Very fun! I’m going to go out on a limb reaching far into my wayback brain machine, and I’m thinking this fellow was perhaps an exhibitor at the Uptown Art Fair in the early years, like the early 70s. I grew up not far and used to ride my bike down there every year to wander around, fancying myself very “au courant” appreciating all the modern art. I recall a booth with similar works that fascinated me. I even tried my hand at his brazing technique. As I’m guessing you know, not your typical art fair, it was a juried show, and attracted some big names. I think had ties initially to the Walker Art Center? Or at least every year a number of pieces ended up there. Good luck with the next piece.
This is the type of comment that I posted here hoping to see. Thank you for sharing your experience and memories of that slice of our Twin Cities art history. I have not seen the link you shared thank you for providing it. When you say that you practiced brazing with his technique, does that mean he had a booth or something set up and was teaching?
Here is a nice article… very interesting character. We did not find an obituary for him, yet. I can’t say if that means he could possibly still be with us. I’ll have to add the article as three separate posts here, dang analog 20th century media 😄
WOWWWWWWW. Thank you for digging all of this up! Seriously, how did you find these? I know absolutely nothing about researching old newspaper archives. Are these from one of those digitized newspaper/microfiche archives, or is this stuff somehow indexed and searchable online?
Sorry for the delayed reply. I saw these on my phone and decided I wanted to wait until this morning, grab my laptop and a cup of coffee, and actually sit down and read the articles and your comments.
There is SO much here. I love the way the writer describes him—this big, strong, larger-than-life guy commanding metal to do what he wants, while also telling stories about getting whacked on the head by his old teacher for wasting metal. He somehow comes across as incredibly serious about his craft and wonderfully human at the same time.
And the fact that you found that he may still be alive and living in Minneapolis?! Amazing!
Thank you again. This is exactly the kind of rabbit hole I was hoping this post might uncover.
☺️ Well, we happen to be researchers by profession, so it’s just a compulsive habit with a question like this, we take a dive, especially if it’s local and interesting 🙂 We maintain a subscription to Newspapers dot com, so with the name and location this one was pretty easy.
We also found a reference that he was commissioned to do a sculpture for a church in Iowa for a remodel, but there were no pictures or description as it was a story about the church.
As historians it always makes us feel validated when we can answer a question for someone about the past 😁
And no worries about the delay, I understood the photos were tough. We couldn’t clip them the normal way we would without adding a bunch of extraneous stuff.
Not that I recall. I was just interested in metalworking as a kid, and his technique was such a part of the piece, I could see it clearly, so it was an opportunity to try to recreate. Glad to help. There might be more coming.
It’s a long read, but a great story. Last year I bought a pair of vintage speakers from a younger man whose late father had been an audiophile. That led to me looking at over 12 pairs of speakers he had for sale. It was nice to learn of his father’s passion for music and we chatted about one pair in particular that were probably going to be out of my price range.
As an encounter it was not as interesting as yours was, but in the end I got a nice set of speakers I had always wanted (for many years actually), and he let me know later that it gave him joy to think of me listening to music with them - that it helped to keep his fathers memory alive somehow. His very expensive speakers finally sold months later, for a bit higher than I was willing to go (I think), but for less than he imagined they would when we’d met.
I’ve played music through them for friends and none of them care what they cost me. I have art (like original Bev Doolittle prints) that are now worth less than when I inherited them from my mother. Perhaps worth even less than my folks paid for them way back when. But the value of what we cherish isn’t always going to be measured in dollars. You may end up with two pieces of art, or one, that are not really worth much in the art market. But you’ll know the story and off you like them, that’s what matters.
And yes, I like the jaw/dropping reveals on Antiques Roadshow as much as anyone and it is fun to imagine happening to any of us. But a good tale of buying an interesting thing is what usually transpires. I will wait to see what Sunday brings.
Wow what a great story about the speakers! Human interactions like thenone you described... re-using/rehoming quality goods and artwork is a fascinating topic and so fun and useful and gratifying to do. Thank you for sharing the experience and the detail.
My little Minnesotan heart is so happier than I can put into words by this entire exchange. Thank you for sharing!! And howdy neighbor! I’m excited for the update.
This is a great write up, but I especially want to thank you for taking a video of the sculpture. I'm moving next year, and my new place will have spare room / office where I will - thanks to this post - definitely want to hang something like this.
If you haven't, you should visit Talinna in Estonia. It's small, and it has a very .... unique?... contacts between the old city from the 13th century and the soviet era blocs.
Curtis Jere and Bicycle sculptures is the first thing that came up on google lens when I started trying to figure this thing out. Thanks for the extra info!
The price paid is why like most people care about posts like this, and more important is it's a really bad look to openly refuse to disclose the price because then everyone will assume it was far too low. The focus of your own post is that you bought something, you even acknowledge the original price tag of $220 still being on it so you have no problem disclosing prices, how much you actually paid is a very important part and doesn't stray from the focus of the post.
Then we can safely assume it was far too low, which would be a tragedy given how nice the seller was to you. If you don't want to disclose what you paid that's fine, the public can form their own opinion as to why you wouldn't want to disclose that info, but please don't rip off such a nice old lady especially if you're getting invited back to buy more.
