Sock Monkey

Pay with

About Sock Monkey

Review DAILY NEWS : Arts Face book for sock monkeys BY SHERRYL CONNELLY Sunday, April 20th 2008 Ron Warren has been the director of the Mary Boone Gallery for 24 years and there's no question that contemporary art is his thing. But then he started in with the sock monkeys. He was given his first in 1985. To his own surprise, Warren found himself explaining the heritage of the homespun craft to the friend who had gifted him. Warren made the point that no two sock monkeys are alike. "I decided I was going to find another to demonstrate that each has a different personality," he recalls. Well, he has since made the point 2,025 times over. ("I have yet to admit what I'm up to," he confesses.) Some of the monkeys are in storage and others arranged on the sideboard in his Chelsea townhouse. Of course, not all them made it into what photographer Arne Svenson refers to as the "little sock monkey bible." But those appearing in "Sock Monkeys" (teNeues, $19.95) got the royal treatment. Svenson went to the Metropolitan Museum to study portraiture and photographed each sock monkey as one would an ancestral portrait. "I used an enormous camera and focused on the eyes," he said. "Of course, in this case the eyes are buttons." But everyone knows buttons are the windows into a doll's soul. -- http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2008/04/20/2008-04-20_face_book_for_sock_monkeys.html Product Description A PHOTOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD'S MOST LOVABLE STUFFED ANIMALS - THE SOCK MONKEYS. THIS CAST OF CHARACTERS IS SURE TO PUT A SMILE ON ANYONE'S FACE. From the Publisher * An American cultural ritual which was started by mothers in the early 1900s--the method and materials of sock monkey production remain for the most part unchanged! * A comprehensive chronicle of this engaging folk art * An idea book--inspiration for fun arts and crafts projects * A fun gift sure to raise a whimsical smile About the Author ARNE SVENSON is a New York-based photographer whose work has been shown extensively in the United States and Europe. He is the author of Prisoners, Mrs. Ballard's Parrots, Arne Svenson: Portraits and co-authored, with Ron Warren, Sock Monkeys (200 out of 1,863). RON WARREN vows he will one day live like Thoreau. Until then, he finds gratification in collecting contemporary art, mid-century design, Venini glass, sock monkeys, restaurant china, highway reflectors, orchid plants, river rocks, etc. He is a gallery director in New York City.