The Clarion (Fall 1987)

KELTER-MALCE

A•N•T•I•Q•U•E•S 361 Bleecker St/ New York City 10014/212-989-6760

Half arrowback scroll-armed bench, circa 1830

with fanciful baskets of strawberries and compotes of cherries.

EXTRAORDINARY PAINTED SURFACE

We are always interested in purchasing furniture of this quality.

STEVE MILLER • AMERICAN FOLK ART

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

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

"Punch" This carved and painted pine figure ofPunch, American,late 19th century, will be included in an auction ofImportant Americana on October 24.

For catalogues and information, please contact Nancy Druckman at(212)606-7225. Sotheby's, 1334 York Avenue at 72nd Street, New York, NY.10021.

SOTHEBY'S FOUNDED 1744

Sotheby's Inc., 1987 hn L. Marion, chief auctioneer, #524728

Extremely choice watercolor in its original frame. C. 1820- 35, possibly Vermont

KENNETH & IDA MANKO N 11,,x 20. M.riy. M.111C 01051 207 646 2595

851 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10021 (212) 988-FOLK

Hirsch!& Adler Folk

Pictorial Navajo Rug, C 1920

NAVAJO RUGS 1880-1940 Exhibition and sale from October 15 to October 28

SUSAI4ARRISH ANTIQUE QUILTS• FOLK ART • AMERICAN INDIAN ART 390 BLEECKER ST., NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK 10014 (212) 645-5020

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

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WOODARD WEAVE" Classic American Woven Rugs Room-size area rugs and runners in a wide variety of patterns including THE TALCOTT COLLECTION for

6

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center'" Catalogue $5.00

THE CLARION _ AMERICA'S FOLK ART MAGAZINE The Museum of American Folk Art New York City FALL 1987 Vol. 12, No. 4 $4.50

Volume 12, No. 4

FEATURES

Lois S. Avigad

RUTH HENSHAW BASCOM

Fall 1987

35

A Youthful Viewpoint Judy McWillie

ANOTHER FACE OF THE DIAMOND

42

Black Traditional Art from the Deep South Sandi Fox

OBJECTS AND ORIGINS

54

The American Quilt Research Center at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Chester D. Freeman, Jr.

BASKETMAKING IN NEW ENGLAND

62

An Interview with a Master Craftsman Blume J. Rifken

THE ART OF THE SILHOUETTIST

67

DEPARTMENTS

DIRECTOR'S LETTER

13

MINIATURES

14

LETTERS

29

BOOK REVIEWS

71

MUSEUM NEWS

76

MAJOR DONORS

80

NEW MEMBERSHIP

82

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

88

Cover: Crazy Quilt with Embroidered Equestrian Figures; Artist unknown; Southern tier, NY State; 1870-80; Silk and velvet; 56 x 68"; Collection of the Museum of American Folk Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James D. Clokey HI(1986.12.1). This quilt is one of seventeen from the Museum's permanent collection which will be featured in the exhibition "Homage to the Quilt: Selections from Quilt National'87 and the Museum of American Folk Art' from October 28, 1987 to January 10, 1988, at the American Craft Museum,40 West 53 Street, New York City.

The Clarion is published four times a year by the Museum of American Folk Art, 444 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016; 212/481-3080. Annual subscription rate for members is included in membership dues. Copies are mailed to all members. Single copy $4.50. Published and copyright 1987 by the Museum of American Folk Art,444 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016. The cover and contents of The Clarion are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those ofthe Museum of American Folk Art. Unsolicited manuscripts or photographs should be accompanied by return postage. The Clarion assumes no responsibility for the loss or damage of such materials. Change of Address: Please send both old and new addresses and allow five weeks for change. Advertising: The Clarion accepts advertisements only from advertisers whose reputation is recognized in the trade, but despite the care with which the advertising department screens photographs and texts submitted by its advertisers, it cannot guarantee the unquestionable authenticity of objects of quality or services advertised in its pages or offered for sale by its advertisers, nor can it accept responsibility for misunderstandings that may arise from the purchase or sale of objects or services advertised in its pages. The Museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation of folk art and feels it is a violation of its principles to be involved in or to appear to be involved in the sale of works of art. For this reason, the Museum will not knowingly accept advertisements for The Clarion which illustrate or describe objects that have been exhibited at the Museum within one year of the placing of the advertisement.

7

Auction of The Billie Lee Mommer American Spirit Collection

THE CLARION

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

September 15 and 16,1987 including New England, Mid-Western and Western painted furniture, quilts, baskets, samplers,iron and treenware

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART

Administration Dr. Robert Bishop, Director Gerard C. Wertkin, Assistant Director Cheryl Hoenemeyer, Controller Lillian Grossman,Assistant to the Director Mary Ziegler, Administrative Assistant Barry Gallo, Reception Richard Griffin, Office Manager Jerry Torrens, Assistant Clerk Collections & Exhibitions Elizabeth Warren, Curator Michael McManus,Director ofExhibitions Ann-Marie Reilly, Registrar Joyce Hill, Consulting Research Curator Mary Black, Consulting Curator iosoneuriviat misarameicar,

-411111.1111111.111111111111111111111111111k.

Fine Amish pieced cotton star quilt, PA, 19th century, Chippendale painted blanket chest, PA,1788; Pair ofAmerican painted Windsor armchairs, early 19th century, American pine hobby horse, 19th century

A special seminar dealing with painted furniture and quilts will be held the week prior to the auction, the proceeds to benefit the educational programs of the American Decorative Arts Forum of Northern California.

Exhibition: September 11 through 14 For further information please contact Jon King at 415/861-7500 ext. 238.

Illustrated catalogue may be purchased for $16 by mail.

SINCE 1865

Butterfield&Butterfield AUCTIONEERS

APPRAISERS

220 San Bruno Ave.• San Francisco, California 94103 415/861-7500 8

Departments Didi Barrett, Director ofPublications Beth Bergin, Membership Director Carolyn Cohen, Director ofSpecial Events Marie S. DiManno,Director ofMuseum Shops Susan Flamm,Public Relations Director Barbara W. Kaufman-Cate, Director ofEducation Johleen Nester, Director ofDevelopment Edith Wise, Director ofLibrary Services Janey Fire, Photographic Services Programs Barbara W. Kaufman-Cate, Director, Folk Art Institute Phyllis A. Tepper, Registrar, Folk Art Institute Dr. Marilynn Karp, Director, New York University Master's and Ph.D. Program in Folk Art Studies Dr. Judith Reiter Weissman, Coordinator, New York University Program Karla Friedlich, Coordinator, Great American Quilt Festival 2 Cecilia K. Toth, Jane Walentas, Co-Chairs Friends Committee Kennetha Stewart, Exhibitions Previews Coordinator Susan Moore,Junior League Liaison Museum Shop Staff Caroline Hohenrath, Sally O'Day, Rita Pollitt, Managers Jeanne Carley, Sheila Carlisle, Elizabeth Cassidy, Dorothy Gargiulo, Elli Gordon, Eleanor Katz, Annette Levande, Victor Levant, Arlene Levey, Katie McAuliffe, Nancy Mayer, Marie Peluso, Myra Shaskan, Rose Silece, Claire Spiezio, Doris Stack, Mary Walmsly, Gina Westby, Doris Wolfson.

Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shop 62 West 50th Street New York, NY 10112 212/247-5611

The Union Star The patriotic sentiments of Elizabeth Holmes paying tribute to Abraham Lincoln and celebrating the election of Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax.

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ROBERT

NNAMA BRIAN A.

MAEKERS INC. EAST HAMPTON, NEW YORK

BY APPOINTMENT TELEPHONE (516) 537-0779

WA JUNG ADARESS: PO. 1014, WA1NSCOTE NEW I5i91 11975

•R ICCO ARESCA N

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ART

We specialize in and wish to purchase outsider art, 18th, 19th and 20th century Primitive American art and objects of uncommonly fine design. We continue to be the exclusive representative of the work of William Hawkins.

By appointment 212•505•1463/212•673•1078

W.R. Coins, b. 1904, Patrick Country, Virginia "Stone Angel".

35"H x 281/2"W x 51/4"D

Frank Jones Stone proof Devil House color pencil on paper circa 1967 19 x 25"

Offering a comprehensive selection of works by the finest Twentieth Century American self-taught artists.

Janet Fleisher GALLERY 211 South 17th Street PHILADELPHIA PA 1 9 1 0 3 2 1 3 / 5 45 - 75 6 2

DAVID A. SCHORSCH 1037 NORTH ST, GREENWICH, CONN. 06831

Dealers in American Folk Art

By Appointment Only

(203)869-8797

UM

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR DR. ROBERT BISHOP

The fourth issue of The Clarion is back!

I know you will be as pleased as we are that America's folk art magazine will again be published on a quarterly basis.

Didi Barrett, editor of The Clarion, has completed an editorial forecast that includes a rich assortment of articles on virtually every aspect of American folk art.

I am also delighted to report that The Clarion is again the recipient of professional recognition, having been singled out for an Award of Merit by the American Association of Museums.

Over the last several months Museum Membership Director, Beth Bergin, has explored new ways to make your membership increasingly valuable. Some of the new programs you will be hearing about are our Folk Art Collector's Library and the Folk Art Explorer's Club.

The Folk Art Collector's Library is offered to members in the Family Membership category and above. It enables members to purchase folk art books and related items at a discount of 20 percent or more. Our first Folk Art Collector's Library mailing in June met with widespread success. Some books were available at discounts as high as 60 percent!

Our next mailing will be in time for holiday shopping. Upgrade your membership now, and take advantage of this exciting new benefit.

The Folk Art Explorer's Club, a new Museum membership benefit, already has four exciting trips planned with many more to come. Future plans include both national and international Folk Art adventures.

Our next trip, September 30, 1987, will visit three extraordinary private collections in Connecticut. On November 14, 1987, we will travel to New Jersey for a Saturday packed full of folk art fun. Two private collections, a contemporary folk art structure, the Newark Museum & Ballantine House are all on the agenda. A trip to Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Antiques

Folk Art Explorers Bonnie and Sy Grossman,Leo Rabkin,and Museum Director Robert Bishop gathered at the Museum Shop before the inaugural trip, in May, of the Folk Art Explorer's Club. The Folk Art Explorer's Club is a new benefit ofmembership in the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art.

Show, plus two private collections, is scheduled for April. Finally, in May, the Museum is planning a Manhattan House Tour for Patron Members of the Museum, a very special look at private collections in Manhattan.

Members at the Sustaining level or above are invited to participate in the Explorer's Club day trips at no charge.

Members in these upper categories will receive advance notice to make reservations for the day trips. Other Museum members will be welcome on a space available basis. I hope you will consider becoming a Sustaining Member this year and enjoy, as our guest, the unique experience of viewing some of America's most important private collections.

Folk Art Explorer's Club information has been mailed to all members. I hope you will decide to join us for one or all of these trips. Call Beth Bergin at 212/481-3080 for more information.

Each day we're uncovering exciting new opportunities to promote this country's rich folk heritage. A unique program is taking shape that we feel will generate even greater awareness and appreciation for folk art in America.

In conjunction with Chemical Bank, we will be introducing a credit card program that allows friends and supporters of the Museum the opportunity to receive customized Visa and Master-

Card credit cards. The cards will bear the Museum of American Folk Art logo and a special folk art design.

This program helps American folk art in two important ways. Each time one of the custom cards is used, it builds awareness of American folk art and the Museum. Second, through special arrangement with Chemical Bank, a portion of each transaction charged to the card, and a portion of the annual card membership fee will be given to the Museum by Chemical Bank. By acquiring and using these credit cards, friends of the Museum will help to ensure that the collection, preservation and exhibition of American folk art not only continues but expands.

To launch this innovative undertaking, the Museum will be sponsoring a national competition for a credit card design that captures the spirit, imagination and ingenuity of folk artists across the country. Further details will be forthcoming in publications and special announcements.

Part of our Animal Carnival, Inc. Collection has been installed at the American Festival Cafe at Rockefeller Center, New York City, where it will remain through the season. Plan to stop by and enjoy the special display of animal carvings given to the Museum by our special friend Elizabeth Wecter.

13

U10

MINIATURES

Ike 41t4t biaicas(ball lestismi In anticipation of The Great 1 has announced a crib quilt conAmerican Quilt Festival 2, the test based on the theme Museum of American Folk Art "Memories of Childhood:'

Tont /hit society ot Assaie4 The newly formed Folk Art So- ular place:' ciety of America has announced Plans include further lecits first activity, a lecture by tures, exhibitions, and conLiza Kirwin, Area Collector of ferences as well as a newsletter. the Archives of American Art, Annual dues are $10 for student Smithsonian Institution, on membership, $20 for general Thursday, October 1, 1987, 8 membership, and $50 for patron p.m., at the Virginia Museum of membership. People interested Fine Arts, Richmond. Free and in joining the society, or in open to the public, the lecture forming a local chapter in other entitled "Documenting Con- states, should contact Ann Optemporary Southern Self-Taught penhimer, Folk Art Society of Artists:' will discuss such artists America, P.O. Box 8245, Richas Rev. Howard Finster, Dilmus mond, VA 23226.

Hall, David Butler, Sister Gertrude Morgan, and James Hampton.

The Folk Art Society of America, which was formed FofleWe410$144 . earlier this year with fourteen Richmond-based aficionados, The second Folklife Annual has now has more than 100 mem- been published by the American bers from ten states. The Soci- Folklife Center of the Library of ety's expressed goals are "to Congress. Subjects include discover, promote, study, docu- breakdancing, Peruvian Indiment and preserve folk art, folk ans, Caribbean whalers and Deartists and folk art environ- pression-era logging camps. To ments:' says Ann F. Op- order Folklife Annual 1986 send penhimer, President. $19 to Superintendent of Docu"We strive for a broad defini- ments, U.S. Government Printtion of folk art, not limited to ing Office, Washington, D.C. any time period or to any partic- 20402.

14

Open to quilters around the world, the contest officially begins September 1, 1987, and ends September 1, 1988. A nationally known panel of experts will award a top prize of $7,500 to the first place winner, $5,000 to the second place winner and a $2,500 third prize. Prizewinning quilts from each state in the U.S. and each country will be exhibited for the first time in New York City at The Great American Quilt Festival 2 from April 26-30, 1987 at the New York City Exhibition Pier #92.

The 1986 Great American Quilt Festival, a Museum of American Folk Art event, presented by Scotchgard brand products, attracted record crowds. An exhibition of the prizewinning quilts from that

festival's contest has toured the United States, as well as four cities in Japan, and has been seen by more than two and a half million people.

For contest rules and further information please contact: The Great American Quilt Festival 2 Museum of American Folk Art Administrative Offices 444 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10016-7321 212/481-3080 The Great American Quilt Festival 2 is produced and managed by Sanford L. Smith & Associates, Ltd. For further information about exhibition booths please contact: Sanford L. Smith & Associates, Ltd. 152 Second Avenue New York, New York 10003 212/777-5218

"i441$ A remarkable exhibition entitled "Perspectives: Angles on African Art" runs until January 3, 1988 at The Center for African Art, New York City, as part of a five-stop national tour sponsored by Philip Morris Companies, Inc. Ten prominent art experts — including David Rockefeller, William Rubin, James Baldwin, Romare Bearden, Nancy Graves and Robert Farris Thompson — selected ten objects each reflecting his or her particular perspective, taste and interest in African art. The result is a powerful demonstration of the multiple meanings of African art, and its broad appeal. Following the New York presentation, "Perspectives" will travel to the Birmingham Museum of

Cloth Vendor Figure; Nigeria, Yoruba; Collection ofthe Newark Museum

Art in Alabama from January 31 to March 27, 1988. An illustrated catalogue is available.

G711

MINIATURES

Etkitatiogs ocote-up "First Flowerings: Early Virginia Quilts:: until October 18, 1987, at the DAR Museum, Washington, DC, brings together for the first time twenty quilts and counterpanes made in Virginia prior to 1840...

Pieced Quilt by Susan Goosley Campell; • Virginia;1820-1830; The DAR Museum, gift ofMassanutton Chapter "Folk Art of the People:: an exhibition of Navaho art organized by Chuck Rosenak, a prominent collector of twentieth century folk art, will be at the Craft Alliance Gallery,St.Louis, MO,until September 26,1987...

• Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York City, presents "After the Revolution: Everyday Life in America 1780-1800:' through October 2, 1987...

• The first exhibition to focus exclusively on the unique and beautiful clothing, tools and artifacts of the Alaskan native peoples opens October 31 and runs through December 20, 1987 at the San Francisco Craft rances Usugan ofToksook Bay, Alaska, with dried seal gut and Folk Art Museum at Fort Mason. Called "Innerskins/ Outerskins: Gut and Fishskin:' the exhibition will travel to three museums in Alaska...

• An exhibition of the work of The Nantucket Historical Asso- Women: Their Lives and Their Lancaster County's favorite ciation's exhibition "The Deco- Needlework; The Colonial Furmemory painter, antiques dealer rative Arts and Crafts of Nan- niture of New England; and Hattie Klapp Brunner will be tucket;' which runs through on display at the Heritage Cen- October 17, 1987, at the Assoter of Lancaster County, in ciation's Fair Street Museum, downtown Lancaster, PA, until Nantucket, MA, will be highlighted by a symposium entitled November 21, 1987...

• "The Decorative Arts in a MarThe work of 18 contemporary itime World" on Saturday, Ocself-taught artists will be fea- tober 3, 1987, at the Bennett The National Historic Commutured in the exhibition Hall of the First Congregational nal Societies Association will "American Mysteries: Re- Church. Topics for the day-long hold its 14th annual conference discovery of Outsider Art::from event include: The Quaker Con- at the restored Swedish colony October 1 to November 7, 1987, tribution to the Decorative Arts, of Bishop Hill, Illinois, from at the San Francisco Arts Com- Artificial Curiosities and South October 15 to 18, 1987. The Sea Collectors; American theme is "Immigrant and Native mission Gallery, Grove Street.

Fall Sale(Close-up)

by Hattie Klapp Brunner

limitucket Decoe4tive Ago $yIssposiuiss

Silver on Nantucket. For further information contact Marjorie Harris, 617/228-2252.

Coilesiesce 4t 1344op JJiIt Communitarians: Ethnicity, Ideology and Material Culture:: For registration or further information contact Dina Nelson.

Bishop Hill Heritage Association, Bishop Hill, IL 61419; tel 309/927-3899.

15

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SAN FRANCISCO

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hew Eislaist) auitt Pusetass The new New England Quilt Museum, which opened this Spring at the Market Mills in historic Lowell, MA, has announced an ambitious exhibition schedule which includes "Northern Lights: Contemporary Canadian Quilts" running until October 11, 1987,and from October 14 to December 30, "First Quilts, Last Quilts!' an invitational exhibit which should provide inspiration to many quitters. A juried competition called "Made in New England" will culminate in an exhibition scheduled for the museum from April to June, 1988.

New England's newest museum, a brainchild of the New England Quitter's Guild, houses a permanent collection of both contemporary and antique quilts, as well as an extensive research library. The museum will also offer Fall classes in quilting techniques, care and 16

conservation. Membership includes discounts to all corresponding programs, as well as free admission to the museum.

For more information on the museum or its activities, contact Carol Ely, Director, New England Quilt Museum,256 Market Street, Lowell, MA 01852.

CALIFORNIA 94115 415.563.0505

$44keo. Desilk "Shaker Furniture and Design: Challenging the Canon" is the subject of a three-day symposium, September 25-27, 1987, sponsored by The Center for Research and Education at the Shaker Museum, Old Chatham, New York 12136.

The program is designed to

examine the broader American and European design traditions from which Shaker aesthetics emerged. The registration fee is $275 per person,$250for members ofthe Shaker Museum. For registration or more information about the program contact the Shaker Museum.

persons who are willing to be included, either anonymously or by name, will be considered.

The purpose of the show is to reveal the existence of a body of strong and exciting art which,in this country, has for the most part been overlooked or destroyed or sometimes, even, shown as folk art! Please write to Pat Parsons, Webb & Parsons North, #19, 545 S. Prospect

Street, Burlington, VT 05401

4#0444 As part of my graduate study at N.Y.U. I plan to curate an exhibition of art made by selftaught, mentally ill people. The art will be chosen solely for its aesthetic strengths. Mentally ill will be defined as people who are, or were, institutionalized.

The art may come from the institution or, after release,from mental health support groups or individual work. Only those

I am preparing a major study of the life and work of the Columbus painter William L. Hawkins. I would like to learn of parties owning, or knowing of paintings by Hawkins datable before 1981. Please write to Dr. Gary J. Schwindler, Cook Drive, Box 4, Athens, Ohio 45701.

Painted Wood Whirligig With Applied Leather.

Ht. 30 Inches

AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GALLERY Mon.-Fri. 10a.m.-5:30 p.m. or by appt.

Aarne Anton (212) 239-1345 242 West 30th St., N.Y., N.Y. 10001

Rut • h B1 t1 Antiques

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

Specializing in Fine American Country Furniture.

Folk Art, Weathervanes, Canton Porcelain, Toys and Banks.

HILLMAN-GEMINI ANTIQUES

"Memorial for Nancy Whipple, who died October 6th, 1806, Aged 7 years."

Silk and watercolor on silk, the memorial was probably for Nancy, d. of John and Nancy Whipple of Charlton, MA., b. July 21, 1799.

183 / 4"x 211 / 2". Professionally conserved.

SHEILA & EDWIN RIDEOUT 12Summer St(r2e0e7t,)-W882-64211 Maine0457k 18

PHYLLIS HADERS ANTIQUE QUILTS & ACCESSORIES (203)535-2585

By Appointment

Amish Split "Bars" Wool, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania circa 1920 80 x 80 19

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

By Appointment(212)226-7316 Jesse Aaron Steve Ashby Peter Charlie William Dawson Charlie Dieter Antonio Esteves Howard Finster Victor Joseph Gatto (Estate) Clementine Hunter S.L. Jones Justin McCarthy Sister Gertrude Morgan Inez Nathaniel Old Ironsides Pry Nellie Mae Rowe Jack Savitsky Clarence Stringfield Mose Tolliver Luster Willis and others

Luster Willis (22"x 28")

A gallery of 20th century

American folk art located on Long Island's North Shore

T.P LANGAN american folk art gallery 92 Forest Avenue- Locust Valley,New York 11560 •(516)671 • 5875 20

Tues.-Sat 11-5

R.H.LOVE GALLERIES • CHICAGO •

"UNCLE TOM AND LITTLE EVA" AMMIrcAN SCHOOL

21

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And whose parts and pieces mesh together so well that one automotive critic was moved to characterize the 528e as "sumptuous in a no-nonsense way and immaculately crafted"(Motor Trend).

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°EPA-estimated M mpg,24 highway. Fuel efficiency figures are for comparison only. Your actual mileage may vary, depending on speed, weather and trip e,Igt' Š1985 BMW o NoW Amenca, r The BMW trademark and logo are registered.

LET YOUR METROPOLITAN AREA BMW DEALER ARRANGE A THOROUGH TEST DRIVE.

BRITISH NAIVE PAINTING RONA GALLERY OF MODERN PRIMITIVES WITH THE OCCASIONAL 19th C. MASTERPIECE

C.B. NEWMARCH A PAIR OF PRIZE RAMS WITH A FARMER BESIDE A PEN. SIGNED AND DATED 1832 20 IN BY 29 IN.