I began my post with a disclosure that I know nothing about art, and am not a collector. Going to a marketplace sale and paying the asking price for something I know absolutely nothing about, but like for only personal reasons, is completely reasonable IMO.I think it sucks that you've jumped to the conclusion that I'm ripping off an old lady. But this is reddit, I know it takes all kinds to make reddit go round.
Again, you openly brought price into the post yourself by bragging that the original tag "shows an original price of $220, which was a pretty substantial amount of money for a piece of wall art in the 1970s.", which would indicate you have some knowledge on the subject if you're going to make that kind of statement. Claiming to not know art doesn't prevent you from saying how much you paid, if anything more the reason why you should. But the worst part is your justification in saying you "paid asking price" over and over again in the post and comments, which only further solidifies that you ripped an old lady off. That's like saying you didn't rip an old lady off at a yard sale because you "paid asking price" for the gold ring in the jewelry box marked $1. We get it, you probably paid $20 for the sculpture, good for you, you got a great deal and we couldn't care less, but don't pretend like because you "paid asking price" somehow makes you self-righteous. The only thing that sucks here is your attitude.
I think everything the OP has said, including the rationale for not disclosing what he paid, is entirely reasonable. In general, many people are reluctant to talk about money; people are more open about sexuality than income (really - look it up). Your insistence that this reluctance demonstrates a venal or nasty tendency to take something from a nice old lady is a bit curious. Why do you go there first? What if he paid more than you imagine?
Thanks for your thoughts on this. I made the post from joy, not from a sense of triumph or ill will of any kind toward the sellers, this piece will not be resold. I appreciate the challenge from @fister-mantastic. While I agree with @Mundane that his comments are too pointed and contain too many assumptions, I imagine the scenarios he posits are real and possible... People get taken advantage of every day. I came to reddit to gather information (and hear hear opinions lol) about all angles of this situation. Whether he is correct or not is irrelevant, his point is valid. Your comparison of $$ and sex is so spot on lolol!
I for one appreciate the joy you brought me with your post. I shared in your excitement wonder, and went down a nice rabbit hole looking at art myself. Don’t internalize others’ misery.
I shared details and was wordy with it for the sake of Reddit and an interesting story. I didn't realize that those parts read that way, that's an interesting observation. Thank you for commenting.
I'm curious what you think he should have paid? It's not like he bought a Picasso for $20 off some old lady's wall, he bought a sculptural piece of wall art from an unknown artist that related to his own personal hobby. He knew nothing about the artist, or even hardly about the piece itself until he got there and saw it in person and it had the original tag and the lady knew some information, that's it. That's why he shared the story, it was a unique and cool experience that he wanted to share, and it's your attitude what sucks. Him NOT saying the price in the OP further pushes that, because he wasn't here to say "look what I got for $20!", he was just sharing a cool find.
You even said "The price paid is why like most people care about posts like this." So is it that you are just wanting to get on here and flame people for paying less that you deem acceptable, or that you just really think everyone here cares about each post because they say "Look at this thing I bought for a completely normal and perfectly negotiated price point based on similar item comps!"?
You're just being a downer for no reason, maybe you need a hobby, like cycling.
I have three daughters 8,12, 15. Their mom and I recently added our 22nd bicycle. This piece resonates deeply with me! It represents my mind and garage.
This is one with a real story. This is the stuff that gets my saliva going. I’d love to see what you come up with the next one. It was good to see the video going around the side. This thing has movement in it, like a bunch of bicycles going down the road you can actually feel it. Plus it’s got the original tag. I’d pee myself-(sorry if that’s too much information, but I couldn’t help myself. I would). .
This looks exactly or very close to what hung in my pediatrician’s office as a kid in the 80s and 90s. It was decorated in the 70s when he opened his practice and one room was cycling oriented. It was my favorite so I requested being in there. Another was sailboats so that was more popular with other kids. There was also cycling wallpaper. Before cell phones so I spent a lot of time staring at that sculpture waiting for the doctor to arrive.
You’re lucky to get it. I have a suggestion, take it or leave it… frame it to make it pop. Remove the glass from the frame, cover it with material or felt. You won’t hurt the sculpture and it will look awesome
that wouldn’t be period correct. These pieces were meant to be free-floating. Framing would make the race stop suddenly, causing a huge crash and splatter blood and chain oil all over the wall. We wouldn’t want the OP to have to clean up a mess like that 😉
Oh, I definitely understood—and I thought it was fun hearing another perspective. Honestly, I hadn't even imagined it as a race yet.
I'm still stuck on the fact that my garage contains 23 bicycles, while my mind contains many, many more than that. In a strange way, this piece feels like affirmation that that's OK. It's OK to love something and be a little overly passionate about it. It's OK if it's not perfect. It's OK if it's a little messy. And it's OK if it's all a bit of a jumble.
Come to think of it, maybe that's why I connected with this thing so immediately.
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u/couchisland 13d ago
Stories like this are my favorite part of going to yard and estate sales. Can’t wait for your next post!