The Clarion (Fall 1986)

The Museum of American Folk Art New York City

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KELTER-MALCE A •N•T•I•Q•U•E•S 361 Bleecker Street / New York City 10014 212-989-6760 IN•GREENWICH•VILLAGE

Crib quilt, 44 x 34, found in Carroll County, Maryland.

Broderie perse; appliqued and pieced.

STEVE MILLER • AMERICAN FOLK ART •

"Whirligig of a Hessian Soldier in superb original condition.

3rd quarter ofthe 19th Century"

17 East 96th Street, New York, New York 10128.(212)348-5219

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

Celebrating Great American Textiles This fine pictorial needlework sampler, signed Mary Russell, dated 1791, and from Bristol, Rhode Island, or Marblehead, Massachusetts, will be included in Sotheby's auction ofImportant Americana on October 25,1986.

Historic American samplers, quilts and other textiles, along with other fine examples of folk art, are included in our four auctions of Americana each year. This past February, a pictorial sampler sold for $101,750—the auction record.

For information about buying or selling at Sotheby's, please call Nancy Druckman at(212)606-7225. Sotheby's, 1334 York Avenue at 72nd Street, New York, NY.10021.

SOTHEBY'S FOUNDED 1711

CAVIN-MORRIS INC. 100 Hudson Street New York, NY 10013 (212)226-3768

Janet Fleisher GALLERY 211 South 17th Street PHILADELPHIA 1 9 1 0 3 215 • 545 • 7562

Howard Finster; In my Father's House are many mansions #1486; mixed media; 78" x 24"; 1979

JANET FLEISHER GALLERY AND CAVIN-MORRIS INC. PRESENT:

HOWARD FINSTER THE EARLY WORK,1975-1980 AND

VISIONARY ARCHITECTURE Drawings, paintings and sculpture: Hub Miller, Frank Ewing Jr., Bessie Harvey, Frank Jones, Alex Maldonado, Louis Monza, Sister Gertrude Morgan, John Podhorsky, Martin Ramirez, Simon Sparrow, Valton Tyler

AT CAVIN-MORRIS INC., 100 HUDSON STREET, NY SEPTEMBER 10 TO OCTOBER 11, 1986

c_ANIERICAN cANTIQUESCA,QUILTS tography: Torn lee

835 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10021(BETWEEN 69TH AND 70TH STREETS)TELEPHONE(212)988-2906

Woven Rug Shown:"Charles Talcott"(#28-C)

WOODARD WEAVE'Introduces THE TALCOTT COLLECTION for

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Folk Art CenterTM Catalogue $5.00

The Talcott Family.

Painted by Deborah Goldsmith, 1832.

THE CLARION -

UM A

AMERICA'S FOLK ARr MAGAZINE of American Folk Art Museum The New York City FALL 1986 Vol. II, No. 4

Fall 1986

Volume 11, No.4

FEATURES

Julian Wolff

DAGUERREOTYPES AS FOLK ART

18

Lori Segal Zabar

A COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO FISH DECOYS

25

Randall Seth Morris

GOOD VS EVIL IN THE WORLD OF HENRY DARGER

30

Mary Ann Demos

THE SEARCH FOR YOUNG AMERICA

36

Judith Reiter Weissman

CRAZY PATCHWORK A Victorian Mania

42

DEPARTMENTS

DIRECTOR'S LETTER

11

BOOK REVIEWS

52

MUSEUM NEWS

55

MAJOR DONORS

58

NEW MEMBERSHIP

60

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

72

Cover: From the exhibition "Young America;' Situation of America 1848 (detail); Overmantle; Artist unknown; 1848; Oil on wood; 34 x 57"; Private collection.

212/481-3080. Annual subscription rate for MAFA members The Clarion is published three times a year by the Museum of American Folk Art,444 Park Avenue South,NY,NY 10016; Museum of American Folk Art,444 Park Avenue South, the by 1986 copyright and Published $4.50. copy Single members. all to mailed are Copies dues. membership is included in any manner without written consent. Opinions expressed by in reproduced be not may and copyright by protected fully are Clarion The of contents and cover The NY, NY 10016. be accompanied by return postage. The Clarion assumes no contributors are not necessarily those of the Museum of American Folk Art. Unsolicited manuscripts or photographs should and allow five weeks for change. Advertising: The Clarion accepts addresses new and old both send Please Address: of Change materials. such of damage or loss the for responsibility advertising department screens photographs and texts submitted by advertisements only from advertisers whose reputation is recognized in the trade, but despite the care with which the its pages or offered for sale by its advertisers, nor can it accept in advertised services or quality of objects of authenticity unquestionable the guarantee cannot its advertisers, it The Museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation pages. its in advertised services or objects of sale or purchase the from arise may that misunderstandings responsibility for art. For this reason, the Museum will not knowingly accept of works of sale the in involved be to appear to or in involved be to principles its of violation a is it feels and of folk art of the placing of the advertisement. advertisements for The Clarion which illustrate or describe objects that have been exhibited at the Museum within one year

5

NONESUCH GALLERY

THE CLARION

GLORIA LIST 1211 MONTANA AVENUE SANTA MONICA,CA.90403 213-393-1245

Didi Barrett, Editor Faye Eng, Anthony Yee, Art Directors Marilyn Brechner, Advertising Manager Craftsmen Litho, Printers Nassau Typographers, Typesetters

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART

Administration Dr. Robert Bishop, Director Gerard C. Werticin, Assistant Director Cheryl Hoenemeyer, Accountant Lillian Grossman,Assistant to the Director Jeanne Bornstein, Administrative Assistant Barry Gallo, Reception Richard Griffin, Clerk Jerry Torrens, Assistant Clerk

Collections & Exhibitions Cowboy Chaps: R.T FRAZIER;Pueblo,Colo.

Elizabeth Warren, Curator Michael McManus,Director ofExhibitions Ann -Marie Reilly, Acting Registrar Joyce Hill, Consulting Research Curator Mary Black, Consulting Curator

Departments Didi Barrett, Director ofPublications Carolyn Cohen,Director ofSpecial Events Marie S. DiManno,Director ofMuseum Shops Nancy Dorer, Consulting Curator ofEducation Susan Flamm,Public Relations Director Edith Wise, Librarian Johleen Nester,Development Coordinator Charlotte Sonnenblick, Membership Coordinator Programs Barbara W. Kaufman,Director, Folk Art Institute Dr. Marilynn Karp, Director, New York University Master's and Ph.D. Program in Folk Art Studies Dr. Judith Reiter Weissman, New York University Program Coordinator Cecilia K. Toth, Jane Walentas, Co-Chairs Friends Committee Kennetha Stewart, Exhibitions Previews Coordinator Susan Moore,Junior League Liaison

Museum Shop Staff

Mexican Colonial: 19th C. Painting

•AMERICAN INDIAN ARTIFACTS •COWBOY RELICS •MEXICAN COLONIAL •ECCENTRIC COLLECTIBLES •ALL WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Caroline Hohenrath, Sally O'Day, Rita Pollitt, Managers Joseph Minus, Assistant Judi Barrett, Michelle Beshaw, Sheila Carlisle, Elizabeth Cassidy, Sharon Cortell, Jean Dingman, Lucy Fagot, Dorothy Garguilo, Elli Gordon, Rosalind Hochberg, Eleanor Katz, Annette Levande, Katie McAuliffe, Nancy Mayer, Pat Pancer, Marie Poluso, Eleanor Seymour, Myra Shaskan, Caroline Smith, Mary Walmsley, Florence Walsh, Monica Wellington, Doris Wolfson, Gina Westpy.

PHYLLIS HADERS 158 Water Street, Stonington, Connecticut 06378 (203)535-4403'(203)535-2585

By Appointment

Triangles Quilt Circa 1880 Cotton, pieced, 78" x 78"

7

ROGE

ICCO

FRAN

RESCA

AMEU

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Edward P. Byrne (1877-1974), Missouri, 8" x 14", housepaint on cardboard

We are pleased to present the work of Edward Patrick Byrne, American Primitive landscape painter and continue to represent the work of William L. Hawkins.

We specialize in 18th, 19th, and 20th Century American Primitive Art and are interested in acquiring American Primitive Art of quality. Please request our art video on your letterhead.

By appointment 212•645.2755/212.673.1078.

Design by Works

William L. Hawkins (born 1895) "Join Us, Columbus" 48" x 72" enamel on masonite

JOHN L. HARDING

PORTRAIT OF AMOS COMPTON oil on canvas 44 x 34 inches date: 1856 signed/dated: lower right

R.H.LOVE GALLERIES,INC. 100 EAST OHIO,CHICAGO,IL 60611 312/664-9620

Rare gilded copper locomotive and tender weathervane from the Bangor and Arustic (Maine) railroad, C.B. WHITE, incised onto the underside may indicate the maker, Circa 1893.

Length-60 inches. Provenance available to purchaser.

DAVID A. SCHORSCH Jiwo/waJeI 1037 North Street

Greenwich, Conn. 06830 203-869-8797

By Appointment Only

Polychromed maple figure of Uncle Sam,New York State,Circa 1876. All original, including painted surface and clothing.

Height-24% inches.

We specialize in assisting decorators ge private collectors acquire

AMERICAN FOLK ART of this quality Portrait of Tom, signed By Ella Wood, Guilford, New Hampshire, Circa 1865. Oil on canvas, 181 / 2 x 15 inches.

Painted and decorated pine single drawer blanket chest, New England, Probably Rhode Island, Circa 1830. 33 x 42 x 17 inches.

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

As I address these remarks to you, the Museum is entering a period of substantial change and challenge. In my June letter to members, I wrote of the closing of our interim gallery and the opening of our new administrative offices and library at 444 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. All this moving, of course, is to allow for the preparation of the building site at 45-55 West 53rd Street, the location of our new Museum.

For many years, the growth of the Museum's permanent collection and its expanded services to the public have demanded new, professionally-designed facilities. Although the Museum has responded exceptionally well to the limitations placed on it by inadequate space, through an active program of traveling and satellite exhibitions, it has not been possible to reach all its goals.

As this issue of The Clarion goes to press, we are still completing the details of the plans for the building program. I hope to be able to share these with you very shortly.

The Museum is addressing the challenge of operating temporarily without its own exhibition facility in a variety of ways. During this summer, we have presented "Muffled Voices: Folk Artists in Contemporary America;' at the PaineWebber Art Gallery through the courtesy of the PaineWebber Group, Inc. and the kind interest of its chairman, Donald B. Marron. By the time this issue of The Clarion reaches you, we will be about to open "Young America: A Folk Art History:' an exhibition conceived by Trustee Emeritus Jean Lipman, the well-known authority in American folk art."Young America" will be presented from September 30 to November 15 at the IBM Gallery of Science and Art with the generous support of the IBM Corporation. The exhibition, which presents folk artists' views of the history of the United States from its inception to the end of the First World War, was organized by Elizabeth

u2paci magma,' :optic'

DR. ROBERT BISHOP

The Museum ofAmerican Folk Art installation at the subway station at 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue.

Warren, the Museum's Curator, with the collaboration of Mary Ann Demos, Associate Curator. I had the pleasure of working with Jean Lipman and Elizabeth Warren on the 208-page book that accompanies the exhibition. Published

by Hudson Hills Press in association with the Museum, Young America is available from the Museum Shop.

Although the Museum will be relocated during the construction of its new facilities, we will continue to have an important presence on 53rd Street, the location of its building site. As a member of the Board of Directors of The 53rd Street Association, I participated in planning for the new "Midtown Cultural District" together with my colleagues in the other museums and cultural institutions located on or adjacent to 53rd Street. A feature ofthe new District is a restored and refurbished subway station at Fifth Avenue. Featured at this station, which has been designed by Pentagram, are illustrated wall panels providing public information about each of the participating institutions. I am gratified that the

Museum's display is one of the most handsome and that it will bring our message to the attention of the thousands who use the station each day.

The Museum's traveling exhibition program is especially active at this time. It is my hope that many members will be able to see the following exhibitions this fall as part of their national tours. I look forward to meeting many of you personally at the respective host institutions: LIBERTIES WITH LIBERTY Terra Museum of American Art Chicago August 12-October 26 SOUTHERN FOLK ART J.B. Speed Art Museum Louisville, Kentucky September 28-November 30 THE JEWISH HERITAGE IN AMERICAN FOLK ART The Albuquerque Museum Albuquerque, New Mexico July 27-October 19

The Museum is also represented in scores of locations throughout the II

!PM

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR DR. ROBERT BISHOP

country and overseas by its "Liberties with Liberty" poster exhibition. Check listings in your local area or call the Museum office for information.

As most of you know the Folk Art Institute has also moved to 444 Park Avenue South. We are pleased that the Folk Art Institute has been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Although you have previously received notice of the courses with specific information as to schedules and course prerequisites, I want to invite you to call the Institute office at 212/481-3080 to register for individual lectures.

The Clarion continues to garner awards and professional recognition.

Writing in the Spring, 1986 issue of Art Documentation, Neville Thompson of the Winterthur Museum Library lauded The Clarion's "usefulness as a handsome, well-produced magazine that will interest casual viewers as well as the committed:' The Museum recently commissioned a comprehensive index of The Clarion, which will enhance its value to researchers. Thanks to the work of Joseph Lo Schiavo, Head of Reference at Fordham University, the index is now complete and plans are being formulated for its publication and distribution. We are gratified that beginning this year The Clarion has been selected for indexing in Art Index, published by H.W. Wilson Co. This

means the wealth of information in The Clarion will be available to a much wider audience.

Several of the outstanding objects in the Museum's "Liberties with Liberty" exhibition have been featured on television in a widely-seen public service announcement. Presented by Irving Trust, the message is a personal expression of liberty as the hallmark of the American experience.

Allow me to add my personal gratitude to each and every member for providing the Museum with the support that has allowed it to reach this important juncture in its history. I invite your continued commitment and participation as we build a permanent home.

JOSEPH WHITING STOCK (1815-1855) PORTRAIT OF AMY PHILPOT Oil on canvas 44 x 34 inches

88 MAIN STREET

MIDDLEBURY, VT 05753

802-388-3350 gine ,..524weicarn Atfintfinr andSintielecel

12

A silk-on-silk needlework picture, Bringhurst family, Philadelphia, 1750-1760.

Sold on May 31, 1986 for $20,900.

American Folk Art at Christie's Christie's experts discovered this rare needlework picture in the collection of a descendant of the original maker.

Perhaps it's time to invite Christie's specialists to discover the value of your heirlooms.

Inquiries concerning upcoming auctions or future consignments may be directed to the American Decorative Arts department at Christie's, 502 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022 Tel: 212/546-1181.

CHRISTIE'S

13

ELLIOTT & GRACE SNYDER Box 598 Rte. 41, Undermountain Road South Egremont, Massachusetts 01258 413-528-3581

293 / 4" x 271 / 2"

Pair of applique table covers. Wool on linen; New England, first half 19th Century. Pictured in Woodard & Greenstein, Crib Quilts and Other Small Wonders, pls. 129 & 130.

Bessie Harvey "Untitled" ht: 13" treeroot, paint, hair and beads 1985

Outsider Art Cavin-Morris Inc. 100 Hudson Street, Mew York 10015 212.226.5768 26" x 201 / 2" 2

t Si. MEMBER

14

1-7

PRIOR MEMORIAL

7A171 ),IN P\

11....

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SHEILA & EDWIN RIDEOUT

12 Summer St (r2e0e7t;-W 88 is2 e-a.

6s4 s2 e( ti Maine 04578

›LLJ

CD LLJ Cr)

P.O. Box 362, Basking Ridge, New Jersey 07920

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Bath, Maine. Charming watercolor on silk in remembrance of Capt. Matthew Prior and his son, Barker, who sailed from Bath in 1815 "and have never been heard of since." Capt.

Prior, a ship builder, was the father of William Matthew Prior.

CN

sO sO

15

Ruth

Bigel

743 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10021 Telephone 212/734-3262

Antiques

Specializing in Canton Porcelain, Good Country Furniture, Weathervanes and Quilts.

Early 19th century two-part pine cupboard filled with part oflarge Canton collection

OUTSIDER

GALLERY AT

ROSA

ESMAN

Vivian Girls Capture Glandelinian General

watercolor on paper, 19 x 47 inches

September — Albert Louden October — European Outsiders

November — Justin McCarthy December — American Outsiders

In the Main Gallery: January— Henry Darger

Rosa Esman Gallery

70 Greene St New York 10012

212 219-3044

Painted Wood Height 25 inches 19th c.

AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GALLERY Aarne Anton (212) 239-1345 Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. or )y appt.

242 West 30th St., N.Y., N.Y. 10001

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BY JULIAN WOLFF

In 1837, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, after many years of experimentation, fixed the image of the camera obscura on a polished silvered plate and immodestly named the resultant image "daguerreotype:' He revealed his process to the public in Paris in August of 1839. By mid-September the news reached America, where this first practical method of photography was welcomed with high excitement and enthusiasm. For the next twenty years, the daguerreotype was the most popular form of recording the human image.

During those two decades, the daguerreotypist and the itinerant painter existed side by side, providing essentially the same service for the American public. They both addressed the desire of the emerging middle class in America for likenesses ofthemselves and their loved ones. People 18

wanted affordable keepsakes and remembrances — affirmations of their existence to be preserved forever.

The interplay between folk painting and daguerreotyping was extensive.

The daguerreotypist, for example, was often called upon to copy a folk painting. Perhaps someone wanted a remembrance of a deceased relative as he traveled West. In this way the daguerreotype not only served the same function as folk painting, but also became a record of folk painting.

Conversely painters were asked to paint a likeness from a daguerreotype.

On one of his advertising placards, the painter Thomas Sully listed his prices for paintings from daguerreotypes which were, interestingly, somewhat higher priced than life sittings. Copying portraits from daguerreotypes was a widespread practice when the subject

From the collection of the author; Photos: Carleton Palms

The same unknown woman is the subject oftwo sixth-plate daguerreotypes. Left, a daguerreotype of her painted portrait, taken circa /845. Right, a daguerreotype takenfrom life by "Weston ofNew York City:' circa 1842.

was not available for a sitting. Records show paintings taken from daguerreotypes long after the subject's death.

In addition, there are many daguerreotypes showing a person posed with a painting, almost as if the painting were a part of the household. While daguerreotypes of people holding small paintings or miniatures are relatively commonplace, paintings including daguerreotypes are rare. However, a William Matthew Prior painting hanging in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., shows a child holding a daguerreotype. The two media not only overlapped, they almost merged.

While not all early daguerreotypes can automatically be described as folk art, there is a significant body of these early photographic images which does reflect a definite folk aesthetic. These pieces have much the same look and

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A painting ofa child, left, by William Matthew Prior, and a sixth plate daguerreotype ofthat same portrait taken circa 1846. The daguerreotype wasfound in 1972 in Maine; the original painting was purchased ten years later in New York City.

feel as folk portraits. There is a tendency towards flatness and lack of contrast. Subjects — usually wearing expressionless stares — are posed in the same rigid ways as those in early folk paintings. By the same token, these daguerreotypes, like folk portraits, were created as records, not as art. And they served the middle classes, not the social elite. Perhaps it is time to identify these miniature photographic gems — records offamilies and offamily portraits — as a folk idiom of their own.

Daguerre's invention was not the first attempt to "keep a record" by mechanical means. The daguerreotype was a culmination of a centuries-old effort. From the sixteenth century on, the camera obscura had been used as a means of simplifying sketching. In the early eighteenth century, the physionotrace was invented to help the

silhouette artist and later the camera lucida became the portable device that the landscape artist took with him to the field with his sketchpad. Before the image of the camera obscura was fixed, many contraptions were invented to help the artist with his work. These included the graphic telescope, the diagraph, the agatograph, the hyalograph, the engraph, the periscopic camera, the solar magascope and others. The art world almost demanded that the image of the camera obscura be fixed, so that it could be studied and used, at leisure, in the artist's studio.

But not every artist was happy at the advent of the daguerreotype. "From this day painting is dead' reacted the French painter, Paul Delaroche when he saw a daguerreotype for the first time.

An exact reproduction of nature could be secured, in seconds, at reasonable

cost. So perfect was the image that details not visible to the naked eye were clear under a magnifying lens. Even the great English painter J.M.W. Turner exclaimed,"This is the end of art. I am glad I have had my day!'