RONA GALLERY

1/2 WEIGHHOUSE STREET LONDON W1Y1YL ENGLAND TEL: LONDON 491-3718.

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

• FOLK ART •GRAPHIC TEXTILES • UNUSUAL FURNITURE

23

THE

AMES GALLERY OF

AMERICAN

FOLK ART

2661 Cedar Street Berkeley, California 94708 415 845-4949

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

Phone or write for exhibit information, hours, or appointment.

Bruce Brice David Butler Henry Darger Rev. Josephus Farmer Rev. Howard Finster Clementine Hunter Sr. Gertrude Morgan Popeye Reed Nellie Mae Rowe

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J.P. Scott James "Son Ford" Thomas Mose Tolliver Bill Traylor Fred Webster Chief Willey Luster Willis Estate of Charles Hutson and others

on wood. 1986

9" x 12" x 2"

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

24

AMERICAN OUTSIDERS

GALLERY 314 Occidental Ave S Seattle, WA 98104 (2061 467-8283 "Real Estate Developer", Tim Fowler

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Sabbath Meal, Oil on Canvas, 26" x 36"

15

PAT GUTHMAN ANTIQUES

Please note our new address!

281 PEQUOT AVENUE SOUTHPORT • CT •06490 TEL • 203-259-5743 Tuesday—Saturday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

ANTIQUES AND ACCESSORIES FOR THE KITCHEN AND KEEPING ROOM from America,England and the Continent

Exhibiting at the Theta Charity Antiques Show, Houston, Texas, the Connecticut Antiques Show, Hartford, Connecticut, the Ellis Memorial Antiques Show, Boston, Massachusetts, the Westchester Antiques Show, White Plains, New York and the Delaware Antiques Show, Wilmington, Delaware.

THE MARGARET CAVIGGA QUILT COLLECTION 8648 MELROSE AVENUE LOS ANGELES,CA 90069 (213) 659-3020

The Unknown Sailor's Quilt, Ca 1805, wool. The following note was attached to the back of this quilt carefully written on muslin: "This quilt has been in our possession for 80 years. It was made out of scraps of British army and navy cloth, by a convalescing British sailor. It took him 22 months to make it, every piece set in and overcast. This man was injured when Admiral Nelson destroyed the fleet of Napoleon on the Mediterranean about the close of the 18th century. Full provenance.

26

CHERISHABLES A

IQUES

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Specializing in 18th and 19th century American furniture folk art & quilts.

1608 20th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 202-785-4087 Monday-Saturday 11-6

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

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

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IMPORTANT SIGNED SECOND FAMILY NEW LEBANON SHAKER DROP LEAF CHERRY TABLE WITH CURLY MAPLE SUPPORTS AND SINGLE DRAWER. (SIGNED UNDER DRAWER "S. F. SHAKERS, NO.11") CHARACTERISTICS: ESCALLOPED CORNERS/CHAMFORD LEGS. DIM: 19 x 34 CLOSED, 34 x'19 OPEN, 281 / 2H. CA 1845 EXHIBITED AT NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM.,

Architectural Model

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LETTERS

FACT AND FICTION I would like to comment on the letter "The Fiction of Folk Art;'

by John David Cato and H. Hilary Shabazz that appeared in the Winter 1987(Vol. 12, No. 1) issue of The Clarion. The gist of Cato and Shabazz's communication is to protest the exclusion of black American culture — and thus black folk art — from Young America, an exhibition and book by Jean Lipman, Robert Bishop, and Elizabeth Warren.

Indeed, reading Lipman's Preface and the Introduction by Warren, it is remarkable that nothing is said about black American folk art of the period under discussion. In the text, I note only three mentions of black Americans (pp. 42, 133, and 142). Even if for curatorial reasons the organizers of Young America chose to exclude such material, a simple statement clarifying their decision would have been useful. It would have at least established that the authors were aware of the recent, important, growing documentation on early black American folk art. As it stands, Young America qualifies as one more attractively packaged, but predictable survey geared to middle class art consumers; it raises no questions, and breaks no new ground.

While I am in general sympathy with the "politics" of Cato and Shabazz's letter, a number of their assertions do not inspire confidence in their scholarship.

For example, the statement "the pernicious fiction perpetrated .by folk art historians...etc.;' is shrill and so broad that it has no meaning. It is also insulting to distinguished scholars such

as William Ferris, Robert Farris Thompson, Jane Livingston, Reginia Perry,et al, whose work Cato and Shabazz might investigate.

Cato and Shabazz apparently regard Olmec statuary and Mayan architecture as "major artifacts of black creativity!' To my knowledge, no serious student of ancient Meso-American culture gives this view credibility, since no archeological evidence supports it. I recommend that Cato and Shabazz contact some reputable departments of anthropology specializing in these studies — at Yale and University of California at Berkeley, for example — and get an update on this subject. Just whom Cato and Shabazz have in mind when they say these works "have been attributed to travelers from outer space;' they do not say. I recall the extravagant claims made by Erich von Danigen, for example, who writes books on ancient cultures, but none of these publications withstand scholarly scrutiny. It is astonishing that Cato and Shabazz take these kinds of views seriously enough to include them in their letter.

I am particularly intrigued by Cato and Shabazz's statement "we urge ... a deeper exploration ... about the recurring theme in the work of a William Hawkins of black beasts devouring white maidens!' Given the letter's overall tone, I take this to mean that the authors attach a political intention, specifically racial, to certain works they claim are by William Hawkins.

I have documented close to three hundred paintings and mixed media works by Hawkins, dating from the late 1970s to the present. In this

FAN

inventory, I have found nothing OF STRAUSERS that fits the description of"black beasts devouring white maidens!' On inquiry, none of Congratulations and sincere apHawkins' representatives, past preciation to you for the Spring/ or current, can recall this theme Summer 1987(Vol. 12, No.2/3) in his work. The artist himself of The Clarion, and the beautiful article about Sterling and does remember one painting — Dorothy Strauser. The magazine and possibly a duplicate of it — done some time ago of"a gorilla continues to be excellent. I have holding a white lady!' Since been receiving The Clarion off Hawkins appropriates images and on for about seven years and from popular printed sources for really enjoy it.

I guess my interest in folk art his pictures, this composition is probably derived from the film began when I took a dusty, King Kong — with Fay Wray as original View of the Schuylkill the white lady in question. Ra- County Almshouse by Charles cial interpretations of this clas- Hoffman, had it cleaned up and sic motion picture are old news, hung behind my desk. That was of course. However, to those 1974 when I was the CEO and who know Hawkins, the man as executive director of medical well as his work,it is accurate to services of the Rest Haven describe him as politically Home and Hospital, formerly "distanced!' However, Hawkins known as the Schuylkill County has on several occasions Almshouse.

A few years later I became the proudly referred to his partIndian ancestry (his father's administrator of Weatherwood, mother) and part-white heritage The Carbon County Home. (his great grandfather on his There I met and got to know for mother's side), insisting that it is about nine years "Old Ironthis mix of black, red, and white sides" Pry, Charlie Dieter and, blood that made him the gifted of course, Sterling and Dot Strauser. Lean attest to the kindman he feels he is.

It is no surprise, then, that ness, help and support without Hawkins is a firm advocate of interference that Dot and Sterracial intermixing. Considering ling gave to these artists. It is my all this, it seems that an investi- sincere hope that there will algation into the theme ofa"black ways be fine human beings the beast devouring white maidens" likes of Sterling and Dot prowon't yield much, if anything, moting American folk art but, I of importance. As a footnote, if believe, there will never be Cato and Shabazz in fact have better.

Andrew Tuzinski information on any paintings by Andreas, PA Hawkins of the "black beasts ..." subject, I would be grateful to them for informing me of their whereabouts.

SPIRITED DEBATE Gary J. Schwindler Associate Professor I'm not altogether certain which of Art I find more tedious, arguments School of Art over the definition of terms or Ohio University, polemics involving the one Athens, OH 29

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L'ESPRIT HAITIEN Wednesday, September 2—Sunday, October 4

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS The Mexican Day of the Dead Wednesday, October 7—Wednesday, November 4

FOLK TOYS Friday, November 6—Sunday, November 29

NATIVITIES AND ORNAMENTS Folk Art of the Season Wednesday, December 2—Sunday, January 3

131 SPRING STREET • NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10012 •(212)131-0111 NmEl

30

"true" path to enlightenment. I am certain, however, that in his response to my book review of his Spirit of Nova Scotia (Vol. 12, No. 2/3) Richard Henning Field takes me to task for not agreeing with the material historian's approach to the study of folk art, accuses me of ignorance of the field and suspects me of "populist" tendencies vis vis folk art. That he does not argue with my assessment of crummy photographs and faulty item selection shows Field to be a fair man,I suppose.

I will not bore The Clarion readership with a defense of my already expressed opinions.

However, I do readily admit to dissatisfaction with current specific approaches to the study of American folk art. Despite this, Field and I have many areas of agreement: I share his sense that the marketplace may not be the proper proving ground for the definition and analysis of folk art; I share his desire for everimproving folk art scholarship and I applaud, as I did in my review, the excellent qualities of his catalogue, particularly the better essays and the perfectly executed item labels.

I really do not, however, share Field's reverence for Kenneth Ames' Beyond Necessity: Art in the Folk Tradition, although I respect it. Nor do I share his evaluation of folk art scholarship which he deplores for its "populism!' (Paradoxically, traditional folk art scholarship is usually attacked for its supposed "elitism"!) I am not enamored of the material historians' so-called innovative attitude, which suggests that Ammi Phillips, for one, is too idiosyncratic and too uppermiddle-class to be called a folk artist.

I could describe some of our conflicts in terms of differing perspectives, but!don't believe that Field and I even mean the same thing by folk art. This is not so much the result of different understandings of culture and its mechanisms, but of different sensibilities in general.

As Ames puts it, and Field concurs, idiosyncracy and individuality are clearly part of the "mythology" of folk art. But idiosyncratic expression is not necessarily less culturally consistent than more commonplace work — and "commonplace" is not meant as a perjorative.

The artist who rejects certain of his culture's values is not less a member of that culture than someone more conventional in his orientation. By the same token, the motives behind the creation of folk art are no different than those usually associated with the creative process.

Surely, "true" folk art is not only those supposed "unconsciously artistic" efforts of members of "traditional" communities.

Because folk art is celebrated by the established art world doesn't mean that it isn't really folk art. Because certain scholars are more interested in the biography of the artist than in the aesthetics of his work doesn't mean the work isn't folk art, either. Nor does interest in a piece of sculpture, for example, which focuses more on the work than on its function obviate its true nature as folk art.

If the study offolk art is really and properly aimed at reaching an understanding of the past, as Field would have it, shall we see an analytic shift to quantification, perhaps leading to the development of a sub-discipline called Applied Folk Art?

LETTERS

Bessie Harvey

Surely, many of us would bemoan any such attempt to force art into the mold of science to make it "comprehensible!'

Fortunately, contemporary folk art scholars seem quite sophisticated in their desire and ability to integrate many approaches into their analyses, and feel at home with the literature and techniques of several related fields. Similarly, scholars in other disciplines who become interested in folk art apply their special insights to its analysis. Of note are Gene Metcalfs various articles on collecting or the absolutely brilliant "James Hampton's Throne and the Dual Nature of Time" by Stephen Jay Gould in the current Smithsonian Studies in American Art. Above all, folk art as an academic discipline is not synonymous with folklore, nor material history, nor art history, nor fine art. It is a distinct area of human experience suitable for inquiry by scholars from many and any fields. All are free to enjoy making their contributions to the growing body of literature which documents, describes,explains and even elucidates. This is how our field is developing. Field's catalogue essays show that he would not totally disagree with this sentiment. Yet, he seems to find invalid any aesthetic approach to the material, although that, too, would add to knowledge of place and time.

Folk art is unlikely to become Field's "enigma resolved:' and as for "a consensus definition" of folk art, I, for one, hope it is not reached in any hurry. The field is wide open to all ideas, styles, and creative directions.

We are free to pick and choose.

In conclusion, I willingly reveal what Field terms"populist"

sentiment by admitting that part of my interest in folk art arises from those ornery qualities inherent to the material which makes it resistant to definition and to being put into a scientific discipline. Those are the very qualities which compose the spirit of folk art.

Ben Apfelbaum New York, NY

BEGINNING FOLK ART? I was amused by this article from the Davis (suburb of Sacramento) area. I thought maybe The Clarion's readers would enjoy it too.

NEW FOLK ART STUDIO OPENS To welcome in the New Year, Ann Rauhauser opened a Folk Art studio named Different Strokes... Rauhauser, who has been the folk art instructor at Busy Bee for the past two years, will be offering Beginning Folk Art classes in acrylics for new artists to learn the basics.

Intermediate project classes will be offered regularly for those looking for new ideas in folk art.

Bonnie Grossman Director The Ames Gallery of American Folk Art Berkeley, CA

Bessie Harvey "ShaCha", 1987, wood, mixed media, 57 x 14 x 12"

Outsider Art Cavin-Morris Inc. 100 Hudson Street, New York 10015 212.226.5768

THE CLARION welcomes letters on all issues related to American folk art. Correspondence should be addressed to The Clarion, Museum of American Folk Art, 444 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10016. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

31

PATRICIA ADAMS Olympia Center 161 Chicago Avenue East Chicago, Illinois 60611 312-337-0021

AntiqueJewelry and Decorative Arts ofthe 18th and 19th Centuries

MAIN STREET ANTIQUES AND ART Colleen and Louis Picek

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Folk Art and Country Americana (319)643-2065 ••:•:-:-:110 West Main,Box 340 .....„ West Branch,Iowa i WP 52358 ir— Ntat On Interstate 80 -41111L411i.

Send a self-addressed stamped envelope for our monthly Folk Art and Americana price list

An early 20th c. tramp art grotto and visitingfolkfriends (24x22x9)

Carved Pine Pig, 32"x14½"

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

DAUGHTERS OF PAINTED LADIES: America's Resplendent Victorians

by Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen Photographs by Douglas Keister

AMERICAN NEEDLEWORK TREASURES oni,k

An eye-filling celebration of Victorian architecture in America from the authors of Painted Ladies: San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians.

This new book covers the entire country, showing how the 'San Francisco Style* has brought new life to glorious old houses from coast to coast. With 172 color plates. $29.95 cloth, $15.95 paperback.

DAUG111,1ITTIS JJ PAINTED LADIES

AMERICAN NEEDLEWORK TREASURES: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring

by Betty Ring One of the best known scholars and collectors of American samplers and pictorial embroideries writes about her own magnificent collection of these charming examples of American folk art. Profusely illustrated. $29.95 cloth, $18.95 paperback.

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CARVED POWDER HORNS Indigenous to North America and one of our earliest art forms A fine nautical powder horn, profusely carved with ships, animals, whaling scene, sea monsters, mermaid, and geometric designs. The late 18th-century horn, 12" long, has circular brass-tack decoration at the base and on the pine plug.

34

IUTHEIN AMERICANA Mail:PO.Box 392 Westport, Conn. 06881 By appointment only (203)259-9763

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Ruth Henshaw Miles Bascom loved children. Although she never had any of her own, children held an attraction for her that was reflected in her interest in their education and well-being. Ultimately they also became a major focus of her art. Of her 185 known extant profiles more than one-third are of young people.

Ruth Henshaw was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, on December 15, 1772.

She became, in later life, a pastellist of unique life-size or nearly life-size bust profiles on paper. Among Mrs. Bascom's ancestors and kin were several whose names have been immortalized as American patriots — Governors Increase Sumner and Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, Honorable John Alden, General Artemas Ward, and Presidents John and John Quincy Adams, to mention a few. Of even greater relevance were her Henshaw forebears who played prominent roles in colonial and early America. The Henshaws from Shrewsbury, Leicester and Boston were members of a voluntary association linked to the General Court in Boston, whose goal was to obtain and uphold certain rights and privileges for the colonists before the American Revolution. Ruth's father, William Henshaw,'.2 a key figure within that group, is also credited with the mobilization and leadership of the Minute Men from Worcester County.

Colonel Henshaw had a close military association with General George Washington during the Revolutionary War battles at Flatbush, White Plains and Trenton. Those ventures, and her father's resultant absences from home, must have made a lasting impression on young Ruth, whose formative years were concurrent with many of these events. Nonetheless Mrs. Bascom's recollections suggest a happy childhood in a bucolic home town.

Leicester is located on the outskirts of Worcester, 45 miles west of Boston.

The village was known informally to its early residents as Strawberry Hill because of the abundance of berries that grew there. To go "a-rasburyine "achestnuting" or to partake of"a feast of peaches" were among the pleasurable

Ruth Renshaw. Bascom A Youthful Viewpoint

by Lois S. Avigad pastimes that Leicester provided. Long after she moved away, Ruth Henshaw's "Green Valley;' the part of town where her family's home stood, remained close to her heart. During one visit there she nostalgically wrote: "...Mr. Samuel Waite and his train of men gathering the hay in meadow where we children have so often resorted after strawberries — lilies & c & c — days gone by — never to return.

'There's the rock, the hill, the stream 0'tis like a pleasant dream — "" Ruth Henshaw grew up with two older half-sisters from her father's first marriage to Ruth Sargeant, for whom she was named. As the oldest of the ten

children born to Col. William and Phebe (Swan) Henshaw, his second wife, Ruth had ample opportunity to welcome the arrival of many new members to the congenial family atmosphere of which she was an integral part. The growing Henshaw family was the core of Ruth's youthful social life in Leicester and the hosts during her sojourns to Shrewsbury, Boston, and Norfolk, Virginia. In later years her family formed an important part of the network which provided her with sitters for her profiles, as well as bed and board during her visits.

In 1789, at the age of 16, Ruth Henshaw began to keep a daily Diary° which she continued with uncommon

Fanny Goodnow Parmenter; 1829; Pastel and pencil on paper, ribbon, cut out in three pieces; 3 4 x 145/x" (sight); Collection of Goodnow 18/ Library, Sudbury, MA. Fanny Goodnow Parmenter was born January 14, 1803 in Springfield, Vermont to Noah and Lydia (Jones) Parmenter. Her parents were natives of Sudbury, Massachusetts where they were married in 1802 before joining Noah's brother, Oliver, in Springfield. In the summer of 1829 Fanny was staying in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts with the family of her first cousin, Mr. Dexter Fairbank, son of her Aunt Bridget(Parmenter) Fairbank. At that time Ruth Bascom was spending a few days nearby at the home ofafriend. The artist was engaged to draw Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks profiles, and also made one of Fanny. Mrs. Bascom noted working on Fanny's portrait three times until,finally satisfied, she wrote: "June 20, 1829 'I finished for 2' time Fanny Parminter's (sic) picture, received $2.25 for glass and picture, put a real ribbon around the neck &c. she present:" On May 3, 1835 Fanny married Charles Parmenter(1802-1871), a distant cousin, who was afarmer in Sudbury. They had two daughters and four sons,one ofwhom was killed in the Civil War. Fanny died ofdiabetes on November 19, 1876.

35

Thomas Cushing Burr; 1834; Pastel and pencil on paper, cut out in four pieces; 161 / 2 x 121 / 2" (sight); Private collection.

Thomas Cushing Burr was born in Ashby, Massachusetts on August 16, /823. He was the last ofthirteen children born to Robert Waterman Burr over a period of thirty years. Thomas Cushing's mother, Susanna(Butler), was Robert's third wife and bore his nine youngest children. On December 31, 1846 Thomas, married in Ashby.

Elizabeth G. Walker, with whom he hadfive sons andfour daughters. Both Elizabeth. age 42, and their youngest child died in 1870. shortly after childbirth. Thomas a "painter:' died of lead poisoning less than two years later on March 25, 1872 at the age 0148.

Ruth Bascom made more than two dozen profiles of members of the Burrfiimily in Ashby.

She noted their welcome upon herfirst arrival to that town in 1821. She attended their weddings and funerals, recorded their important appointments as town clerks and selectmen, taught their children, and praised their respectability On February B. 1834. when Thomas Cushing Burr was ten years old, Mrs. Bascom's Diary states: ... Thos. Cushing Burr came early to be sketched..."

constancy until she was 74 years old.

Her last entry was in December, 1846, 14 months before her death in February, 1848. The main focus throughout the Diary's span of more than half a century is her family and their daily activities at home and in the community, visiting friends, caring for sick neighbors, the weather and at least a brief commentary about the church sermons she attended with great regularity. It becomes apparent how the social interactions which were part of quilting parties, wool brakes, dancing schools and singing schools were a means to foster friendships and strengthen community ties.

The willingness to participate became an important asset in Ruth's mature years when, as a clergyman's wife, she was obliged to fill a major societal role.

After Ruth Henshaw had been joined by eight younger siblings, not to mention the usual visiting relatives, friends, occasional boarders and helpers — and even an itinerant shoemaker — she wrote: "Frozen rain and hail chief of the day.

Kept house with 14 in family. Almost 36

distracted with singing, crying, laughing, talking, shoemaking and what not:' Her affection for young people, which began at home, eventually led to a lifelong interest in teaching and education.

Ruth's own early education was probably received at the customary "summer term" local schools which operated anywhere between April and October for very young children and older girls. What became the wellrespected Leicester Academy did not open until 1784." Thus, while Ruth did attend a six-week session at Leicester Academy in 1791,7 when she was eighteen, that institution cannot be credited with her basic education. She also took part, in 1792 and 1793, in two Academy-sponsored "May Months:' rehearsals for a theater festival known as the Annual Exhibition, which was attended by the community and culminated in a gala ball.

From her first experience at 'keeping' a school' in 1791 there followed at least nine other teaching engagements in Leicester or in the adjoining towns of

Spencer and Brookfield by 1801, some for as long as four months duration.

Unlike the majority of women teachers who taught school once or twice to fulfill their civic duties or demonstrate their readiness for marriage, Ruth Henshaw continued her teaching after marriage, despite the demands of running a household and being a minister's wife. Accordingly she found great rapport with — and noted in her Diary — Gov. Edward Everett's statement: "The wealth of Massachusetts always has been and always will be the minds of her children; and good schools are a treasure, a thousand fold more precious than all the gold and silver in Mexico and Pere' Ruth Henshaw's relatively late marriage in 1804 to Dr. Asa Miles, a widower physician who lived in Westminster, Massachusetts, ended with his death following a long illness hardly more than a year later. However bittersweet that first year of marriage may have been, from it resulted in a close tie to her husband's son, Clough Rice Miles (1796-1879), which lasted throughout the artist's lifetime.

On February 26, 1806," Ruth Henshaw Miles became the third wife of recent widower Rev. Ezekiel Lysander Bascom, pastor of the Congregational Church in Phillipston, Massachusetts. His young daughter, Priscilla Elvira, had already been taken to live with her maternal aunt in Royalston, Massachusetts, but soon after that aunt's unexpected death, Ruth Bascom wrote: "Arrived home at 3 with Mr. Bascom and little Priscilla Elvira who is now our own:" Her love for Elvira can be perceived through all the attention and concern the child elicited. Ruth knit her stockings and mittens, bought and made her clothes, and described them in detail. "... in evening made P. Elvira a pink silk bonnet with straw trimming and a red and white rose on She worried through her stepdaughter's sniffles and bee stings, invited Elvira's young peers to birthday parties, arranged overnights and commented on the arrival of her new

"trumble [trundle] bed:' At least briefly "Aunt Ruth" found contentment.

