Two Sycamores is an independent curatorial project devoted to works of art, scientific instruments, and material objects created to understand the world, not merely to decorate it.
The archive brings together nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings, textile-testing instruments, metrological devices, and decorative works unified by precision, restraint, and sustained attention to material truth.
Some objects were made to measure.
Others to interpret.
All resist spectacle.
ARCHIVE
The collection is organized around three related bodies of work:
Instruments & Metrology
Textile-testing devices, optical instruments, balances, counters, and apparatus designed to quantify strength, purity, time, light, and material integrity.
Decorative & Fine Art
Paintings, works on paper, and decorative objects selected for narrative restraint, psychological density, and ethical seriousness.
Crossovers
Objects that sit between function and expression, where measurement becomes metaphor and ornament becomes evidence.
Each object is documented individually.
Clarity is favored over completion.
METHOD
Two Sycamores is assembled by method rather than period, market, or theme.
Objects are selected for integrity of purpose, evidence of use, and resistance to easy categorization.
Research and interpretation evolve over time.
Revisions are expected.
ESSAYS & RESEARCH
Long-form writing accompanies the archive, addressing metrology, material truth, artistic restraint, and the ethics of observation.
Essays are published as complete works, independent of availability or market status.
WORKS & AVAILABILITY
Some objects remain in private hands.
Some are placed in institutional or long-term collections.
Some may be available by inquiry.
Availability is noted discreetly on individual object pages.
Prices are not published.
THE PROJECT
Two Sycamores is a living archive maintained by two collectors working in parallel disciplines — fine and decorative art, and scientific and textile instruments — committed to slow attention and careful stewardship.
INQUIRIES
Institutional, scholarly, and serious collector inquiries are welcome.