However, only a minority of artists feared the daguerreotype. Most were delighted. The silver plates became accurate studies for painting. No longer did the artist have to rely on memory or perfect vision or hurried sketches. Said Delacroix, "a daguerreotype is more than a tracing, it is a mirror of the object:' Samuel Morse learned the daguerreotype process initially to "accumulate studio models for my canvas!' In a lecture to the National Academy of Design in 1840, Morse said, "The public would become acquainted through photography with correctness of perspective and proportion and thus 19

How the twoforms overlapped: Left, daguerreotype, sixth-plate, circa 1842, ofa woman holding a painting thought to be by William Matthew Prior. Right, Child with Book and Straw Hat by William Matthew Prior, a painting from the Garbisch Collection at the National Gallery ofArt, Washington. The book, referred to in the title is, infact, a daguerreotype in its case.

better qualified to see the difference between professional and less welltrained work!'

The daguerreotype expanded the vision of the artist because it brought into view details previously overlooked or beyond the range of human vision. In a letter to his father in 1845, John Ruskin, the English essayist, wrote in relation to "the palaces I have been trying to draw — Daguerreotypes taken by this vivid sunlight are glorious things — every chip of stone and stain is there, and of course there is no mistake about proportions — anyone who has blundered and stammered as I have done — and then sees the things he has been trying to do — done perfectly and faultlessly in half a minute won't abuse it afterwards — Amongst all the mechanical poison this terrible 19th Century has poured upon men, it has given us, at any rate, one 20

antidote — the daguerreotype!' Jules Janin, the critic, encouraged the use of the daguerreotype for the artist "who does not have the time to draw!'

Although artists did not abandon the live model, the daguerreotype was a boon to many portrait painters. No longer did a sitter have to spend interminable hours motionless before the artist, nor did the artist have to tolerate the impatient and irritable subject yearning for release. After 1850, Erastus Salisbury Field, a folk painter who took up daguerreotypy, used his own photographs as models for almost all his portraits.

Each daguerreotype, of course, was a unique image; prints couldn't be made from a negative. But, similar to folk portraits, they could be replicated.

By daguerreotyping a daguerreotype images could be copied over and over

with only a small loss of clarity. Many photographers maintained a stock of copy daguerreotypes of the rich and the famous and made them available to painters whose subjects could not or preferred not to pose for a likeness.

Mathew Brady's collection of daguerrean portraits of luminaries was monumental. Not only were these images available to the public for viewing, but in association with the lithographer Francis D'Avignon, Brady published lithographs taken from daguerreotypes in a work called "The Gallery of Illustrious Americans;' which was critically acclaimed.

Daguerreotypist Edward Anthony had the use of a room in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., so that congressional leaders could have their pictures taken. They received a free daguerreotype in exchange for permission

"FROM THIS DAY PAINTING IS DEAD" PAUL DELAROCHE

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Sixth-plate daguerreotype, circa 1856, ofa painting which has been attributed to Rebecca Freese Winsbaugh. Photographer and subject are unknown.

for Anthony to sell additional copies.

Later on,Anthony opened the "National Miniature Gallery" in New York, which displayed daguerreotypes of several hundred distinguished Americans.

In addition, Mr. Anthony had engravings made from many of the daguerreotypes he had taken, and these were produced in quantity for wide distribution at a minimal cost. Similarly, daguerreotypist John Plumbe, Jr. had etchings done from his portraits of the famous which he offered for sale as "Plumbeotypes:'These were sold at the studio and were reproduced in popular magazines of the time.

Distinguished Americans were not the only subjects of the daguerreotype camera. The country's first Rogue's Gallery was opened in the New York City police department's headquarters.

It contained 450 daguerreotypes of

Sixth-plate daguerreotype, circa 1856, ofa nineteenth century painting. Both the painter and the photographer are unknown.

New York's perhaps less distinguished Americans.

The daguerreotype was the birth and infancy of photography. Delaroche was wrong. Painting didn't die. For the majority of artists, the daguerreotype was of tremendous importance in their work. As Thomas Cole wrote in 1840, "The art of painting is creative, as well as an imitative art, and is in no danger of being superseded by any mechanical device:' For many artists, however, the daguerreotype was a distinct economic threat. It was in direct and immediate competition with the painter of miniature portraits and the silhouettist. All were intended for the same general market — to provide small accurate likenesses at reasonable cost. The daguerreotype provided an all-too realistic likeness, at a minimal sitting time,

for a price far less than the painted miniature. The only thing lacking was color, and within a few years of its introduction, daguerreotypes were being hand-tinted. So, within a short time, the daguerreotype almost completely usurped the market of the miniaturist. Quite a few artists did the smart thing. They bought cameras and chemicals and a book of instructions and joined the ranks of a fast-growing new profession. They became daguerreotypists.

Galleries opened in towns and cities all over the country. In a large city, such as New York, there were dozens of daguerreotype parlors on a single block.

Some "artists" put their equipment on wagons, horse-carts or flat boats, and like the itinerant painter, went from town to town taking likenesses. Like the limner, the itinerant daguerreotypist 21

"THE ART OF PAINTING...IS IN NO DANGER OF BEING SUPERSEDED BY ANY MECHANICAL DEVICE" THOMAS COLE

Quarter plate daguerreotype, circa 1848, ofa woman with a painted portrait; the photographer, painter and subjects are unknown.

would arrive in a town,rent a room for a studio — or park his wagon (his photographic "saloon") — spread his broadsides or advertise in the local newspaper."Mr. Wakefield is happy to say to the ladies and gentlemen of Portland and vicinity, that he is now prepared to execute likenesses in the highest perfection of the art. Rooms at the Canton House:' To cover the most territory in the shortest time of good weather, speed was of the utmost importance. "Mr. Betts would respectfully inform the public, that he will remain in this city but three or four days longer, and those wishing daguerreotype miniatures had better call soon!"

The daguerreotypist co-existed with the folk painter, but cut into his market considerably. Some painters met this competition head on. William Matthew Prior, for example, a fairly competent 22

academic painter in his early years, altered his style in order to survive as an artist. Together with his brother-in-law Sturtevant Hamblem and a crew of other artists, he cranked out portraits at breakneck speed. He advertised, "Persons wishing a flat picture can have a likeness without shade at one-quarter price:' These portraits took about an hour to paint and were priced at $2.92, including frame and glass. Daguerreotypes weren't much cheaper, so Prior and some others were able to sustain themselves for a while. Within twenty years of the introduction of the daguerreotype, however, the heyday of the folk portraitist was pretty much over. Curiously, at about the same time, the daguerreotype itself became obsolete. Both fell victim to more advanced photographic techniques During its short span of popularity,

the daguerreotype documented the whole range of the American scene.

Not only did it record "the human face divine" — "living as they rise:' as daguerreotypist Robert Cornelius put it, but almost everything else as well.

Images of scenery, city views and seascapes abounded; there were daguerreotypes of microscopic objects and of the moon; dogs, cats, rabbits, horses and cattle were pictured, and of course there were risque daguerreotypes and erotica.

Also prevalent were daguerreotypes of paintings. Many of these were photographs of museum paintings. The painter Millet wrote to a friend in 1865, "So you are off to Italy at last. If you should happen to find any photographs . of paintings, from Cimabue to Michaelangelo, buy them:' In some cases, the painter used photography to

U72

Sixth-plate daguerreotypes by unknown photographen, of clockwise, reverse painting on glass circa 1816 by Benjamin Greenleaf of Nancy Dike Ellingwood ofBath. Maine(circa 1848); unknown woman by James Sanford Elsworth (circa 1852); unknown woman by Zedekiah Belknap (circa 1845).

record his own work. Ingres wrote in a letter dated 1842, "I have just finished my Saint Peter completely — However, I am waiting to have some daguerreo-

types made of it — !'

For the most part, though, daguerreotypes of portrait paintings were taken for much the same reason that the

originals were painted. There was a desire in mid-nineteenth century America for immortality. The folk painting, the daguerreotype and the daguerreo-

Photography at the Museum of American Folk Art The Museum of American Folk Art has pioneered the collection and study of photography as a medium of folk expression, as well as the relationship between photography and other folk arts, particularly painting.

As early as 1978, The Clarion published Roderic H. Blackburn's provocative study, "Flashes of the Soul: Photography vs. Painting7 which explored the connecting links between an interesting group of portrait paintings and photographs in the mid-nineteenth century. Blackburn's study considers the surprising similarities in the aesthetic framework of the two media. These issues are explored in the Museum's graduate program at New York University.

Several years ago, through the generosity and interest of Dr. Stanley B. Burns and Gail Gomberg Propp,the Museum began to build a collection of"folk photography:' Dr. Burns and Mrs. Propp have donated scores of images demonstrating the close relationship between early photography and other folk arts. These images include rare full and half-plate daguerreotypes as well as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and other early photographs in a wide variety of formats and sizes.

Only a small amount of this material has been previously published or exhibited. The Museum is currently planning a full-scale exhibition addressing the issues of photography and folk art.

Quarter-plate daguerreotype, circa 1846, of a painting; photographer, painter and subject are all unknown.

type of the folk painting all served this function.

Many of these daguerreotypes have been the victim oftime and neglect, and yet thousands have survived. Already discovered is a vast and valuable documentation offolk painting preserved by daguerreotypes. Many of these metal plates, no doubt,show paintings that no longer exist. Some will, perhaps, fill the gaps in the known work of some folk painter. Others may be identified as painting by artists not previously recognized. Some paintings now classified as "anonymous" might be identified.

Nobody knows what still remains to be found. The possibilities for folk art historians are exciting.

As a collector of antique photography and a lover offolk painting,I find that daguerreotypes of folk paintings afford me the luxury of living with 24

Sixth-plate daguerreotype, circa 1846, ofa woman,child and a silhouette; photographer and subjects are unknown.

both. These "silver sunbeams" are, in their own right, very beautiful. In my collection are several hundred daguerreotypes of paintings, some of miniatures on ivory, a few of sculpture and drawings. I have a wonderful collection of American folk painting — "true and realistic likenesses" — on the silvered plate of the world's first practical photographic process, the daguerreotype.

Julian Wolff is a craftsman, teacher, collector and lover of folk art and daguerreotypes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bishop, Robert, Folk Painters of America, E.P. Dutton. New York, 1979.

Coke, Van Deren, The Painter and the Photograph, The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, N.M., 1964.

Ebert, John and Katherine, American Folk Paint-

ers, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1975.

Ericson, Jack T.,Folk Art in America, Mayflower Books, Inc., New York, 1979.

Salassi, Peter, Before Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1981.

Lipman, Jean, American Primitive Painting, Oxford University Press, New York, 1942.

Pfister, Harold Francis, Facing the Light, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1978.

Pollack, Peter, The Picture History of Photography, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1969.

Rinhart, Floyd and Marion, The American Daguerreotype, The University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1981.

Rosenblum, Naomi, A World History ofPhotography, Abbeville Press, New York, 1984 Rudisill, Richard, Mirror Image, The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, N.M., 1971.

Scharf, Aaron, Art and Photography, The Penguin Press, Baltimore, Md.,1969.

Welling, William, Photography in America, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York 1978.

A Collector's Guide to Fish Decoys

by Lori Segal Zabar

Fish decoys, like those of waterfowl, were designed and used by hunters to attract live members of the same species. Fish decoys were most probably first used centuries ago by Native Americans or Eskimos to obtain food during the cold winters. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, American and Canadian fishermen continued to create and use fish decoys to lure their prey for food and sport. It is only recently that the general public has taken an interest in this ongoing folk art form.

Today, fish decoys are still used in the winter sport of spear fishing to lure prey into the range of the fisherman's spear. However, the sport is limited almost exclusively to the Great Lakes region where sturgeon spearing is still legal under restricted conditions.

A decoy made in a state other than

Fish Decoy; Circa 1940's;Painted wood and tin; White and gray body, red,white and blue polka dots; 3/ 1 4 x 12 x 3"; Collection of Frederic I. Thaler. The articulated construction ofthis decoy produces a convincing semblance ofswimming.

Michigan, Minnesota or Wisconsin is probably of notable age because spearfishing was outlawed in most of the country during the first half of this century! The majority of existing fish decoys date from 193O They are still being made today by Native Americans and others in states where spearfishing is legal. On the reservations, one member of the tribe traditionally made all the decoys. The position of decoy maker continues today to be passed on from father to son'.

Generally, the first step in spear fishing is to chop a hole in the ice large enough to accommodate a spear, decoy and fish. The decoy is usually sus-

pended from a jigging stick or pole below the mouth of the hole. To enable the fisherman to see into the dark water, light must be blocked out. To do this the fisherman constructs an ice shanty, sometimes referred to as a dark house, over the hole. As an alternative, the fisherman may lie on the ice with a blanket covering his head and the hole.

In either case, the fisherman manipulates the decoy in a circular — swimming — movement to lure the fish into spearing range while he keeps his iron spear ready in his other hand. Sometimes the fisherman must wait for hours before his prey appears.

Dating Fish Decoys It is difficult to date fish decoys. Generally, the geographic origins and the makers of specific decoys are unknown. Furthermore, signs of wear, 25

Fish Decoy;Possibly Wisconsin;Circa 1910-1940;Painted wood, metal and snakeskin; 1/ 1 2 x 9 x 3"; Collection of the author. A snakeskin covering secured by nails creates an unusual appearance.

Fish Decoy;Possibly Minnesota;Circa 1960*s;Painted wood and tin; Green and cream body with white, red and black eyes;27/8x8/ 5 8x2/ 1 4";Collection of the author. The sawtooth dorsalfin and spunky appearance of this decoy make it an attractive example.

Sturgeon Decoy; Wisconsin; Circa 1930; Painted wood and metal; 434 x 18/ 1 4 x 6': Collection of Frederic I. Thaler. This is a typical Wisconsin sturgeon decoy. Sturgeon decoys are rare and in great demand.

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Frog Decoy; Possibly Michigan; Circa 1960-1980; Painted wood, leather and metal; Green and white with yellow spots;/ 3 4x6/ 1 2x 2W;Collection of the author. Ice spearing decoys are not always in theform offish. Thisfrog decoy is very realistic in its carvedform, paint design and leather legs.

Photos: Carleton Palmer

Frog Decoy;Possibly Michigan;Circa 1960-1980;Painted wood and metal; Green body with black and yellow dots;1 x 4 x 2"; Collection ofthe author.

Thisfrog decoy is more abstract and stylized in design; its wood and metal shape suggests afrog's body and the paint is a personalized interpretation of its markings.

often reliable when dating other forms of folk or decorative art, are poor indicators of age where these decoys are concerned. Decoys repeatedly submerged in icy water quickly show signs generally attributed to age, such as fading, rust and cracking paint. Moreover, fishermen commonly repainted decoys when they became worn, or when water and light conditions demanded it. The best indicators of age, therefore, are based on careful attention to the materials used and a knowledge of when those materials first came into use.

Materials The everyday materials used by fishermen to create fish decoys for their own use or to sell, trade or give to fishing companions, accounts for much 26

of their charm. Decoy makers generally use pine, often a handy two by four, for the decoy's body. Pine is easy to carve and floats. Occasionally other woods are used such as cedar or oak. The fisherman uses common woodworking tools — chisels, drawshave, pocketknife and sandpaper.'

Paints are generally anything at hand: nailpolish, housepaint, day glo and spray paint. Often shiny materials such as rhinestones, pieces of mirror, sequins and glitter are applied to attract fish.' Fins are made of tin or aluminum (beer cans are a common source) and eyes are derived from thumbtacks, nailheads, screws, pinheads and brads as well as ready-made glass and plastic eyes. Some decoy makers create the illusion of fish scale patterns by painting through mesh or hair nets. The lead

for the weights may be adapted from other fishing gear by pounding or melting.

Design Decoys vary in size from three to fortyeight inches in length; the majority are from five to nine inches. The smaller ones attract predators while the larger decoys attract fish of a similar size. The size of larger decoys was often based upon Department of Natural Resources specifications for legal size limits to enable the fisherman to compare visually the length of his prey with his decoy.

Certain characteristics are common to most fish decoys: 1. They are made of wood and are painted to attract the decoy's identical type or its predator;

Pike Decoy; Possibly Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin; Circa 1980; Painted wood, metal, plastic; Green, yellow, off-white body with white spots and 4"; Collection ofthe author. This pike 1 plastic taxidermy eyes;23/6 x 16V16 x 3/ is painted to appear older than it is. As fish decoys increase in value, reproductions andfakes imitating old decoys appear on the market.

2"; 1 4 x 1/ 1 Rock Bass Decoy; Painted metal; Red and white stripes; 2 x 4/ Collection of the author. Most decoys are made of wood;a metal body is a somewhat unusual but pleasing variation.

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4 1 4x 11/ 1 Fish Decoy; Lake Chautauqua, NY;Circa 1910; Wood and metal;2/ x 3";Collection ofthe author. According to theformer owner ofthis decoy, it belonged to the Donofrio family of Lake Chautauqua since 1910. It is particularly rare because ofits age and handwrought hardware.

Fish Decoy; Painted wood and metal;Red and white;PA 122 x 6"; KelterMalce Antiques, NYC. Unlike waterfowl decoys,fish decoys do not have to be representative of specific species to be effective. The more fancifulfish decoys are popular amongfolk art collectors.

Perch Decoy; Minnesota; Painted wood, metal and plastic; Red and white 2 x 3"; Collection of the author. This 1 /8 x 8/ with plastic taxidermy eyes; 17 decoy is an example ofa typical Minnesotafish decoy — simple in carved detail and bold in color.

2. The tail of the decoy, generally of wood or metal, is curved or bent to enable the decoy to move in a circular motion; 3. The metal hook or loop for the line attachment is usually located towards the middle of the back of the decoy because decoys are suspended from a vertical line; and 4. The decoy is usually weighted with a rectangular piece of lead inserted into a carved out portion of its belly section.

Ice spearing decoys are not always in the form of fish. For instance, frog decoys have been used in the pursuit of northern pike and otters.' Other forms include turtles, muskrats and mice.

Unlike waterfowl decoys, fish decoys do not have to be representative of specific species to be effective. There-

fore, fish decoys can range in style from the very realistic to the fanciful in form and paint.

Some of those who have studied fish decoys see regional similarities in design.' Decoys made in Minnesota tend to be simple in carved detail and bold in color — white, white and red, red and silver are common colors. Perhaps Minnesota fishermen use bright colors because Minnesota winter waters are very dark.' Decoys made in Michigan tend to be more natural in paint and design. Often Michigan decoys display great care in carving (gills, scales) and are identifiable as to species.

Wisconsin decoys are usually unsurpassed in the use of imaginative paint decoration. Paint designs often include bright colors, whirls, spots and a wide variety of paint styles to attract fish.

Decoys made by native Americans tend to be realistic. The older ones were not painted; they were made of white pine with designs burnt into them.'

Today Native American decoys are generally painted but retain a realistic appearance. Fish decoys made by Eskimos were carved from bone and had inlaid eyes, carved gills and scales.'° Tips for the Collector Fish decoys on the market date from the late nineteenth century to the present.

The older, and thus rarer, the decoy the more expensive it generally will be.

Larger decoys tend to command higher prices.

Particularly rare are sturgeon decoys.

As sturgeons are vegetarians, sturgeon decoys were made the same size as the sturgeon sought in order to appear as an 27

gall State University

OSCAR PETERSON: MASTER CARVER It is difficult to study regional differences in the design offish decoys because there has been little documentation of their makers. Few decoy makers recorded their carving output and most made the decoys for their own use. Fortunately, one extremely skilled decoy maker has been documented: Oscar W. Peterson!'

Oscar Peterson (1887-1951) lived in Cadillac, Michigan where he worked as a landscape gardener and a part-time guide for anglers. In addition to fish decoys, Peterson made lures, bait shop signs, and decorative fish plaques as well as other carvings. His skill was extraordinary. Although he used accurate colors, his style was not exact realism. Rather he painted patterns of squiggly lines and dots to emphasize the most distinctive features of each species of fish!'

attractive mate. Aside from age and size, the quality of carving, design, paint technique, and condition contribute to the value of these decoys.

Prices range widely. Small and ordinary fish decoys cost from $30 to $100.

Sturgeon decoys and other very large decoys command $500 and more. Wellcarved and nicely painted smaller decoys range from $100 to $500. Uncommon forms such as frogs and mice can cost $150 and up. Small decoys by Oscar Peterson start at $150 and large ones at $750; his fish plaques command thousands of dollars. Prices for fish decoys continue to increase rapidly as the demand grows.

While fish decoy making is an ongoing folk art, reproductions and fakes imitating old decoys are appearing in increasing numbers. If the collector 28

wishes to buy older fish decoys (generally dating from the 1950's and earlier), he should examine the piece for signs of age such as crazed and faded paint, authentically rusted metal fins, handmade hardware, random scratches and wear on applied eyes, especially on glass eyes.