"Friday — a violent NE storm began last night and continued all this day....spent this day very agreeably having no family but husband and little daughter — a small, agreeable family is certainly one of my hobbies. In evening and part of the day Mr. B. read to me — the letters of Sir Wm. Jones, & c & c. I sewed much:'"3 She soon opened her house to young boarders from outlying districts, allowing them to attend the special shortterm spelling, writing, and singing schools for which the community had appropriated funds. By the following spring, Mrs. Bascom noted: "Our family is now 13:'m She took an active part in these programs herself. "...I wrote musick for the girls while they sewed for me ..."15 It is also likely that through a combination of her artistry and sewing skills she contributed to the colorful costumes worn at one school's finale.

"Almost all the girls dressed or finished putting on their top knots here ... Ladies uniform, for Contra [alto], white cambrick, purple silk shawls, a muslin band round the head, fastened in a bow behind the right ear, and a bow of purple ribbon over the left eye. The Treble the same except white muslin mantles thrown over the right shoulder and confined in a bow behind the left arm and white bows on the hands...'a mighty convenient and comfortable "" dress for a severe cold day truly!"

In 1809 the Bascoms took in thirteenyear-old Clough R. Miles to board and school for much of that year, and often thereafter. He stayed with them later while he taught school sessions to support his studies at Harvard from which he graduated in 1817. When the death of Rev. Bascom's sister, Eunice (Bascom)Loveland, left her children as orphans,'' he and Ruth adopted the youngest child, five-year-old Lysander Bascom Loveland, and raised him together with Priscilla Elvira. It was not unusual that whole families of young children came to "tarry" while their

mothers recovered from a confinement, or that a recently widowed parent placed his or her offspring with the Bascoms during a period of readjustment.

After the death of another of Rev. Bascom's sisters, her youngest child, Clymene Sophronia Allen, was taken "home on a visit" and stayed ten months, almost until her father's remarriage.'Clymene must have enjoyed the experience for afterwards she made long visits to her Aunt and Uncle Bascom. Following the death of Ruth's sister,' her infant, Phebe Henshaw Denny, came more and more under the Bascom's care until, she too became part of the lively household. "... band of music at our house ...entertained us until about sunset with their excellent music, and we them with toddy, cake and thanks...a multitude of little boys

and girls came to hear the music!'"

In 1812, Ruth Bascom again taught school and wrote on May 16, 1814 that she began to "superintend" Phillipston's central school which she described as having "40 scholars:' Practical by nature, Mrs. Bascom responded to the demand for weaving cards'' in the nearby Massachusetts textile mills by setting up a cottage industry. Her own children, boarders and neighborhood children participated, enabling them all to subsidize their families' incomes. Similarly, Ruth sought instruction on the braiding of palm leaf hats,'" which she in turn generously shared with family and friends. It is worth noting that Ruth's interest in hats dates to her teen years.

In fact, between her marriages, hatmaking became a source of income.

Even after her second marriage, millinery continued as a hobby, source of pin

Eliza Ann Hubbard;1830: Pastel and pencil on paper, cut out in three pieces; 15 318 x II 318" (sight); Private collection.

Eliza Ann Hubbard was born in Ashby, Massachusetts, on January 4, 1826, the third of Jonathan and Abigail (Taylor) Hubbard's six children. Although several generations ofboth of these Hubbard and Taylor families had gained prominence and affluence in Concord, Massachusetts. the lure of less expensive land in Ashby led themfurther inland. Eliza Ann wasfour years old when Ruth Bascom painted her portrait, as well as those of her two older brothers, George B. and Jonathan A., and younger sister.

Ellen Jane, between April and July 1830. On November 29, 1849, when Eliza Ann was 24 years old, she married Joseph Willard Leland (1827-1901). A descendant of six generations of farmers. Joseph, a product of the age of industrialization, became a "tool turner" or "mechanic." Both youths had lost their mothers at an early age, Eliza Ann when she was ten and Joseph Willard when he was two. They moved to Maine for several years, but by 1855 returned to Massachusetts where they lived respectively in Templeton. Ashburnham and Winchendon, all towns adjacent to Ashby. Between 1852 and 1860 they became the parents of three sons and two daughters. Joseph Willard's health was never fully restored after illnesses sustained while serving in the Civil War. He died in a soldier's home in 1901. One month later, on December 24, 1901, Eliza Ann died ofapoplexy at the age of76.

37

Ruth Bascoes Profiles Ruth Henshaw Bascom's first mention of cutting profiles, in 1801, corresponds to the time that hollow-cut profile making was becoming a popular art form, as well as a national parlor game, in America. It was quick, easy, and inexpensive. Furthermore, profile-cutting could be tied to other enthusiasms of the period. It resembled the classical silhouetted figures on the ancient Greek pottery that was being excavated in Italy; and it could be related to the cult of physiognomy, first popularized in Switzerland by Johann Caspar Lavater, which claimed a person's character and soul could be revealed through their features.

Ruth does not seem to have taken this art very seriously at first. Of the seven earliest Diary references, which occurred sporadically between 1801 and 1808, three do not identify the sitter. Other artists, however, were already actively pursuing profilemaking, and Ruth Bascom undoubtedly encountered their work in her travels. In Boston, art galleries like the New England Museum and The Gallery ofFine Arts were run by Ruth's good friend, the artist Ethan Allen Greenwood. She noted visiting them on several occasions. There Ruth might have seen profiles by the prolific Charles Balthazar J.F. de Saint-Memin (active in the U.S. from 1797 to 1810 and 1812 to 1814) and the itinerant Sharpies family (active in the U.S. from 1793 to 1801, and after 1809).

For a period of ten years, there was no mention of profile making in her Diary. Then in 1818, she wrote,"cutout profiles for Mr. A. Gould;"9 a bereaved man whose young wife and infant son had recently been buried. It is likely that these were posthumous portraits intended to be memorials to the deceased. The Diary contains numerous subsequent references to Ruth obligingly sketching the images ofdeparted loved ones.

By early 1819, Ruth's "profiles:' or "shadows:' as she also called them, were being taken with increasing frequency, usually in the evening. Of one "cloudy" morning, however, she wrote, "Rev'd. Holt left us at 12, after having his profile taken by darkening the room!' Although Ruth was probably aware of the physiognotrace machine"for taking profiles, such a cumbersome device would hardly have lent itself to the spontaneous circumstances under which she drew. More likely, the subject's shadow would be cast by candle or lamp upon a wall, or another flat surface, to which drawing paper was affixed. Then she would trace their outline with pencil or dark crayon. Pencil was used to delineate the eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth, as well as details of shirring and lace patterns.

Mrs. Bascom's earliest efforts may have resulted in the then popular hollow-cut figures. Four known life-size bust profiles with her typical proportions have descended in families with other Bascom portraits,or with family connections. In general though, her work took one of two forms: Cut in one or more pieces and assembled as a collage on a paper ground, or drawn and colored on a single piece of paper. Of the 185 known extant portraits, slightly more than half are in the latter style. Whereas most of the earlier pictures were assembled in parts and the later ones were drawn on one piece of paper, there was a long period when both forms were used, even within groups of portraits from the same family done at the same time. As late as November 22, 1845, Ruth Bascom still wrote in her Diary of"cutting" profiles.

Mrs. Bascom was not content to simply take a profile; she embellished, enhanced and individualized her works. About 15 per cent of the profiles have metallic foil decoupage pasted on to represent buttons, beads(Young Woman with Flower Stick Pin), hair ornaments, earrings or spectacles. Lace ribbons provided similar, but rarer, touches of realism (Fanny Goodnow Parmenter).

The earlier collage types were generally placed on a solid colored â&#x20AC;&#x201D; usually blue or

38

Young Woman with Flower Stick Pin;Inscribed on backboard "taken 1829";Pastel and pencil on paper, gold foil, cut out in four pieces; 17/ 1 4x 12/ 1 4"(sight);Private collection. Detail shows the flower stick pin, penciled and chalked lacework, and decoupage beads ofgoldfoil.

ETM

John Noyes Morse; 1845; Pastel and pencil on paper, one piece, plus Ph"strip added to right margin; 14 x II" (sight); Collection ofthe Concord Museum, Concord, MA John Noyes Morse was born in Wayland, Massachusetts, May 13, 1844. Hisfather, Jonas Noyes Morse, described as a yeoman andfarmer, maintained a dry goods and grocery store in Wayland, served the town as Clerk and Treasurer, and was Deacon of the Evangelical Trinitarian Church. His mother, Sarah Henshaw (Scott) Morse, was the granddaughter of Ruth Bascom's older half-sister, Sarah (Henshaw) Scott, making John Noyes Morse the artist's half-great, great nephew.

At the age of eighteen John Noyes enlisted and served in Co. D, 35th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War. He was discharged as afirst lieutenant in 1865 after being badly wounded. On May 2Z 1869 he married Amy Lizzie Sherman (1845-1924), the daughter of Jahlael Baker and Mary Sherman of Lincoln, Massachusetts. He and his bride moved to Lexington, Massachusetts where their five children were born between 1871 and 1883. At about age 75, he retiredfrom a long association with Boston banking and brokerage firm Tower and Underwood.

He died March 28, 1935 giving him the distinction of being Ruth Bascom's sitter who lived longest into the 20th century.

white â&#x20AC;&#x201D; paper ground (Fanny Goodnow Parmenter, Eliza Ann Hubbard, Thomas Cushing Burr) but by the mid-1830s, many backgrounds were decorated with trees, corner arcs, drapery, or ovals (Young Woman with Flower Stick Pin)." Among the single sheet portraits, nearly half have a background of green trees, usually accenting the face, and a blue sky above(Henry Oliver Root). Among the other half are those with solid backgrounds of pastelled blue or brown and a slight "halo" around the figure (Eliza Jane Fay);spandrel corners to suggest an oval; narrow drapes at the top and side margins (John Noyes Morse); convex upper corner arcs; or combinations of these devices. As evidence of the artist's thrifty nature, a pieced paper background is visible between the crown of Eliza Ann Hubbard's head and the upper border of her portrait.

Also pieced is the whole right margin of John Noyes Morse's profile.

All of Ruth Bascom's known portraits are profiles of life-size dimensions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; bust views of adults and just below the waist for children. Their dimensions measure from approximately 14 x 10 inches to 20 by 15 inches. More than 1400 profiles are mentioned in Mrs. Henshaw's Diary. However,assuming that her output for the years in which the Diary is missing (1823, 1838, 1844) is comparable to the years prior and after, it is likely that Ruth Bascom produced an additional 125 portraits.

money, and community service (she made mourning bonnets for the ladies in her husband's parish), but it eventually was replaced as her profilemaking flourished. The wide variety of bonnets worn by Ruth's adult female sitters, however, is probably a reflection of her continuing interest in hats.

By 1818, a rift became apparent between Mrs. Bascom's husband and his congregation concerning the pastor's "liberal" theological views. Ultimately, after nearly twenty-years in Phillipston, Rev. Bascom was dismissed in 1820. He and Mrs. Bascom then moved to Ashby, Massachusetts, where he became pastor on January 3, 1821. It was during this period of uneasiness, that Ruth Bascom, at age 47, resumed her earlier interest in making profiles. During 1819 and 1820, she recorded making 39 and 37 profiles, respectively. For about six years following the Bascom's relocation, however, there was a sharp decline in Ruth's artistic activity.

There were other changes in the Bascom household at this time, as well.

Lysander Bascom took employment in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1821, and Priscilla Elvira Bascom, who became a teacher, left in 1825 to work in Savannah. There she met her future husband and remained. Although Ruth's niece, Phebe H. Denny, continued to be very much in evidence, the Bascom household was further emptied in 1827 when Rev. Bascom was chosen to serve as Representative from Ashby to the General Court in Boston. The position resulted in great stretches away from home over a three year period.

Not surprisingly, it was during these years that Mrs. Bascom became very seriously involved in painting. In 1829, when she was 57 years old, Ruth reached the peak of productivity, creating more than 170 profiles, or an average of one every two days.

Between 1832 and 1836 Rev. Bascom's failing health led to his spending nearly nine months ofthe year in the South, usually in Savannah with his daughter. There he held part-time positions as preacher. Ruth Bascom remained in New England and spent 39

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RUTH BASCOM'S AGE 20

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FIRST MENTION OF MAKING PROFILES

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DIARY BEGINS

NUMBER OF PROFILES RECORDED

much of her time with her extensive family â&#x20AC;&#x201D; brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews. During this period Mrs. Bascom averaged 88 profiles a year.

By 1837, Rev. Bascom decided to forego his Southern winter, and he and his wife spent eight months in Kennebunk, Maine, where he was minister of the Unitarian Church. From Maine the couple moved to a pastorate in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, where Rev. Bascom died on April 2, 1841.

Mrs. Bascom returned to Ashby "which I consider my home"" in 1843.

She continued to paint her profile portraits at an average of35 per year both at home and while visiting her extensive New England family and friends. On the day of the last existing Diary entry, Dec. 27, 1846, Ruth was dressing for her customary afternoon Sabbath sermon, her second of the day. There was no portend of her death which came on February 19, 1848.

A thorough reading of Ruth Bascom's Diary disproves'earlier theories that the artist never accepted money for her work." Mrs. Bascom was neither rich nor poor. But it would have been a burden to freely dispense all the frames, drawing material, and costly glass, which were required to complete her relatively fragile pastel portraits. Consequently she welcomed receiving at least their cost per picture with a bit extra to cover those who could not pay, or for whom she made "gratis" portraits. Depending on the subject's means, or whether a frame of plain pine, mahogany veneer or gilt was chosen, the cost ranged from one dollar to three dollars per picture. Mrs. Bascom also accepted barter, a commonly used means of exchange.

Recently, another questionable theory has been raised which represents Mrs. Bascom as an "itinerant" artist who relied on the money her art could bring to support herself." Clearly Ruth Bascom traveled and painted, but she never advertised. An itinerant artist travels and paints to earn a living, and advertising would be important to achieve the greatest yield in any one locale. Furthermore Mrs. Bascom came from an extensive family of sufficient means, and the small profit which

00

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YEAR Ruth Bascom's age relative to her productivity X = Diary missingfor these years; datafor 1804 isfrom Catherine Henshaw's diary. t =Ruth Bascom died February 19, 1848

Henry Oliver Root; 1840; Pastel and pencil on paper;17/ 1 2x 13/ 1 4"(sight);Private collection.

Henry Oliver Root was born in Bernardston, Massachusetts, June 30, 1830 to Oliver (1778-1856)and his second wife. Elizabeth (Nichols)Root(1793-1867). From thefirst generation in America his Rootforebears had been pioneers in the neighboring ConnecticutRiver valley towns of Northampton, Northfield, Sunderland and Montague. Henry'sfather was a shoemaker and tanner before becoming a successfulfarmer. He also served as Selectman for twelve years. As Deacon of Bernardston's Unitarian Church, Oliver Root came to know the Bascoms, whose friend, Rev. Timothy Rogers, was that church's leader. Henry 0. Root continued to run his father's 200 acre farm, and became an active member of the Franklin County Agricultural Society. He served as town Selectmanfor nineteen years. In 1858 Henry married Alma Ophelia Hale, also ofBernardston; they had two sons and a daughter.

After visiting Bernardston in August and September of 1840 (Rev. Bascom, then of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, had "exchanged" parishes with Rev. Rogers for a Sabbath sermon), Mrs. Bascom wrote in her Diary that she had worked on and finished Henry Root's "phiz" (Sept. 22, 23 1840). The artist's employment ofa background device, dark green trees to highlight the sitter'sfacial outline, is typical ofthis period.

Her love of children and desire to please them may have led to the inclusion ofa pond containing several small white sailboats.

184C

75

her portraits might have brought could not have resulted in adequate support.

Most importantly, her peak of productivity was achieved between 1828 and 1832, when Rev. Bascom, and his earning power, were still much in evidence.

For Ruth Bascom, profile making was a rewarding and agreeable vocation which she pursued energetically and enthusiastically. Yet that was the customary manner with which she approached all her undertakings. She welcomed the company of people, an attribute which must have served her well as a minister's wife. She had many friends, in addition to her large congenial family; and she loved to travel, despite the inevitable inconveniences which she took in stride.

Ruth Bascom simply sought to please her relatives, friends and hosts by using her talent to record their images. It was her acknowledgement of thanks and sincere interest, and they appreciated her gift, particularly in an age prior to photography.

"Four weeks this day since I left home. Visited many friends hospitable and kind. What shall I render to them and to the great Source!'27 Not to be overlooked as a motivation, as well, was a New England cultural antipathy to idleness, which Mrs. Bascom seemed to share.

"I sketched Miss H. Goulding and two images for little S. Bouker and L. Jones - for want of other means to employ my leisure:'" Since children had always found favor with Ruth it is not surprising that they were prominent among her sitters.

She variously described them as "the dear children,'"a large, handsome and bright boy,' "an uncommonly bright and interesting little girl,' or "a pretty little flirt of 3%2 years:' But it is the constantly used term, "little,' clearly a term of endearment, which makes evident her affection for her many young subjects.

After receiving an M.A. in American Folk Art from New York University, Lois S. Avigad has continued to research Ruth Henshaw Bascom.

She is presently completing a comprehensive catalogue raisonne and is guest curator of a

Eliza Jane Fay;1840;Pastel and pencil on paper; 2"; Collection of the New York State 1 2 x 13/ 1 18/ Historical Association, Cooperstown.

Eliza Jane Fay was born in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, on March 25, 1832, the only child of Benjamin and Abigail(Ross) Fay. Eliza's grandfather, Captain John Fay, had distinguished himselfas a patriot during the Revolution. He moved in 1783 from Marlborough. Massachusetts to Fitzwilliam where he raised a large family and developed a sizeable farm. Eliza Jane married David Lyman Laws (1831-1890) in Boston on September 20, 1854. They lived in Roxbury and had two sons and two daughters while David advanced in clerkships at the Merchants Bank in Boston. By 1863 he had become a bookkeeper, a position he maintained until retiring two years before his death in 1890. Eliza Jane continued to live in their home with her son, Jonas Ross Fay, until her death on April 29, 1899.

While Ruth Bascom was living in Fitzwilliam she wrote in her Diary(June 27,1840), "Eliza Fay called after the Juvenile singing school to setfor her picture began today..." Within the previous year, Eliza had experienced the loss 째flour close relations, including her grandfathet, Captain John Fay, and her twenty-eight year old mother.

The sitter's bereavement is shown by the mourning pendant she wears that is skewedfora!!to see.

forthcoming exhibition of Mrs. Bascom's works for the Museum of American Folk Art. NOTES 'New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 22, April 1868, pp. 105-115 'Proc. Mass. His:. Soc. 1876-1877, 1878, pp. 65-73 3Ruth Henshaw Bascom's Diary, August 4, 1824; hereafter referred to as Diary 4-This Diary descended through the Henshaw-Denny family and is now in the possession of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. Eight years are missing- 1795, 1798, 1804, 1811, 1815, 1822, 1838, 1844. There are also two incomplete years, 1804 and 1805, that were written by Ruth's sister, Catherine Henshaw. Clara Endicott Sears in Some American Primitives, Boston, 1941, provides an early view of Ruth Bascom through the Diary.

Diary, Feb. 20, 1794 Marvin, Hist. of Worcester County I, p. 628 Diary, Jan. 18-Mar. 2, 1791 8-Diary, May 30, 1791 8-Diary, Jan. 27, 1837 "Diary, Feb. 26, 1806 "Diary, March 18, 1807.

Priscilla Elvira was born December, 1803. Her mother died in July, 1805.

"Diary, June 2, 1810 "Diary, Nov. 6, 1807 "Diary, March 8, 1808 "Diary, March 4, 1813 "Diary, March 25, 1813 17 died Sept. 1, 1810, in Greenfield, MA IsChloe (Bascom) Allen died May 2, 1816, in Betnardston, MA; Jonathan Allen married Betsey Bascom, his late wife's niece, on May 27, 1817.

Phebe, (Henshaw) Denny died August 11, 1815, in

Leicester, MA. "Diary, June 25, 1817 21 Holes were placed in machine cards in a prescribed order to yield designs in the weaving of cloth. Diary Nov. 28, 1812, Jan. 19, 1813 "-Diary, December 14, 1827 "Diary, January 1843 24-Unfortunately the little that has been written about Ruth Henshaw Bascom has frequently been marred by errors concerning the identity of sitters, dates of execution, whereabouts of portraits and other information, both technical and interpretative, related to the artist and her works.

23 Dods, Agnes M., "Connecticut Valley Painters': in The Magazine Antiques XLVI, October 1944, pp.

207-209.

Fouratt, Mary Eileen,"Ruth Henshaw Bascom,Itinerant Portraitist" in Itinerancy in New England and New York, The Dublin Seminar for New England Folldife: Annual Proceedings 1984, Peter Benes, Ed., Boston University Press, 1986, pp. 190-211.

"Diary, January 18, 1833 "Diary, January 1, 1833 "Diary, February 9, 1818 "Sophia (Earle) Gould, whom Mrs. Bascom had known since the subject's childhood "Diary, January 18, 1819 32 It was used by her artist friend, Ethan Allen Greenwood. Bumgardner, Georgia Brady, -The Early Career of Ethan Allen Greenwood" in Itinerancy in New England and New York, The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife: Annual Proceedings 1984, Peter Benes, Ed., Boston University Press, 1986, p. 216.

33-Despite the pencil inscription on the backboard of this profile which reads "taken 18297 the particular style of this oval background suggests the piece may have been done in the mid-1830s.

41

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Bible Quilt; Harriet Powers; Georgia; Circa 1895; Cotton with cotton and metallic. yarns; 69 x 105; Collection ofthe Museum ofFine Arts, Boston, M. and M. Karolik Collection.

For more than a century, Afro-American traditional art from the deep South has functioned as an agent of spiritual vitality and social renewal in a region shaped by the oldest co-existence of Western and non-Western influence on the North American continent. Today, professional artists based in the South, along with collectors and museum curators, are bringing attention to the remarkable continuity of black Atlantic art. Moreover, they are proving that a significant visual tradition, while only recently recognized, has been operating for centuries on the mainland. In celebrating the range and duration of the Afro-Atlantic tradition, these southerners are exploring a longneglected contribution to American history.

42

by Judy McWillie This article is the first in an ongoing series that will explore American

folk art's international roots, as well as its links to world art. This article, and a companion piece in a future issue of The Clarion, will examine the Afro-Atlantic tradition in American folk art. Contemporary black folk art, which has received widespread attention since the 1982 exhibition Black Folk Art 1930-1980 will be the subject of a film called The Mind's Eye to be shown on PBS this Fall.

By the time Harriet Powers completed her Bible Quilt in Athens, Georgia, around 1895,the direct importation of new slaves within the continental United States had been illegal for nearly ninety years. In spite of the congressional ban of 1808, Africans continued to arrive along the South's Atlantic coast. Rather than being brought through the West Indies, where they would normally have been indoctrinated for several years, they were smuggled directly from Africa. Most of these new slaves were from the Angolan region of West Central Africa in the vicinity of the Congo River, an area, called Kongo territory in today's literature, that encompasses modern Angola and Zaire.' The presence of these newly arrived Africans in the

cans fused aspects of African spirituality with European Christianity and Native American belief. They extended this attitude of inclusiveness to other dimensions of American cultural life, as well. In music, dance, and literature, along with cuisine, agriculture, architecture, and art, a new creolized tradition was born.