Other signs of age include wooden tails, rather than metal, and leather used as a covering or accent. The collector should beware of paint applied to look as if it has faded. Furthermore, a decoy should not contain any hooks or holes where hooks may have lodged because that indicates the fish was originally a lure, not a decoy.

Sometimes decoys are soaked in motor oil to create a patina of age. Such trickery can be detected by the accumulation of sticky residue between

the metal fins and wood body and by the faint smell of the oil.

In addition, decoy collectors should beware of decoys fitting the description of those made by Oscar Peterson that are freshly painted. It seems a number ofPeterson "blanks" have been recently painted and released onto the market.

Fish decoys can be purchased from folk art dealers. In addition, they can be found at general antique shows and antique fishing tackle shows. Auction houses specializing in waterfowl decoys sometimes include fish decoys. In the Great Lakes region fish decoys can still be picked up at yard sales, fishing camps, and at second-hand stores.

An organization of collectors devoted to fish decoys does not yet exist.

However, the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club includes members in-

Decoys by Peterson have certain common traits:[They]are long, low, and sleek and have a characteristic jutting lower jaw. The one-piece wooden body curves either right or left.

Usually the mouth and gills are incised and the underside of the fish is straight and flat. The embedded metal fins have smooth flowing contours and are somewhat lobate in shape.

Fish are from three inches to fourteen inches in length with six inches to eight inches the most common size. They usually have two rectangular inletted weights in the bottom.

Most have seven heavy metal fins....The dorsal fin has three to five holes drilled through it to serve as line tie points. The dorsal fin is held in position by a small brad driven through the side of the fish.... He usually painted the gill and mouth cuts a bright red as well as the ends ofthe tails. The pectoral, pelvic and anal fins usually have some red on them. There is

also often a streak ofivory color along the top edge ofthe tail.

The eyes are very commonly highlighted by the addition of an "eyebrow" in a contrasting color, usually red, yellow or black...!'

It is probable that Peterson's work was greatly admired in the region during his lifetime and served to influence other decoy makers stylistically.

Other known decoy makers include Hans Jenner, Sr. (1880-1963) and Abraham De Hate, Sr. (1890-1968) of Mt. Clemens, Michigan;Theodore Van den Bossche(1887-1958) of Detroit, Michigan; Andy Trombley(1919-1975)and Frank Schmidt of St. Claire Shores, Michigan; Emil Liers of Homer, Minnesota!' and Tom Schroeder (1886-1976)! Further research is needed to determine the identity and production of still other talented decoy makers.

Left to right:

•• • ...or *• •• •• •*

terested in collecting all types offishing tackle. To become a member, write to NFLCC, 3907 Wedgewood Drive, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008. Membership includes a newsletter.

Lori Segal Zabar is an attorney, historic preservationist and collector offolk art fish decoys. She is the Director of the New York City Historic Properties Fund, a revolving loan fund for historic preservation projects, at the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

NOTES 1. Art and Scott Kimball, "Fish Decoys:' Hobbies, Vol. 86, No. 5, July, 1981, p. 94.

2. Telephone conversation with Art Kimball, February 21, 1984.

3. Marsha MacDowell and C. Kurt Dewhurst, "Oscar Peterson:' Michigan Natural Resources Magazine, Volume 51, No. 6, November-December, 1982, p. 60.

4. Ibid. February 2, 1984.

Brook Trout Decoy; Oscar Peterson; Cadillac, Michigan; Circa 1930;Painted wood and metal; Gold and red with black curved lines, 4x8x134";Collection 1 black and red dots, red gills and red mouth;1/ ofthe author. Peterson was a talented and prolific decoy maker. His work is in great demand.

Yellow Perch Decoy; Attributed to John Nelson; Circa 1930; Painted wood and metal; Orange-yellow, with black curved lines and 4"; Collection ofthe author. A 1 4x 1/ 1 4x 4/ 1 red, black and gold dots;1/ convincing imitation of the Oscar Peterson style; however, the jaw jutsfurther, the tail indents more before widening, and thefront of the dorsalfin is less curved than the Peterson decoys.

5. Ibid. at p. 61.

6. Telephone conversation with Art Kimball, February 21, 1984.

7. Kimball, "Fish Decoys:' p. 94; MacDowell and Dewhurst,"Oscar Peterson:' p. 59.

8. Telephone conversation with Art Kimball, February 21, 1984.

9. Telephone conversation with Art Kimball, February 2, 1984.

10. Gene Kangas, "Underwater Decoys: Fish:' North American Decoys, Spring 1978, p. 14.

11. Oscar Peterson's carvings were exhibited at The Museum at Michigan State University from October 24, 1982 to April 10, 1983 and the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts in 1984.

12. MacDowell and Dewhurst, "Oscar Peterson': p. 60.

13. Gary L. Miller, "Peterson the Carver:' Antique Angler, March/April 1985, p. 3.

14. Kangas, "Underwater Decoys: Fish:' pp. 16-23.

15. Barbara Connor, "Tom Schroeder Fish Decoys:' The Decoy Hunter, SeptemberOctober 1985, No. 27, pp. 10-11.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bishop, Robert and Weissman, Judith. Knopf Collectors' Guide to Folk Art (New York: Knopf, 1963).

Kangas, Gene. "Underwater Decoys: Fish:' North American Decoys Spring 1978, pp.14-23.

Ketchum, Jr., William C. "Delightful Deceptions:' Better Homes and Gardens Country Home, February 1986, pp. 83-87.

Kimball, Art and Scott. "Fish Decoys:'Hobbies, July, 1981, pp. 92-95.

MacDowell, Marsha and Dewhurst, C. Kurt.

"Oscar Peterson': Michigan Natural Resources Magazine, Volume 51, No. 6, November-December 1982, pp. 58-63.

Miller, Gary L. "Peterson the Carver:' Antique Angler, March/April 1985, pp. 1, 3, 5.

Smith, Larry M. "Getting Hooked on ... Fish Decoys': Antique Angler, May/June 1985, PP. 1,5.

Thaler, Frederic I."Discover Fish Decoys: Folky, Fun and Unique': Antique Monthly, October 1984, p. 16A.

29

In the delicately drawn, elaborately conceived drawings of Henry Darger the universe is at war. Storm clouds brood over richly colored devastated landscapes. Tortured hermaphroditic children stagger across phantasmagorical warscapes populated by uniformed adults and benevolent dragon-tailed beings known as Blengins. Throughout the battles in these more than two hundred drawings fight seven blonde, nun-like nymphets, known as the Vivian Girls, who struggle to liberate the children of the earth from slavery.

The lonely man who created these drawings remains enigmatic to us in spite of all that has been written about him. Mere accumulation of the facts of his life still do not add up to a tangible

picture. Henry Darger's complexities remain mysterious. As clues we have the drawings and a nineteen thousand page tome which they illustrate called The Story ofthe Vivian Girls in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, or the Glandelinian War Storm, or the Glandico-Abiennian Wars as Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, a weather journal in which he compared the daily weather report with the weather in actuality, and dozens of notebooks filled with storm and natural disaster clippings, as well as cartoons.

Yet another clue to Henry Darger is a twenty-six hundred page autobiographical journal called The History of my life (sic). A mix of fact and fiction — the extent to which is still unclear — the journal is Henry's attempt to ra-

tionalize the frustrations of his life and to transcribe his real experiences into a journalistic form. The autobiography begins factually enough. If it is not the real story of Henry's life it is certainly what he wants us to believe. This, however, is less than 200 pages. Suddenly, he launches into a detailed account of the devastation of the Midwest by tornadoes and fires. In this part of the journal, Henry transforms himself into a hero, a magnanimous seer who leads the helpless through chaos to salvation.

Henry Darger, a self-taught artist, is now seen as one of the masters of twentieth century folk and outsider art.

Darger claimed to have been born in Brazil and to have received a certain amount of street education there, but all

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Erg evidence indicates the contrary. He was born, he wrote in his autobiography,"in the month of April, on the 12, in the year 1892, of what weekday I never knew as I was never told, nor did I seek the information. Also I do not remember the day my mother died, or who adopted my baby sister, as I was then too young:' He was raised by his father, a tailor, in Chicago. They apparently led a simple life during which Henry attended Catholic school. His father took sick, however, and Henry was put into a juvenile home. As his autobiography indicates, he resisted authority from the start. "I was of the kind that only my father could tell me what to do, and would take no scoldings, or authority from anyone else:' He remembered

every cruelty on his part with a sense of shame. "You remember I wrote that I hated baby kids. So indeed I did. Yet what a change came in me though when I grew somewhat older:' So, too, there were indications of what was to follow.

"I will have to say all my childhood days with my father who was very busy everyday .. . were sort of uneventful except I was very interested in summer thunderstorms (still am old as I are)and during winter (cold) could and would stand by the window all day watching it snow especially if there was a great big blizzard raging:' Henry fondly remembered his earliest years with his father. "Do you believe it, unlike most children, I hated to see the day come when I will be grown up. I never wanted to. I wished to

be young always. I am grown up now and an old lame man, darn it:' he wrote in his autobiography.

Darger was bright and skipped grades. He excelled in history, especially complex military accounts.

Socially, though, he functioned poorly.

He missed his father terribly. In his first juvenile home he earned the nickname "Crazy:' Shunted from school to school, he was thought to be feebleminded for making strange gestures and other anti-social behavior. At the same time, however, there is evidence that he was physically mistreated in the homes.

His father died when Henry was a teenager and soon after he began to run away from the asylum. Caught in his first attempt, he was successful the

At Ressurectoaction Run 3(detail); Chicago; Mixed media;18 x 24"; Courtesy ofJanet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia.

second time, but gave himself up. The third time he did not go back and started his long career of menial jobs in hospitals and Catholic homes for the poor.

Time and again, he was fired for sociopathic behavior. Someone told the people at one of the hospitals where he worked that he had once been called "Crazy:'He wrote,"The whole hospital full of persons soon knew. I was then called crazy. I had I believe more brains than all combined. None of them I found out ever even knew Geography or History. I did:' Little of Darger's work is dated, so it is not easy to form a definite chronology. It is known that he began Realms of the Unreal in 1919. The drawings, which illustrate this saga, apparently came after the writing was completed. And, it is thought that

Darger wrote his autobiographical journal at the same time as he made the drawings, because he discusses the latter in his journal.

It is difficult for the "mainstream" world to know or understand what lonely men and women like Henry Darger, shunted aside by society, think about. During their lives, their reclusiveness is such that no indication of their inner realities is conveyed to the public. Most of the time death leaves them in final obscurity. Sometimes, however, a life of private creative endeavor was not all in vain. Sometimes the vision lives on. If it had not been discovered by Darger's landlord Nathan Lerner, an artist and photographer, Darger's work, too, might have just disappeared, trashed as the fetishistic accumulation of a lonely eccentric.

In both his drawings and writings, Darger was a synthesizer — someone with the ability to absorb popular culture in all its pulses and syncopations and transform it into something new. He employed signs and symbols with universal recognition. Darger crossbred the popular images of the last two-hundred years. Even though many of the drawings were done as late as the 1960s, they have the feeling of another time. By the same token,in his writing, shades of Booth Tarkington, Mark Twain, Frank Baum, Jules Verne, and boy's adventure stories all run across the pages like literary ghosts.

Despite his hermetic existence, Darger was a lover of newspapers; they were his main contact with the world outside. His writing shows the influence of yellow journalism and the

Rainwater Spreads(her the ground Under the shelter; Chicago;Mixed media;24 x 36"; Collection ofRandall Morris and Shari Cavin-Morris.

Hissing Tongues; Chicago; Mixed media;19 x 55/ 1 2"; Courtesy ofJanet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia.

31

ubiquitous sensationalistic headline.

Similarly, Darger's concept of art owes more to William Randolph Hearst than to the Louvre. His sense ofcomposition directly reflects one-frame cartoon strips like "Those Were the Days:' His notebooks were filled with the clippings. It is likely that Darger's persistent attempt to explain himself spurred his belief in journalism as the ultimate truth. By writing journalistically about questionable events, he felt he would ultimately be believed.

Henry created his art world by borrowing from the real world, from the photographs and illustrations of his sacred journalists. He worked in collage. When he didn't directly cut and paste, he used copies and tracings and photographs, so he could manipulate the figures.

In his drawings, Darger was an image thief. He borrowed from cartoons, advertisements, newspapers and magazines and used them to project his own meanings. An alligator in a baseball suit from the Chicago Sun-Times becomes a mystical being floating in the sky. A polo pony becomes the steed of a Prussian general. The Marines at Iwo Jima arrive as reinforcements for the Vivian Girls. Birds, insects and hundreds of cloud types fill up his painted pages.

There is much self-taught art surfacing that, while authentic and containing some degree of ethnographic or folkloric information, functions more as artifact than as art. Darger's work functions as both. It has deep aesthetic value and it serves as a signifier of our times. There may be a certain uneven-

ness to some of the drawings, but we are looking at a private man's unedited expression.

Darger's vision is darker and more poetic than most. While steeped in the most painful aspects of Catholicism, Henry was not a Penitente. He did not revel in his pain. Many passages in his writing are filled with angry shouts to God in protest. He did not question God's existence, however, merely the bounds of his power.

Instead of broadcasting his messages as other artists have done, Darger sealed himself into a private world that he invented as he went along. The paradox is that what he created was no more peaceful, organized or clarified than the real world.

In Henry Darger's drawings the world is in belligerent chaos. The best

Rainwater Spreads Over the ground Under the shelter (detail); Chicago; Mixed media;24 x 36"; Collection ofRandall Morris and Shari Cavin-Morris.

33

drawings are held together by a terrible sense of foreboding; one can almost hear the angry rumbling ofthunder as if the storm was an extension of the voice of God. He claims in his journal that nature can be independent of God. If this is the case, then the storm could also be an angry voice raised in protest to God. In the creations of Henry Darger, children are innocent, guileless harbingers of good. The Vivian Girls are like Joan of Arc in their bravery and their unwavering sense of right and wrong. They have lost their innocence in a violent society and this awful knowledge has made them saintlike.

By contrast, adults are generally authoritarian or soldierlike. They represent a world fouled by inhuman cruelty.

The message is clear. These children are enslaved and tortured by adults, as Henry felt he had been.

It may very well be that Henry Darger was a schizophrenic. One can make that speculation about any religious visionary. A seer is always out of social context. But it is not in the interest of research to psychoanalyze art. This has been the problem with the study of European outsider art.

We do not analyze the work of Jackson Pollock for its alcoholic vision or the work of Picasso as a case study for satyriasis. It is no different with the work of Henry Darger. There has been conjecture about sexual overtones to the violence in the drawings, but nothing in Darger's writings bears this out.

His images of hermaphroditic little

girls more likely reflect sexual naïveté, or simple artistic choice, then perversity or an attempt at titillation. Indeed, no reference to the hermaphrodites has yet been found in the written text of Realms ofthe Unreal. And nowhere is a child or adult sexually molested.

In the end,it is not the shock value of Darger's drawings that cause his work to be sought after. Rather, it is his ability to take us out of the world we so complacently inhabit and throw us into a different dimension where we contemplate man's inhumanity to man. He is skillful as a manipulator. He charms us with the familiar and then it plunges us into the "realms of the unreal!'

There are certain twentieth century folk and outsider artists — and Darger is one — who seem to serve as conduits for

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Vivian Girls Find Shelter with the Blengins(detail); Chicago;Mixed media;24 x36”; Collection ofRandall Morris and Shari Cavin-Morris.

34

al

social energies, whether racial, sexual, political, economic, or simply the tensions of the day-to-day grind. In this sense outsider art can be viewed as the art of the extreme "inside:' The artist is so tuned in he seems obsessed. The artist becomes galvanized with the intensity of our civilization. His work is loaded with signifying information.

Henry was a man who lived in such mental and physical misery, that his early perspective twisted sharply and he felt, like a true Catholic, that his journey here was a series of tests and fleshly mortifications on the road to sainthood. Henry Darger saw himself as an American saint. He felt he had an inside tip on the battle between good and evil, and if the world did not acknowledge him, he would endure his

trials silently, leaving a legacy behind.

Toward the end of Darger's journals, probably written while the Vietnam War was raging, he began to refer to the "smouldering:' He said this smouldering â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which poetically he never debased by clearly defining â&#x20AC;&#x201D; resulted from the failure to clear away tangled old roots under the cornfields of the Midwest. Mixing reality with imagination, Darger turned the burning cornfields into a metaphor for the evil of the times he lived in. Then he called for brotherhood to squelch the smouldering. It is as if Henry, the artist as miscreant, set the largest fire the world has ever known. And Henry, the artist as saint, doused the fire with calls for teamwork and brotherhood. The firefight served as the summation of

Henry's lifelong struggle between good and evil. It was the same struggle fought by the Vivian Girls. War and destruction on the outside symbolized the fire and storm within himself. From the tangled and painful life of a man came the straightforward vision of a saint.

Six months after he finished writing his journal, Henry Darger decided that the stairs to his room were too steep for his aching legs. He asked Nathan Lerner to drive him to the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Elderly where his father had died years before. He died soon after. It was 1973; he was 81 years old.

Randall Seth Morris is a writer, collector, and coowner of Cavin-Morris, Inc. He is writing a book about outsider art.

She Fell with Him Hundreds of Feet(detail); Chicago;Jinxed media;19 x 55"; Courtesy oPanet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia.

35

THE SEARCH FOR YOUNG AMERICA The search for"Young America" began about five years ago when Jean Lipman brought to the Museum of American Folk Art her idea for a book and exhibition that would explore the everyday life of the American people through

the eyes of the folk artist. This folk art history would cover the period from the Revolution to World War I, and would feature newly discovered works, as well as some old favorites.

Interestingly, the major research for

NEW INTERPRETATION:Lemuel Haynes in the Pulpit;Artist unknown;Circa 1850;Oil on molded papier-mâché;21 x 275/8"; Museum ofArt, Rhode Island School ofDesign; Gift ofMiss Lucy T. Aldrich.

by MaryAnn Demos 36

this book and exhibition centered on a number of the objects which had previously been published or shown, but which required considerable investigation to both attribute them more fully and accurately and to interpret them in the social and historical terms of the project. In some cases, the task at hand was locating long lost pieces that had appeared in books thirty years ago but whose whereabouts were, at this point, unknown.

One of the familiar folk art objects which was interpreted in a new light in "Young America" is the papier-mâché tray known as "Lemuel Haynes in the Pulpit:' The tray had been published in Jean Lipman's book American Folk Decoration in 1951 where it was featured as an example of a decorative object. The significance of the scene on the tray — a black minister addressing a white congregation — had never been explored.

A little perseverance revealed that the subject of this tray, Lemuel Haynes, was a Litchfield County, Connecticut, minister who became one of the more widely known Congregational ministers of his era. From his ordination in 1785 until his death in 1833 he preached to white congregations. His learning and eloquence was noted by Timothy Dwight of Yale University when he preached in New Haven.' It is felt that the image on the tray is probably based on a print of Haynes preaching and the search for that print source continues.

Robert Bishop led us to one of the most exciting discoveries of the project.

G72

His attention had been captured by a painting in the collection of The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco called "Composite Harbor Scene with Volcano;' and he urged us to consider the painting for inclusion in "Young Americe The artist of the painting had been unknown, but on first glance Jean Lipman related the piece to research she had done in 1973 on the artist Jurgan Frederick Huge. Upon closer examination and comparison she became convinced that "Composite Harbor Scene with Volcano" was, indeed, the work of Huge, and it will appear in the exhibition for the first time with its new attribution.

"Young America" has broken new ground by exploring both folk photography and Native American art in the context of an Amerian folk art exhibition. In the book, the careers of several early photographers are examined and their work is analyzed for composition, design, overall vision and command of the medium. The work of George Edward Anderson, Solomon D. Butcher, Leonard Dakin, W.G.C. Kimball, C.R. Monroe, J.J. Pennell, William Prettyman, Mrs. M.E. Tyler, and other as yet unidentified photographers is presented here for study and comparison.

A search for the owner and location

of a photograph by W.G.C. Kimball led to an unexpected discovery. We had sought Kimball's "Gymnastic Exercises" as an example of folk art that recorded life in a Shaker community.

But we learned, in the process, that Kimball had originally intended the work as a stereograph. The New Hampshire photographer had not only consciously posed the young woman in a striking linear composition, but he had also meant the scene to be viewed as a stereograph which would have given it a three dimensional effect.

Among the Native American examples included in the book Young America is a work with a remarkable history.

111,1m.itIll Og 11111 ,!ffi

1 2x 40Ye;The Fine NEW ATTRIBUTION:Composite Harbor Scene with Volcano;Attributed to Jurgan Frederick Huge;Cira 1875; Oil on canvas;25/ Arts Museum ofSan Francisco; Gift ofEdgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch.

37

DOUBLE ENTENDRE: Gymnastic Exercises; W. G. C. Kimball; Circa 1870; Stereographic print; 3/ 1 2x 7'; Shaker Village, Inc., Canterbury, New Hampshire.

Called "Grass Dance: Charging the Dog;' this work is by the Oglala Sioux artist Amos Bad Heart Buffalo, who produced more than 400 drawings depicting every aspect of tribal life as he knew it. Amos Bad Heart, who lived from 1869 to 1913, drew in a ledger book which had been studied, in great depth, by anthropologist Helen Blish in the Twenties and Thirties.

Jean Lipman came upon a facsimile drawing of "Grass Dance" and was keen to include it as an illustration of celebration. The search then began for the original work. After countless dead ends our efforts were rewarded with a Xeroxed copy of a torn newspaper

SAGA UNEARTHED:Grass Dance: Charging the Dog;(facsimile, original destroyed);Amos Bad Heart Buffalo; Circa 1890; Watercolor and ink on paper; 7/ 1 2x 12"(original dimensions);Photograph courtesy ofGallery 10, Scottsdale, Arizona; reproducedfrom H.B. Alexander Sioux Indian Painting, Part II, The Art of Amos Bad Heart Buffalo.

38

clipping. Amos Bad Heart Buffalo's original ledger, we learned, was buried with his sister Dollie Pretty Cloud at the time of her death in 1947.2 Fortunately Helen Blish's mentor, Hartley B. Alexander, had had the foresight to have the drawings photographed at the time Bfish studied them.'So, while the drawings are gone, a complete record of them does exist.

Locating missing objects was a major part of this project and we had quite a few successes. For a number of years Jean Lipman had been stockpiling visual images with this project in mind.

These were often pieces she had used in the past to illustrate one of her many

articles and books. But she'd lost track of the pieces themselves.

One of the most difficult objects to locate was Joseph Becker's "Snowsheds on the Central Pacific Railroad:' which Lipman had illustrated in American Primitive Painting in both 1942 and 1972, and in American Folk Painting in 1966. We had just about given up when the piece was found at the Gilcrease Institute of History and Art in Ifilsa, Oklahoma.

Closer to home we finally discovered a painted tobacco sign which had been published in the May,1954,issue ofArt in America. After endless querying, we learned that it was kept in the storeroom

of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a desire for historical perspective that motivated the search for an irreplaceable photograph of a late nineteenth century tin man shop figure in its original setting. Lipman had published the photograph in 1970 in Art in America, but exhaustive searches failed to turn it up. As a last resort we tried the Archives of American Art where Lipman had deposited a large amount of material more than ten years ago. The Lipman material had not yet been put on microfilm, so it took a dedicated member of the Archives staff to travel to their warehouse some distance from Washington to search through the boxes

LOST AND FOUND: Snow Sheds on the Central Pacific Railroad in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, May 18, 1869, Joseph Becker.

Circa 1869; Oil on canvas;19 x 26"; Thomas Gikrease Institute ofAmerican History and Art, 7141sa, Oklahoma.

39

of material to find the photograph.

We were rewarded; in fact, two views of the shop figure of Brooklyn's West End Sheet metal and Roofing Works were discovered. While the original six-foot tin man, now in a private collection in New York, will be in the exhibition, the photograph, a visual document of the figure in its historical setting, is included in the book.

Also included in Young America are a number of pieces which have never before been published in a major folk art book, including "Miniature Panorama: Scenes from a Seminary for Young Ladies:' from the St. Louis Art Museum;"The Sinking Titanic:' an oil painting on mother-of-pearl from the Selden Rodman Collection at Yale Uni-

versity Art Gallery;"Gotharn7 by Paul Seifert; and a childhood "Portrait of Jonathan Knight;'from a private collection. Knight went on to become one of the founders of Yale Medical School.

The kind of research we did for "Young America" is part of most such projects. But we are particularly pleased with our discoveries because of their contribution to the young, but growing body of folk art scholarship.

We are indebted to the many helpful curators, archivists, scholars, librarians and collectors all over the country who were eager to assist in our search.

Even with the book in print and the exhibition ready to be hung, further information on objects and their subjects is turning up. We hope that"Young

RELOCATED: Massachusetts tobacco sign; Artist unknown; Circa 1860; Oil on wood;233h x 270"; The Metropolitan Museum ofArt, New York; Bequest ofEdgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch.

40

America:' the book and the exhibition, will be just a starting point, stimulating continued research and new discoveries in the field of American folk art.

Mary Ann Demos coordinated the research for the book Young America and is Associate Curator of the exhibition. She has a Master's Degree from the Museum of American Folk Art/New York Univerisity Graduate Program in Folk Art Studies.

NOTES 1. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston (editors) Dictionary ofAmerican Negro Biography(New York â&#x20AC;˘ London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1982) p. 301.

2. Helen H. Blish, A Pictographic History ofthe Oglala Sioux (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967) p. vii.

3. Ibid. p. viii.

PHOTO IN SITU: Tinsmith; J. Krans; Circa 1895; Tin; 72" high; Collection ofElaine Terner Cooper. While it was no problem locating the tin man himself his photograph in the original Brooklyn setting was hard to come by. Photo courtesy of Jean Lipman Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washingtion, D.0.

IN

YOUNG AMERICA INTERVIEW WITH JEAN LIPMAN, ROBERT BISHOP, ELIZABETH WARREN

Jean Lipman, Robert Bishop and Elizabeth Warren are co-

authors of the new book Young America:A Folk-Art History, published by Hudson Hills Press in cooperation with the Museum of American Folk Art. Jean Lipman, a long-time collector and author of numerous books on American folk art is former editor of Art in America. Robert Bishop, author of more than thirty books on decorative arts is Director of the Museum of American Folk Art. Museum Curator Elizabeth Warren, is curator of the exhibition "Young America:' Presented by the Museum of American Folk Art and supported by a generous grant from the IBM Corporation, the exhibition, based on the book, will be presented at the IBM Gallery of Science and Art, Madison Avenue and 56th Street, New York City, from September 30 through November 15, 1986.

The following roundtable interview was conducted by Didi Barrett, Editor of The Clarion.

DB Let's begin with how Young America came to be.

IL I guess it was five years ago that I first talked to Bob about this project. It was one of the ideas in a little notebook I've kept for more than thirty years. My original idea was a primer of pioneer life in America — a picture book showing life and customs in early America through masterpiece examples of folk art.

DB Bob, what did you think of the project?

RB I thought it would be great to put folk artists into a social and historical context — to show how they served their community. This had never been done before.

DB What findings did this new perspective reveal?

EW A number ofthings come forward when you look at these folk artists as a group. One that really hit me was the great number who were immigrants, particularly German. Another was their motivation. Besides the professional portrait painters, there were all these people who were fanners, sign painters, house painters and other things, who still found time to express themselves as artists. Often their inspiration came from right outside their window. Their town itself was a great inspiration. You see photographers and painters recording the changes and developments in their town.

JL I'd like to add to what Bob and Liz have said by saying that it's amazing that this kind of project has not been done before since this really is the history ofour country. In the period that Young America covers[from the Revolution to World War I], the population was largely rural. Folk art was the mainstream. These works are absolutely at the core of our social history.

DB Were these folk artists part ofthe society they were recording or were they observers?

EW Probably both, but they were dealing with art as part of everyday life, not as a remote intellectual process.

DB Jean, does this project reflect any changes in your attitude from when you first began writing on folk art?

JL Yes. I've made a major change in my critical definition ofthe American primitive. In 1942 I made the point that it is the style that is the thing, not the subject matter. That, however. was a Forties and Fifties point of view. It was a time when the abstract expressionist painters were emerging in this country.

Style was what counted; not subject matter. In the interim I've totally changed my mind. From the folk artists' point of view subject matter was of utmost importance and to dismiss it was a very poor idea. It's the combination of style and subject matter that counts; neither one is incidental.

RB One ofthe issues that has come out ofthis project for me is the realization that there are really very few remarkable examples of folk art. We've been deluded by our enthusiasm for attribution of a particular work of art to embrace the whole body of work by that artist. This really struck me while looking through so much mediocre material to select pieces of high quality for this exhibition.

DB I am curious about why subjects like photography and American Indian art are included in Young America after not having been accepted as folk art before.

JL It isn't a question of not being accepted; that implies rejection. It just did not come to anybody's attention. A great many years ago,there were all sorts ofcategories that had not come to anyone's attention as folk art. Painted furniture is another example.

EW To me, the folk photographer is really no different from the folk portrait painter in terms of a professional artist going out to make a living and in the process sometimes creating art.

RB What's so remarkable is how the folk aesthetic — composition, design and execution — is carried forward from folk painting to folk photography. You see the same artistic process and the same visual result.

DB Finally, what is the significance of the dates of this project — the years between those two major wars?

JL The period seemed to be characterized by something that could be called an age of innocence. It was an age of exploration and enthusiasm for all the potential of the future.

That spirit was captured and personalized by the folk artists of the period, and they went on to produce much of the work we now consider to be the greatest works of American folk art.

41

Crfel

CRAZY PATCFIWORK A Victorian Mania

Cleveland-Hendricks Political Crazy Quilt; Artist unknown;Silks, satins, velvets; Circa 1885; 763/s x 76/ 3 4inches; Museum ofAmerican Folk Art, Gift ofMargaret Cavigga

by Judith Reiter Weissman Exactly when or where crazy patchwork originated is still unclear, and probably its exact origins will never be uncovered. What is clear is that Ruth Finley, who wrote in 1929 that crazy quilts were the oldest known pattern, created a long-standing myth that quilt 42

researchers have only recently been able to disprove with solid evidence to the contrary.

Crazy quilts (though usually not quilted, they continue to be called quilts) and the great variety of other crazy patchwork objects â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from table

scarves to wall pockets â&#x20AC;&#x201D; were first made in the 1880's, and to date no documented piece using this technique exists from before 1882. The word crazy, while it is sometimes used to describe the random nature of the variously shaped pieces, also refers to the

result which will in some cases challenge comparison with any richly stained glass:" Only two years later, however, in September 1884, Harper's carried an article titled "Crazy Work and Sane Work" that criticized women for wasting their time on "the busy idleness [that] has been made to seem improving": "The makers of 'crazy patchwork' seem to have eaten of the insane root that takes the reason prisoner. Their countless stitches and ugly ingenuity appear to them the fit expression of aesthetic instincts, and they give thanks that they live in the cultivated age which ornaments its whisk-

Courtesy of Cooper-Hewitt Museum Library

patchwork's resemblance to the kind of irregular crazing or crackling found on certain types of ceramics.

The first use of the word crazy, to describe a random, asymmetrical pattern in needlework was in the Cultivator and Country Gentleman in 1878. It referred to an embroidered canvas cushion, to be passed among friends.

Each would invent and embroider her own design, and when it was finished it was returned to its owner. As the article suggested, "You will think it a 'crazy' cushion indeed:" By 1879 Peterson's Magazine, a competitor of Godey's Lady's Book, and like Godey's, read by large numbers of women, noted: "There is a new work which consists of scraps of all kinds being appliquĂŠd on to serge, and ornamented with colored silks, in imitation of Eastern work. . . If the pieces of cloth are large enough, cut them in squares, and work a flower in crewels or silks in each:'' Crazy patchwork reached its peak in the late 1880's, and continued to be made until about 1900-1910. The most elaborate work, so ornamented with intricate embroidery that the fabric itself was hardly visible, was much less common,however, in the later decades.

Near the end of the period crazy quilts were more likely to be of wool or cotton than silks and velvet, had fewer patches, and little or no embroidery.'

While the broader popularity of crazy patchwork continued for close to thirty years, the enthusiasm of high style magazines like Harper's Bazar was much shorter lived. In September 1882, the magazine gave the new technique the highest praise: "In the old calico quilts the design was commonly very stiff, and the colors rarely chosen with any eye to effect.

Now we are very daring, we go boldly on without any apparent design at all, and produce in the end a

According to the 1889 book Needle and Brush: Useful and Decorative, by John Q.Reed(Metropolitan ArtSeries,Butterick Publishing Co.,NY), an old chair could be rejuvenated with a new coat ofpaint and a crazy covering. broom holders. RAPHAEL and LEONARDO would never have thought of that!'

At the same time, however, and into the 1890's, Harper's continued to carry in its back pages large numbers of advertisements for books, patterns, instructions, and packages of silk and

satin for use in crazy patchwork.

If the question of dating the first appearance of this fad is hard to answer, pinpointing the reasons that it occurred at all is even more difficult. Several theories of origin have been proposed.

While no one theory seems able to thoroughly account for the emergence of a type of quiltmaking that broke so strongly with the tradition preceding it, several theories taken together offer some sound ideas about the origins of this phenomenon that became a sort of mania, at least for a time, among fashionable women.

One theory, however, seems highly unlikely. Contemporary author, C.G. Perkins, writing in 1886 speculated that "it would not be an unreasonable supposition that it [crazy work] opened its eyes of origin in some of our asylums..."6 Whatever its origins, crazy work, once it emerged, must have appealed greatly to the prevailing taste, which tended to visualize all objects, arts and architecture as "potential collage or mosaic, subject to layering, encrustation, and ornamentation:" It is an apt description of crazy work at its height.

Several authors have suggested that Japan was a primary influence on the development of crazy patchwork. This makes sense, as the first Japanese objects to be seen by large numbers of Westerners in Europe and America were viewed at the 1862 International Exhibition in London and the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, several years before crazy work reached its height of popularity. The word "Japonisme:' coined in the 1870's, contemporaneously with these exhibitions, suggests the great influence of things Japanese on the Western world during this period.'

As Penny McMorris has pointed out, the influence of Japan on crazy work was both direct and indirect. The Japanese aesthetic is very different from 43

the Western one: asymmetry is preferred to symmetry;central perspective from a fixed viewpoint, a basic concept in Western art, is absent in Eastern art.

Broken planes and the separation of planes by a strong diagonal, as well as objects occurring across the field of vision are all uniquely Eastern. Additionally, the Japanese had developed "a compositional style in which the most disparate pictorial forms — circle, oval, fanshaped, double-circle, gourdshape,and the more usual rectangle and square — are used in conjunction, one format within another'9 Such a style might aptly describe the American crazy quilt.

A totally new aesthetic, one that influenced Western style in decoration and clothing, had an indirect influence on both needlework and other forms of decorative art. The frontispiece to Clarence Cook's influential decorating manual, House Beautiful, first published in 1878, displays Japanese fans prominently in a room setting that is itself a kind of crazy quilt of various styles of decoration and design. More directly, traditional Japanese motifs like storks, owls, and other birds, as well as dragonflies, insects, spider webs, butterflies, flowers, and fans(both folding and paddle-shaped) began appearing everywhere.

Fan painting became an amateur diversion as well as an art practiced by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet and Gauguin, and carrying a fan was requisite for fashionable ladies.'° While things Japanese were clearly much in vogue during the 1870's and '80's, it seems unlikely that they alone would have led to the creation of crazy patchwork in America.

Virginia Gunn, having examined thoroughly the late nineteenth century Art Needlework and Decorative Art Movements and the societies formed here on the English model, suggests another influence: "It is likely that 44

crazy quilts were a grass roots response to the decorative art movement . . .

Quiltmakers must have found the crazy quilt a perfect solution for imitating the fashionable trends and incorporating them into the quiltmaking process...[it was a] grassroots response to Aesthetic Movement fashions:" Much of the embroidery on crazy quilt patches is, in fact, done in the Outline, or Kensington stitch, a stitch favored by the Art Needlework movement. This would support Gunn's view that the principles of this movement somehow filtered down to influence quiltmakers in developing a type of quilt very different in concept from those made earlier.

This detail from the Cleveland-Hendricks Quilt shows the fan motif so prevalent in crazy patchwork.

If finding the origins of crazy work is difficult, seeing how its popularity grew is not. This phenomenon was the first of many to be spread by a form of mass media, the magazine. Hundreds of thousands of women read the most popular ladies' magazines; one copy was often shared by as many as ten women.

In its time, crazy work had tremen-

dous appeal, possibly because the maker could do her work any way she chose, thus allowing for a good deal of freedom in an age that restricted women in so many ways. Examining the "work-table" sections in Godey's and similar magazines reveals that, in fact, there were a good many rules offered about how to achieve the desired look of individuality and uniqueness: Women were instructed to "avoid many straight lines and repetition of form.. . Have [the scraps of silk] every odd shape you are able to devise, and all sizes, from pieces as large as a penny to those that would cover the palm of the hand:' Embroidering the patches was advised: "The whole can be so worked up if desired, even to crests and monograms, that it may be almost covered with embroidery, and become quite a work of art:"2 The variety of crazy work objects was as large as that of the fabrics that went into them: table covers and scarves, lambrequins (a kind of short valance to hang from a shelf or mantelpiece), piano covers, firescreens, throws, pillow covers, and tidies (to keep chair backs and arms clean).

Entire rockers were covered in crazy work and lap robes were thrown over the backs of living room chairs and sofas, to exhibit the homemaker's skill and taste. Some full-size bedcovers were made, but most crazy quilts are smaller than the earlier block style cotton quilts, which were made to be bedcovers to cover both the top and sides of a bed.

At the height of its vogue, crazy work must have become a kind of obsession with some women. At least one story and several poems of the period note the lengths to which women went to get free fabric scraps. Part of the fun was to get your silks and velvets by whatever means you could manage — without paying for them.

GYM

"The Career of a Crazy Quilt;'a story featured in the July 1884 Godey's Lady's Book is a satire about two women,one from Albany and one from Rochester, who decide to share the patches they gather to give each ofthem as many different fabrics as possible.

The story makes it clear that getting large pieces of one fabric was not the point at all; Marie in fact complains of an entire silk dress she is given — "all of one pattern!" and an ugly one at that.

Both girls visit the shops asking for free sample swatches. But, the shopkeepers have become wise to women who pretend to be choosing fabric for clothing or decorating, while really looking for free crazy patches. One merchant gives only "little mites of samples, and cuts button-holes in them, so that they are of no earthly use:' Heloise laments. Another pastes the fabric onto a cardboard, making it equally useless for crazy work. Marie is chastised by her "Papa" for cutting the rose-colored striped satin sleeve lining out of his Spring overcoat, which he had not, as she thought, discarded. She is also made to promise her fiancé that she will not go around "begging" men for their old silk neckties!'

The story, though light-handed — despite their bad behavior both young women end up with a crazy quilt and a husband — suggests that a good many women of a certain social class devoted an inordinate amount of time and energy to their quest for patches to do their crazy work.

While such women spent their time collecting a great variety of fabrics, others chose to work at creating a crazy quilt with a particular theme. Such was the case with the maker of a heavily embroidered silk crazy quilt recently given to the Museum of American Folk Art by Margaret Cavigga. Probably made about 1885, the quilt documents with political ribbons and other memorabilia the 1884 Presidential Campaign

The rooster in this detail of the ClevelandHendricks Quilt was once the symbol of the Democratic Party. It is one of many pieces of political memorabilia in this quilt.

and election of Grover Cleveland and his vice presidential running mate, Thomas A. Hendricks.

The quilt contains a number of lithographed silk ribbons including one rectangular one, probably from a campaign badge, that reads: "Democratic Barbecue at Ithaca, Nov. 20, 1884.

Marshal!' The quilt's large center square is gold silk, with a bright red

strutting rooster, a symbol used by the Democratic Party in the 1880's and 1890's. Another silk ribbon features two faces side by side, a smiling man beneath whom is the phrase "The Democratic Expression:' and a scowling man with the phrase "The Republican Expression!'

The rooster is surrounded by four small octagonal silk patches, at least two of which are portraits of Cleveland and Hendricks. Above the rooster is a shocking pink silk patch with the heads of both candidates, with Hendricks to the left of and slightly behind Cleveland.

The date "March 4th, 1885;' appears on a red silk ribbon and marks the Inauguration Day of the two victorious candidates. Also prominent, on a green silk patch, is Cleveland's famous slogan, "Public Office A Public Trust;' followed by "Turn the Rascals Out:' Both are written across a banner held in the beak of an eagle that stands on a shield of stars and stripes.

A typical Victorian crazy quilt in that it has large Japanese fans (one in each corner) and numerous embroidered floral sprays, this piece also makes a strong political statement, as evidenced by the number of campaign ribbons, slogans, and candidates' pictures. Such quilts, with political motifs, while not rare, are still somewhat unusual. Kathy Jung, in examining thirty-seven dated Victorian crazy quilts made between 1882 and 1910 found only two with political motifs," a fairly small percentage of the number she looked at.