This Afro-Atlantic tradition encouraged distinct creative values which, from the beginning, were rooted in religion and spirituality. Western distinctions that differentiate between the spiritual and the aesthetic did not, and still do not, apply. One need only encounter such famous monuments of black vernacular art as the quilt of Harriet Powers or the Throne of James Hampton to recognize this fundamental orientation. Praise of God and celebration of his authority remain the most consistent themes in black folk art, and account, in part, for its cultural continuities.

In travels through the Mississippi

Delta to New Orleans, across Alabama to the Georgia and South Carolina low country, collectors, scholars and professional artists are documenting the religious lives of black folk artists, identifying common iconography and recurring themes. They encounter attitudes and perceptions among folk artists that situate them outside the aesthetic orientation of contemporary Western art. When the professional sculptor John Geldersma met David Butler twelve years ago near New Orleans, he soon gained first-hand experience of these distinctions. "Two years after our meeting:' said Geldersma, "we traded works. My work was a carved wooden boat on rockers; his was a fanciful boat cutfrom a piece offlattened-out corrugated roofing metal painted black, white, and red.

His boat hangs on the wall in my living room. My boat is hidden behind his bees Butler later told Geldersma that his cut-outs, called "spirit shields:' had been made in order to overcome "a

Photo: Eric Sutherland/Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

decades preceding the Civil War is thought to account for the Gullah dialect ("Ngola") still spoken today among the coastal black population of South Carolina and Georgia.' During the period of direct importation, African languages, particularly Bantu, along with religion and philosophy entered American life.' American slave communities, often several generations removed from their origins in West Africa, inherited a new consciousness of their origins through the newcomers.'

Records indicate that some emancipated Africans of Harriet Powers' generation would have remembered life on both sides of the Atlantic, adapting the traditional values of the Old World to circumstances in America.'As a result, black Southern society, which Lerone Bennett called "the veil within the veil:" developed its own unique orientation, assimilating every appropriate spiritual and aesthetic resource in the environment. In religion, black Ameri-

Third Heaven of the Nations Millenium General The diamond symbol is repeatedly used across thefront ofJames Hampton's masterwork The Throne of the Museum ofAmerican Art. National the of Collection materials; found and Foil 1950; Circa garage; .

Assembly;Built in a Washington, D.0 43

period of acute nervousness following the death of his wife,' In titling his work according to its spiritual function and detaching himself from his own objects as well as Geldersma's, Butler instinctively rejected the Western notion of art as an enterprise within the wordly order.

Similar attitudes prevailed among other black folk artists. Many denied that they were making "art" at all. A widely revered "Spiritual Doctor" affirmed his mission passionately and succinctly one evening in refusing to allow photographs of his masterful sculptures."This has nothing to do with art,' he said. "It is more than one could contain, and nobody can do it on their own. This is God's work7 He insisted on anonymity and refused any association with the removal or documentation of his work.

Those who entered public life, like David Butler,were reluctant to establish prices for their works, leaving such decisions to others. Sister Gertrude Morgan, in fact, gave away her paintings to the congregation of her small church in New Orleans. She alerted collectors to their spiritual function by supplementing the paintings with copies of her poems and songs, composed as a means of"witnessing the Word,' Sister Morgan, Bessie Harvey,James Hampton, Minnie Evans, William Edmondson, Jesse Aaron,and many other artists, began their work after experiencing initiatory religious visions. The evidence of these visionaries increases with practically each new discovery of a black folk artist, making researchers realize that personal religious visions are in keeping with tradition in certain communities.

The folk artists' accounts are consistent with the Fisk University oral history, God Struck Me Dead, published in 1941, in which one hundred former slaves from Tennessee detailed their own visions in rich, evocative language. Although spiritual initiation through visionary experience is a tradition, all of these accounts were unique to the individual involved.'2 Almost as frequent as visions, an incident of healing has occurred, either as a formative event in the life of an 44

artist or a self-expressed goal of their work. Clarence Burse, of Memphis, Tennessee, explained that he recovered from a stroke after God instructed him to create his yard assemblage of mirrors and brightly colored objects. Bessie Harvey confirmed that God "touched" her, regardless of the gloomy prognosis of her doctors, and that she too subsequently regained her health and became a prolific worker, as she describes it,"in the Spirit!'

Most of these artists exhibit what art historian and collector Regenia Perry calls "a fantastic ingenuity for turning cast off objects into art works,' For example, Charlie Lucas, an Alabama artist, redeemed the waste and refuse of vacant lots and landfills to create Let My Spirit Flow Free and Hidden Faces.

James Hampton too used found materials such as light bulbs and furniture

fragments in building the armature of his resplendent Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nation's Mellenium General Assembly, now on permanent display at the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian.

By the same token, certain iconography, such as water imagery and mirrors, embellishments in star and diamond shapes, color signatures, and specific processes and techniques also recur among different artists, regardless of their isolation from one another. Similar imagery surfaces repeatedly in the material culture of their communities.

In 1983, Robert Farris Thompson published Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy, the first comprehensive review of the metaphysical context that informs black traditional art in the Americas. In

Left: Let My Spirit Flow Free;Charlie Lucas; Alabama; 1987; 37/ 1 2x 38/ 1 2"; Weldedfound objects; Collection of William Arnett. Below: Hidden Faces; Charlie Lucas; Alabama; 1987; 24/ 1 2 x 31 x 7"; Welded found objects; Collection of William Arnett.

Photos: Š 1987 Gerald Jones

U41

Support for the Burning Spirit; Lonnie Holley; Alabama; 1987; Mixed media; 51 x 22 x 15"; Collection of William Arnett.

The Old King; Lonnie Holley; 1982; Mixed media, including wood,fabric, wire, aluminum foil,feathers;200 x 3"; Collection of William Arnett.

discussing the yard assemblage of the Kentucky stonemason, Henry Dorsey," Thompson revealed that black folk art functions in ways similar to minkisi, the Kongo "sacred medicines given to mankind by God":" "A nkisi (plural: minkisi) is a strategic object in black Atlantic art, said to effect healing and other phenomena. Nsenai Isaki, himself a Mu-Kongo, wrote circa 1900: 'nisi is the name of the thing we use to help a person when that person is sick and from which we obtain health... An nkisi is also a chosen companion,in whom all people find confidence. It is a hiding place for people's souls, to keep and compose in order to preserve life:" Constellations of various types of objects and material activate the nkisi, releasing its power.

In like manner, Henry Dorsey used his work as an agent of reconciliation within his family and enhanced their land with constructions that were related to each other metaphorically.

Thompson describes one situation in which the artist "devised a shining white metal hubcap with images of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph that whirled.

The birth of Christ, the expansion of Christianity throughout the world, were conjured up in the flash of moving chrome. Brilliant gyres in motion were to Henry Dorsey what winged silver thrones were to James Hampton, and what mirror-embedded constructions were to black Georgians and the Bakongo:"8 These models of expression are perpetuating themselves even among younger artists, despite comments in the catalogue Black Folk Art in America: 1930-1980' that, "If we believe at all in the promise of our society, we shall soon see the end of much that generates this art:' While the "Black Folk Art" exhibition, organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1982, established Afro-American folk art as a popular commodity, it left the impression that the rich affirmations characterizing the inner lives of the represented artists were but a poignant reminder ofa time when black people in the South were still dominated by a quasi-colonial political system. If, as 45

the catalogue essay went on to say, we were witnessing "the sudden maturation of a material culture even as the conditions essential to its existence seem to be disappearing:' then black folk art would flourish only in a fundamentally hostile social milieu.

On the contrary, evidence proves that the strength of black folk art results, not from the social or economic plight of Americans recovering from slavery, but from the individual initiative of artists discovered to be working within the founding traditions of Afro-Atlantic culture. Lonnie Holley, 36, an Alabama artist, has updated classic African themes such as paying homage to one's ancestors by creating shrines, altars, and power objects that combine modern materials with ancient motifs. Holley makes sculptures, like The Old King, in order to express his perception that an artist creates both from the resources of his own life and the energies accumulated in previous generations. His authority arises through this system which annoints him as a priest and enhances his spiritual powers.

The noted historian of black religion, Albert Raboteau, has observed: "African influences remained vital on this side of the Atlantic, not because they were preserved as 'pure' orthodoxy but because they were transformed:' He understood,first-hand, the black American penchant for gracing the environment with a synthesis of spiritual and aesthetic influences, and would have agreed with social historian Eugene Metcalfs comment that Afro-American folk art behaves similarly to black musical forms such as jazz and blues, "imparting meaning and harmony to an otherwise disconnected . . . experience!' Improvisation and creolization distinguish the creative process of these artists, situating them within a whole spectrum of Afro/Christian spirituality longstanding in the Americas. Though Protestantism in the South de-emphasized the use of worship vessels and elaborate ritual, it nevertheless had social values in common with Kongo religion, including a strong transpersonal emphasis and the "born again" commitment to God and community."

"Forms of ritual, systems of belief, and 46

Sentinel; Hawkins Bolden; Tennessee; Circa 1978; Mixed media, including found object, clothing, wood; 81 x 8"; Collection of William Arnett.

fundamental perspectives" have not died but; they are widespread, both visibly and subliminally."

The legacy of compounded significance, inclusiveness, and inherited authority applies to those who have been initiated by powerful "Spiritual Doctors:'Such attitudes extend, even today, from the deep South into Brooklyn and Harlem, where southern blacks congregated in their own neighborhoods following the migrations of the 1920s and 1930s. B. Robinson,formerly of Beaufort, South Carolina, established a "candle store" in Harlem after he moved north forty years ago. There, he sells potions, mojos, spiritual oils, and icons, and participates in divination and counseling. In Beaufort, he had been acquainted with the legendary "root workers;' Dr. Eagle and Dr. Buzzard.

Today, Robinson, whose card introduces him as"one who has turned many tears into joy;' also creates complex assemblages in his store-front window.

Ordinary consumer objects are constellated with icons from every available religious tradition, recalling Kongo funerary customs in which every-day

Commemorative Funerary Urns; Though this genre is also a European tradition, the Afro-American origins of these urns can befound in their iconography. The example on the left was traced to an AfroAmerican home in Mississippi;it displays seashells embedded in clay. The bottom ofthis urn is punctured to release the spirit of the deceasedfrom the material world. In the example on the right, collected in Mississippi, an anthropomorphic face is constellated from the arrangement of objects on the urn's surface. Note the inclusion offalse teeth on the upper left. Unknown artists; Mississippi; 20th century; Mixed media; Collection ofRobert Reeves.

Photograph from 1939 of Cyrus Bowen's Monuments for Family Graves; Sunbury, GA;Circa 1935, Found wood.

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These previously unpublished photographs ofBowen's MotzumeniA in Sunbury, GA, were taken by Calvin Tomkins in the 1930s. and are in the Calvin Tomkins Collection, Georgia Historical Society, Savannah.

objects are presented as holy offerings that maintain a physical relationship between the living and the dead. Each object's history is taken into account and its earthly function remains intact, even if the circumstances are extrasensory. Some objects are those last used by a loved one before death, such as a medicine flask or a cup. Others provide the spirit with light and encouragement throughout its journey into the next world. A genre of commemorative funerary urns evolved within this tradition. Ceramic or glass pots- are decorated with family paraphernalia such as lodge pins, buttons, mirrors, and other momentos, along with items that appear to be repeatedly used: shells, small flasks of earth, teeth, chains, and dog figurines. John Vlach remarked that the found object tradition confused some whites, who overlooked the ritual significance of clocks, oil lamps, and automobile headlights in cemeteries, dismissing them as "late period garbage!"24 There was no mistaking the ritual intent of Reverend Cyrus Bowens' famous wooden markers at Sunbury, Georgia, however. Renowned for his ability to discover fragments from nature that had strong spiritual associations," Bowens had an initiatory vision that instructed him to "make images in wood in honor of the family dead!'" He used found pieces of pine that had anthropomorphic qualities to create two serpents and a human figure for the grave enclosure he and his family built during the 1930's, near the Baptist church where he was the minister. It is significant that in his technique for creating these works he preserved the integrity of the uncommon natural formations and only smoothed, conditioned, and arranged them to release a new identity. Venturing too far with adornment or fabrication would have obscured the found object's double nature.

Reverend Bowens' magnificent icons are gone now, along with the dolphin skull that washed ashore near his house one morning and later became part of his own grave, fastened to a cross and painted silver. But certain "spirit embodying" minkisi from Zaire and 47

Northern Angola are said to give form to all such unique trees and twisted shapes. They surface in the widespread genre,"root sculpture;' in which artists like Bessie Harvey, find a significant piece of wood and modify it in order to bring out a figure already latent within.

As an extension of this practice, ordinary consumer items are changed into agents of preternatural power.

When Hawkins Bolden wanted to mark the edge of his property against the impending commercial development of his urban neighborhood in Tennessee, he fashioned a sentinel on a fence post who stood watch over an asphalt parking lot of a high-rise building next door.

His sentinel, a tin coffee pot inverted with punctured eyes, was wrapped with rags and tied to a fence post,joining the tradition of anthropomorphic wood in a gesture as appropriate to urban life as Cyrus Bowen's forest visions were in his tidewater community.

The imagery employed by AfroAmerican folk artists is subject to the same kind of parallel construction and, again, has precedents in Kongo meta-

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physics. Mirrored surfaces in the minkisi in Zaire, the Throne of James Hampton and certain graves in Hampton's birth place near Elloree, South Carolina, all reinforce the significance of this symbol of spiritual water flowing between the realms of the living and the dead." Frequent references to water in black spiritual music, such as "crossing the River Jordan;' also reflect this tradition.

J. B. Murry's house in rural southern Georgia is physically distant from the door of his Kongo ancestors, but he is, nevertheless, a witness to their traditional concept that an artist is a spiritual mediator, charged with responsibilities that extend beyond the physical world.

Sometime during the late 1970's, Murry, who had been a life-long farmer, accepted the call of a vision that compelled him to "act religion" and "write in the Spirit:' Murry explained, "After that, the eagle crossed my eye; and that is why I can see things some more folks can't see"Today, at 76, he creates complex abstract paintings that function as visual chants and aids for

deep meditation. These paintings begin with improvised, rhythmic marks that spill over onto surfaces as diverse as wall board, enameled stove tops, and the glass screens of discarded television sets. Similar works on paper are the focus of a divination ceremony in which the artist and a visitor "read" a painting through a bottle of clear water, held over it like a lens. The ceremony begins with the Lord's Prayer recited "through the water" and continues with the petition, "Lord, give me a mind of what the water says, give me a louder word up:'In the profound silence of the environment, the reflection of the painting in the water acts as a centering device, allowing Murry time to respond to his visitors with an insightful meditation on their expressed needs. A period of prayer follows, during which visitors offer personal intentions and Murry affirms them with gratitude to God. The motion of the water discerns whether a prayer was spiritually acceptable."

Tracking the path of Kongo/Christian spirituality across the deep South fre-

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Aid to meditation: Untitled drawing showing "writing in the Spirit;" J.B. Murry; Georgia; 1986; Felt-tip pen; 11 x 14"; Collection of Andy Nasisse.

V171101 ( hallIS: Untitled drawing showing "writing in the Spirit;" J.B. Murry; Georgia; 1986; Felt-tip pen; 24 x 18" (approximately); Collection ofAndy Nasisse.

J.B. Murray standing in the doorway ofhis home in rural southern Georgia, 1987.

48

Photo: Margo Rosenbaum, courtesy of Jill Read, the Clarke County Department of Community Relations, Athens, GA.

quently leads to individuals like Murry, whose teachings are introduced through visual, rather than verbal, means. Often they function as neighborhood counselors. Dilmus Hall of Athens, Georgia,fashioned visual allegories out of concrete and wood that were illustrations for his ethical teachings. Like an Old World African griot, he rewarded visitors with folk tales, scriptural narratives, and dialogues on history and current events. "Remember!' he often warned them, with characteristic high-pitched laughter, "you can't catch a frog with a snake!" Hall's taste for fun established a warm and casual atmosphere while he delivered the serious lessons derived from the subject matter of his sculptures. To express the nature of temptation, for instance, he created The Devil and the Drunk Man, a life-sized concrete tableau. He explained: "The devil is roaring in the drunk man's ear, saying that he will stop the noise if the man will take a drink. When the man takes it, the devil roars louder and knocks him out:' The most popular of Hall's sculptures,

the crucifixes, show Christ with a toothpick threaded horizontally through the mouth. This invention was a visual representation of one of his bible stories, which always contained

Crucifixion; Dilmus Hall; Georgia; Circa 1970; Wood, paint;18 x 14";Private collection.

The Devil and the Drunk Man; Dilmus Hall; Georgia; Circa 1965; Concrete and enamel paint; Collection: Estate ofthe artist.

apocryphal episodes: "When Christ was on the cross and he spoke to the Good Thief, the Bible says he stopped dying and held death between his teeth:'' Andy Nasisse, a collector and ceramics professor at the University of Georgia, introduced Hall's work to the public in the early 1980s, assuring the artist a steady stream of visitors before his death earlier this year.

Louanne La.Roche of Hilton Head, South Carolina, responded with enthusiasm when she met Z. B. Armstrong in 1985 and began collecting his mailboxes, urns, and vending machines.

The artist had found these objects, and then transformed them by painting them white and "signing" their exposed surfaces, inside and out, with a gridded network of black and red lines.

Armstrong's initiatory vision arrived in the form of an angel who told him to make art "about what time is like:' This obsession led him to paint on old calendars and, later, to draw his grids on every accessible surface of reclaimed objects, declaring that each square represented a "past or future day:' Later he invented the calendar wheel, his own mystical device for measuring the temporal nature of things. When asked to interpret one of these constructions, he answered, "They explain themselves. God will forget the bad and remember the good!'

A careful review of the collecting activity surrounding these artists reveals as much about our culture as the artists themselves, who, after all, do not live in a remote environment distanced by time and anonymity. They are Americans, aware of mass media, as well as the race relations in the twentieth century, and their interaction with collectors brings them into mainstream contemporary society, with all its pluralistic complexities. In an early New York exhibition of J. B. Murry's work, his paintings were shown in conjunction with European "art brut' an association that probably developed because of his earlier commitment to a state hospital for "acting religion!' During that hospitalization, he tried to heal patients through the laying on of hands.

When two guards disagreed over whether he should be allowed to do his 49

50

another world into our own,it should be used someday, there should be someone here to discover and de-code it:'32 The Spiritual Baptists of Trinidad, too, engage in the practice of ecstatic "signing" (writing in an unknown tongue) and other Afro/Christian rituals, that evolved after Protestant Christianity was brought to Trinidad in 1787 by an ex-slave from Georgia, George Liele.33 They also institutionalize their desire for spiritual rebirth by entering a three-day "mourning" period in which the supplicant prays for an instructive apparition or dream,'the same method recommended in some black churches in the South when a member is enduring a personal crisis.

Writers such as Robert Farris Thompson, Albert Raboteau, and Stephen Jay Gould are beginning to rescue

artists like J. B. Murry from their imposed role as eccentrics. In a remarkable essay for the Smithsonian Studies in American Art, "James Hampton's Throne and the Dual Nature of Time;'" Gould showed that "the labels of man apart, outside of time and culture, utterly unique, and even a bit mad... evoke romantic images, but ultimately foreclose proper understanding:' In comparing Hampton with Thomas Burnet, author of the seventeenth century,Sacred Theory ofthe Earth, Gould reconciles James Hampton's vision with Western religious tradition in such a way that the Throne of the Third Heaven becomes a universal icon. In the end, he asks, "Is it not a noble testimony to human fellowship â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to those fundamental thoughts 'too deep for tears' uniting us all â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that two such Photo: Courtesy of the Red Piano Gallery, Hilton Head, SC

"spiritual work;' a physician settled the controversy by securing Murry's release. After several interviews, he saw no pathology in the man whose situation reminded him of a previous encounter with a "root doctor" in a small Georgia town who applied for staff privileges at the local health clinic."

Today, almost seven years later, Murry enjoys the affection of his patrons and the honor of leading prayer at his local church. When asked if he reads through the water during the services, he laughs and replies,"They're not ready for that yet!:' The association of J. B. Murry's work with "idiosyncratic" and "schizophrenic" art belies its actual orientation and could ultimately deny him a constructive role in history. In fact, all of his experiences are well within tradition. The hospitalization, it was later discovered, was an economic matter.

Murry's technique of "writing in the Spirit" is surprisingly common. The North Carolina artist, Minnie Evans, used "signing" as a decorative invention in her exotic drawings. Lonnie Holley, of Alabama, paints the ceiling of his house with abstract ciphers.

Leroy Person, also of North Carolina, carved wooden panels in a cryptic script reminiscent of the "alphabet" of James Hampton, whose only surviving notebook, St. James Revelation, has been the subject of mystery and controversy since its discovery after the artist's death in 1964. Joe Light, of Memphis, Tennessee, copied what he called "Abraham's writing" on wooden plaques and placed them in his yard for all to see. During a personal interview in Spring 1987, however, J. B. Murry gave a forthright explanation of the practice: "If I wrote in A's and B's, it would be me doing the writing. But, this way God is doing it. People who are pure at heart can tell what the writing says,through the water. They can't read it unless they are spiritual people:' A contemporary poet from Zaire, FuKiau Bunseki, gives an almost identical account of the function of visual glossolalia on Kongo ceremonial mannequins: "These are messages that come to our world from other realms . . .

Because the message is rising from

Signed objects and Calendar Wheel; Z.B. Armstrong; Georgia; 1987; Found objects, paint,felt tip pen, wood; Collection ofLouanne LaRoche.

Photo: Smithsonian Institution

Photo: Judy McWillie

different men can thus shake hands across the centuries?" The point here is that Afro-American vernacular art is as American as it is African, and some of it, like Hampton's Throne, is as sophisticated in its intentions and solutions as most noble monuments of world culture.

Meanwhile, collectors are exploring ways to develop means of supporting black folk artists while being sensitive to the traditional integrity oftheir work.

Such issues have been of special concern to William Arnett, of Atlanta, Georgia, who spent twenty years developing a collection of African Art and biblical antiquities before turning to black vernacular art. Arnett describes a typical situation in which a patron's sensitivity can be crucial: "Each black artist I have dealt with makes work for

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personal use, never to be sold to the public and often not even to be shown; that is, private pieces that embody his or her own philosophical and spiritual concepts. Each has also, at times, found it necessary to create 'tourist' pieces that are aesthetically pleasing to a collector's taste, but barely even hint at the artist's real vision. Several have told me ofrequest they've had over the years to 'bring down,' tone down,' or 'calm down' their work to make it acceptable to the buyer. All express sadness at being asked to do this:' Most collections of Afro-American traditional art have been modeled after collections of contemporary art in which objects are de-contextualized, associated with the European categories of painting and sculpture, and then prized for their aesthetic qualities. But

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were known "Writing in the Spirit:" All the above photographs are examples ofthis surprisingly common practice which is thought to have a Muslim link. Slaves in Arabic on to mix African Islam with otherforms oftraditional religion and Christianity.In West Africa today, sentencesfrom the Koran are commonly written from God:' parchment and worn inside amulets around the neck. At top:J.B.Murry's signature about which he says, "It's the language ofthe Holy Spirit, direct Middle row, room. living Holley's Lonnie of ceiling The center: row, Middle folk artist.