Another example of crazy work from the Margaret Cavigga Collection from the Museum of American Folk Art illustrating the variety of pieces done in this technique is a small piece of crazy 2" x 25") with a wide white / work (311 lace border. Possibly its maker intended it for a table mat, but an article giving instructions for "Crazy Patchwork" in Godey's suggests that the piece might in 45

were American women's answer to the constrictions of the Victorian age' Judith Reiter Weissman is an Assistant Professor at New York University and coordinator of the NYU Graduate Program in Folk Art Studies. She is the co-author of the forthcoming Labours of Love: America's Textiles and Needlework (Knopf)to be published next Spring.

NOTES

Boxer Dog Crazy Patchwork Mat; Artist unknown; 1890-1910; Silk, velvet and lace with silk embroidery;31 x 24/ 1 4 inches; Museum ofAmerican Folk Art, Gift ofMargaret Cavigga

fact be a splasher, a cloth piece that hung over the rod at the back of a washstand to catch water as it splashed up. Godey's suggested: "A pretty splasher can be made by reproducing the design to the size required, tracing it on coarse white linen, and doing the work with colored silks. It should then be trimmed all around with lace, and the two upper corners ornamented with ribbon bows:"'

46

The Cleveland-Hendricks crazy quilt and the smaller splasher or mat, different in both form and use, suggest the great range of pieces that women created during the time when crazy work was all the rage. Despite its short lifespan, it seems to have filled a contemporary need in women's lives. As Sally Garoutte has noted: "Better then swooning, better than nervous breakdowns, better than gin or patent medicines, Crazy Quilts

1. Penny McMorris, Crazy Quilts (N.Y.: E.P. Dutton, 1984), p. 10.

As this author and others (including Sally Garoutte and Kathy Jung) have noted, the crazy cushion was discussed in two issues that year, Nov. 28 and March 28. Ms. McMorris notes that Carol Crabb was the first to note the November reference. I am grateful to both Penny McMorris and Virginia Gunn for discussing their research and opinions with me at length; both helped point me in new directions.

2. Peterson's Magazine, Nov. 1879, p. 406.

3. Kathy Jung documents this in her Master's Thesis, "A Documentation and Analysis of Dated Victorian Crazy Quilts:' University of Maryland, 1985,a copy of which she gave me access to.

4. "Patchwork:' Harper's Bazar [sic] "A Repository of Fashion, Pleasure, and Instruction:' Sept. 16, 1882, p. 583. Virginia Gunn cites this and other relevant articles in her excellent study, "Crazy Quilts and Outline Quilts: Popular Responses to the Decorative Art/Art Needlework Movement, 1876-18937 Uncoverings1984,(Vol. V), pp. 131-152.

5. Harper's Bazar, Sept. 13, 1884, p. 578.

6. Ladies Book on Art Embroidery in Silk, rev. ed. (N.Y.: M. Hemingway and Sons Silk Co., 1886), p. 64. Cited in Jung, p. 11.

7. Jung, p. 10.

8. For an extensive discussion of this, see Siegfried Wichmann, Japonisme: The Japanese Influence on Western Art in the 19th and 20th Centuries. New York: Park Lane, 1985.

9. Wichmann, pp. 10 and 224.

10. Wichmann, p. 162 11. Gunn, pp. 142 and 140.

12. "Mosaic Patchwork' Godey's Lady's Book (April 1883), p. 371.

13. Dulcie Weir, "The Career of a Crazy Quilt': Godey's (July 1884), pp. 77-82.

14. See Jung, p. 47 and Appendix A. 15. Godey's, July 1884, p. 96.

16. Sally Garoutte, "The Development of Crazy Quilts' Quitters' Journal, Vol. I, No. 5(Fall 1978), p. 15.

"Hands to work and hearts to God:' The private world of the Shakers at Sabbathday Lake—the only Shaker community still practicing the traditional folkways—intimately portrayed in words and more than 80 photographs(many in full color). Gerard C.Wertkin is Assistant Director of the Museum of American Folk Art and a noted student of Shaker tradition. Photographer Ann Chwatsky created the traveling exhibit of Shaker photos which this volume accompanies.

AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF THE COMMUNITY AT =-SABBATHDAY LAKE, MAINE

THE TOUR SEA50\5 ittior51-1A/E. LIrEitit

FOLK

W

A

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TS•F

AITH

GLRARD C. WLRTKIN PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANN CHWATSKY

A FIRESIDE BOOK

Published by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York 10020

CARVED POWDER HORNS Indigenous to North America and one of our earliest art forms RARE ANTISLAVERY POWDER HORN Antislavery movements grew rapidly during the 18th century in both England and North America. In 1787 the Northwest Ordinance forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory and, by that time, most of New England had made similar restrictions. Also in 1787 Josiah Wedgwood portrayed a kneeling African in chains in a famous cameo.

And in 1802, in Lisbon, Connecticut, DANIEL READ depicted three shackled slaves followed by a whip-brandishing overseer on this exceedingly rare and profusely carved powder horn (18" long).

GUTHMAN AMERICANA Mail:P.O. Box 392 Westport, Conn. 06881 By appointment only (203)259-9763

PATRICIA ADAMS ANTIQUES Box 959 Evanston, Illinois 60202 Phone:312-869-6296

Specializing in 18th & 19th century American furniture, paintings,folk art and antiquejewelry.

AMERICAN CAST IRON WINDMILL WEIGHTS List available upon request.

48

Large cast iron horse weathervane with exceptional patina. 38" x 28':

New York City

By appointment (212) 249-8484

AMERICAN ANTIQUES 390 BLEECKER ST. NEW YORK(.11 Y 10044 212-6949418

49

Ames Gallery features American folk art & artifacts.

Concurrent with the changing exhibits, our extensive collection of tramp art, cookware, quilts, contemporary folk painting, and sculpture are always on view.

For current exhibit information, hours, or for an appointment, phone us or write to: Ames Gallery 2661 Cedar Street Berkeley, CA 94708 415 845-4949

AMES•GALLERY

t Tita (..cins

•

-•

;.•:.151;:te' Andrew Block Bruce Brice David Butler Henry Darger Rev. Howard Finster Clementine Hunter O.W."Pappy" Kitchens Popeye Reed Nellie Mae Rowe James "Son Ford" Thomas Mose Tolliver Bill Traylor Fred Webster Chief Willey Luster Willis Estate of Charles Hutson and others

•

9 DI-• „5-Ctt; R? 1P,1% 4.ota DA. pp,elkk or‘i1KyloVot , .ISI*111 c 0.1 rt.ttr V%Nq",,Gt re.,

/

REV. HOWARD FINSTER (1916.

"Road to Eturenty," original lithograph, 1985 edition of 100, 22" x 28"

1

GASPERI FOLK ART GALLERY 831 St. Peter Street• New Orleans, LA 70116•(504)524-9373

50

EPSTEIN/POWELL 22 Wooster St., New York,N.Y. 10013

By Appointment(212)226-7316

Jesse Aaron Steve Ashby Peter Charlie William Dawson Antonio Esteves Howard Finster Victor Joseph Gatto Clementine Hunter S.L. Jones Justin McCarthy Sister Gertrude Morgan Inez Nathaniel Old Ironsides Pry Nellie Mae Rowe Jack Savitsky Mose Tolliver Luster Willis and others

Antonio Esteves 1910-1985 (oil on board, 32x24")

ELIAS GETZ GALLERY

By Appointment (516)653-9612

"Napoleon and his Girlfriend:

by Andrea Badami. 1969. oil on riltIVilti. 355:34".

51

GM

BOOK REVIEWS

SHAKER DESIGN

by June Sprigg 228 pages, 140 full-color photographs.

Whitney Museum of American Art in association with W.W. Norton & Co. Publication made possible by United Technologies Corporation. $40.00 hardcover, $20.00 softcover June Sprigg's Shaker Design is a colorful record of the exhibition of the same name presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art this summer and now in Washington, D.C., at The Corcoran Gallery of Art. In providing excellent full-color illustrations of more than one hundred Shaker objects, including furniture in a wide variety offorms,small crafts, industrial arts and watercolors, the volume offers a graphic survey of Shaker design. All previous studies of Shaker design have been limited almost exclusively to half-tone illustrations; the color illustrations provided here offer a new dimension. Substantially all of the book's photographs are by Paul Rocheleau who has made Shaker design a particular emphasis of his work. His photographs not only enhance the spare and lean, but warm and elegant nature of the Shaker objects shown, but invite us to look at these objects in ways that emphasize their design.

Although Shaker Design provides a first look at many of these objects in full color, there are few surprises. Indeed, at least 85 percent of the objects presented are wellknown favorites which have been widely exhibited or published. (Thomas N. Armstrong's introductory comment that over half of the objects are presented here for the first time is simply not borne out by the facts.)

In Shaker Design, June Sprigg continues the work that she began in Shaker, the catalogue for her 1985 exhibition at The Katonah Gallery. Almost all the objects included in the Katonah exhibition and publication are presented again in Shaker Design, with an accompanying text that is virtually unchanged. Although the material deserves the wider currency that inclusion in a major museum catalogue will bring to it, those who seek new information here will be disappointed.

Some years ago John Kouwenhoven observed that Shaker furniture is related more closely to the "vernacular of the machine" 52

characteristic of American design in the industrial era than to what the "antiquaries" call the "folk arts!' Kouwenhoven's perceptive comments are given support by Sprigg's presentation in Shaker Design. There is nothing "naive" or "primitive" about these Shaker creations; they are highly refined and well balanced,exceptionally well suited for their purposes and notable for their lack of surface ornamentation. But if there is little decoration, there is still a special charm that comes from the warmth of their natural wood-tones, or subtle earth-colored paint or stains, and the idiosyncrasies that arise from having been designed for a very specific use and place. The balanced but unsymmetrical arrangement of drawers in a fine Enfield, Connecticut cupboard; the subtle splay of the legs and curved leaf support of an outstanding cherry table from New Lebanon, New York; or the intricate twilled bottom of a woven ash basket testify to the skill of craftsmen and women who were freed by their communal environment to seek perfection in their work. Their attainment is well illustrated in Shaker Design.

June Sprigg's text is gracefully written and sufficiently descriptive if not without an occasional error. No attempt at a comprehensive analysis of the subject is intended, but Shaker Design does provide an excellent introduction to an important aspect of American creativity. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Gerard C. Wertkin

Pair of Shaker Side Chairs; Canterbury, NH; 1840-1850; Maple, replacement cane seats; 407A x 18/ 1 4 x 13/ 1 4"; Private collection. The number "18" is stamped on the top leftfront post ofeach chair.

SPIRIT OF NOVA SCOTIA: TRADITIONAL DECORATIVE FOLK ART 1780-1930

by Richard Henning Field 211 pages Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax; Published by Dundern Press, Toronto and London, 1985 Spirit of Nova Scotia is a title of both an exhibition and its accompanying catalogue.

The curator and editor, Richard Henning Field, has defined traditional decorative folk art in terms of time span and content.

The "traditional" period is the nineteenth century, give or take a few decades at either end, and the twentieth century product is "contemporary folk art!'In his view, it is the "cultural artifact" which is truly folk art, and if community values are not expressed, it really isn't folk art at all.

The exhibition fleshes out this rather limited, bare bones approach with examples from the following categories: textiles (mats, quilts, coverlets, samplers); sculpture (decoys and marine-related objects primarily); paintings and drawings (portraits of people, ships, places); and decorated utilitarian objects (boxes, crooked knives, powderhorns, gameboards and incidental furnishings). Each category is introduced by a brief statement by Mr. Field, a transplanted American trained in archaeology, followed by brief erudite essays by experts in each area.

Fortunately, the essayists were not limited

by Mr. Field's approach to folk art, and they have created a really good read. For example, Scott Robson's "Textiles in Nova Scotia" gives a clear, comprehensive view of the needs, tastes and skills of settlers in the early part of this century. Incidentally, this is one of the only essays where the dreary photographs are adequate illustrations, since the strength of the patterning in the rugs and blankets conquers the gray backgrounds.

In "The Traditional Folk Arts of Lunenburg County': authors Terry Kobyashi and Michael Bird explain the differences between Pennsylvania and later Ontario German groups in terms of both development and influences from the outer culture. They note that, "Apart from cabinetmakers, no Germanic tradition of professional craftsmen has been identified to date in Lunen-

BOOK REVIEWS

burg County, which had no weavers, potters or fraktur practitioners!' The retention of traditional folk art patterns, as a result, becomes that much more interesting. Unfortunately, most objects pictured are what Kobyashi and Bird call the "made-at-home" variety, and although much of the work is attractive there are few brilliant examples of the traditional forms.

It's unusual to find a catalogue where the text outshines the visual images, but in general, it is the text which creates the few moments ofexcitement to be found in Spirit ofNova Scotia. The superlative captions in the catalogue give all the standard information — title, location, dimensions, materials, artist and date — as well as brief biographies of the artists when possible, provenance, description of image depicted, exhibition history and physical structure.

The most obvious shortcoming is the omission either by error or design, of that

material which many of us know as folk art.

For example, although I certainly couldn't ask for better, more sparkling essays than those on painting, particularly the Eric Ruff piece on ship portraiture, nothing is said about folk painting inspired by outside sources, such as the fabulous canvas by Edward Jost entitled "Ulysses!' Is this great painting too "idiosyncratic" for inclusion?

I can think of several other well-known masterworks in several categories of Nova Scotian folk art that could have been included. I will note, however,just one more personal argument with the curator's selective process, which has to do with a major category of vital cultural and material historical importance: Where's the furniture of Nova Scotia from 1780 to 1930? Only three footstools of no distinction, one lovely desk, a nice chair, a plant stand and some blanket chests are shown. What's more, they are included in the section on"Decora-

ted Utilitarian Objects!' along with six "Sailors' Valentines': Afro-Caribbean in origin(and non-traditional in every sense). The wonderfully refmed, spare, wooden furniture of Cape Breton Island, however, is missing. Surely,the finely-graduated legs of essentially seventeenth century pieces constitute a distinctive feature which might interest the material historian.

Finally, we are informed in no uncertain terms by Field's introductory essay that seven distinct ethnic strains created the early Nova Scotian"mosaic!'but we are shown no specific evidence in the material culture?

Ultimately, Spirit of Nova Scotia is disappointing. Although it obviously represents a notable effort, I suspect that a certain theoretical parochialism has relegated the beauty, depth and crispness of the true spirit of Nova Scotia too far into the background to make this effort the real achievement it — Ben Apfelbaum might have been.

BEN EDUCE & LOZELL 388 BLEECKER ST., NYC 10014, 212 645-5037

Train, whirligig ca. 1920's, 26" long

FOLK ART • GRAPHIC TEXTILES • UNUSUAL FURNITURE 53

Carved Pine Pig, 32"x14½"

FOLK ART GALLERY 1187 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10028 (Between 80th & 81st Streets) (212) 628-5454

219 King Avenue

Columbus, Ohio

Elijah Pierce Popeye Reed Stoney St. Clair Birdie Lusch Cher Schaffer Howard Finster

Mose Tolliver David Butler Justin McCarthy James "Son Ford" Thomas William Dawson Luster Willis

43201

Twentieth Century Outsider and Folk Art 54

614 • 294 • 7380

"Hunter Resting" Elijah Pierce circa 1972

MUSEUM NEWS

Benefit co-chairs Karen S. Schuster, left,and Cynthia 0 Afr # V.A. Schaffner with Di•: A• 11 rector Robert Bishop.

•

FALL ANTIQUES SHOW AT THE PIER Bank on the Museum of American Folk Art for the eighth annual opening night preview of the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier on Wednesday evening, October 22, 1986,from 6-10 p.m. The gala event to benefit the Museum of American Folk Art will be held at Pier #92 at the Hudson River and West 52 Street. Highlighting the festivities is a special Museum exhibition A PENNY SAVED: CHILDREN AND MECHANICAL BANKS made possible by a grant from American Express Company.

Tickets for the preview are $100 per person and include two re-admissions to the show. Patron tickets are $250 per person and include admission throughout the four days of the show and an autographed copy of the book Young America: A Folk-Art History co-authored by Jean Lipman, Elizabeth Warren and Robert Bishop. Tickets may be purchased through the Museum's administrative offices at 444 Park Avenue South, New York 10016, 212/481-3080.

The benefit committee co-chairmen are Museum Trustees Cynthia V.A. Schaffner and Karen S. Schuster; Walking Tour Chairmen are Davida Deutsch and Helaine Fendelman. The caterer for the buffet dinner is Howard's Gourmet Catering Company, Inc. Produced and managed by Sanford L. Smith and Associates, the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier has gained national recognition as the country's foremost American antiques show, with a full range of furniture, paintings and deco-

rative accessories from the late seventeenth century to the 1950s. This year country furniture — from rustic to formal — will be featured.

The exhibition A PENNY SAVED: CHILDREN AND MECHANICAL BANKS is curated by the noted collectors of antique banks Alvan and Claude Bisnoff. Originally designed to amuse children while encouraging thrift, these cast iron banks — dating from the 1860's to the 1930's — depict historical events, as well as characters from popular culture and children's literature. Amusing and whimsical, they are symbols of American frugality.

As part of the Museum's educational program, New York City school children will be invited to view the exhibition and attend a lecture-demonstration of the inner workings of a mechanical bank. If you care to participate or know of a school group who would be interested, please contact Carolyn Cohen, 212/481-3080.

The Fall Antiques Show at the Pier is open to the public from October 23 to 26, 1986. Hours are Thursday, October 23 through Saturday, October 25, from noon to 10 p.m. and Sunday, October 26 from noon to 6 p.m. Admission is $7.

A free shuttle bus runs between the Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shop at 62 West 50 Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues, opposite Radio City Music Hall) and the Passenger Terminal Pier continuously during show hours.

FOLKLINE The American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress and the American Folklore Society have instituted FOLKLINE, a twenty-four hour telephone information service covering noteworthy events and activities, as well as professional opportunities in the fields of folklife and folklore. Notices of grants, internships, and fellowships will be included.

FOLKLINE will be updated every Monday morning. Announcements should be sent to FOLKLINE,American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540. The FOLKLINE number is 202/287-2000.

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY New York University's Graduate Program in Folk Art Studies is offering three courses in the Fall semester; all of them are open by special arrangement to qualified students who are not currently enrolled in the program. Please contact Dr. Judith Weissman at 212/598-2410 for details. The courses will include: History of American Folk Art (Tuesday, 4:20-6:00 p.m.); American Folk Painting (Tuesday, 6:10-8:00 p.m.); and The Care, Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art (Thursday, 4:20-6:00 Rm.).

55

JssIallMaH

:5010q,1

MUSEUM NEWS

MUFFLED VOICES OPENING Hundreds of Museum members and invited guests were treated to a gala May opening, hosted by corporate sponsor PaineWebber,for the exhibition "Muffled Voices: Folk Artists in Contemporary America" at the PaineWebber Art Gallery. The ground-breaking exhibition of contemporary American folk art looks at the work of certain contemporary selftaught artists as modern heirs to the eighteenth and nineteenth century folk art tradition. Organized by guest curator Didi Barrett, Director of Publications of the Museum, the exhibition will run until September 12,1986.

"Muffled Voices" is the first of the Museum of American Folk Art's Exhibitions in Public Spaces which will continue throughout the building program.

56

Top row: Director Robert Bishop with PaineWebber's Monika Dillon and Monique Beudert; Harold Mamelok and Steven Katz with Guest Curator Didi Barrett.

Middle row:David Barrett with PaineWebber's Suzanne Gyorgy; Sculpture by Raymond Coins and Eva Feld; Leo and Dorothy Rabkin.

Left: Bob and Cynthia Schaffner, a Museum Trustee, with Hermine Mariaux and Director Robert Bishop.

JalUN U0101.1ED :0104d

MUSEUM NEWS

GIFT FROM THE FRIENDS "Clarion Angels Quilt" presented to the Museum of American Folk Art by the Friends Committee of the Museum. Designed by Kennetha Stewart and executed

by Marsha Evans Moore, this quilt commemorates the largest quilting event ever held by the Museum.

The Friends Committee is the volunteer arm of the Museum that raises funds and provides volunteers to staff openings and special events. One-hundred and forty volunteers worked over fivehundred hours before and during The Great American Quilt Festival held at the Pier. In addition, the silent auction held during the show was manned by the Friends volunteers.

The Friends are currently seeking enthusiastic and supportive new members. During this critical rebuilding period, volunteers will be working to aid the Museum in maintaining high visibility. For more information contact Cecilia Toth, 212/262-6283 during office hours.

THE GREAT AMERICAN QUILT FESTIVAL Antique and contemporary quilts from across the United States were proudly displayed at The Great American Quilt Festival, a Museum of American Folk Art event sponsored by Scotchguard brand products in honor of the Statue of Liberty Centennial. Held April 24 to 27,at Pier92in New York City,the event proved to be the most successful show of its kind, attracting nearly 25,000 people from the United States and abroad.

Exhibitions, a contest, and brisk sales highlighted the festival. According to Sanford L. Smith, Festival Manager, "One booth sold over 200 antique quilts, while another reported the sale of a $15,000 quilt:'

Top: Hawaii's First Lady, Jean Ariyoshi with Director Robert Bishop at Hawaii Night.

Above: "Today Show" weatherman Willard Scott shows his appreciationfor Elva Fisher's "Weather Quilt:'

QUERY FROM INDEX OF AMERICAN DESIGN The staff of the Index of American Design at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., is interested in hearing from anyone possessing material relating to this depression-era project. While the National Gallery was designated the permanent home of the Index of American Design when the project ended in the early 1940s, certain materials remained in the participating states and are now in the possession of local institutions. As

the principal repository of watercolor renderings and supporting research and documentary material from the project, they are interested in learning details concerning any Index-related material in other collections to aid in research.

Please send all information to: Laurie Weitzenkorn, Assistant Curator, Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 20565.

57

G92

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Executive Committee Ralph Esmerian President Frances Sirota Martinson, Esq. Executive Vice President Lucy C. Danziger Vice President Karen S. Schuster Secretary George E Shaskan, Jr. Treasurer Judith A. Jedlicka Margery G. Kahn Theodore L. Kesselman Susan Klein

Members Mabel H. Brandon Catherine G. Cahill Karen D. Cohen Daniel Cowin Barbara Johnson, Esq. Alice M. Kaplan Jana Klauer William I. Leffler Cyril I. Nelson Cynthia V.A. Schaffner Kathryn Steinberg

Bonnie Strauss Maureen Taylor Helene von Damm-Guertler Robert N. Wilson Trustees Emeritus Mary Allis Adele Earnest Cordelia Hamilton Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr. Louis C. Jones Jean Lipman

DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE Frances S. Martinson Chairman Mary Black Gray Boone David Davies

Howard M. Graff Lewis I. Haber Phyllis Haders Barbara Kaufman Robert Meltzer

George Meyer Paul Oppenheimer Alfred R. Shands, III Hume R. Steyer

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL Jeanne R. Kerr, Vice President Corporate Contributions, Time Inc.

Robert M. Meltzer, Chairman ofthe Board, Miami-Carey Corporation

Dee Topol, Manager, Shearson/Lehman American Express Inc. Contributions Program

Marian Z. Stern, Assistant Vice President, Community Programming, Chemical Bank

CURRENT MAJOR DONORS

The Museum of American Folk Art thanks its current major donors for their generous support:

Over $20,000 Judi Boisson Mr.& Mrs. Frederick M. Danziger 58

Mrs. Eva Feld Estate of Morris Feld Margery G. Kahn Foundation Krikor Foundation Tarex *IBM Corporation Mary Kettaneh Laura Ashley, Inc. Jean and Howard Lipman

Joseph Martinson Memorial Fund National Endowment for the Arts New York State Council on the Arts *PaineWebber Group Inc. *JC Penney *Philip Morris Incorporated *Scotchguard Brand Products *Shearson/Lehman American Express Inc. *United Technologies Corporation

CURRENT MAJOR DONORS

Estate of Jeannette B. Virgin Mrs. Dixon Wecter *The Xerox Foundation

$10,000-$19,999 Mr. & Mrs. Peter Cohen Adele Earnest Margery & Harry Kahn Philanthropic Fund Ira Howard Levy Frances Sirota Martinson, Esq. Mr. & Mrs. George Shaskan Mr. & Mrs. Robert Steinberg Barbara and Thomas W. Strauss Fund

$4,000-$9,999 Amicus Foundation *Bankers Trust Company The Bernhill Fund *Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. *The Clokeys Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Edgar M. Cullman Colonel Alexander W. Gentleman *International Paper Company Barbara Johnson, Esq. Mrs. Ruth Kapnek Mr. & Mrs. Robert Klein Larsen Fund, Inc. *Lever Brothers Company *Mobil Corporation New York City Department of Cultural Affairs *Seligman & Latz, Inc. Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation, Inc. *Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., Inc. *Time Inc. The H.W. Wilson Foundation Norman & Rosita Winston Foundation

$2,000-$3,999 American Standard Graphics George & Frances Armour Foundation *Bristol-Myers Fund Catherine G. Cahill *Celanese Corporation *Chemical Bank *The Coach Farm Joseph F. Cullman 3rd *Exxon Corporation *Grace Foundation *Grumman Corporation *Gulf + Western Foundation *Institutional Investor *Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies *Manufacturers Hanover Trust *Marsh & McLennan Companies Christopher & Linda Mayer

Helen R. & Harold C. Mayer Foundation *McGraw-Hill, Inc. *Metropolitan Life Foundation *Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York *Morgan Stanley & Co., Incorporated *New York Telephone Company *Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation Marguerite Riordan *The Rockefeller Group, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Safra Robert T. & Cynthia V. Schaffner *Schlumberger Foundation, Inc. Mrs. Richard T. Taylor Vista International William Wiltshire III Robert N. Wilson

$1,000-$1,999 *American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Anonymous *The Bank of New York *Bill Blass, Ltd. *Chesebrough-Pond's Inc. *Citibank, N.A. *Con Edison The Joyce & Daniel Cowin Foundation Inc. *Culbro Corporation *Daily News *Echo Design Group John L. Ernst Mr. & Mrs. Walter B. Ford II Emanuel Gerard Justus Heijmans Foundation *Hilton International Judith A. Jedlicka Theodore L. Kesselman Susan Kudlow *Macy's New York Robert & Betty Marcus Foundation, Inc. Marstrand Foundation Estate of Myron L. Mayer Meryl & Robert Meltzer *Nestle Foods Corporation *The NL Industries Foundation, Inc. *The New York Times Company Foundation, Inc. Geraldine M. Parker *Polo/Ralph Lauren Leo & Dorothy Rabkin *RCA *The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. *Restaurant Associates Industries, Inc. Mrs. Dorothy H. Roberts Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III Jon & Sue Rotenstreich Foundation Rev. & Mrs. Alfred R. Shands III Mrs. Joel Simon Arman & Louise Simone Foundation Mrs. Vera W. Simmons Philip & Mildred Simon Robert & Kathryn Steinberg

H. van Ameringen Foundation Helene von Damm-Guertler David & Jane Walentas Robert N.& Anne Wright Wilson

$500-$999 American Stock Exchange The Bachmann Foundation, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Frank Barsalona David C. Batten Edward J. Brown Colgate-Palmolive Company The Dammann Fund, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Richard Danziger Mr. & Mrs. James DeSilva, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Deutsch Marion and Ben Duffy Foundation Richard C.& Susan B. Ernst Foundation Jacqueline Fowler The Charles U. Harris Living Trust Joyce & Stephen Hill Jana K. Klauer Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Lauder Wendy & Mel Lavitt William I. Leffler Helen E.R. Luchars Mainzer Minton Co., Inc. Manhattan Life Insurance Robin & William Mayer Louis Newman â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in Memory of Paul Roberts Smith Gallery Sotheby's Robert C. & Patricia A. Stempel Robert W.& Marillyn B. Wilson

The Museum is grateful to the Co-Chairwomen of its Special Events Committee for the significant support received through the Museum's major fund raising events chaired by them.

Cynthia V.A. Schaffner Karen S. Schuster

*Corporate Member 59

OUR INCREASED MEMBERSHIP CONTRIBUTIONS November-June, 1985-86

We wish to thank the following members for their increased membership contributions and for their expressions of confidence in the Museum: Marshall Acuff, Riverside, CT Alice K. Adesman, New York, NY Morris J. Alhadeff, Renton, WA Paul Anbinder, New York, NY Helen Andrews, Hoboken, NJ Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge Arnold, Greenwich, CT Lee Ann Aukamp, Wilmington, DE Dan Bailey, New York, NY Ivan Barnett, Stevens, PA Martha L. Bass, El Paso, TX Ruth M. Boyer, Walnut Creek, CA Mr. and Mrs. Edwin C. Braman,St. Paul, MN Michael Braun, New York, NY Pearl Brooks, Bronx, NY Sheila Brummel, Roslyn Heights, NY John W. Calkins, Waban, MA W.B. Carnochan, Stanford, CA Audrey and Jerome Chatzky, Scarsdale, NY Melba Chodosh, Hillside, NJ Lewis and Dorothy Cullman, New York, NY Mrs. W.J. Davies, New York, NY Lenahan De Rouin, New York, NY Barbara and Aubrey De Souza, New York, NY Harvey Denkin, Putnam Valley, NY Kay J. Denton, Aspen,CO R.K. Descherer, New York, NY Mr. and Mrs. Albert Efron, Staten Island, NY Robert E. Eichler, Southwest Harbor, ME Sharon Eisenstat, Summit, NJ John L. Ernst, New York, NY Howard A. Feldman, Bethlehem,PA Howard P. Fertig, Livingston, NJ Enid and Alexander Fisher, New York, NY Harry R. Fowler, Washington, PA Jacqueline Fowler, Stamford, CT Carol Freidus, New York, NY Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Friedlich, New York, NY

Mrs. K. Evan Friedman, New York, NY Daniel M.Gantt, New York, NY Alex Gerrard, E Sussex, England Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Gilbert, Jt, Ft. Lauderdale, FL Mrs. and Mrs. Charles Goodyear, Darien, CT Mr. and Mrs. John Greenberger, Buffalo, NY Fred and Judith A. Guido, Jr., Pelham Manor, NY David Gwinn,Gladwyne,PA Mrs. Jimmie D. Harrington, Ft. Worth,TX Eileen Harris-Norton, Santa Monica,CA Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Heerdt, Pound Ridge, NY Richard Helphand, Glendale, CA Leon Henry, Jr,Scarsdale, NY Mr. and Mrs. Reid Higgins, Cotuit, MA Joyce and Stephen Hill, New Canaan, CT Irene K. Hoffman, Erie,PA G. William Holland, Philadelphia, PA David Horowitz, Los Angeles, CA Mr. and Mrs. John C. Horvitz, New York, NY Mr. and Mrs. David S. Howe, New York, NY Nancy R. Jones, Duxbury, MA Dr. and Mrs. Arthur E. Kahn, New York, NY rk and Mrs. Arthur B. Kern,Providence, RI Dr. and Mrs. S. Kleeman, Middletown, NY Romany Kramaris, Sag Harbor, NY A. Kruger and C. Quealy, New York, NY Susan C. Kudlow, Washington, DC Joan and Milton Kurz, Lawrence, NY Ann C. Lapham, Brooklyn, NY Patricia Lauder, Darien, CT Jerome and Susan Lauren, New York, NY Mr. and Mrs. William E. Laverty, Brooklyn, NY Mr. and Mrs. Donald Levine, New Canaan, CT Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth C. Lewis, New York, NY Walter P. Lewisolm, Dorset, VT Susan Liebling, Mt. Vernon, ME Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence R. Ludwig, Haddonfield, NJ Mr. and Mrs. Robert Marcus, Palm Beach, FL Ruth W. Marcus, Mamaroneck, NY

George H. Meyer, Birmingham, MI Ben Mildwoff, New York, NY Pierson K. Miller, Carlisle, PA David Miller, Jr., Marietta, GA Peter and Marilyn Mulcahy, Lumberville,PA Emilie Myers, Riverside, CT Mrs. Stanley Newhouse, Scarsdale, NY Linda Lee Ominsky,Philadelphia, PA Mrs. H. Oppenheimer, Johannesburg, South Africa Donna D. Owen,Garden City, NY Mr. and Mrs. Leo Rabkin, New York, NY Mrs. Bert Reisman, Westport,CT Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Rose, New York, NY Frederick G. Ruffner, Jr, Detroit, MI Sudee Sanders, Haddonfield, NJ Jean P. Schoales, New York, NY Gertrude Schweitzer, Colts Neck, NJ Dorothy Serdenis, New York, NY Frederic and Jean Sharf, Chestnut Hill, MA Mrs. Thomas H. Shartle, Jr., Montezuma, NM Miriam Silverman, New York, NY Mrs. W.E. Simmons, Grosse Pte. Farms, MI Mrs. Lawrence M.C. Smith, Philadelphia, PA Stephanie Snyder, Los Angeles, CA Richard and Stephanie Solar, New York, NY Mrs. James R. Squire, Lincoln, MA Dr. Michael Steinberg, Lincoln Park, MI James Sutherland, Cincinnati, OH Mrs. Luther L. Terry, Philadelphia, PA Judith R. Tishman, New York, NY Beverly Voytko, Ramsey, NJ Paul and Jeanette Wagner, New York, NY Ronald A. Walter, Roosevelt Island, NY Eugene J. Walter, Jr., Ilickahoe, NY Mrs. Dixon Wecter, San Francisco, CA Harold and Judith Weissman, New York, NY Mr. and Mrs. John Wezmar, New York, NY Mrs. Willard Wirtz, Washington, DC Dr. Lewis Wright, Midlothian, VA Mrs. Robert Yallum, Lake Katrine, NY Merilyn Zarlengo, New York, NY

OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP November-June, 1985-86

The Museum Trustees and Staff extend a special welcome to these new members: M.C. Aaron, Memphis,TN Rena W. Abelmann, Cambridge, MA Margery Ablon, Lloyd Harbor, NY 60

Nancy Wehle Aboff, Huntington, NY Susan F. Achenbach, Flint Hill, VA Molly Adams, Summit, NJ R. Adkisson, Salt Lake City, UT Cynthia A. Aiello, New York, NY Nancy W. Alexander, Santa Barbara, CA Barbara 0. Allen, Atlanta, GA

Barbara Allen, Dallas, TX Helen M. Allen, Forest Hills, NY Dr. Kitty Jacob Allen, Easton, CT Alice Alper, New York, NY Simeon S. Amon, Larchmont, NY Dawn Amos, Rapid City, SD Ann Anasyasio, Livermore, CA

E75

OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP

Deborah Melton Anderson, Columbus,OH Janet Anderson, Charlottesville, VA Lena E. Anderson, Dallas, TX Darlene Ross Anger, San Juan Baut, CA Curt Angstman, Matthews, NC Sandy Anouna, S. Orange, NJ Beth Ansley-Dixson, Winston-Salem, NC Ben Apfelbaum, New Rochelle, NY Lawrence & Natalie Appel, New York, NY Madeline Appell, Brooklyn, NY Janet Aronson, Coventry, CT Lauraine C. Arp, Bergenfield, NJ A. Louise Ashford, Salem, OR Evita Avery, San Antonio, TX Emil Aysseh, New Canaan, CT Debra Jane Bachner, New York, NY Patricia M. Baez, New York, NY Jan Bagley, Columbus,OH Vicki L. Bagley, Washington, DC Mary Bailey, El Paso, TX James Baker, Newport, RI Barbara H. Bale, Elkins Park,PA Jane Balenson, Piscataway, NJ Barbara W. Barber, Westerly, RI Linda C. Barclay, Baltimore, MD Donna Barnett-Albert, Lancaster, PA Shirley M. Barrett, Kalispell, MT Joan G. Bartolomeo, Brooklyn, NY R. Sylvia Barton, Hermosa Beach, CA Laura Bayon, New Orleans, LA Ellen Beach, La Jolla, CA R.H. Beaman, Grand Rapids, MI Cynthia A. Bell, New York, NY David P. Bendann, Jr., Baltimore, MD Bruce & Nancy Benson, Golden, CO Viola Bergstrom, Devil Lakes, ND Marcia Berman-Berberian, Winston-Salem, NC Mary B. Bernett, New York, NY Sybil Bernhard, Rochester, NY Judith Bernstein, Woodbridge, CT Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Berson, Mountain Lakes, NJ Nathan C. Best, Jackson, MS Elizabeth Betts, New York, NY Biblioteca d'Arte Castello, Milano, Italy lone Bissonnette, Richford, VT Lennie Black, Oxnard, CA Liz Blackman, Los Angeles, CA Susan Blanchard, New York, NY Milton J. Bloch, Charlotte, NC Jane Bolster, Berwyn, PA Mary Kay Boswell, Norman,OK Allan Boudreau, New York, NY Frances P. Bourdy, Santa Rosa, CA Kathleen Bourne, Mequon, WI Tom & Carol Boyd, Alexandria, VA Carolyn Boyle, Vernon, CT Nancy Brady, Colorado Springs, CO Helen Brandt, Westport, CT Henrietta M. Brannin, E. Williston, NY Jane Braverman, Leawood,KS Linda Wood Breisblatt, San Antonio, TX Mr. & Mrs. B.J. Brennan IV, Scarsdale, NY

Beverly Brigandi, Katonah, NY Kayla M.Briggs, Berkeley Hts., NJ British Library, York, England Carla Escoda Brooks, New York, NY Diane Brott Gallery, Camden, ME Julius Brown, O'Tallon,IL Mary Belden Brown, Goldens Bridge, NY Suzanne Warren Brown, Arkansas City, KS Margaret Barry Bryan,Dallas, TX Marjon Bryan, Houston, TX Jennifer Ann Burack, New York, NY Doreen C. Burbank, Windham, NH Fran M.Burns, Macon,GA Aldonna V. Butler, Kearny, NJ Barbara Thurman Butler, Marietta, GA Carol E. Butzke, Slinger, WI Joan Byalin, New York, NY Mrs. Albert Byecroft, Jupiter Inlet, FL Ruth T. Byrne, White Plains, NY Ernest Christopher Cadelago, San Francisco, CA Kathleen Calenda, Montvale, NJ Sarah Callander, New York, NY Moneca Calvert, Carmichael, CA Louise A. Cameron, St. Paul, MN Sophie Campbell, Paris, France Lois Campe, Larchmont, NY Eileen Cantor, Brooklyn, NY Deborah M. Carpenter, New York, NY Polly D. Carroll, Shoreham, NY Diana W. Castor, Horseheads, NY A. Catalano, Ozone Park, NY Elena Catalano, Ozone Park, NY ihschka Chapman, Miami, FL Barbara Fahs Charles, Washington, DC Cutler C. Charlton, Houston, TX Conrad F. Church, Andover, NY Dorothy Cichon, Atherton, CA Jane S. Cieply, Barrington,IL Elizabeth Ciesar, Fish Creek, WI Teresa Cinque, East Rockaway, NY David A. Clapp, Atlanta, GA Nancy Clark, Chatham, NJ Susanne V. Clark, Rancho Santa Fe, CA Patricia Clarkson, Toronto, Canada Dorothy Clayton, Valley Falls, NY Alice Cohen, New York, NY Paulette Cole, New York, NY Jane Colihan, New York, NY Gwen Collins, Guilford, CT Marion G. Collins, Santa Barbara, CA Dr. Robert C. Collins, St. Louis, MO William Conrad,Sherman Oaks,CA Ruth Carol Coombe, Edmonds, WA Edward & Nancy Coplon, New York, NY Dorothy A. Corbett, Westfield, NJ Patricia Brady Corbett, Brooklyn, NY Robert L. Corrigan, Annandale, VA Joan D. Couch, Loudonville, NY Lynn Couchenour, Latrobe,PA Country Peddler, Lexington, NC Anne Courtemanche-Ellis, Pelsor, AR Rosemarie C. Coyle, E. Farmingdale, NY