Carolina North the Evans, Minnie by drawing a of Detail left: row, Middle Bottom row, right:Road sign leading to Leroy Person's North Carolina home. Bottom row, left: Notebook pagesfrom Saint James Revelation by James Hampton. right: Example of"Abraham's writing" copied by Joe Light and placed in his yard in Tennessee.

51

52

the individual. Here, society includes those who have passed on, as well as those yet to come.

Though African artists usually resist literal imitation of the human form, black American artists freely combine representation and abstraction. Byron's Anatomy introduces a new sophistication to this process in both its iconography and its form. The ancestors, situated on either side of the parents, are abstracted by memory,though they still cooperate in life's renewal and are reflected in the features of subsequent generations. Their eyes dominated the foreground, while the small, inexperienced eyes of the newly born have been projected spacially into the background. This planar composition reverses time's normal behavior. If we read this progression vertically, the eyes of the past are the foundation of the tree of life, while the child's eyes surmount those of the other generations, signaling the hope of the future. The processes essential to life's renewal are activated through the

senses, which Byron sees as channels of communication.

The complexity of these concepts never interferes with the unity of Anatomy. A centralized face, generated from the interaction of all of these forces, stares out at the world with its own reverent eyes. The gaze shifts continually between the old and the new. At once, the whole continuum reacts with the gesture of praise and ascent, welcoming both the presence of God and the embrace of the community. Archie Byron, the owner of an Atlanta bait and tackle shop, has created a magnificent visual praise poem, ringing with compassion and authority.

It is a tribute to the social continuity and spiritual vision of black Americans.

Those desiring an in-depth introduction to the cross-over of traditional Kongo belief from Africa to the deep South can begin with a basic text, The Four Moments ofthe Sun:Kongo Art in Two Worlds, a catalogue for the 1980 National Gallery of Art exhibition, organized by Robert Farris Thompson

Photo: Š 1987 Gerald Jones

Arnett's emphasis grew out of his background in ancient art. He explains, "I find that I use the same set of criteria in collecting this art as I have always used in collecting the art of ancient and traditional civilizations. The object must first be authentic, made by the artist for usually spiritual purposes within the traditions of his culture.

Content and context are crucial: What does the object mean? How is the object used? Of course, aesthetic beauty is important, but it is essential to understand their aesthetic and never to judge the works of other cultures by our own presumptions!'

Regenia Perry continues to remind collectors, however, that while black Atlantic art evolved from traditional principles, these artists structure their work according to the organizing powers of their own particular mind."

Arnett agrees, and adds that the deeply personal nature of this art is inevitable, since the artists must reconcile several traditions in their environment along with the demands of their inner lives.

He explains: "I am thinking now of an artist such as Archie Byron,of Atlanta, whose ancestors were black, European, and Native American. His life is a synthesis of more than one tradition, and this synthesis would not have happened in terms of his art work unless he initiated it. Artists like Byron are living examples of the creole experience, which is certainly one of the strengths of black vernacular art:' Archie Byron's openness to the world around him is exemplified by his monumental bas relief Anatomy, which is a timeless reminder of life's fundamentals. Beginning with male and female fertility, Anatomy depicts life as it extends itself to the next generation, creating a new individual. The continuous flow of spiritual authority from one generation to the next is a basic theme in Afro-Atlantic art. At times it addresses the passage between life and death, at others it celebrates the instant of spontaneous contact between the latent and the conscious, which is birth.

The special emphasis on this continuum owes its origins, again, to Africa where the integrity of the family remains essential for the well-being of

Anatomy; Archie Byron; Georgia; 1986; Sawdust mixed with white glue;48 x 48"; Collection of William Arnett.

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and Joseph Cornet. The title refers to a cosmogram that has become the signatory emblem of black southern traditional culture: a diamond shape, sometimes extended with a sphere at each point. The sign represents the same life cycle Archie Byron celebrated in Anatomy. It "emphasizes that man, as such, moves in God's time, not his own, while one portion of it takes the name of God, Kalunge" The diamond bisected by a horizontal line is interpreted as two mountains opposed at the base, one reflecting the other in the ocean, with the Kalunga line connoting the spiritual water that divides heaven and earth."

The thread of emblematic diamonds across the Afro-American South winds its way through quiet middle class neighborhoods in Mobile, Alabama,to neon colored decorations on the facades of Honky Tonks in Memphis. James Hampton attached it to the front of the mighty Throne in his original installation in a small, rented garage in Washington, D.C." Harriet Powers' famous Quilt in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston displays it in the panel devoted to Job praying for his enemies, with a clearly articulated sun at each point. A singular white diamond on a window shutter distinguishes Bessie Harvey's home near Knoxville, Tennessee. Dilmus Hall covered the exterior facade of his house with bright blue diamonds and painted an unmistakable rendition of the cosmogram on his living room ceiling sometime during the 1950's.

The sign surfaces again as storefront graffiti in Atlanta and continues to less than a mile from the Atlantic coast in the Georgia tidewater region. There on the grave of a Baptist minister at Sunbury, is a homemade concrete slab with a large diamond shape cut into the surface and a strong horizontal incision dividing it in half. Offshore, in the "Behavior" cemetery on Sapelo Island, it emerges again in the center of a clearing, on the oldest grave recorded there.

The social dilemmas associated with collecting and nurturing black folk art remain complex and challenging. However, the rapidly growing body of new information about the religious orientation and traditional continuities of this

Living room ceiling with diamonds;Dilmus Hall; Painted circa 1956.

art forecasts a greater understanding of still another dimension of the American experience, promising deeper insights and confirming that the rewards of meaning outweigh the threats of illusion.

Judy McWillie is Professor of Painting and Drawing at the University of Georgia, Athens. A native of Memphis, she has been documenting Afro-American visionary artists since 1969. McWillie is consultant on the forthcoming exhibition "Outside the Mainstream: Southeastern Contemporary Folk Are,' scheduled for Spring 1988 at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and is curator of the exhibition "Another Face of the Diamond" to be presented at Intar International Gallery, New York City, in Fall 1988.

NOTES 1. Winifred Kellersberger Vass, The Bantu Speaking Heritage of the United States (Los Angeles, CA: Center for Afro American Studies, University of California, 1979), pp. 17-19.

2. The spelling of Kongo, with a "K': refers to the culture of the Bakongo people and other Bantu speaking nations of West Africa, as distinct frop the political entities, the Belgian Congo and the Peoples' Republic of Congo-Brazzaville. See Robert Farris Thompson,Flash ofthe Spirit, p. 103.

3. Vass, The Bantu Speaking Heritage of the United States, p. 19.

4. Ibid., p. 3.

5. Ira Berlin, "The Making of Americans: American Visions, February, 1987, pp. 26-30.

6. Drums and Shadows. The Georgia Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, Savannah

Unit,(Athens, GA and London, U.K.: The University of Georgia Press, 1940).

7. Lerone Bennett, Jr., Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America (New York: Penguin Books, 1984), p. 107.

8. Shared Visions/Separate Realities, (Catalogue: Orlando,Fla., Valencia Community College, 1985),p. 2.

9. Ibid., p.4.

10. Interview, December, 1985.

11. Thanks to Regenia Perry, Professor of Art History, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, for her insights in personal interviews.

12. God Struck Me Dead:Religious Conversion Experiences and Autobiographies of Negro Es-Slaves.

Social Science Institute of Fisk University, (Nashville, TN, 1941).

13. Interview with Bessie Harvey, June, 1987.

14. Interview with Regenia Perry, May, 1987.

15. Robert Farris Thompson, Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro American Art and Philosophy (New York: Random House, 1983), pp. 146-159.

16. Ibid., p. 107.

17. John M. Janzen and Wyatt MacGaffey, An Anthology of Kongo Religion: Primary Texts from Lower Zaire (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 1974) p. 34, quoted in Thompson, Flash of the Spirit, p. 117.

18. Thompson,Flash ofthe Spirit, p. 150.

19. John Beardsley, "Spiritual Epics: Black Folk Art in America 1930-1980,(Jackson, MS: The University of Mississippi and the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, 1982), p. 50.

20. Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), P. 4.

21. Eugene W. Metcalf, "Black Art, Folk Art, and Social Control': Winterthur Portfolio, 1983, p. 282.

22. Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1959, translated from the French by Willard R. Trask), p. 191.

23. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South, pp. 4-42.

24. John Michael Vlach,The Afro American Tradition in the Decorative Arts, (Cleveland, OH, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978), p. 139.

25. Robert Farris Thompson, "Siras Bowens of Sunbury, Georgia: A Tidewater Mist in the Afro American Visual Tradition': Chant ofSaints, (Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 1979), pp.

230-240.

26. Ibid.

27. Thompson,Flash ofthe Spirit, p. 121.

28. Interview with J. B. Murry, May 1985.

29. Ibid.

30. Interview with Dilmus Hall, February, 1981.

31. Interview with Dr. William Rawlings, Sandersville, GA,May, 1985.

32. Robert Farris Thompson and Joseph Comet, The Four Moments ofthe Sun:Kongo Art in Two Worlds, (Washington, DC, The National Gallery of Art, 1981)p. 69.

33. Raboteau, Slave Religion, p. 28.

34. Ibid., ix 29.

35. Stephen Jay Gould,"James Hampton's Throne and the Dual Nature of Time:' Smithsonian Studies in American Art, Spring, 1987, pp. 47-58.

36. Paul Radin, "Status, Phantasy, and Christian Dogma: an introduction to God Struck Me Dead, (Westport, Cl', Greenwood Publishing Co., 1972), pp. iv-xi.

37. Thompson and Comet, The Four Moments of the Sun, p. 44.

38. Thompson, Flash ofthe Spirit, p. 106.

39. Lynda Hartigan, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millenium General Assembly, (Montgomery, AL: The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, 1977).

53

OBJCTS ORIGINS AND

THE AMERICAN QUILT RESEARCH CENTER AT THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

by Sandi Fox Quilts are among this nation's most tender artifacts and they have always depended on thoughtful decisions to assure their safekeeping and the transmittal of their history. The establishment of the American Quilt Research Center at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, scheduled to open as a scholarly resource in December 1988, will make possible a permanent record of this remarkable segment of America's past.

The history of quilts and their makers can be drawn from a great number of Sources: • from printed material, (scholarly books and exhibition catalogues; the literatures of the period; magazines and newspapers; letters, inventories, diaries and personal journals) • from painted, printed and photographic images • from oral interviews and observations • from the textiles out of which they were worked •from the tools used in the quilt's construction 54

Mrs. Mary Orr Archer, maker ofthe "California Rose" quilt.

• from the continuing transmittal of traditional techniques • and from. the study of the objects themselves.

It is the Center's objective to draw together these diverse elements to facilitate both general and specific research in the field.

The acquisition and organization of these resources began in October, 1985, with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's decision to meet the acknowledged need for such a national repository. An obvious asset was already in place — visitors to the Center will have access to the more than 4,000 volumes in the library of the Department of Costumes and Textiles. These include all the principal texts in the field of textiles, and such important supporting materials as a set of Godey's Lady's Book (1830-1898) and others of those fashionable journals that dictated many aspects of domestic life in the nineteenth century. With these materials already in place, the Center's efforts in this area have been directed toward the development of a specialized and comprehensive research library of quilt-related books and publications.

Because of their generally limited print run, special emphasis has been placed on the acquisition of past and current exhibition catalogues.

Among the most valuable primary sources for the study of quilts are those words set down by the women and men

\II photos courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

"California Rose" Quilt; Mary Orr Archer;California; Circa 1860;Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, gift ofMrs. Wilbur Archer Beckett.

who made them. Some quilts passed into another's hands accompanied by an explanatory note or letter setting out the quilt's origin and its maker's intent.

Sometimes that piece of paper remained with the quilt â&#x20AC;&#x201D; more often it did not. Later caretakers frequently attempted to re-establish the quilt's

history: on the back of a page from a 1937 calendar the remembered origins of a "Starburst" quilt worked a century earlier were noted: "Carline Ross Orrick a great granddaughter of George Ross one of the siners (sic) of the Deckeration (sic) of Indepence (sic)....Old chints

(sic)that is the old realick (sic)of the Ross Familey (sic) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was given to Grace Wheeler..

A postcard, was written to Carrie Atherton Wills (the author's great-grandmother) in Nebraska in 1939 by one of her new and numerous "pen pals:' This began an exchange ofthe details of their 55

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simple lives ("We have some hens. I love to make quilts but I do all our sewing so quilts come last. I have one '/2 finished:') that eventually led to the exchange of pieced Friendship Blocks.

These written records were saved by mere chance — the Center hopes to insure that others are saved by determination.

In addition to original photographs showing the quilts, their surroundings, and their makers (Mrs. Mary Orr Archer's dignified countenance lends special interest to the joyful appliqué quilt worked in younger years), the Center is acquiring duplicate copies of quilt-related historical photographs in museums, historical societies and private collections throughout the country.

These photographic images are valuable in the dating of patterns, preferences and trends: Interior shots of exhibition booths at County Fairs show draped displays of quilts submitted to be judged along with canned corn and beans; babies smile up at us from a quilt spread across a porch chair.

Through individual research, or through group efforts, such as the Kentucky and Texas quilt projects, as 56

Length of Dress Fabric (detail); French; Circa 1785-1787; Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, Costume Council Fund.

well as the New York quilt documentation project being directed by the Museum of American Folk Art, many states are now writing individual chapters in the rich history of quiltmaking in the United States. The Center will offer a place in which much of this fascinating work can be brought together to be read as a whole. The Center was

designated as the repository for the slides and documentation gathered by the California Heritage Quilt Project and discussions are now underway with several other state organizations regarding the possibility of housing duplicates of their projects at the Center. Not only important and convenient for the individual researcher, such a cooperative effort could also afford the opportunity for continuing research by each state on quilts of regional origin not covered in the boundaries oftheir original surveys.

Additionally, the Center is gathering slides of collections in other Museums, historical societies and numerous private and corporate collections. (All slides of quilts in private hands and those in state projects will be coded to insure the anonymity of the owners.)

Eventually video disc and computer technology will allow for even greater utilization of this important body of work.

After the archival material is gathered and cataloged, the conservators in the paper lab of the Conservation Center at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art undertake a critical role. Whenever necessary, paper material is deacidified and all archival material is stored in acid free folders or boxes. Much of the primary source material is being "mylar encapsulated" utilizing techniques developed by the Library of Congress. A completely reversible process, this allows the researcher to actually hold in her hands the fragile records.

Each acquisition is individually evaluated. The Center's collection of over 200 pen-and-ink patterns drawn for the Index of American Design in the 1930's was fortunately done on rag paper and required nothing more than inspection, cataloging and storage in an archival study box. During that same period of time, the Kansas City Star was continuing to publish patterns that would in large part establish the direction of quiltmaking in Middle America and

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Open Robe; English; Circa 1795: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift ofMrs. Henry Salvatori.

beyond. An almost complete set of those 1,000 patterns came to the Center showing the severe yellowing and brittleness of newspaper print over a halfcentury old. These are being deacidified and, in anticipation of frequent requests for that study box, each will be individually encapsulated.

The identification and dating of an individual piece of fabric in a quilt cannot tell us with certainty when the quilt was constructed. It can only tell us that it could not have been made prior to the date of the fabric's manufacture. A knowledge of textiles, (most particularly printed cottons), is nevertheless essential to the study of quilts, and the Center will contain a number of objects to assist in such study.

In addition to a large collection offlat textiles ranging from the fine detailing of a pictorial toile de Jouy to the quickly and commercially produced souvenir handkerchief, the Department's collection of eighteenth and nineteenth century printed and painted cotton dresses is now housed in the American Quilt Research Center.

It will be possible to study these early textiles in a variety of forms: A length

Waist Pockets; United States:Probably New England; Circa 1810;Los Angeles County Museum of Art, American Quilt Research Center Acquisition Fund, Costume Council Fund, partial gift ofJackie Coakley.

"Four-Patch" Quilt(detail); United States;Circa 1860; Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, gift of Herbert Wallerstein.

of French dress fabric; an English "open robe" of Indian printed and painted chintz; a rare pair of early pieced waist pockets still attached by their original cord; four decades of printed cottons in a simple and splendid "Four-Patch" quilt.

The accurate dating of certain fabrics can be ascertained through a number of dated objects in the Center, and through books such as: Traite Theorique et Pratique de L'Impression des Tissus by J. Peroz (France, 1846). Illustrated are two of the actual swatches that have been affixed into three of the four volumes: "134. Double rose et blanc sans rapport" and "135. Double rose et blanc rapporte:' A major acquisition has been an important set ofcorrespondence between a French textile manufacturer and a Spanish buyer dating between 1826 and 1847. Twenty-one letters hold almost one-hundred swatches. This type of primary research material will be supplemented by slides and by copies of other similar material.

The quilts themselves represent a remarkable diversity of textiles and techniques, pattern and provenance, influences and intent. The collection 57

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being developed by the American Quilt Research Center specifically addresses these various elements. Initially, primary emphasis is being placed on quilts of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. An aggressive, but selective, acquisitions policy has already brought together an exceptional collection of well over one-hundred pieces. A pair of American blue resist "Whole-Cloth" quilts, (Circa 1760), were purchased from the Greenwich, Connecticut, family through whom the pieces have descended, providing a unique oppor-

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Twenty-one pieces ofcorrespondence(1826-1847)in French and Spanish with originalAbric swatches attached;Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, American Quilt Research Center Acquisition Fund.

58

tunity for research in those elusive Hudson Valley resists. A recently acquired "all-white" quilt was worked by Rachel DuPuy near Philadelphia in 1805. Elaborately yet delicately quilted and stuffed, this master work bears the corded inscription "If on earth there is found true bliss Sure it's in a life like this They watch their flocks Tis all their care Of natures sweets profusely share May Heaven grant some such calm retreat For in this world I wish not to be great" The elegant technique of "broderie perse" is worked into a number of pieces in the collection. One particularly fine piece is an early nineteenth century South Carolina bedcover that utilizes an entire "repeat" of a fine arborescent chintz. Another, worked almost a half-century later, features a large center medallion motif that bears a notation in fine script that the quilt was made for Ellen Mary "by her affectionate mother 1846:' The Center was recently given fortynine pieces from a distinguished Los Angeles collection and the gift extended the Center's holdings in every category. Of particular importance is a splendid stenciled bedcover. The major portion of pieces from this collection are pre-1860 and contain a remarkable number of very early printed and painted cottons. The gift included two exceptionally fine wool quilts from the last quarter of the eighteenth century.

Some of the quilts were worked for friends,(a red and green"Oak Leaf and Reel" bearing multiple inked inscriptions and drawings and presented to Albert E Guthrie in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the middle of the nineteenth century); for children, (a rare inscribed Freedom Quilt "Presented to John W. Peterson on his twenty-first birthday May 27 '86"); and for causes, (a red and white Drunkard's Path with

View ofthe textile conservation laboratory ofthe Conservation Center with Whole-Cloth Quilt,American blue resist (detail); United States, Connecticut; Circa 1760; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, American Quilt Research Center Acquisition Fund, Costume Council Fund.

All-White Quilt (detail); Rachel DuPuy: United States: Pennsylvania; Dated 1805; Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, American Quilt Research Center Acquisition Fund, partial gift of Phyllis Haders.

embroidered signatures worked as a fundraiser for the Women's Christian Temperance Union in Union Springs, Colorado).

Although the quilts in the Museum's growing collection are primarily American in origin, this country's early quilts reflected a number of obvious European influences. The Center is making important acquisitions of European quilts (particularly English and French) that represent those preferences for textiles and techniques that were to be redefined by the American quiltmaker and incorporated into her own work. A recently acquired English bedcover boasts a rich and varied selection of English prints, primarily late eighteenth and very early nineteenth century chintz with many bearing their original glaze. That the quilt was probably not constructed until a later date is indicated by the inclusion of a wide inner border of the famous English "eccentric" print"Hoyle's Wave':popular in the 1840's. The Center has also been given a linen quilt, worked in France during the second half of the 59

"Variable Star" Quilt; United States: New England; Fourth quarter of the 18th Century; Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, gift ofThe Betty Horton Collection.

eighteenth century in a Marseilles technique,(unbatted except for those areas that are stuffed or corded).

The Center can draw upon related objects within the 40,000 objects in the Department of Costumes and Textiles and of particular interest in any investigation of European techniques would be the extensive collection of eighteenth century quilted garments and accessories. The written history of European quilting will be represented in the Center's library. In addition to standard texts, study boxes will contain a number of scholarly articles. The current international interest both in the study and making of quilts is apparent by an increasing number of contemporary exhibition catalogues from England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Australia.

The Center's commitment to the care and conservation of this expanding 60

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Stenciled Bedcover(detail); United States; Circa 1830;Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, gift of The Betty Horton Collection.

collection is of primary importance and the conservators in the textile laboratory are consulted on every aspect ofthe care of each quilt. Each acquisition is examined to determine condition, and any instance of staining, loss, tearing, fading or insect damage is noted and diagrammed. Through such evaluations decisions are made regarding the quilt's stabilization, necessary treatment, handling methods for photography and exhibition, and storage requirements.

State-of-the-art storage units, constructed of anodized aluminum, have been specifically designed for these textiles. The air is filtered to remove particulate matter as well as specific gaseous pollutants such as ozone. Temperature and humidity are maintained at 68°F ± 3°F and 50% -± 5% respectively. (For exhibition, recommended light levels are not to exceed seven foot candles.) Four methods of storage ac-

commodate individual needs. Some pieces, such as the stenciled bedcover, will be stored on rollers. Others will be kept in large acid-free boxes, or will rest on long, wide shelves, each fold eased by a specially constructed stuffed

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"Oak Leafand Reel" Quilt(detail); United States: Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Circa 1850; Los Angeles County Museum ofArt,gift of The Betty Horton Collection.

Lady's Stomacher; Holland; 18th Century; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Schott Collection.

Baltimore Album Child's Quilt; United States: Emigsville, Pennsylvania; 1847; Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, gift in honor ofSara Marie Habib.

"roll" of muslin. These units are covered with special blinds that keep out the light while still allowing for the circulation of air. The blinds are set into a recessed track to prevent them from touching the objects.

Particularly fragile pieces, such as the rare Baltimore Album child's quilt that was the Center's first gift, are placed flat in large drawers. This unique piece was worked for a Pennsylvania child in 1847 and for 140 years it has been given in an unbroken line to the first daughter in each generation to bear the name,or a derivation of, Mary.

A corrosive mordant used with the black dye had destroyed those elements of a red, gold and black acanthus print used for the border and lattice setting, and the Texas descendants of that first Mary, to whom the quilt had now passed, recognized that the strength of sentiment must now give way to the urgent needs of conservation and a controlled environment. The decision was made to let the quilt leave the family in order to save it, and the Center now holds this tender quilt in trust for all the other generations of small Marys.

These objects are shining moments in our creative past. Their origins were once vivid and clear, but facts gave way to remembrance and in subsequent generations that too, like the brightest calico, often faded. It is essential that we strengthen or re-tie those subtle threads that bound the quiltmaker to her work. The Center welcomes participation by individuals and institutions in this shared responsibility.

Sandi Fox is Senior Research Associate of the American Quilt Research Center at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A quilt scholar, she has served as curator for six major exhibitions of nineteenth-century American quilts in the United States and abroad. She is the author offour exhibition catalogues and of Small Endearments: 19th Century Quilts for Children (Scribners, 1985).