Pat Cozza, Hillsdale, NJ Mary F. Cravotta, Williamsville, NY Victoria T. Crawford, Enterprise, OR Mary Cross, Portland, OR Nancy Cunningham, llickahoe, NY Elaine Dailey, Morris Plains, NJ Elizabeth H. Dailinger, N. Branford, CT Margaret A. Daisley, Jamaica Estates, NY Judy B. Dales, Boonton Twnp., NJ Patricia H. Darif, Louisville, KY Joanne Davidow,Philadelphia, PA Rosalyn Davidson, Washington, DC Betty L. Davis, Auburn, WA Jane M. Davis, New York, NY Mrs. Keith Davis, Kansas City, MO Mrs. Kenneth Dawson, Bernardsville, NJ Jennie Dees, Atmore, AL Mrs. Jay Dehaven, Little Rock, AR Mrs. J. Dennis Delafield, New York, NY Adelaide Demenil, New York, NY Kathleen Dempsey, Stamford, CT Dorothy M. Depointe, W. Warwick, RI Terri DeSalvo-McCaffrey, S. San Francisco, CA Catherine C. DeWitt, Painesville, OH Mr. & Mrs. James DeWitt, Santa Monica, CA John Deyannond, Belwood, Canada Maria Dievler, Rego Park, NY Julie Ditnock, Champaign,IL David Dinkins, New York, NY Janet M. Dobson, Bradford, RI Bill W. Dodge, Cannel By Sea, CA Joy Doles, Wonder Lake,IL Roman C. Domszy, Lancaster, PA L.M. Dorsch, Epping, NH Nan Dorsen, Colorado Springs, CO Marilyn Dowart, Delray Beach, FL Joanne Downes, New York, NY Elizabeth Doyle, Lincolndale, NY Mrs. William J. Doyle, New York, NY Edie Drear, Solana Beach, CA Mr. & Mrs. Clay Drewes, New Orleans, LA Rosemary Drysdale, East Hampton, NY Margarett M.Dudley, Charlottesville, VA Margaret L. Duggan, Maitland, FL Mark Dunaway, Atlanta, GA Maureen Dunphy, Marietta, GA Judy Dyki, Bloomfield Hills, MI Pat Eberline, Boca Raton,FL Joan L. Eddy, Schenectady, NY Mary K. Eichelbaum, Manhattan Beach, CA Frances Eisner, New Rochelle, NY Barbara Elder, Bedford, MA Nancy L. England, Charlestown, MA Janean Ensign, New York, NY Bonnie Erickson, New York, NY Hillary Ervin, Waterville, ME Beatrice Esplin, Miami, FL Albert A. Evans, Franklin, MI Mary Evans,Ph.D., Irvington, NY Diane R. Fabeck, Manitou Springs, CO Mrs. Richard Faggioli, Watsonville, CA Gabriele V. Falger, Brooklyn, NY Jo Ann R. Fannin, Ottawa,IA 61

OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP

Samuel Farber, New York, NY Linda Farynk, Norfolk, VA Mr. & Mrs. Dwight E Faulkner, New York, NY Janette Faulkner, Berkeley, CA Eamon S. Fearon, Yonkers, NY Henry & Maria Feiwel, New York, NY Pete Felten, Hays, KS Marion Fenster, Madison, NJ Janet Fenton, Tarzana, CA John C. Fernsell, Wayland, MA Hazel Ferrell, Middlebourne, WV Jack W. Field, Franklin Park, NJ Gloria Fierverker, Kingston, PA Amy Finkel, Brooklyn, NY Monique Fiola, Oakland, ME Janey Fire, New York, NY David A. Fischer, Edina, MN Jacqueline Alfandari Fischer, New York, NY Sally Fischel, Bangor, ME Mrs. E.P. Fisher, White Plains, NY Patricia A. Fitzpatrick, Lombard,IL Joan Flasch, Chicago, IL Mr. & Mrs. Mark B. Florian, Brooklyn Hts., NY Anita Folkerth, Brooklyn, NY Natalie Folyk, New York, NY Marianne Fons, Winterset,IA Jane E. Fortmann, Nanuet, NY Mrs. James W. Fowler, Phoenix, AZ Jack Fox, Piedmont, CA Boss Francoise, Sevres, France Beverly Frank, New York, NY Julie French, Las Vegas, NV Kelsey Lavon French, Washington, DC Janet Frieberg, New York, NY Marion Friedman, Forest Hills, NY Helen Mary Friend, Honolulu, HI Friends for LI's Heritage, Old Bethpage, NY S. Fromer, New York, NY Vivian Frommer, Larchmont, NY Rose Mary Fry, San Antonio, TX Ina First, Riverdale, NY Adelaide Gaertner, Tyrone, PA Hideki Hayashi Galdcen, New York, NY Dora Galindo, Forest Hills, NY Donna Gallagher, Westerville, OH Robert Galvin, New York, NY Barry H. Garfinkel, New York, NY Dorothy Gargiulo, New York, NY Joan Garren, Cedarhurst, NY Bonnie Brooks Garrett, Chicago, IL Pat Garthoeffner, Wentzville, MO Marcella A. George, New York, NY Annie B. Byrnes Giblin, W. Gilgo Beach, NY Charles N. Gignillat, Jr., Spartanburg, SC Frances Gill, New York, NY Michele J. Glassburg, Philadelphia, PA Jeanne E. Glenfield, Westford, MA Dianne L. Goldman, Fairfield, CT Mr. & Mrs. Thomas S. Goodkind, New York, NY Sally Goodman, S. Dartmouth, MA Gail Gore, New York, NY 62

Stefanie Gore, Lake Charles, LA Frances Gorton, Wilmington, DE Janet J. Gough, Newburgh, MD Mrs. John P. Grady, New York, NY Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids, MI Melissa J. Grant, New York, NY Patricia Grant, New York, NY Suzanne Greene, New York, NY Elizabeth T. Griffiths, N. Chatham, MA Roberta Griffin, New York, NY Beverly Griggas, Madison, WI Susan Grill, Kingwood, TX Susan Grossman, Scarsdale, NY Carol Anne Grotrian, Quincy, MA Mrs. Ray J. Groves, New York, NY Gudrun Gruen, Zurich, Switzerland Jean P. Guevart, Toumai, Belgium William H.& Elizabeth Guthman, Westport, CT Mad Haas-Rubin, New York, NY Rosalind Hall, Douglaston, NY Ted Hammen, Roslyn, NY Leslie Handelman, Morris, CT Kate Hansen, New York, NY Marilyn Hansen, New York, NY Fredda Hardy, New York, NY Loy S. Harrel, Burlington, VT Averill Scott Harris, Great Neck, NY Eleanor Harris, Pearl River, NY Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Rockville, MD Peggie Lois Hartwell, New York, NY Jane Harvey, New York, NY Stephanie W. Hatch, Boxford, MA Marla Hattaba.ugh, Scottsdale, AZ Delia Haverly, New York, NY Debra Hecht, Forest Hills, NY Eli C. Hecht, Syosset, NY Ruth H. Heffron, Charleston, SC Hollis Heintz, Mt. Kisco, NY Terry B. Heled, New York, NY A. P. Henley, Brentwood,TN Mr. & Mrs. Terry Hermanson, New York, NY Donald F. Heubner, Mt. Prospect, IL Mary L. Hidden, Boston, MA Sherri Hieber-Day, Long Valley, NJ Elizabeth K. Hill, Brooklyn, NY Ann W. Hilliard, New York, NY Lea Hillis, Lee's Summit, MO Linda Hinchliffe, Higganum, CT Carol L. Hineline, Akron, OH Kit Hinrichs, San Francisco, CA Stuart Hodosh, Malibu, CA Patricia Hohenberger, Northport, NY Mr. & Mrs. G. Malcolm Holderness, New York, NY Anna C. Holland, Waterford, VA Sarah Rush Hook, New York, NY Thomas & Diana Hooton, Seattle, WA Judy Hopkins, Anchorage, AK Mary Kay Horn,Indianapolis, IN Roberta Mashuta Horton, Berkeley, CA Nan Houser, Chester, CT Katherine C. Howison, Canton, NY Kathy Hull, Piedmont, CA

Cindy Hume, Marysville, CA Stephen Hunecd, St. Johnsbury, CT James T. Hunt, Sonora, TX Terry M. Husher, Bedford, PA Madeline Y. Hutchinson, Allentown, NJ Mrs. Philip L. Iampietro, FranIclin Lakes, NJ Beth Ide, Belmont, NH Bonnie Heather Green Ietaka, Tuckahoe, NY Karen Imhoff, Painesville, OH Iowa State University, Ames,IA Laraine Isaac, Richmond, VA Stephanie Isaacs, Newton, MA James Israel, Glens Falls, NY Cheryl W. Jackson, Lexington, SC Julie Ann Jagemann, Milwaukee, WI Jennifer Jager, New York, NY Faith D. James, San Rafael, CA Sharon Jaycox, Brooklyn, NY Michael & Regina Jaye, North Easton, MA John Jeffords, Brooklyn, NY Sandra G. Jenkins, New York, NY Anne C. Jermusyk, Greenlawn, NY Gayle Jessar, Washington, DC Frances M. Jockel, Ridgefield Park, NJ Sharon W. Joel, Jacksonville, FL Robert D. Joffe, New York, NY Adrienne M. Johnson, Laconia, NH Edna Seaforth Johnson, Jamaica Plain, MA Kay Johnson, New York, NY Mary Johnson, Bloomfield, NJ Sheila Johnson, Brooklyn, NY Judith Ann Jones, Novato, CA Lee Judd, SW Harbor, ME Roberta E Kahn, Bronx, NY Barbara Karnmerzell, Phoenix, AZ Cheryl Kanne, St. Paul, MN Pat Karambay, Newington, CT Katmar Designs Inc., Holmes, NY Eugene Katz, New York, NY Florine Katz, New York, NY Mary Arnold Kaufman, New York, NY L. Kavanagh, Kenilworth,IL K. Kean, New York, NY Edie Keasbey, Patterson, NY Edward G. Kelley, Galena,IL Diane S. Kelly, Fairfield, CT Alyce K. Kennedy, Brea, CA Leigh Keno, New York, NY Timothy Keny, Colombus, OH Langley Kenzie, Derby, NY Y. M. Kirin, Bethesda, MD Kathryn Kim, Montclair, NJ Nina Kincaid, Woodstock, NY Helen King, Cave Creek, AZ Diana Kinoy, Brooklyn, NY K. E. S. Kirby, Washington, DC Kirchoff/Wohlberg Inc., Madison, CT Erma H. Kirkpatrick, Chapel Hill, NC Dr. Carol ICnobelman, Stamford, CT Fritz Knuf, Buren, Holland Mrs. L. W. Koenig, Garden City, NY Mr. & Mrs. Michael Kokin, Los Angeles, CA Jacquelyn Kopet, New Rochelle, NY

FIM

OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP

Sharon Osip Koppy, Detroit, MI Mrs. Kenneth Korsh, Northport, NY Kathleen Korth, Collingswood, NJ Diane Kramer, Kansas City, MO Pamela Krasney, Sausalito, CA Anna Kraus, Glendale, NY Karenlynn Krause, Bellaire, TX Carolyn Kuhlthau, Highland Park, NJ Sandra S. Kuss, Greer, SC Vema Kuyper, New Canaan, CT Jean LaCasse, Outremont, Canada Diana Lakes,Iowa City, IA Mary F. LaIli, Scarsdale, NY John Lamb, Romeoville, IL Ralph J. Lamberti, Staten Island, NY W. E. Lamond, Greenwich, CT Elizabeth Land, Westport, CT Kirk Landauer, Ellicott City, MD Carol Lange, Brookfield, WI Eleonora B. Lanza, New York, NY Allene R. Lapides, Annapolis, MD Violet S. Larsen, Portsmouth, VA Beth Lasky, Accord, NY Iran Lawrence, Newark, DE E. Lawson, New York, NY Jennier Layton, Ann Arbor, MI Miriam P. Layton, Cannel, CA Kim Le Blanc-Ventresco, Long Island City, NY William Le Masters, Hopatcong, NJ Ann Leary, Rockville, MD Mary Ann Leavitt, Avon,CT John 0. Lee, Upper Montclair, NJ Patricia M. Lee, Short Hills, NJ Shecter Lee, New York, NY Jill Lefevre, New Providence, NJ Naomi Leff, New York, NY Stephen Leigh, New York, NY Leslie Leiphart, Miami, FL Annette Levey, Marina Del Rey, CA Dr. & Mrs. Roger E. Levien, Weston, CT Betty Levine, Lexington, MA Deanna E. Levine, New York, NY Harold I. Levine, Chicago, IL Diane Kleiman Levy, New York, NY Felice & Al Lippert, Sands Point, NY Diann Logan, Denver, CO Donald Lokuta, Union, NJ Dorothy D. Long, Orleans, MA Lauri Lorenzo, Seattle, WA Elaine Loring, New York, NY Alice Loughlin, Fort Edward, NY Timothy Loughran, New York, NY Sally B. Louis, Canandaigua, NY Jan Loux, Belleque, WA Jeannine M.Love, Hempstead, NY Alice Lucaire, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ Helen E. Luchars, New York, NY Jeannewill Ludt, Amherst, NH Claudia P. Lupfer, Sparta, NJ Patricia A. Lutz, Bergenfield, NJ Deborah Lyons, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Joseph T. Lyons, Albany, NY M. William Macey, Jr., New York, NY

Mrs. Robert C. Mackichan, Solana Beach, CA E. Lee Madison, San Francisco, CA Ann C. Madonia, Davenport,IA Rebecca Madrigal, White Plains, NY Lynn D. Magrane, Chatham, NJ Prof. Harold & Dr. Carol Malt, Miami,FL Elizabeth G. Mankin, New York, NY Joanne & Lester Mantell, New York, NY Doris G. Mantz, Glen Rock, NJ Marian Manzari, Mercer Island, WA Lorene Marini, Wellesley Hills, MA Janet Marks, Evanston, IL Nancy L. Marks, South Orange, NJ Mary Ellen Marmo, Little Falls, NJ James E. Marsh, Washington, DC Dawson Martin, Cold Spring, NY Hillary Martin, New York, NY Joan Martin, Garden City, NY Leslee Mason, St. Paul, MN Gregory F. Mastin, Tempe, AZ Mary-Jo Mather, Silver Spring, MD Majella M. Matyas, Bedminster, NJ Elaine Mauriello, Jersey City, NJ Cree Lynn Maxson, Brooklyn, NY Beverly A. Maxvill, Grosse Point, MI Diane Mayo, E. Orange, NJ Kathe McAvoy,Los Angeles, CA Barbara A. McCarl, Mountainside, NJ Holly Pell McConnaughy, Brooklyn, NY Anne Mendel McCormack, New York, NY Virginia P. McCusker, Lake Grove, NY George E. McDonald, Carrollton, MO Mrs. R. B. McDonough, Jr., Little Rock, AR Hazel J. McGeary, New York, NY Catherine McGillicuddy, Jericho, NY A. Bud McKeage, New York, NY McKeldin Library, College Park, MD Joseph T. McLaughlin, Brooklyn, NY Emily S. McMahon, Brooklyn, NY Beverly McTigue, Wilmette, IL Frank Ed McWilliams, Cincinnati, OH Meadow Farm Museum,Richmond, VA Patrick J. Meehan, Jersey City, NJ Diana Merkel, New York, NY Theo Merkle, New York, NY Nancy Metz, Oyster Bay, NY Carol Meyer, Albuquerque, NM Ruth B. Michie, Staten Island, NY Marie R. Mickus, Milford, CT Diana M. Mihalise, Wilton, CT Hannelore & William Miller, Sausalito, CA Louise Miller, Hewlett, NY Margaret J. Miller, San Marcos, CA Sidney Alec Miller, Galena, IL Sukie Miller, New York, NY Eileen P. Milner, Alexandria, VA Julian Mingus, Minneapolis, MN Dr. William Mintorn, Paradise Valley, AZ Veronica F. Mitchell, Frenchtown, NJ Barbara Moll, Muncie,IN Anne Mondejar, Wayne, NJ Susan Mongerson, Lake Forest, IL Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA

Diane Moon,Dallas, TX Marsha Evans Moore, Fairfield, CT Nancy C. Moore, New York, NY Susan Moore, New York, NY Maryanna Moran, E. Rockaway, NY Pamela Morin, Beacon, NY Phillip A. Morrison, New York, NY Mrs. Sheldon A. Morris, Green Cove Springs, FL Mr. & Mrs. Jay A. Moyer, Harleyville, PA Janet Muff, S. Pasadena, CA Kim Muller-Thym, Baltimore, MD Monika Muller, Wetzikon, Switzerland Irene J. Mulligan, Jackson Heights, NY Jean D. Mulligan, Jackson Heights, NY Mrs. B. Murgatroyd, Ontario, Canada Anita Murphy, Kountze,TX Gloria C. Murray, Miami,FL Harlow N. Murray, Jr., Saginaw, MI Muriel Myerson, Alpine, NJ Paula Nadelstem, Bronx, NY Andrea Nadig, Middle Island, NY John Naitove, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Peter Nason, Carversville, PA Theresa M. Neary, Virginia Beach, VA Carolyn C. Neely, Whitehouse Station, NJ Pamela Neely, Dallas, TX Sallie B. Nelson, Vestal, NY New City Library, New City, NY New York Public Library, New York, NY May W. Newburger, Great Neck, NY Ann M. Newe, Ridgewood, NJ David Nichols, Haverford, PA Jeanne A. Nowakowski, Hendersonville, NC Barbara O'Brien, Brooklyn, NY Thomas J. O'Connor, Suffolk, VA Stephen M. O'Donnell, New York, NY Achsah S. O'Donovan, Cockeysville, MD Frances S. O'Dowd,Isle of Palms, SC Margaret J. O'Drain, Richmond,CA Kristin O'Hara-Forster, Winter Haven, FL Susan O'Kane, Hialeah, FL Angela O'Kelley, Demorest, GA Gladys G. O'Neil, Wilton,CT Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth Offit, New York, NY Sidney & Avodah Offit, New York, NY Barbara Oleska, Hull, MA Mildred Orlans, New York, NY Martha Carson Orr, New York, NY Vals Osborn, New York, NY Virginia Ann Osborne, Old Tappan, NJ Joseph G. Pace, Charlottesville, VA Aron Packer, Chicago, IL Georgie Packwood, Bethesda, MD James Parry, Old Greenwich, CT Karin Pasquale, New Rochelle, NY Rosemary A. Patterson, Leesburg, VA Cathy Patton, New York, NY Dr. Robert Joseph Peace, Burlington, NC Ruth C. Peeler, Jonesborough, TN Helen Marie Pellegrino, Elizabeth, NJ Karen L. Pennell, Austin, TX 63

rjM OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP

Erin Peppel, Fayetteville, NY Paulette Peters, Elkhorn, NE Marilyn Pfeifer, New York, NY Robert Picard, Lavaltrie, Canada Sylvia Pickell, Sumter, SC Joanne G. Piepmeyer, Davenport, CA Susan Pieman, Mill Valley, CA Dr. Robert S. Pinals, Princeton, NJ Frank Pintauro, Williston Park, NY Gertrude M. Pinto, New York, NY Janet Polish, Jersey City, NJ Melvyn & Rosalind B. Poll, Seattle, WA Judith Pool, Ridgewood, NJ Pooter Olooms Antique Shop, Harbor Springs, MI Theodore J. Popowitz, Birmingham, MI Fannie Porter, Bronx, NY Karen Porter, Baltimore, MD Kathryn Porter, Cobb,CA Mrs. William Porter, Brewster, MA Yanni Posnakoff, New York, NY Nancy A. Prendergast, Pittsfield, MA Ralph W. Preston, Winooski, VT Louise Price, Camden, ME Raymie Priesmeyer, New York, NY Linda Pringle, Long Beach, NY Mrs. S. E. Pundyk, New York, NY Barbara S. Puorro, Chester, CT Rhoda Quackenbush, Hilton, NY Quality Quick Print, Troy, MI Carol C. Rader, Concord, MA Natalie Raimondi, New York, NY Pamela Rajpal, Belmont, MA Margaret Rapp, Cherry Hill, NJ Kay Rautenberg, Cl. Heights, OH Irene Rawlings, Des Moines,IA Joyce Reed, New York, NY Ann Reeves, Hackettstown, NJ Judith C. Reeves, Tampa, FL Darlene Regino, Goshen, NY Kay Rehme, Calabasas, CA Mary Lou Reifsnyder, Middletown, CT Sally Reisman, Philadelphia, PA Barbara Renner, Portsmouth, NH Jane M. Reynolds, Apopka,FL Carol Rhatigan, Huntington, NY Lilian Rheuban, Canfield, OH Kathleen Riddell, Ridgefield, CT Nancy M. Rieck, Wilmette,IL Jeanne S. Riger, Whitestone, NY Diane Rigo, New York, NY Geri Rinschler, Birmingham, MI Mary Lou Risley, New York, NY Brenda Rizzoli, San Francisco, CA Pat Roberts, Clearwater, FL Diana May Robinson, Brooklyn, NY Evelyn & Sam Rockmaker, Brooklyn, NY Victoria Roddis, Seattle, WA Marion P. Roemer, Princeton, NJ Christine E. Rogers, New York, NY Susan Roller, Austin, TX Janice M. Rosa, Orchard Park, NY Carol Rose, Columbia, MD 64

Barbara Rosenberg, Sacramento, CA Lorraine Rosenbaum, Little Neck, NY Lucinda Ross, New York, NY Robert A. Roth, Chicago, IL Inge R. Rothschild, Glencoe, IL Maryann E. Rubal, New York, NY Ann Rubinoff, Miami, FL B. D. Rudy, Houston, TX Audrey D. Ryan, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ Nancy Ryba, Granada Hills, CA Shirley B. Sacks, Kutztown,PA Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Safra, Sao Paolo, Brazil Mr. & Mrs. Moise Safra, Sao Paulo, Brazil Jean Sage, Lyons, NY Helen A. Salichs, New York, NY Martie Sandell, Glendale, CA Dr. Barbara E. Sang, New York, NY Isolde Sarriecki-De Vries, Ypsilanti, MI Mary Frances Saunders, Amarillo, TX Connie Savy, Randolph, MA Beverly Ann Scaff, Fair Haven, NJ Crystal Barker Schaaf, Sudbury, MA Mark A. Schader, McLean, VA M. E Schaefer, Los Angeles, CA Robert H. Schaffer, Stamford, CT Carla Schechner, Morristown, NJ Denise Scheinberg, New York, NY Linda D. Scherer, Plainsboro, NJ W. Schewer, New York, NY Judith M. Schindler, Armonk, NY Rodger 0. Schlickeisen, Alexandria, VA Gloria Schmall, Coconut Grove, FL Diane Rode Schneck, New York, NY Donna T. Schneider, Ft. Steele, WY Betsy Schoffer, Berwyn,PA Meredith Schroeder, Paducah, KY Linda Schwietzer, Chester, CT Willard Scott, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Richard C. Sears, Palisades, NY Roberta Seeman, Charlotte, NC Cindy Storm Segal, New York, NY Daniel Seiden, New York, NY Rebekka Seigel, Owenton, KY Mary Selber, Jacksonville, FL Chris W. Self, Bellflower, CA Phyllis Selnick, New York, NY Alison Seymour, Seattle, WA Hilary Shabazz, New York, NY Marilyn Shapiro, Columbia, MD Elaine C. Sharp, Red Bank, NJ Steve Sharp, Atlanta, GA Patricia Mocure Sharpe, Richmond, VA Suzanne S. Sheridan, Baltimore, MD Jane Shero, Bellport, NY Nita Showers, Burlington, WI William Shriver, Arnold, MD Allan Sidle, Palo Alto, CA John W. Simms, Red Bank, NJ Lewis E. Simpson, Jr., Wasilla, AK Deborah Sims, Kenner, LA Ruby Sitea, Brooklyn, NY Mrs. Edgar H. Sittig, Shawnee-on-Del., PA Berniece Skinner, La Crescenta, CA

Joanne Slaughter, Naples, FL Jeryl Slettland, Bayville, NY Mary Jane Slezak, Basking Ridge, NJ William J. Sloboda, New York, NY Andrew L. Smith, New York, NY Frederick J. Smith, Low Beach, NY L. Roger Smith, Alexandria, VA Margaret C. Smith, Tarrytown, NY Michael 0. Smith, Raleigh, NC Nancy S. Smith, Washington, DC Patricia Smith, Washington, DC Phyllis B. Smith, Bronxville, NY Sally Smith, Columbus, MS Mrs. William G. Smith, Monticello, NY Grace Snyder, S. Egremont, MA Joan L. Solomon, New York, NY Dr. & Mrs. Edmund H. Sonnenblick, Darien, CT Ellen Sonnenfeldt, Bronx, NY Sonrisa Inc., Los Angeles, CA Kay Sorensen, Salem, WI Sharon A. Souther, New York, NY Marcia Spark, Tucson, AZ Anne Spencer, Palo Alto, CA Barbara G. Spicer, Barrington, RI Elaine M. Spickard, Milwaukee, OR Tito Spiga, East Hampton, NY Sharon St. Claire, Newport Beach, CA Mr. & Mrs. George Stager, Maplewood, NJ Sarah R. Stainback, Charlotte, NC Susan Stark, Elgin, IL Walanne Steele, New York, NY Marian Z. Stern, Maplewood, NJ Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Stemlieb, New York, NY Lillian Stettner, W. Orange, NJ Joyce Stewart, Rexburg, ID Elaine Stillerman, New York, NY Laura Stokes, New York, NY Kelly E. Stone, Allston, MA Karen Straus, Englewood, NJ Karen Strawbridge, Campbelhown,PA Paul Strudler, Bethesda, MD Sharlie Stuart, New York, NY Marj Sturges, Scarsdale, NY Herbert Sturz, New York, NY R. David Sudarsky, New York, NY Lynn S. Summers, Mattituck, NY Mrs. Robert Sundell, Minneapolis, MN Julia K. Swan, Cambridge, OH Susan Swan, Westport, CT Michael J. Sweeney, Ypsilanti, MI Angela Tamvalci, Athens, Greece Dr. Steven & Ina Tay, New York, NY Mrs. George F. Taylor, Fairfield, CT Theodore Teah, New York, NY Beatrice J. Teer, Los Altos, CA Helen E. Thieme, Morristown, NJ Eleanor S. Thomas, Winsted, CT Mrs. Paul Thompson II, Berwyn, PA Thomas L. Thomson, Lubbock, TX Y. Sue Thorpe, New York, NY Darlene Tidmore, Houston, TX Rosemary Tillisch, Harrisburg, PA

OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP

Judy Tipton, Little Rock, AR Barbara Tober, New York, NY Fern M.Tobin, Garden City, NY Anne E. Torre, Brooklyn, NY Ada V. Torres, Glendale, CA Lynne Cusack Tosone, Maywood, NJ Louise 0. Townsend, Denver, CO Margaret L. Townsend, Port Jefferson, NY Denny Tracey, Ann Arbor, MI James E. Tracey, Vershire Center, VT Larry Trentin, Glen Cove, NY Elinor Trottier, Bradford, MA Mr. & Mrs. Gregory N. Mill, Glen Cove, NY Mildred C. Minis, New London, NH Sarah E. Thule, Cardiff by Sea, CA Lillian A. Twamley, Valley City, ND Joan Tynan, Seaford, NY University of Arizona,'Meson, AZ US Army Library, New York, NY Mrs. David Van Dan, Alden,IL Gary Van Der Steur, Los Angeles, CA Elsie R. Van Savage, Brunswick, ME Myra R. Vanderwerker, Glen Rock, NJ Carl Vannoy, Madisonville, KY Manon Veilleux, Mineola, NY Theodore Venetoulis, Towson, MD

Linda Villany, New York, NY Mado Villemagne, New York, NY J. Ann Vinson, New Providence, NJ Joan Vita, Port Chester, NY Linda L. Vitale, New York, NY Carol Vittert, St. Louis, MO John Von Soosten, West Hempstead, NY Linda Vredenburgh, New York, NY Rosie Wade, Franklin, TN Carol Wagner, Roseville, MN Roy E. Waits, Cincinnati, OH Virginia M. Walker, New York, NY Marisa Branca Walters, Woodhaven, NY Maryann Warakomski, South River, NJ Ann B. Ward, Englewood, NJ Charlotte Warr-Anderson, Keams, UT Jane Warren, Colorado Springs, CO Albert Warson, Toronto, Canada Wellington M. Watters, New York, NY Sarah Weatherwax, New York, NY Rose Weidner, Columbia, MD Rhoda Weinstein, Englewood, NJ Claire J. West, West Tisbury, MA James R. Whitcomb, Columbus, OH Julia A. White, New York, NY Blanche Whitlock, Columbus, OH

Carol Anne Wien, Miami, FL Abigail Homans Wilder, San Francisco, CA Ann S. Williams, Bronx, NY Eleanore Williams, Yellowstone Park, WY Jean Williams, Rochester, NY H. W. Wilson Co. Publisher, Bronx, NY Catherine K. Winberry, Teaneck, NJ Victoria Winteringham, Stony Brook, NY Cynthia W. Witter, Brooklyn, NY Daniel R. Wolf, Williamsport, PA Carol Wolfe, Cincinnati, OH Joan Wolfson, New York, NY Mrs. C. W. Womble, Winston-Salem, NC Elizabeth Woodman,Oakland, CA Marguerite Woods, Bronx, NY Grace Kelly Wright, Charlotte, NC Martha Otis Wright, Princeton, NJ Barbara H. Wyckoff, New York, NY Bonnie Lynn Young, Lindenhurst, NY Jim Young, Woodstock, NY Rebecca Young, Dallas, TX Emma B. Yurish, White Plains, NY Jeanne M.Zawieslci, Flushing, NY Mrs. A. D. Zimet, Peekskill, NY Mary K. Zimmerman, New Canaan, Cl Mary Zmitrovich, Wyckoff, NJ

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our coPection Wiciaandstitched Of *naive folk dolls *bears*hares*hearts *kits and patterns and more dealer inquiriesinvited

PIECES OF 速LDE.

Dept. FF6,P.O. Box 65130 Baltimore, Maryland 21209 (301)366-4949 Send $2for catalog. When in Baltimore visit us at 716 West 36th Street.

65

Robert Cargo

FOLK ART GALLERY CABINET MAKER

Southern, Folk, and Afro-American Quilts Folk Art and Antiques

Walking canes by Sam Martin, fourth-generation Alabama carver.

2314 Sixth Street Tuscaloosa, AL 35401 (205) 758-8884

Weekends only and by appointment

American Folk Art Sidney Gecker

We accurately reproduce decorated furniture in the folk art tradition, such as this small MASSACHUSETTS CHEST OVER DRAWERS, the great PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN CLOCK, and the NEW HAMPSHIRE PAINTED DESK with its fanciful skirt. We would be pleased to quote on other clocks or furniture in the same tradition, such as Spitler, Johnstown, or sponge-decorated clocks and furniture of all kinds. Catalog of furniture and clock reproductions $3.

WILLIAM A. PEASE CABINETMAKER 17 Fresh Meadow Drive Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603

66

We recommend a visit to our gallery for a wide selection of chalkware, slip decorated pottery, fractur, primitive oils and watercolors, woodcarvings and weathervanes.

226 West 21st Street New York, NY 10011 (212)929-8769 Appointment Suggested

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LATIN AMERICAN & HAITIAN FOLK ART

FISH DECOYS

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Route 136E - (New Boston Rd.) 1/2 mile East of Francestown Town Hall

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National Symposium

The Ties That Bind: Folk Art and American Culture, November 21-23, 1986 (1/4 An in-depth examination of the cultural and aesthetic significance of contemporary American folk art Organized by The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati

Speakers: Dr Kenneth Ames—Author of Beyond Necessity: American Art in the Folk Tradition Dr Robert Bishop—Director Museum of American Folk Art Michael Hall—Professor Cranbrook Academy of Art Herbert Hemphill—Collector. former Curator of the Museum of American Folk Art

Dr Eugene Metcalf—Professor, Miami University Dr John Moe—Associate Professor of Art, Ohio State University Seymour Rosen—proponent of architectural and site specific contemporary folk art Dr Robert Farris Thompson— Professor, Yale University, Author of Flash of the Spirit

Held at the Omni Netherland Plaza in Cincinnati A program in conjunction with the exhibition The Ties That Bind: Folk Art in Contemporary American Culture, guest curated by Dr. Eugene Metcalf and Michael Hall for The Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, with support from F & W Publications, Inc.

For a comprehensive brochure, call (513) 721-0390 or write: The Contemporary Arts Center • 115 East Fifth Street • Cincinnati, OH 45202

NEW YORK FOLKLORE The Journal of the New York Folklore Society Vol. XII, Nos. 1-2, 1986

Foe4A FAIsele4 since March, 1980

THE HIGH TOUCH NEWSLETTER of contemporary folk art

Can we develop marketing strategies that will improve the lot of folk artists and protect their traditional forms of expression from commercial exploitation?

Personal vignettes of folk artists, topical news, calendar, commentary, new finds and new directions in 20th century folk art.

MARKETING FOLK ART Original articles by 12 distinguished Folklorists Over 30 illustrations S12 postpaid in continental U.S.; elsewhere add $1.25.

Send check payable to New York Folklore Society to Department of Anthropology, SUNY at Buffalo, New York 14261

68

Amply illustrated. Four issues per year.

Standing Mustached Man, John Vivolo, 1976. Painted wood, height 29/ 1 2".

Send $9 to Folk Art Finder, 117 North Main, Essex, CT. 06426, Phone 203-767-0313

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLKAKT®

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The (keel ® Companies are proud to announce an exciting collection of traditional folk art designs, exclusively licensed by the Museum of American Folk Art®. Each scarf is available in the authentic color combination on fine quality silk crepe. $29.95(p/h $2.50) JAMAR TEXTILE RESTORATION STUDIO A Checkered Game Board 32" x 32" D Bird of Paradise 32" x 32" B Double Wedding Ring 32" x 32" 16" x 54" E Lone Star 32" x 32" C Tumbling Blocks

To order by credit card call Toll Free 1-800-544-3004,24 hours a day,7 days a week.

To order by mail make check or money order payable to: Vera Industries,417 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10016, Dept. CL Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery

Experienced Restoration of 18th, 19th and 20th century textiles, quilts, American floor coverings and vintage clothing

By appointment only, Tracy Jamar,250 Riverside Drive New York, N.Y. 10025(212)866-6426

Name Address City State Style

Qty.

Phone

Zip Description

Price Each

Merchandise Total Subtotal Applicable Sales Tax Postage/Handling TOTAL AMOUNT DUE

Merchandise Total

$2.50

69

MAINSTREETANTIQUES AND ART Colleen and Louis Picek

Folk Artand Country Americana

V. / NIA'Sar

110 West Main,Box 340 (319)643-2065 West Branch,Iowa 52358 On Interstate80

Send a self-addressed stamped envelope for our monthly Folk Art and Americana price list At right: An animated cobbler's shop display piece, circa 1930s 22" x 21" x 111 / 2"

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currya dt's aridn unby, Gydyr ittj furniture. ,frik Fa: art,cert.-links, ba.skets,yaintings, free* metals, ifte rare and the 6eauetfu1 are prig'the sFer6 varzely gea:4411es for the serious dealer (Dui collector country and Anericanok

BARBARA E. MILLS, PROPRIETRESS NANCY W DUMAINE, ASST. MANAGER ROUTE 5 HARTLAND, VERMONT 05048 802-436-2441 OPEN DAILY 9T06 — MAY1 TO ocT31 wEix ThRousm SUN. 101b4 -NOV 1TO APRIL3o

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$36.50 each ppd

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CONNIE & WILLIAM HAYES * AMERICAN ANTIQUES *

ANTIQUE SAMPLERS•SAMPLER REPRODUCTIONS COUNTED-THREAD 6 CREWEL KITS HANDMADE NEEDLEWORK ACCESSORIES & BOOKS ANTIQUE JACQUARD 6 OVERSHOT COVERLETS THE SCARLET LETTER P.O. BOX 471 NEW BERLIN. WI 53151

STAR QUILT - MENNONITE Lancaster Co.- Circa 1880- Cotton

COMPLETE CATALOGUE $2.00

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Custom Made Stretchers for displaying Quilts & Hooked Rugs Rag Carpets sewn together for Area Rugs

Pie Galinat 230 w.10th St., n.y , n.y. 10014 (212) 741 - 3259

71

"Cats in the Basket" 20 x 24 by Susan Slyman

JAY JOHNSON America's Folk Heritage Gallery

JAY JOHNSON

RUBENS TRIPS

1044 Madison Avenue New York, N.Y. 10021 Daily, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

(212)628-7280

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

Patricia Adams Antiques 48 American Primitive Gallery 17 Ames Gallery 50 Mania Anderson 49 Antique Center at Hartland 70 Beneduce & Lozell 53 Ruth Bigel Antiques 16 Brady Galleries 12 Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery 66 Cavin-Morris, Inc. 14 Christies 13 Leslie Eisenberg Folk Art Gallery 54 Epstein/Powell 51 Rosa Esman Gallery 16 Fall Antiques Show at the Pier Inside Back Cover Janet Fleisher Gallery/Cavin-Morris, Inc. 3 Folk Art Finder 68 Pie Galinat 71 72

The Gallery of Folk Art 70 Gasperi Folk Art Gallery 50 Sidney Gecker American Folk Art 66 Elias Getz 51 The Grass Roots Gallery 67 Guthman Americana 48 Phyllis Haders 7 William and Connie Hayes 71 Tracy Jamar 69 Jay Johnson 72 Kelter-Malce Inside Front Cover R. H. Love Galleries, Inc. 9 Main Street Antiques & Art 70 Frank Maresca/Roger Ricco 8 Steve Miller 1 Mill Village Antiques 67 New York Folklore 68 David Nichols 67 Nonesuch Gallery 6

Ohio Gallery 54 William Pease Cabinetmaker 66 E. G. H. Peter 49 Pieces of Olde 65 Sheila & Edwin Rideout 15 John Keith Russell Outside Back Cover The Scarlet Letter 71 David A. Schorsch 10 Simon & Schuster 47 Grace & Elliott Snyder 14 Sotheby's 2 Symposium/The Contemporary Arts Center 68 Vera Scarves 69 Whistler Gallery, Inc. 15 Thos. K. Woodard 4 Tracey Zabar 69

SANFORD SMITH'S

Eighth Annual

Fall Antiques Show At the Pier The most important American Antiques Show in the country, featuring 105 distinguished dealers from 23 states, exhibiting a complete range of American antiques and fine art.

OCTOBER 23-26,1986 Thursday-Saturday: Noon-10 p.m. Sunday:11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Passenger Pier 92

W.52nd St. & the Hudson River.

BENEFIT PREVIEW FOR THE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART WEDNESDAYâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;OCTOBER 22,1986 6:00-10:00 p.m.

Information:(212)481-3080

FREE SHUTTLE BUS BETWEEN THE MUSEUM SHOP(62 West 50th St.) AND THE PIER ADMISSION SEVEN DOLLARS

RESTAURANT & BAR

PARKING AVAILABLE

Exhibitors ARIZONA Gallery 10 CONNECTICUT Judith Applegate Kay Betts- Shoot the Chute The Chatelaine Shop Ronald & Penny Dionne Patia & Christian Finkbeiner Friedman Gallery Stephen & Carol Huber Quester Maritime Irving Slavid Frederick Thaler DELAWARE James Kilvington Kenneth Lindsey

MARYLAND All of Us Americans Stella Rubin Cecelia Williams MASSACHUSETTS Mort Abromson Brimfield Antiques Bernice Jackson Stephen Score Elliott & Grace Snyder Robin Starr Victor Weinblatt MICHIGAN Denny L. Tracey MINNESOTA The Clokeys

ILLINOIS Carl Hammer Gallery Harvey Antiques Frank & Barbara Pollack INDIANA Carol Shope's Americana Don Walters Wood & Stone/Bob Brown

MISSISSIPPI Bobbie King MISSOURI Pat & Richard Garthoeffner Douglas Solliday NEW HAMPSHIRE Bert & Gail Savage

KENTUCKY Shelly Zegart MAINE Richard & Patricia Bean Rufus Foshee Pine Bough/JoAnne Fuerst Sheila & Edwin Rideout

NEW JERSEY Bari & Phil Axelband Carter Deholl David Rago Perrisue Silver NEW MEXICO Christopher Selser

NEW YORK CITY Alexander Gallery American Primitive Mama Anderson Michael Carey William E. Channing Allan Daniel, Deco Deluxe Fenita Della Rocca Diamant Gallery Richard & Eileen Dubrow Paula Ellman Barry Freidman Ltd. Renate Halpern Gallery Harwood Galleries Herrup & Wolfner Hillman-Gemini Jay Johnson Kelter-Malce' Catherine Kurland Lost City Arts Frank Maresca/Roger Ricco Susan Parrish Susan Sheehan Eric Silver Smith Gallery John & Jane Stubbs Ursus Books NEW YORK Charles Brown & Co. Frank Gaglio/Kathleen Molnar Richard McGeehan Susan & Sy Rappaport Richard & Betty Ann Rasso Sterling & Hunt

Robert & Mary Lou Sutter Egon & Joan Teichert George Walowen/Michael Schneider NORTH CAROLINA American Classics/Meryl Weiss OHIO Prophetics PENNSYLVANIA The Abrahams Robert Anderson Bea Cohen The Cunninghams Mary K. Darrah M. Finkel & Daughter Judy Coffman Fine Art Connie & William Hayes James Hirscheimer Katy Kane Olde Hope Antiques Frances Purcell ll John Zan TEXAS Milly McGehee VIRGINIA John Long WASHINGTON, D.C. Cherishables Marston Luce James Wilhoit & Assocs.

Elaine Wilmarth/Design Resources

JOILN K,EITH RUSSELL ANTIQUES,

Exceptional American Parcheesi Board.

Signed on Reverse-"J.K. Musser, Muncy, PA" Fourth Quarter, Nineteenth Century.

SPRING STREET,SOUTH SALEM WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY. 10590 (914)763-8144

TUESDAY-SUNDAY 10:00-5:30