61

Shaker baskets are distinguished by simplicity of lines, perfect symmetry, fineness of materials, and intrinsic beauty. The Shaker communities are known for their "fancy" baskets made of ash splint and poplar. Left:Inside view ofafour handled Shaker basket. This type ofbasket, with its kicked up bottom, was probably usedfor produce such as cabbage or lettuce. Unknown artist; Canterbury, NH;Circa 1840;Black ash splint and hardwood handles;23/ 1 2"diameter x 120" high; Collection ofCharles and Barbara Adams.

Right: Shaker Apple Basket; Unknown artist; Canterbury, NH;1850-1880;Black ash splint and hickory; 15" diameter x 18" high; Collection ofthe Hancock Shaker Village Museum, Pittsfield, MA.

BASKETMAKING IN NEW ENGLAND AN INTERVIEW WITH A MASTER CRAFTSMAN Baskets have come a long way in history. From humble roots carrying babies, water, goose feathers, herbs or potatoes, they have become prized collectibles now finding a place of honor in museums and gallery exhibitions throughout the country. In order to explore why basketry is gaining recognition as an art form I sought a leading authority on traditional New England basketry, John E. McGuire. As a historian, basket collector and maker he brings a unique approach to this discussion.

62

by Chester D.Freeman,Jr.

Do you consider basketry art?

Before answering that question I need to reflect on the tradition of basketry: The simplest description of baskets in the nineteenth century is that they were the brown paper bag of the period. They were used for commerce and carrying. In this historic context people did not perceive that the basketmaker was creating art, but rather

contributing to their way of life.

The appreciation for a basketmalcer's work must have been a consideration for the purchaser. But I cannot believe that a person walked around a basket for hours and thought about its integration into their home environment before they bought it. As a result of my conditioning it was hard initially to think of my baskets in terms other than pure utility.

After leaving more agricultural museum settings, I was concerned about not losing sight of the utilitarian nature

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New England Indian Baskets are distinguished by the use of swabbed color, occasional stamping, decorations and handle and rim treatments. There are tribal and individual characteristics in basketmaking which help us to identify them.Left:Lidded Curlicue Basket; Unknown artist;New England; 2"diameter x 30"high; Collection ofCharles and Barbara Adams. Right: 1 Circa 1920;Black ash splint;14/ Storage Basket; Schaghticoke; Connecticut; 1850-1860; Black ash splint swabbed with chrome; 18" diameter x 12" high; Collection ofCharles and Barbara Adams.

of baskets. Baskets were part of survival in our country. The "imported baskets" of the original settlers gave portage to their goods or added to their way of life. As concerns extended beyond mere survival, the need for domestic production for a burgeoning population and economy became evident. In response, the artisan, then called a tradesman, began to make baskets for a buying public.

If one were forced to give basketry a label, it would probably fall under the category of folk tradition.

trades became industrialized, basket making and other such fundamental crafts remained within the realm of folk art.

The distinction in my mind is that folk art is art work that is a creation of a person rather than a system. This doesn't mean that baskets were something that anyone could do. If it was not self generated, then the training was frequently minimal. Nonetheless, the contribution to society was acknowledged immediately. Personally, I feel that baskets qualify as both folk art and pure art.

Could you call basketry folk art rather than folk tradition?

I believe that there is little difference between the two terms. While historic basketry has always been fundamentally form following function, the success of the country and the growth of discretionary income gave rise to finer expressions of every aspect of life.

Craftsmen responded to this expansion of marketplace and taste. While some

When did you begin to view baskets as an art form?

The dictionary describes art as an arrangement of elements as words, sounds, colors, or shapes and the production of the same. It further states that any system of rules and principles that facilitates skilled human accomplishments also falls into this category.

I think it is fairly clear that basketry,

indeed almost anything, can be elevated to an art. The mere application of rules doesn't immediately elevate anything to art, but it gives one pause to think that living can be an art.

The reason I say this, is the next focus of historic basketmaking for me was that of a unique religious sect. In one sweep I moved from utilitarian to utopian. The Shakers are the most successful celibate community of people that the world will ever know. This highly evolved and spiritual sect turned the simplest of needs into the most understated and elegant of form; one could even consider their lifestyle an art.

In the Shaker communities, basketry, along with nearly every other aspect of life, was elevated to the pinnacle of aesthetics. In their quest for simplicity, and by removal of decadent embellishments, the Shakers raised the most fundamental and simple of forms to a higher art. The Shakers brought to the marketplace baskets of exceptional 63

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Above are two different examples ofYankee baskets. These basketsfrequently lack any specific trademarks and their makers often remained anonymous. Nonetheless, these utilitarianforms were so valued that they were taxed when inherited. Left: Round basket with paintedfinish, some baskets were painted by owners after purchase; Unknown artist; New England;1860;Black ash and hardwood handles; grey-blue paint; 12"diameter x 11" high;Collection ofJohn E.McGuire.Right:Rectangular Utility Basket; Unknown artist; New England;1875;Black ash and hardwood handles and rims;11"high x 14"long x 10"deep;Collection of Joan Huntington.

execution and evolution. As a result, the consumer public could now take aesthetics into consideration when buying baskets. The humble basket continued to evolve into higher and higher forms of art.

You have mentioned a couple of different traditions. What are the various styles in New England baskets?

Shaker, Nantucket Island, Native American and the generic Yankee comprise the four main traditions.

Could you elaborate more on these traditions?

Sure. Yankee baskets include a variety of styles. These baskets were made out of necessity by the settlers, and were greatly influenced by their interactions with the Algonquin Indians.

Eventually certain families in New England started basketmaking factories. Whatever the need, a basket form was created for the task at hand. Because these were the baskets of the 64

JOHN E. McGUIRE: HISTORIAN, TEACHER AND BASKETMAKER John E. McGuire is a contemporary basketmaker who has made it his mission to build public awareness about traditional basketmaking. Currently resident basketmaker at the Hancock Shaker Village Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and historical consultant to the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, New York, McGuire is considered one of the leading authorities in the United States on traditional New England basketry.

In educating and teaching, McGuire has two goals which, at first, appear to be at cross purposes: He wants to show the special skill and artistry that went into making even the most common forms of New England baskets and he wants to shatter the mystique that focuses all the attention on such exalted forms as Nantucket Lightship and Shaker baskets. "History has placed more prestige on other craft trades than on basketmakers;'explains McGuire,"but their highly valued products became the means to carry on commerce. As a teacher and artist I am working to secure basketry's rightful place as notjust a utilitarian item, but a work of art:' McGuire began raising the public consciousness about traditional basketry in 1982 when he joined the staff of the Old Sturbridge Village Museum,considered the largest living-history center in the northeast. As the museum's sole basketmaker, McGuire's role grew to include demonstrations, interpretation, teaching and making authentic

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The Woodland Indians ofthe Northeast made use ofsweet grass and other natural materials in addition to black ash splints in their baskets. Grouping of Miniature Woodland Indian Baskets; Unknown artist; 2"high; Collection 1 2to 3/ 1 Northeast U.S.; Circa 1920;Black ash splint and sweet grass;2-4" diameter x 2/ ofCharles and Barbara Adams.

reproductions for use in the village. Ultimately his job included the training of personnel to staff the growing basketmalcing exhibit.

During his years at Sturbridge, McGuire concentrated on the study and demonstration of traditional splint basketry as an early nineteenth century trade. In response to the constant demand from the public for information and demonstrations, he wrote his first book, Old New England Splint Baskets and How to Make Them (Schiffer Publishing). In a very short time this book has become the definitive work on the fundamentals of black ash splint basketry, proving insights into the historical disputes regarding the tools and technology of traditional basketry.

At Hancock Shaker Village Museum,McGuire continues his research,teaching and demonstration. He is currently writing a second book,Basketry: The Shaker Tradition.

As consultant to the Cooperstown Farmers' Museum, he is in the process of working with the museum's curators to set up a permanent display of basket technology, as well as arranging workshops and seminars.

In addition, McGuire, who also teaches at the American School ofthe Deaf, hasjust completed a ninety-minute, full-color video, "Traditional New England Basketmaking'the result of work with craft schools in New England. The tape is the first video produced by the Brookfield Craft Center in Brookfield, Connecticut.

Master basketmaker John E. McGuire holds a Shaker Cat Head basket he made ofblack ash trees from the Hancock Shaker Village property.

65

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Nantucket Lightship baskets are distinguished by their turned wooden bottoms, swing handles, carved wooden or metal ears and the use ofrattan. They are madefrom black ash, oak and hickory. These baskets were made during spare time by sailors on board the Lightships of Nantucket Island. Left: Nantucket Lightship Basket with carved wooden ears; Unknown artist; Nantucket Island; Circa 1845; Oak, rattan, mahogany base; 9" diameter x 11" high; Collection of Charles and Barbara Adams. Right: Low Round Nantucket Lightship Basket; Unknown artist; Nantucket Island; Circa 1867;Rattan, hickory, maple base; 7/ 1 2"diameter x 9" high; Collection ofCharles and Barbara Adams.

common people, there are few journal records of their work. Yet,it is the work of these unknown basketmakers that is so collectible today.

Traditional Native American baskets, once made solely for community use, are fairly similar to those styles made today for purchase. Stylistic changes tend to be a reflection of the tastes of the white settlers, as interpreted by the Native Americans. The distinctive use of surface decorations, including painted or stamped designs, held great appeal and enhanced sales.

The preparation and use of certain woodsplits remains obscure, but the culture of our country, and the evolution of basketry, owes much to these people.

The Shakers were a celibate religious sect which felt that the Biblical prophecy of heaven on earth had been realized. Learning from the Indians and others, they took most seriously their calling to a higher order and developed a sophisticated and successful industry 66

using materials indigenous to their lands. The Shakers used forms and molds to facilitate their production while adhering to their regimen of simplicity of line.

The last major category is that of the islanders of Nantucket. Using forms and materials often gathered off island, sailors and islanders wove baskets with cane. One modern adaptation is an oval covered form with ivory decoration often used as a lady's handbag. Highly prized then and now, the Nantucket Lightship basket has been described by some as the ultimate form. I think it is far wiser to say that it is a significant form in the evolution of basketry.

What do you see as the future of baskets as an art form?

Even while I continue to work at Hancock Shaker Village Museum, my involvement with the history of basketry doesn't preclude my thinking and experimenting with a more contemporary approach. The purely decorative

orientation that some basketmalcers explore takes basketry out of the realm of utility and directs it into the area of art preoccupied with shape or color. This evolution in basketry reflects a society whose concerns have grown way beyond survival. The decoration of space has become a major consideration in our lives. So extensive is this societal growth that the purchase of these decorative, as well as functional, elements involves the use of agents, designers and purveyors of art.

Regardless of the reasons for purchase, it is clear to me that the woven vessel that has as its roots the oldest craft in the world, will continue to be a part of our lives. As for my main focus, I believe it will always be to gently remind us of our history.

Chester D. Freeman Jr. is an upstate New Yorkbased freelance writer and artist with a special interest in art and antiques. He is a former chaplain serving at the University of Massachusetts and Religious Advisor to students at Amherst College.

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"Silhouettes in America 1790-1840;' an exhibition organized by guest curator Blume J. Riflcen, will be presented by the Museum of American Folk Art at the 1987 Fall Antiques Show at the Pier, October 22 through 25,1987.

Adornments using Chinese white or an application of gold, called bronzing, were commonly added to indicate hair, collars, stocks, ruffs, and combs on painted and cut-and-pasted profiles.

Those embellishments plus watercolor washes enhanced the hollow-cut variety.

Most silhouette artists were itinerant. They wentfrom city to city, usually

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When they first appeared, just before 1790, solid black profiles were called "shades:' "profiles:' and "shadows7 The term "silhouette" is supposed to have been derived from Etienne de Silhouette, the eighteenth century French minister of finance who was very frugal in his fiscal policies. He was also an amateur profile maker. His critics, thinking him cheap, used his surname to refer to anything low in cost. Shadows were very inexpensive, hence the term silhouette.

Augustin Edouart was a well known silhouettist in Europe and, when he came to America in 1839, his work quickly became known and highly appreciated here. He called his cuttings "silhouettes" and that name was commonly used from then on.

The three major American silhouette types are the hollow-cut, cut-and-pasted, and all-painted profiles. The hollow-cut variety was cut from the center of a piece of white paper and placed over a dark â&#x20AC;&#x201D; usually black â&#x20AC;&#x201D; paper, cloth or, sometimes,reverse painting on glass background. A mechanical contrivance aided the artist in reducing the profile for this type of silhouette. The cut-and-pasted type was usually cut free-hand from black paper. It was pasted onto a white background which often had a painted or printed interior or exterior scene on it. The all-painted style, as the name suggests, was completely painted with no cut parts.

2x19" 1 Full-length cutand pasted silhouette ofunknownfamily group by Master J. Hankes;Circa 1831;15/ outside; Courtesy ofThe Essex Institute, Salem, MA. 67

renting a room or studio, and advertising their trade in the local papers or by posting broadsides in taverns and elsewhere around town.

The silhouettist who chose this form of livelihood enjoyed success and popularity for a period from approximately 1790 until the 1840s. The advent of the camera replaced this simple art form, forcing the silhouettist to learn photography or choose some other method of earning a living.

Silhouettes were a very inexpensive and fast means to have a person's likeness taken. Yet the speed at which the silhouette artist worked and the reasonable price charged for the profile should not diminish the artistry connected with some of these early shadow portraits. The profilist managed to quickly create a remarkable likeness of the sitter and that was an artistic accomplishment in itself. Indeed, some artists showed extraordinary talent. It is said that William Henry Brown, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, who was a cut-and-paste silhouettist, could see a subject and later cut a likeness of the person from memory.

The William King silhouette portrays silhouette artistry to its fullest.

With no adornments, King produced a handsome portrait in its simplest form, achieving a certain charm and sophistication in such simplicity.

William Bache, who could be classified as an academic stylist, took this simple method of cutting a step further in his hollow-cut silhouettes. After cutting out the entire form including the bust, he added touches of Chinese white to the black backing, showing details of clothing with a definite painterly quality. He then added ink or black water color wash to the white paper to render the man's hair and continue the lace on the woman's bonnet. This method of painting directly on the black background paper of the hollow-cut is quite unusual in American silhouettes.

In Bache's all-painted silhouettes, such as the portraits of Wm. Brown Martin, Esq. from Newburyport, Mass. and Jane Strawbridge Ledyard from Cazenovia, New York, the artist expresses a sensitive, painterly quality in his work, particularly in his delicate renderings of the profiles, hair, lace and other embellishments.

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A well-proportioned, all-painted silhouette of Fred H. Robertson in 1824, by self-taught artist George Catlin, is an example of the early work of an artist who went to gain great renown. He

ultimately traveled West in the 1830's to paint the American Indians and their way of life.

The academic aesthetic is only one of the endless variety of styles and tech-

All-painted silhouette by William Bache ofJane Strawbridge Ledyard; Cazenovia, NY; Circa 1815; 4/ 1 4 x 506" outside, in black papier mache frame with inner oval;Private collection.

Hollow-cut silhouette by William King is a handsome, unadorned, simple portrait; Subject unknown;1804-1809;4/ 1 4x 5"outside, in original pressed brassframe;Private collection.

Semi-folky hollow-cut silhouette portrait of unknown woman from Montpelier, VT, wearing red dress, body is painted; Artist unknown; 1830s; 4/ 1 4 x 5/ 1 4" outside; Private collection.

Full-length cut and pasted silhouette ofa manfrom Boston, with a lithograph ocean scene in the background, by Augustin Edouart; 1824; 12 x 8/ 1 2" outside; Private collection.

niques used by the early silhouette artists. There were highly stylized profiles that were decorative and some that bordered on the whimsical. The silhouettes with a more folk aesthetic

show much charm and fancifulness in the execution. Proportions are erratic, features exaggerated, and execution is sometimes child-like in its uninhibitedness. These factors provide the en-

....10211.6.1M101,11•51111111111111111•11•111•111111111111MIMINIla.

Highly stylized hollow-cut silhouette by unknown 2x 1 artist ofAlanson Gunn;Dated July!. 1835;5/ 2"outside; Private collection.

1 4/

A fine example of academic style is this allpainted silhouette of Fred H. Robertson, by 2 x 4" outside; Private 1 George Catlin; 1824; 5/ collection.

Fogg hollow-cut half-length figure with painted body and hands; Artist unknown; Subject unknown; 4 x 5" outside; Private 1 1830-1835; 4/ collection.

Full-length cut and pasted silhouette

by Samuel Metford of Nathaniel Hawthorne is an example of the academic style; 1843; 10 x 14" outside; Private collection.

chantment of folk profiles.

Going back full circle to a more academic style, is a full-length silhouette of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Samuel Metford. The fully painted background has excellent detail and design, which lead the eyesfrom the cut and pasted figure to the fireplace, mantel, mirror, cord and back down to the figure again.

The family group in the collection of the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts is a remarkable piece of work by an English-born silhouette artist known as Master Hankes. By his cutting and pasting of the figures and hand rendering of the interior background scene, he created a masterful group portrait. It tells a story of doting parents and illustrates the painterly ability of the artist with the fine bronzing details on the figures and the subtlety in which he executed the background.

The popularity of antique silhouettes has ebbed and flowed in this century. In the 1920's, silhouette collecting was very prevalent and The Magazine Antiques had frequent articles on the subject. The silhouette market slowed down for a time after that, however, as more people seemed interested in contemporary silhouettists who would cut profiles of their children. This record of childhood is still popular, especially at the Christmas holiday season.

There have always been collectors of early silhouettes, even though there has been a paucity of these artistic works at auctions, antique shows and in dealers' shops. This trend seems to be changing, however. More and more silhouettes are appearing on the market and dealers are advertising them in trade papers at an increasing rate.

Because they were fragile and sometimes not framed, many early profiles were lost. Since thousands were produced in the early nineteenth century, many must still remain undiscovered.

As collectors and museums pursue the endless possibilities of the legacy left by the early silhouette artists, it is exciting to anticipate what will surface.

Blume J. Rificen is the author of the newly released book Silhouettes in America,1790-1840:A Collector's Guide, published by Paradigm Press.

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6 C•A•B•I•N•E•T •M•A•K•E•R

Kathy Schoemer American Antiques and Decorations

featuring Woodard Weave- Woven Rugs Authentic Designs Lighting Country Garden Products Iierbal Arrangements Selected Books Route 116 at Keeler Lane North Salem, New York 10560 914/669-8464 Wednesday thru Sunday,12 to 5 Anytime by appointment

Sharon W.Joel Antiques Mailing address: 2317 Segovia Avenue Jacksonville, FL 32217 Telephone: (904) 733-3169

By Appointment A rewarding 5 minutes from the University Blvd. W.Exit on 1-95 and US 1 in Jacksonville.

Subject to

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 Spider, 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

70

prior sale.

We specialize in and wish to purchase fine examples of American 18th and early 19th century painted, country, and high style Furniture•Folk Art•Textiles •Treenware• Metalware• Other appropriate accessories

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BOOK REVIEWS

ITINERANCY IN NEW ENGLAND AND NEW YORK The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife Annual Proceedings, 1984 Edited by Peter Benes 256 pages, black and white illustrations Published by Boston University, 1986 $14.00 softcover One summer day in 1816 a trained elephant was shot and killed in the town of Alfred, Maine. A townsman, it was reported, took exception to the traveling animal act "because [it] took money from those who could An interesting histornot afford to spend ical anecdote,surely, but what has this got to do with folk art? Essayist Peter Benes interprets the pachydermocide this way: This, perhaps, is the rural aesthetic in its most militant form. It...suggests that the penetration of popular urban culture into rural culture was much slower and much more difficult than we sometimes think.

What this has got to do with folk art,then, is in the sociology of why sensibilities in small traditional communities can be so different from cosmopolitan culture.

Benes's essay on itinerant entertainers is one of thirteen papers published in Itinerancy in New England and New York, the proceedings of the 1984 Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife. Over the years Dublin Seminar topics have ranged from Puritan gravestone art and meetinghouse architecture to foodways and speech patterns. The 1984 conference examined itinerant arts and entrepreneurship in the American northeast prior to 1850,including music and religion, education and rural literacy, social arts and entertainment, and portraiture. It is not until the last third ofthis volume that students of American folk art get to read about itinerant limners, profile cutters, and daguerreotypists — and it is worth the wait. For by then the reader has encountered enlightening descriptions of the folk process at work in ways that we do not always consider in thinking about itinerant artists.

A section on the eighteenth-century dancing master John Griffiths documents how the peripatetic teacher regularly retreated to the city to replenish his inventory of dances and songs, and then returned to the countryside with an updated repertoire to disseminate his version of cosmopolitan

customs. Another paper discusses the effects of traveling circuses in rural communities, and suggests that exposure to standardized mass advertising as well as to the actual performance worked to break down local pockets offolk culture. Through their contact with these influences, not to mention a host of itinerant preachers, booksellers, and lecturers, country folk in disparate communities — including people who would never meet one another — came to share common experiences and common expectations And thus the insights generated by this conference provide an enhanced perspective for understanding the motivations and practices of itinerant graphic artists.

For at least half a century itinerant portraitists have captured the imagination of students of American folk art, and monographs on painters such as J.H. Davis, Erastus Salisbury Field, James Sanford Ellsworth, and William Jennys have long been part of the established literature of this field. But studying their portraiture as itinerant entrepreneurial activity enables us to move beyond discussing their distinctive styles and provides a look at the lives of the artists themselves. Joyce Hill describes the day-to-day work of journeymen artists and quotes the advertisements they published to attract commissions. Mary Black, illustrating how itinerant artists could maximize their commissions, relates how Ammi Phillips painted nine members of one family.

Georgia Bumgardner examines the career of Ethan Allen Greenwood, who recorded in his diaries the problems of breaking bottles of paint in his workbox while on the road. Called on one occasion to take the portrait of a drowned child, Greenwood had to work quickly before the burial, and he described his distaste at having to complete the portrait from his hasty sketches in the presence of the grieving family.

Some of the information in the section on itinerant painters has been published before, notably Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser's work on Ralph Earl and Mary Black's studies on Ammi Phillips and Erastus Salisbury Field. And not all the papers chosen for publication in this volume are critical to the study of folk art, particularly those on religious itinerancy. But this is a useful book for its provocative investigation of an interesting aspect of folk culture, one which brings new interpretation to familiar mate-

rials. At the very least one should read it for the lesson of the rustic who plugged the elephant in defense of traditional values.

— RobertP. Emlen Robert P. Emlen is the Executive Director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization in Providence, Rhode Island, and teaches in the Program in American Civilization at Brown University and in the Department of Art History at the Rhode Island School of Design.

TURNERS AND BURNERS: THE FOLK POTTERS OF NORTH CAROLINA

by Charles G.Zug III 450 pages, color and black and white illustrations Published by The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1986 $39.95 hardcover The combinations essential for excellent research are deep feelings for one's topic, a scientist's methodology in obtaining documented facts, a folklorist's sensibility to understand and then relate the past to the present, and a writer's skills to make all the information interesting, clear, and meaningful. Turners and Burners by Charles G. Zug HI is a long overdue book that successfully incorporates all of the above. It is also profusely illustrated, with both black and white and color plates, and depicts not only the variety of wares produced by North Carolina potters but, just as importantly, uses old and contemporary photographs to show how the wares were made, how and where the potters lived and worked, and the potters themselves.

The author thoroughly describes the manufacturing process and products of the potters, but goes much further than simply describing where and when each pot was made and its important glaze and decorative characteristics. As Zug writes, "... after I had witnessed the living tradition [of potting]in North Carolina..."there was a need for "... a deeper cultural emphasis that considered the specific uses of the various forms, the processes of the craft, and the aims and attitudes of the potters' The book is special because it succeeds in showing ". . the essential importance and meanings 71

BOOK REVIEWS

of the pottery in the lives of the people who made and used it!'

Oral histories detailing first hand knowledge of potting apprenticeships, manufacturers, and distribution bring new insights not covered by the many other books on pottery that deal only with the wares.

Genealogies of potting families are included along with a well organized checklist of over 500 potters listing name, birth and death dates, areas and dates of operation, kinship with other potters, marks, and page reference in the text. For the collector, this detailed information alone is well worth the price of the volume.

Zug's book is a welcome addition for anyone who is interested in the folk tradition and wishes to learn how rural Americans lived in the nineteenth century. It is a must for collectors of North Carolina pottery and for all who are interested in the lifestyle of potters and their customers during the height of utilitarian stoneware production.

Lastly, Turners and Burners is testimony to the survival of a craft and the people who bring life to clay. It is for all of us who long for a link between the old folk traditions and the demands of the current marketplace. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Steven B. Leder Steven B. Leder, Ph.D.,is editor and publisher of the Stoneware Collectors' Journal and a collector of antique American stoneware.

THE ART OF QUEENA STOVALL: IMAGES OF COUNTRY LIFE

By Claudine Weatherford 184 pages, illustrated Published by UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1986 $39.95 hardcover Queena Stovall's perception of traditional rural American folk life in the Blue Ridge Piedmont area of Virginia is the focus of Claudine Weatherford's study The Art of Queena Stovall: Images of Country Life.

The author traces the development of the self-taught artist who began painting at sixty two and produced close to fifty works documenting the world she knew and understood.

The thesis Weatherford proposes is not new. Louis and Agnes Jones in 1974 in their introduction to the Queena Stovall exhibition at Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, 72

Two-handled vinegar jar by David Seagle from Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina.

Virginia, described Stovall as a documentor offolk life recording "in minutest detail, the work and customs of a certain people in a certain place and time, a way of life which had lasted nearly a century and now, two decades later, because of social and economic changes, no longer exists!'

The book is well organized and clearly written. After stating her thesis, the author develops a sympathetic biographical portrait of Emma Serena "Queena" Dillard Stovall, a country woman of middle class Southern roots. She was not prosperous, but was well respected within the Lynchburg community.

The main portion of Weatherford's book is an analysis and discussion of four chronologically arranged phases of Stovall's career from the artist's earliest depictions of farm life, in 1949, to a deepening understanding and portrayal of human relationships and humorous vignettes (1951) to a more spiritual phase(1952-59) and finally, to a fourth artistic phase (1960-75) where technical standards reached a height even as her health declined. Stovall's physical problems, coupled with the dramatic social and economic upheaval of the sixties and seventies which transformed the society in which she grew up, seemed to discourage the artist's creativity and led her to abandon painting.

Weatherford uses specific painting examples to illustrate her points as she explores Stovall's creative process. The author reviews Stovall's sources of inspiration, models and materials and discusses the apparent impact and influence of her family, friends and neighbors on her work. In the final two chapters, Stovall's art is evaluated in terms of its effect within and outside the artist's community.

In her dedication to a contextual framework, Weatherford discusses the aesthetic evaluation of others but does not make such an evaluation herself. This weakens an otherwise cogent study. Stovall's art is, indeed, an important document of folk culture. But Weatherford should also recognize and consider the paintings' aesthetic qualities in terms of overall design, balance, unity and expressiveness of"form,style and ornament as suggested by E. McClung Fleming in an article in Winterthur Porffblio 9:' Context without aesthetic consideration is as restrictive a view as aesthetic object "fetishism" outside a contextual framework. The author may not have curatorial skills to match her excellent folklore research methodology, nor should she be expected to be an expert in both folklore and art history. But it is disappointing that Weatherford does not seem to acknowledge that both aesthetics and context are crucial for a comprehensive study of Queena Stovall's art.

Weatherford might also reconsider her classification of Stovall as a "self-taught, though not uninfluenced painter:' rather than a folk artist. Applying a European "yolk" concept to a folk art definition has limited practical application in American culture. A perspective which defines folk art in terms of traditional, utilitarian peasant forms is at best inadequate and at worst confusing and indefensible. In fact most, if not all, self-taught painters would not be considered folk artists by this definition because their work is idiosyncratic. Could Weatherford seriously argue for separate art classifications outside the fine arts tradition offolk art, naive art, outsider art, schoolgirl art, urban art, popular art and art of the professional limner?

Holger Cahill many years ago urged a broad definition for folk art which would, over time, allow material to define itself.

The folk art "umbrella" concept is both practical and useful.

Robert Cargo and Dau.

PRINCE ART CONSULTANTS

FOLK ART GALLERY Southern, Folk, and Afro-American Quilts Antiquesâ&#x20AC;˘ Folk Art

2 x 28. / Jimmie Lee Sudduth, President Reagan, 1986, mixed media on board, 141 Please write for list of quality Sudduth paintings available. Reference: Bishop, Folk Painters of America, pp. 174, 177.

2314 Sixth Street, downtown

Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401 Home phone 205/758-8884 Open weekends only In New York area call 201/654-8690 and by appointment Saturday 10:00-5:00, Sunday 1:00-5:00

NOV 13 - DEC 6, 1987

EDEN REVISITED DAVID BUTLER JOHN GELDERSMA HAITIAN VOODOO FLAGS V1ohk

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"187

rorii4-Art(we.it.5 Atom)

GALLERY 223 E 10 ST NYC 10003(212) 982-4444 WED-SUN 1:30-6:30, FRI to 10 PM and by appointment

MAILING ADDRESS: 367 WEST HILL ROAD STAMFORD,CONNECTICUT 06902 (203)357-7723 73

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BOOK REVIEWS

Over the years, dealers, art historians, curators, museums and the general public seem to consider Stovall a folk artist, and whether Weatherford likes it or not, in the words of Louis Jones "its too late to change:' Weatherford writes that her interest in Stovall was sparked by her particular interest in senior women artists. Stovall's unique contribution by documenting contemporary events rather than relying solely on memory painting was well discussed by the author.

But she missed an excellent opportunity to comment on the socio-cultural phenomenon of twentieth century women who have gained recognition as painters and sculptors. Although there were some well known American women artists in the nineteenth century — and watercolor painting was part of the schoolgirl seminary curriculum — the more acceptable and usual means ofcreative expression for women prior to the twentieth century was in the needle arts.

— Lee Kogan Lee Kogan is a student in the Museum of American Folk Art/New York University Masters and Ph.D. program in Folk Art Studies. She is also completing the certificate program at the Museum's Folk Art institute.

SANTA FE STYLE

by Christine Mather and Sharon Woods 264 pages, color and black and white illustrations Published by Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1986 $35.00 hardcover It is hard to imagine another American city whose distinctive "style" is more deserving of a glossy, beautifully illustrated book than Santa Fe, New Mexico. The idyllic community ofsome 50,000 residents, nestled in the Sangre de Christo mountains, has made a significant impact on art, music, architecture, fashion and collecting habits all over the country, if not the world. Even today, when chain-store homogeneity is replacing local color in most American cities, Santa Fe is struggling to keep its unique sun-baked character, the result of a delicate blending of Spanish, Native American and American pioneer cultures.

Christine Mather and Sharon Wood's lush volume Santa Fe Style does the city justice.

Fine photographs and reproduction capture 74

the aesthetics of Santa Fe: Carved and painted wood in colors of faded turquoise and coral; bleached adobe walls hung with silver concho belts and vivid Germantown rugs; beehive fireplaces and ristras of dried chiles.

For the aficionado of American folk art, there is a healthy representation of New Mexico's many contributions to the field, from territorial-style carved furniture to woven textiles; from the nineteenth century santos of Jose Rafael Arag6n to the contemporary animal carvings of Felipe Archuleta and his disciples. Less well known folk art sites are represented as well, including Pop Shaffer's folk environment in Mountainair, New Mexico, and the stenciled walls of the Rancho de las Golindrinas, outside of Santa Fe. Since style is something that is recognizable on sight, but not so easy to describe in words, it is not surprising that this book is richer in images than it is in text. Nonetheless, a brief history of Santa Fe introduces the volume, and the captions are chatty and informative. At $35.00, Santa Fe Style is substantially less expensive than a roundtrip ticket to New Mexico. What's more, it offers a peak at the inside of more Santa Fe homes than you could ever get to on your own — even if you were invited to every party held during the weekend of Indian Market.

— Didi Barrett Didi Barrett is Director of Publications at the Museum of American Folk Art and is Editor of The Clarion.

THE DECOY AS FOLK SCULPTURE

by Michael Hall, with an introduction

by Ronald Swanson 58 pages, illustrated Published by the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, 1986 $00.00 softcover It isn't often that one can inject a little flash and filigree into as arid a subject as wooden duck and fish decoys, but Michael Hall has done just that in his catalogue The Decoy as Folk Sculpture. Even more than in his companion catalogue The Ties That Bind.

Hall has managed to infuse the exciting electricity of mysterious reality into a field

whose writing has heretofore been classed between Frank Buck and Remembrances of Things Past.

Hall's essay is actually applicable to most traditional folk art where an object or work signifies existences and worlds beyond the viewpoint of the petty present. The decoy becomes the sum total of all who handled it, all that has happened to it and all the decoys that have come before it. When the form is as fine as the history of the object, it transcends artifact and becomes art.

Decoys are archetypical. They reflect that first human who tried to call power down from above and insure game for survival. In Hall's words, "The hunters who collect decoys because they perceive them as agents of transcendence find themselves surrounded by something more than an assortment of wooden birds.... They become reminders of man's dislocation within the divine plan — seducers implicated in our willful disruption of Paradise:' Hall argues that decoys, by the nature of their function, give depth of meaning to their form, while also presenting the converse argument that decoys, by the nature of their form, transcend their function. He validates the former argument by explaining the hunter's attachment to the decoy as "totem ... touching ... all that is primal, ritualistic and binding in art:' The latter, or formalist perspective (which doesn't respond to a "bird sculpture caked with duck blood"), emphasizes that the success of a sculpture does not rest on its adherence to a realistic depiction of, in this case, a water fowl, but rather that a sculpture is successful because its form (divorced from its function)is successful. In the end, Hall balances the issue by saying, "The problem is to know what is what and to be able to recognize the unusual in whatever form it comes:' Hall believes in deep knowledge — a concept heavily resisted in many areas of folk art, especially when knowledge of aesthetics is included. The reality is that when art and artifact merge in a significant way — when context and aesthetics mate — the result is art exercising its most ancient and meaningful power.

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

SANTA MONICA FOLK & ETHNIC ARTS SHOW NOVEMBER 1st, 1987

The Clokeys Wing Chair Late 18th/Early 19th Century. Paint Decorated Legs.

Hudson Valley, NewYork.Ex John and Joan Thayer Collection. Sold by us and recently repurchased.

tpDayView Plaza ikotiam 530 PICO BOULEVARD SANTA MONICA,CA (one block east of the Civic Auditorium) Hours: 10 - 5 pm Admission $3.50 or Info: Bill Caskey $3.00 with card Liz Lees Free Valet Parking (213)396-0876

L

(612)473-3251 18693 Heathcote Drive, Deephaven,Minnesota 55391

Sixty dealers selling North, Central, & South American Indian art and related trade goods; Western & American folk art, African Asiatic & Aboriginal Tribal arts pre 1940.

CASKEY LEES P.O. Box 244 Venice, CA 90291 (213)396-0876

(Early buyers welcome - $15.00)

American Folk Art Sidng Gecker 226 West 21st Street New

York, NY 10011 (212)929-8769

ied as ike_fitestAitkue &ftter

fit country, or two ise4eeftlury names and'..gre_ieleSliGYfitYll& a, museum-4eseitti forwerso dealers a Ofto cksiczy aceitabnal isandeZy 4.0c. couptizr an t x,leinied,afulfirotalfiracceasort— future, BARBARA E.MILLS, PROPRIETRESS DEBORAH M.KITTLE,ASS1 MGR. ROUIE 5 HARTLAND, VERMONT 05048 802-436-2441 — IvIAY1113 OCT 31 OPEN DAILY cyro \WED.11111M611 SUN. 10T04-NOV 1 TO APRIT-34:.

4 14 .1

Rare Pennsylvania Pottery Dog with Basket.

Probably Chester County. Circa 1830.

Six inches high. Subject to prior sale.

r4 75

GTILI

MUSEUM NEWS

FALL ANTIQUES SHOW AT THE PIER Mark your calendars for the ninth annual Opening Night Preview of the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier which benefits the Museum of American Folk Art. The gala event will be October 21, 1987, from 6 to 10 p.m. at Pier 92, Berths 5 and 6, West 54 Street and the Hudson River.

Benefit co-chairmen are Museum Trustees Cynthia V. A. Schaffner and Karen S. Schuster. Always on the cutting edge,the Fall Antique Show features Museum exhibition "Silhouettes in America 1790-1840;' organized by author Blume Rifken. In addition, at the Opening Night Benefit, contemporary silhouette artist Deborah O'Connor will be cutting profiles of guests. Among the highlights of the Museum exhibition are the only known J.A. Davis silhouettes, a pair in their original decorated tin frames, and an extraordinary M.A. Honeywell work.

David Ziff Cooking Inc. will cater the reception and Frank Mullaney plans to create an elegant ambiance with floral displays reminiscent of the 1790-1840 period.

The benefit evening is underwritten by Reliance Group Holdings, Inc. Tickets for the preview are $100 per person and include one re-admission to the show and a catalogue. Patron tickets are $250 and include admission throughout the show, a catalogue and a copy of the new book American Needlework Treasures by Betty Ring. Benefactors, at $500 a ticket, receive, in addition to the Patron benefits, two walking tour tickets. Tickets may be purchased through the Museum's administrative offices at 444 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016, 212/481-3080.

On Thursday, October 22, a Preview Walking Tour conducted by Davida Deutsch and Helaine Fendelman, will be held at 11 a.m. Preceding the public opening, this guided tour ofthe show spotlights the season's new collecting trends. Tickets are $35 per person and include admission to the show, a catalogue, tour and refreshments. This year, a grant from Country Home magazine has funded additional walking tours, to be held on

76

LIBRARY WISH LIST In view of the importance of periodical literature for research on the many aspects of folk art, the Library of the Museum of American Folk Art is endeavoring to acquire complete files of the major magazines and scholarly journals in the field.

Since many of the needed issues are no longer available for purchase from the publisher,the Museum would greatly appreciate gifts of the following copies: Art & Antiques 1978 — all issues except vol. 1, no. 1, July/August 1979 — vol. 2, issue 2, March/April vol. 2, issue 3, May/June 1983 — vol. 6, issue 6, November/December 1984 —January, February, December 1986— December Friday, October 23 and Saturday, October 24 at 11 a.m. Led by Dr. Robert Bishop, Davide Deutsch, Helaine Fendelman and William Ketchum,each tour will focus on a different aspect of folk art represented in the show. Over 110 exhibitors will offer a diversity of American antiques for the serious collector as well as the casual browser. Country Home Walking Tour tickets are $10 per person and include admission to the show, a catalogue and tour.

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. The show opens to the public on Thursday, October 22 and runs through Sunday, October 25. Hours are Thursday through Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $8.

A free shuttle bus runs between the Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shop, 62 West 50 Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues, opposite Radio City Music Hall) and the Passenger Terminal Pier on the half hour opening night and throughout the show.

The American Art Journal 1972 — vol. 4, no. 1 1976 — vol. 8, no. 1 1977 — vol. 9, no. 2 Woman's Art Journal 1981 —vol. 1, no. 2, Fall/Winter Connoisseur 1985 — vol. 215, March 1986— vol. 216, April, May, June 1987 — vol. 217, January Winterthur Portfolio Volume I Individuals interested in donating copies of the above-mentioned periodicals should write to Johleen Nester, Director of Development, Museum of American Folk Art, 444 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016 or telephone at 212/481-3080. In order to eliminate the possibility of duplication, please contact the Development Office before sending magazines.

Additional lists of desiderata, including books and catalogues, will appear in future issues of The Clarion. Donations toward Library acquisitions would also be greatly appreciated.

!TM

MUSEUM NEWS

SPECIAL EVENT AT MUSEUM SHOP a' 5 Em a

On May 1, 2 and 3, 1987, the Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shop at 62 West 50 Street, New York City, featured a special demonstration and sale by noted silhouette artist Deborah O'Connor. She skillfully cut profile portraits of nearly 250 adults and children during the three-day period.

A large, but patient crowd enjoyed

ACCESS TO ART

MARY ALLIS 1899-1987

Irma Shore, Director of Access to Art, a comprehensive project designed to make art accessible to the blind and visually impaired, has announced that the first phase of the project is nearing completion. This involves the publication of an Art Resource Directory for the Blind and Visually Impaired, compiled by the Museum and to be published by the American Foundation for the Blind in 1988. An Advisory Board for the project is presently in formation and includes accomplished and experienced representatives from the fields of art, writing, collecting, education and special services for the disabled. Shore reports that Alistair Cooke and Mr. and Mrs. James 0. Keene, as well as Dr. Robert Bishop, Director, and Gerard C. Wertkin, Assistant Director, of the Museum of American Folk Art, are among those serving on the board. Future plans for Access to Art include designing teaching programs for Museum staff and docents as related to the handicapped.

With the death of Mary Allis this past spring, the world of folk art lost a major presence. A friend and Trustee Emeritus of the Museum of American Folk Art, Mary Allis was a tastemaker in the field.

With her eye, and her generosity, she helped shape the collections of this and other museums around the country. In the following remembrance, Scudder Smith, editor of The Arts and the Antiques Weekly pays tribute to Mary Allis: Mary Allis called one of her closest friends to her bedside on May 7 and told him that she was going to die that night.

She was wrong — she passed away the next morning, just nine hours off her prediction. And I mention this only because this was typical of the Mary Allis we all knew, a grand lady who was always in control not only of herself, but also of the happenings around her.

Born in Cleveland on March 2, 1899, Mary lost very little time in charting her life on a path which brought her to New York City to begin a career in the decorating field. She linked herself with people of influence, kept an ever-watchful eye out for clients, and often turned uneventful happenings into golden op.being portunities. Mary had a talent for in the right place at the right moment.

Her timing led to profitable real estate purchases, such as the well-known Ogden House which she bought, restored and furnished, and a large building in which to set up shop in the middle of Southport, Conn.

N •cn'' •.GS :44)

this revival ofthe popular art form which developed and gained popularity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries prior to the advent of the daguerreotype. For those who missed the opportunity to have silhouettes of the family cut, Ms. O'Connor will be in attendance at the Opening Night Benefit of the Fall Antiques Show at The Pier, Wednesday, October 21, 1987(See article in Museum News).

Mary Allis made her way onto the pages of Time Magazine when she purchased the famous, and large, Gunn Collection of paintings. She dispersed the collection methodically, steering the majority of the works to Cooperstown. while landing others in major museums.

During her years in the antiques business she dealt with Winterthur, Shelburne, Williamsburg, and Sturbridge, helped with the foundation and building of many of today's important private collections, and was the moving force for the selection of items for the American Museum in Bath.

She had her hands out in all directions, buying and selling years ago many of the folk art gems we all know today.

Mary also gave freely of her time, talent, and knowledge about antiques.

Mary Allis was my constant front-seat companion for many years as we traveled the highways going to shows, auctions and exhibitions. She generally stuck me with the luncheon or dinner check, but I shared in a wealth of knowledge and advice from this lady.

Mary knew countless people, but far more knew her because of her impact on folk art, especially paintings, or "pictures" as she called them She will be missed, but her contributions and importance will long outdistance all of us.

If there is an overworked word in the antiques business it is "rare:' So often it is not properly used, but I know I am safe tagging it to Mary Allis.

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raM

MUSEUM NEWS

Left:Dr.Ruth Westheimer, Robert Wilson and Celeste Holm study the bids at Christie's during the Gala Benefit Auction. Above: Benefit Co-chairman and Trustee Barbara Johnson was a very active bidder.

1111111111111411,ummr-1 1

Museum Director Dr. Robert Bishop; Robert Wilson, Museum Trustee and Vice Chairman, Executive Committee ofJohnson & Johnson and Dr. Ruth Westheimer share a word at Christie's during a pause in the bidding.

Acquisitions Co-chairman, Suzanne S. Feldman, left, with her Cochairman, Trustee Lucy C. Danziger, right, and Karen D. Cohen, also a Trustee ofthe Museum.

GALA BENEFIT AUCTION The Gala Benefit Auction 1987, held at Christie's on May 27, 1987, was one of the most successful events ever for the Museum of American Folk Art, raising $350,000 and attracting a large festive crowd to the auction and the black-tie dinner after at F.A.O. Schwarz. Highlights of the sale were four painted and decorated side chairs which sold for $13,000; dinner for four at the Sea Grill with Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who attended the auction, which went for $3,200; and a MacArthur wicker arm chair and table, which was purchased for $1,650. The highest price was brought by a specially

78

From right, Janey Fire, Eva Feld and Ruth Schneck pause to toast the resounding success ofthe evening.

commissioned painting Museum of American Folk Art Benefit Auction 1987

by Kathy Jakobsen, which sold for $17,000. Ms. Jakobsen's painting for the Museum's 1983 Gala Benefit Auction was purchased for $9,000.

Many thanks to the hard-working members of the benefit team who made this event such a success, particularly Chairmen Barbara Johnson and Maureen H. Taylor; Honorary Chairman Christopher Burge; Acquisitions Chairmen Lucy C. Danziger, Suzanne S. Feldman and Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr.; Silent Auction Chairman Hildegard Vetter Jones; Patron and Sponsor Chairman Frances S. Martinson; Reception and Dinner Chairmen Florence

MUSEUM NEWS

The yellow brick road led from Christie's to F.A.O. Schwarz where the dinner patrons were treated to eclectic international buffets, entertainment and music. The toys were animated, as were the guests, during the festivities ofthe Gala Benefit Auction.

David Davies, Leo Rabkin, Jack Weeder! and Mr. and Mrs. Scudder Smith dining together at F.A.O. Schwarz while enjoying the ambiance ofthe gala black-tie evening.

A tattoo artist paints exotic designs on the face ofpatient Dick Sears. Enchantment was the mood ofthe evening at F.A.O. Schwarz.

Brody, Susan Klein and Bonnie Strauss; Corporate Chairman Robert N. Wilson; Design and Catalog Chairmen Ellen Blissman and Joan G. Lowenthal; Appraisal Chairman Helaine Fendelman; Special Events Chairmen Cynthia V.A. Schaffner and Karen S. Schuster and Benefit Auction Coordinator Carolyn Cohen Zelikovic.

The Museum would like to thank the following corporate supporters whose generous contributions added to the success of the evening: Bankers Trust Company; Christie's; Craftsmen Litho; Johnson & Johnson; Kallir, Philips, Ross Inc.; Restaurant Associates; F.A.O. Schwarz and Squibb Corporation.

In addition, the Museum extends tremendous gratitude to the following volunteers who generously assisted the committee chairmen: Sherry Kahn, Julia Weissmann, Ben Apfelbaum, Florence and Howard Fertig, Maryann Warakomski, Sheila Brummel, Sandra Nowlin, Jan Oddy, Zee Super, Austin Super, Irene Goodkind, Bernice Cohen, Janet Freiberg, Paula Laverty, Kathleen Brady, Laura Israel, Lee Lippe, Marjorie Nezin, Bena Racine, Ann Wechsler, Tom Cuff, Jerri Ann Burg, Allen Zelikovic, Phyllis Tepper, Hanna Carlson, Julie Carlson, Alan Lloyd, Kennetha Stewart, Alison Haynie, Dianne Butt, Leslie Allen, Marsha Moore, Nancy Brown, Andrea Naitove and Pat Pancer.

Wizard Productions supplied the actors who portrayed Wizard of Oz characters who mingled with the dinner guests and contributed to thejoviality ofthe evening.

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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 Karen D. Cohen Judith A. Jedlicka Margery G. Kahn Theodore L. Kesselman Susan Klein

Members Mabel H. Brandon Florence Brody Catherine G. Cahill Daniel Cowin Barbara Johnson, Esq. Alice M. Kaplan William I. Leffler George H. Meyer Cyril I. Nelson Cynthia V.A. Schaffner Ronald K. Shelp

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

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

Frances S. Martinson Chairman Mary Black Gray Boone David Davies

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

Paul Oppenheimer Alfred R. Shands, III Randy Siegel Hume R. Steyer

DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Jeanne R. Ken; Vice President Corporate Contributions, Time Inc.

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

Dee Topol, Manager, ShearsonlLehman American Express Inc. Contributions Program

Marian Z. Stem,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 *American Express Company Judi Boisson Mr. & Mrs. Frederick M. Danziger Mrs. Eva Feld 80

Estate of Morris Feld Foundation Krikor Foundation Tarex *IBM Corporation Jean and Howard Lipman National Endowment for the Arts *PaineWebber Group Inc. *Philip Morris Incorporated Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation, Inc. *United Technologies Corporation

Estate of Jeannette B. Virgin Mrs. Dixon Wecter *The Xerox Foundation $10,000-$19,999 *Bankers Trust Company Mr. & Mrs. Peter Cohen The Joyce & Daniel Cowin Foundation Inc. Craftsmen Litho Adele Earnest

CURRENT MAJOR DONORS

Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Joseph Martinson Memorial Rind The Andrew S. Mellon Foundation New York State Council on the Arts *Restaurant Associates Industries, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. George F. Shaskan, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Robert Steinberg Barbara and Thomas W. Strauss Rind $4,000-$9,999 Amiens Foundation The Bernhill Fund *Bristol-Myers Rind Florence Brody *Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. Christie's *The Clokeys Inc. Mr. & Mrs Edgar M. Cullman EA.O. Schwarz Edward A. Fox, Student Loan Marketing Association Colonel Alexander W. Gentleman Richard Goodyear *Hoechst Celanese Corporation *International Paper Company Foundation Barbara Johnson, Esq. Margery & Harry Kahn Philanthropic Fund Kallir, Philips, Ross, Inc. Raymond Kane Mr. & Mrs. Robert Klein George Meyer Ronald K. Shelp Sotheby's Squibb Corporation *Time Inc. Norman & Rosita Winston Foundation $2,000-$3,999 George & Frances Armour Foundation Catherine G. Cahill *Chemical Bank *The Coach Dairy Goat Farm Country Home Joseph F. Cullman 3rd *Exxon Corporation Janey Fire Morris Greenberg Neil Greenberg Stanley Greenberg Justus Heijmans Foundation *Manufacturers Hanover Trust *Marsh & McLennan Companies Christopher & Linda Mayer Helen R. & Harold C. Mayer Foundation *McGraw-Hill, Inc. *Metropolitan Life Foundation *Morgan Stanley & Co.,Incorporated New York City Department of Cultural Affairs *New York Telephone Company *Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation *J.C. Penney Company,Inc. *The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

Marguerite Riordan *The Rockefeller Group, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Safra Robert T. & Cynthia V. A. Schaffner *Schlumberger Foundation, Inc. Mrs. Richard T. Taylor William Wiltshire III $1,000-$1,999 *The Bank of New York *Bloomingdale's *Chesebrough-Pond's, Inc. *Citibank, N.A. *Con Edison *Culbro Corporation *Daily News Mr. & Mrs. Richard Danziger Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Deutsch Virginia S. Esmerian John L. Ernst Mr. & Mrs Thomas Ferguson Mr. & Mrs. Walter B. Ford II *Gannett Foundation Emanuel Gerard 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 *National Westminster Bank USA *Nestle Foods Corporation New York Council for the Humanities *The New York Times Company Foundation, Inc. Mattie Lou O'Kelley Geraldine M. Parker Mrs. Dorothy H. Roberts Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III Jon & Sue Rotenstreich Foundation Rev. & Mrs. Alfred R. Shands III Ruben and Harriet Shohet Arman & Louise Simone Foundation Mrs. Vera W. Simmons Philip & Mildred Simon Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Tananbaum H. van Ameringen Foundation Anne Vanderwarker Helene von Damm-Guertler David & Jane Walentas *Wertheim Schroder & Co. Robert N.& Anne Wright Wilson $500-$999 American Stock Exchange Louis Bachman The Bachmann Foundation, Inc. Mr. & Mrs Frank Barsalona David C. Batten Beaulieu Vineyard Edward J. Brown

Colgate-Palmolive Company Codorniu U.S.A., Inc. Judy Angelo Cowen The Dammann Fund, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. James DeSilva, Jr. Marion & Ben Duffy Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Alvin H. Einbender Mr. & Mrs. Lewis M. Eisenberg Richard C. & Susan B. Ernst Foundation Jacqueline Fowler Cordelia Hamilton The Charles U. Harris Living Trust Denison H. Hatch Joyce & Stephen Hill Cathy M. Kaplan Mary Kettaneh Jana K. Klauer Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Lauder Wendy & Mel Lavitt William I. Leffler Helen E.R. Luchars Robin & William Mayer Louis Newman â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in memory of Paul Roberts Leo & Dorothy Rablcin Joanna S. Rose Richard Sabino Mrs. Joel Simon Smith Gallery Robert C. & Patricia A. Stempel Mrs. Anne Utescher Robert W.& Marillyn B. Wilson Marcia & John Zweig The Museum is grateful to the CoChairwomen 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 The Museum also thanks the following donors for their recent gifts to the Permanent Collection and Library: Amiens Foundation Mary Day George Edington Joseph Fiske Friends Committee of the Museum of American Folk Art Josephine Graham Marianne Jaspen Evelyn and Leonard Lauder Jessie Lie and Daniel Farber Eluid L. Martinez Mr. and Mrs. C. David McLaughlin *Corporate Member 81

OUR INCREASED MEMBERSHIP CONTRIBUTIONS MARCH 1987-JUNE 1987

We wish to thank the following members for their increased membership contributions and for their expression of confidence in the Museum: Judi Acre, Arvada, CO Mr. & Mrs. Arnold Badner, Brooklyn, NY Bonnie Jean Barrett, Scottsdale, AZ Mr. & Mrs. Alvan Bisnoff, New York, NY Mrs. John A. Bryant, Grosse Pte, City, MI Cipe Pineles Burtin, Stony Point, NY Joseph J. Cacciatore, Leonia, NJ Mr. & Mrs. Richard Danziger, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. James DeWitt, Santa Monica,CA Mrs. Richard Faggioli, Watsonville, CA

Peter & Daphne Farago, Little Compton, RI Mr. & Mrs. J.G. Fenimore, Madison, NJ Judith Fosshage, Demarest, NJ Mr. & Mrs. Irwin Guttag, Mamaroneck, NY Ann W. Hilliard, New York, NY Marie & Eileen, Hoffmeister, New York, NY Hazel Hynds, Bellingham, WA Mr.& Mrs. Stewart Kahn,Lido Beach, NY Mr. & Mrs. Jerome H. Kern, New York, NY Mrs. Erwin Maddrey, Greenville, SC Mrs. Mark McGrath, Winnetka, IL Grete Mei!man, New York, NY James Meyer, Wyncote, PA Mr. & Mrs. James Mills, Darien, CT Lucie M. Miral, Old Tappan, NJ

Lucy B. Mitchell, Longmeadow, MA Elizabeth B. Mochel, Storrs, CT Linda Lee Ominsky,Philadelphia, PA Lyman Orton, Manchester Ctr., VT Paige Rense, Los Angeles, CA Joanna S. Rose, New York, NY Lucinda Ross, New York, NY Andrew Sabin, New York, NY Stuart C. Schwartz & Family, Rock Hill, SC Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Tananbaum, Harrison, NY Barbara Tober, New York, NY Mrs. Jeffrey Urstadt, New York, NY Linda L. Vitale, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. I.H. Von Zelowitz, Solebury, PA Albert Warson, Toronto, Canada

OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP MARCH 1987-JUNE 1987

The Museum trustees and staff extend a special welcome to these new members: Caren Anton, Lafayette, CA Judy Baker, Larchmont, NY Janet Balmuth, Far Hills, NJ Kathryn D. Barclay, New York, NY Patricia T. Beers, Las Vegas, NV Mr. & Mrs. Frederick W. Beinecke, New York, NY Leslie Bell, Dallas, TX Mr. & Mrs. John D. Bergin, Pleasantville, NY Audrey Bergin, Washington, DC Phyllis Selena Bianco, E. Williston, NY Jeanne T. Block, West Hampton Beach, NY Peter Block, New Providence, NJ Boston University Library, Boston, MA G. Bronson Boyd, Apsen,CO Ronald Brady, Great Neck, NY Kathleen Brady, New York, NY Jacqueline Brooks, New York, NY Janet C. Brown, New York, NY Karen Susan Brown, Rochester, NY Pamela Burke, New York, NY W. Scott Carlson, Minneapolis, MN Lynn P. Caverly, New York, NY Susan Fran Cohen, New York, NY Esther T. CoMower,Miami,FL 82

Colette M. Conroy, New Rochelle, NY Susan Cook, Brooklyn, NY Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, NY Country West, Houston, TX Mr. & Mrs. William J. Crowley, Lutherville, MD Karen Cure, New York, NY Marya Dalrymple, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Vito G. DiCristina, New York, NY Susan K. Edwards, Astoria, NY Mr. & Mrs. Alvin H. Einbender, New York, NY Anita Engert, El Segundo, CA Murdoch Finlayson, Santa Fe, NM Mollie G. Fish, Corvallis, OR Susan E. Flexner, New York, NY Alan M. Forster, Westport, CT Sandy Glassel, Victoria, Australia Leslie F. Gold, Winchester, MA Les Goldman, Ridgewood, NJ Mr. & Mrs. George Gredel, Monroe, NY Tracey Grimes, Angola,IN Woody Gruber, Lititz, PA Pat Hankinson, Madison, NJ Mr. & Mrs. Richard Harmon, New York, NY Robin Pattis Himovitz, Santa Barbara, CA Doris E. Hoot, Rochester, NY Jane Humphrey, Glendale, CA Mary C. Humphreys, New York, NY

Mary Hutcherson, McPherson, KS Elizabeth D. Hyde, Anderson,IN Mrs. Jordan Jablons Ingram, Milford, NJ Julian Jacobson, Evanston, IL Bebe Johnson, New York, NY Lael F Johnson, Chicago,IL Deborah Katz, Poway, CA Eleanor Katz, New York, NY S.F. Kawakami, Brooklyn, NY Barbara M. Klimek, Tinley Park, IL Ed Klimuska, Lancaster, PA Kim Kralj, Los Angeles, CA Patricia A. Krasnausky, White Plains, NY Sharon Krishan, Rochester, NY Mr. & Mrs. Ronald P. Kriss, New York, NY Christy Labrie, Rye, NH David LaFaille, Pacific Palisade, CA Alyson Lamprecht, Genoa, NV Calisa M. Leger, New York, NY Sylvia Leimer, Tampa,FL Mrs. Ellison Lieberman, Woodstock, VT Anne C. Lineberger, Brentwood,TN Donald Lokuta, Union, NJ Anton Longdon, Brooklyn, NY Mr. & Mrs. John Luongo, Brooklyn, NY Cheryl Lyon, Harrisonburg, VA Priscilla R. MacDougal, Enfield, NH Ann Marra, Portland, OR

FOLK ART QUILTS FURNITURE MARINE ARTIFACTS DECOYS

Micah Williams (1782-1837)

Circa 1880. Great American Weathervane.

Rev.& Mrs. A.R. Martin pastel 24 x 20 in.

Includes 15 diaries from this New Jersey family. ,-9(n44kaas and Stecatnaue.<sitds, Fine American and European Fbintings and Drawings Fine Art Appraisal Restoration Estate and Trust Consultant Specializing in 18th, 19th and Early 20th Century Paintings

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OUR GROWING MEMBERSHIP

Lucinda Anne Mayo,Sag Harbor, NY Diane P. Meyer, Burbank,CA Pat Meyers, Cannel, CA Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI Mr. & Mrs. Edgar C. Minton, Greenwich, CT Phillip W. Moffitt, New York, NY Priscilla Morrow, Harvard, MA Harriet J. Mosher, Oberlin, OH Melody Motto, Mendham, NJ E.J. Mowry, North East,PA Marcia Muth, Santa Fe, NM N.Y.-EA. Collector, Fischers, NY Mary Donald Nagle, Devon,PA Mrs. Dorothy S. Norman, New York, NY Susan O'Day, Jacksonville, FL Jerome W. Ohlsten, New York, NY Gladys Onek, Brooklyn, NY Judith Owens, New York, NY Susan B. Palermo, Birmingham, MI Jean E. Palmieri, New York, NY Maria A. Pissalidis, Brooklyn, NY Dr. & Mrs. Ferris N. Pitts, Jr., Pasadena, CA Cordelia Powell, Old Greenwich, CT Mrs. F. Pugliano, Westfield, MA David Morgan Rees, W. Yorkshire, England

Phyllis Reison, New York, NY Barbara Remez, Tenafly, NJ Catherine Reurs, London, England Catherine Kelsey Richard, Amagansett, NY M.M. Riley, Cochranville, PA Darlene Roberts, Aurora, IL Karen Rosenthal, Brooklyn, NY Susan Ross, Evansville, IN Barbara D. Roten, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Norwyn A. Rowe, Washington, DC Judy A. Saslow, Chicago,IL Mrs. R. Saul, Highland Park, IL Jack & Mary Lou Savitt, Macungie, PA Dr. Boria Sax, White Plains, NY G.K. Schmitt, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Melvin L. Schweitzer, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Wyn Seymour, W. Hartford, CT Mrs. Arnold Shafer, Chicago, IL Deanne Shallcross, Pleasantville, NY Camilla W. Shapleigh, Clayton, MO Robin M. Shaud,Toledo, OH Hamilton Shippee, Rumson, NJ Betty E. Shirley, Miami, FL Robert Simon, Hunt Valley, MD

Ms. Linda Sitea, Brooklyn, NY Kathleen Barnes Smith, Pittsburgh, PA Smith & Burstert, Kansas City, MO Roberta Stewart, Bloomfield Hills, MI Maya Stinnett, Prior Lake, MN Ronald S. Swanson, Bloomfield Hills, MI Louise Taylor, Victoria, Australia Nancy S. Thomas, Redding, CT Marilyn Thompson,Eureka, CA Gail M. Tilton, Warwick, NY Susan Tobey, Vergennes, VT L. Torgersen, New York, NY Michael A. Tracy, Maquore,IA Carol Twadell, Marblehead, MA University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC Vermont State Craft Center, Middlebury, VT Karen Weissman, W. Redding,CT Ellen K. Werther, Ft. Washington, PA Linda Stack Whinery, New York, NY Linda Williams, Petersburg, VA Rob Williamson, Stone Mountain,GA Jan B. Wrotnowski, Weston, CT Roy S. Zeluck, Long Beach, NY Rodney Zerbe, New York, NY Marlene Zimmerman, Beverly Hills, CA 83

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

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

"A first-rate work of major importance." â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Dr. Robert

Bishop, Director Museum of American Folk Art

Folk Artists Biographical Index An essential guide to hard-to-find information on some 9,000 American folk artists Based on a study of more than 200 publications, this new work identifies sources of information for more than 9,000 American folk artists. All types of folk art are covered including trade signs, decoys, quilts, tinwork, paintings, sculpture, pottery, needlework, and decorative carvings.

For each artist listed, the entry includes full name,birth and death dates (if known), period flourished, type of works, remarks, and citations to sources of the information.

Five indexes provide access to the artists by ethnic background,subject, geographic location, media, and institutions housing the artists' works.

Edited by George H. Meyer.496 pages(8/ 1 2 "x11"). $40.00. Call tollfree 800-223-GALE to order

by American Express, VISA,or MasterCard.(Prepayment requiredâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;no shipping or handling charges.) Also available at the Museum of American Folk Art Book Stores.

Published in association with the Museum of American Folk Art by Gale Research Company Book Tower, Detroit, MI 48226.

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HOOKED RUGS FROM NANTUCKET NEEDLEWORKS Our catalog of original hooked rugs and needlepoint designs is now available for $5.00 refundable on your first purchase.

Order our video 'How to Hook Your Own Rug':

NANTUCKET NEEDLEWORKS PO Box 2571 Nantucket, MA 02584

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Diana Schmidt Diana Schmidt is noted for her cheerful subjects, use of color, and attention to detail. Subjects range from the home and garden, pets, rooms and people, antiques, and 'memory paintings' of farmlife as a child.

Her professional art degree is from the University of Oregon.

The artist also works on commission for individuals and the corporate client.

For information on availability of limited edition lithographs from the original watercolors, write:

Apple Farm

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• Fine Antique Painted Furniture

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AFGHANS BY HAND

• Quilts • Accessories

Made to order from large assortment of traditional patterns and stitches. Quilts copied. Color schemes followed.

Or own design.

Red Bull, New Hampshire

oil on canvas

221 / 2"x 161 / 4" Circa 1840-1860

80 Thompson Street, New York, N.Y. 10012 (212) 966-7116

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLKART BOOK AND GIFT SHOP 62 West 50th Street ,... j 247-5611 Monday-Saturday 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Across from Radio City Music Hall

Genie Hertz by appointment 212 757-8168

Extraordinary Hand-hewn Barns.

Authentic Oak Barn Frames Restored and Reassembled on Your Property. Brochure and Plans upon Request.

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86

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

Dalmation 30" $325 ppd

4604 The Gallery of Folk Art 111 Washington Street Marblehead, MA 01945 617-631-1594

MAKERS OF COLONIAL AND EARLY AMERICAN LIGHTING FIXTURES

urn AUTHENTIC DESIGNS 17 The Mill Road, West Rupert, Vermont 05776 (802) 394-7713 Catalogue $3.00

Amply illustrated. Four issues per year, $12.

Standing Mustached Man, John Vivolo, 1976. Painted wood, height 291/2".

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The art ofAmerican cooking. rom the folk art that surrounds you, to the culinary art that's before you, the American Festival Cafe is an ever-changing celebration of the best of Americana.

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Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Supper Mon. thni Sat. Weekend Brunch and Sunday Dinner.

87

"BAPTISM" by Nan Phelps

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Oil on canvas

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© 1986 UlM

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

Patricia Adams Antiques 32 Afghans by Hand 86 Americana by the Seashore 83 American Festival Cafe 87 American Primitive Gallery 17 Ames Gallery of American Folk Art 24 Mama Anderson 28 Antique Center at Hartland 75 Authentic Designs 87 Beneduce & Lozell 23 Ruth Bigel Antiques 18 Bertha Black Antiques 86 BMW of North America 22 Butterfield & Butterfield Auction House 8 Todd Capp Gallery 73 Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery 73 The Margaret Cavigga Quilt Collection 26 Cavin-Morris, Inc. 31 Cherishable Antiques 27 The Clokeys 75 E.P. Dutton 33 Leslie Eisenberg Folk Art Gallery 33 Epstein/Powell 20 Janet Fleisher Gallery 11

88

Folk and Ethnic Arts Show 75 Folk Art Finder 87 Gale Research Company 84 Pie Galinat 84 The Gallery of Folk Art 87 Gallery Mayo,Inc. 83 Gasperi Folk Art Gallery 24 Sidney Gecker American Folk Art 75 The Grass Roots Gallery 30 Greenwillow Farm 28 Guthman Americana 34 Pat Guthman Antiques 26 Phyllis Haders 19 Hillman-Gemini Antiques 18 Hirschl & Adler Folk 4 Sharon W. Joel Antiques 70 Jay Johnson 88 R.E. Kinnaman/B.A. Ramaekers 9 T.P. Langan — American Folk Art Gallery 20 Main Street Antiques & Art 32 Kelter-Malce Inside Front Cover R.H. Love Galleries, Inc. 21 Ken & Ida Manko 3 Frank Maresca/Roger Ricco 10

Mia Gallery 25 Steve Miller Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shop 86 Nantucket Needleworks, Inc. 85 New Jersey Barn Co. 86 Nonesuch Gallery 27 Susan Parrish 5 William Pease Cabinetmaker 70 Pritnitivo 16 Prince Art Consultants 73 Sheila & Edwin Rideout 18 RONA Gallery 23 RONA Gallery 25 Stella Rubin 34 John Keith Russell Antiques, Inc. Back Cover Kathy Schoemer 70 David A. Schorsch 12 Sanford L. Smith & Assoc.

Inside Back Cover Sotheby's 2 Storefront Art Studio 85 Thos. K. Woodard 6

SANFORD SMITH'S

NINTH 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 22-25,1987 THURSDAY-SATURDAY: NOON-10 PM

SUNDAY:11 AM-6 PM

PASSENGER PIER 92 WEST 52ND ST.& THE HUDSON RIVER BENEFIT PREVIEW FOR THE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21,1987 6-10 PM INFORMATION:(212)481-3080 FREE SHUTTLE BUS BETWEEN THE MUSEUM SHOP(62 W.50TH ST.) AND THE PIER ADMISSION EIGHT DOLLARS

RESTAURANT & BAR

PARKING AVAILABLE

EXHIBITORS ARIZONA Gallery 10

IOWA MINNESOTA Mary Ellyn & Gordon Jensen The Clokeys

CALIFORNIA VanDusen-Schuman

KENTUCKY Clifton Anderson Shelly Zegart

CONNECTICUT Advertising Americana Stephen Calcagni The Chatelaine Shop Nikki & Tom Deupree Ronald & Penny Dionne Quester Maritime Shoot The Chute Irving Slavid Frederick Thaler DELAWARE James Kilvington Kenneth Lindsey ILLINOIS Carl Hammer Gallery Harvey Antiques Mongerson Wunderlich Frank & Barbara Pollack

MAINE Rufus Foshee Pine Bough/JoAnn Fuerst Sheila & Edwin Rideout MARYLAND All of Us Americans Aileen Minor Stella Rubin James Wilhoit Antiques Cecelia Williams Elaine Wilmarth MASSACHUSETTS Robert Grabosky Stephen Score Elliott & Grace Snyder Robin Starr Victor Weinblatt

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SANFORD SMITH'S

MODERNISM 1860 • A CENTURY OF STYLE & DESIGN • 1960 NOVEMBER 19-22, 1987

JOHN KEITH RUSSELL ANTIQUES,

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