The Clarion (Fall 1984)

THE CLARION AMERICA'S FOLK ART MAGAZINE The Museum of American Folk Art New York City FALL 1984

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Ricco-Johnson Gallery is proud to introduce and represent William Hawkins, an American artist born in 1895 in Madison County, Kentucky, who is immediately one ofthe most compelling and powerful self-taught artists to surface in the last decade.

As a result of the extraordinary response to Hawkins'first one man show at our gallery in May 1984, he has been invited to show in Chicago and Philadelphia in the fall of 1984.

Hawkins will also be featured in a "New Discoveries"show at our gallery this fall.

As usual, we will be offering an exceptional selection of weathervanes, sculptures, paintings, quilts and furniture.

Statue of Liberty 48"x 96"; Three Horses 38"x 54" State Capitol, Albany 42"x 67"

Exceptionally Rare and possibly unique Sea Horse Weathervane by Harris & Son, Boston. 38" in length. Green verdigris patination. Last quarter of the 19th Century. Provenance available to serious inquiries.

STEVE MILLER THOMAS CHAMBERS(1806-1868) 18" x 24"(sight) Oil on Canvas

American Folk Art • 17 East 96th Street, New York, New York 10128 • 212-348-5219 •

By Appointment Only• Dealing in Investment Quality American Folk Art

25 Washington Street Malone, New York 12953 Phone 518-483-4001

Photo By Rubtdedu Studios

"Maud S. and Sulky" Weathervane; J.W. Fiske & Co.; Late 19th Century; 2"x 41"; / 241 From the Old Lake Placid Club Stable Lake Placid, New York.

SEVERIN ROESEN (c. 1815_1871)

STILL-LIFE WITH FLOWERS Signed lower center: "S. Roesen" Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches Painted circa 1850-1860

Wunderlich & Company, Inc. 41 East 57th Street Seventh Floor New York, NY 10022 212/838-2555 Monday-Friday:9:30-5:30 Dealers in Fine Art Since 1874

IATIA,‘DERLICH I r&CuMPANYINGx_k 3

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

Shown: Wainscott

CATALOGUE 20 pages in full color $5.00

WOODARD WEAVETM

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or two centuries, Americans have enjoyed woven carpets in their homes.

Now, continuing a tradition, here is our own exclusive new collection of all cotton classic woven rugs. WOODARD WEAVE.Š Available in large sizes as well as runners. Twenty-five authentic patterns inspired by

Shaker, Amish, Pennsylvania Dutch and rural New England weavers.

Seamless carpets:9' x 12', 6' x9:4' x6'. Runners in widths of 27"and 3: Visit our shop featuring an extensive collection ofantique American quilts and country furnishings.

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THE CLARION

Cover caption: "View ofAlfred, Maine, Shaker Village" Joshua Bussell Alfred, Maine c. 1850 Ink, watercolor and pencil on paper Private Collection The Clarion is published three times a year by the Museum of American Folk Art, 55 West 53rd St., New York, NY 10019;(212) 581-2474. Annual subscription rate for MAFA members is included in membership dues. Copies are mailed to all members. Single copy $4.50.

The Clarion, America's Folk Art Magazine.

FALL, 1984 Published and copyright 1984 by the Museum of American Folk Art, 55 West 53rd Street, New York, New York 10019.

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 of the 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.

CONTENTS

FALL 1984

by Gerard C. Wertkin

26

by B.H. Friedman

35

by Mary Black

44

THE SEARCH FOR THE ELUSIVE C. BALLS

by Cynthia Sutherland

54

THE CREATIVE SPIRIT

by Rose Labrie

64

THE JEWISH HERITAGE IN AMERICAN FOLK ART

THE MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE

PHRENOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS: Footnotes to the Biographies of Two Folk Artists

Letter from the Director

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Current Major Donors

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Museum News

84

Membership

71

Index to Advertisers

96

JOHN kETTH ItUSSELL AVIWES,LW. SPRLNG STREET,SOUTH SALEM,NY 10590 (914)763-8144

Fine New England MINIATURE Blanket Chest Original Paint Decoration Pine, Circa 1830

OPEN TUES-SUN,10-5:30,55 MILES NORTH OF N.Y.C.

Carved and polychromed-painted elmwood portrait bust of a young girl, New England, circa 1835. The mellowed, undisturbed original polychromed surface adds a priceless dimension to this work, making it a three-dimensional folk 1 2 inches. portrait. Height 13/ A closely related bust of a young gentleman, in the collection of Bertram and Nina F. Little is illustrated in Country Arts in Early American Homes by Nina Fletcher Little, fig. 54.

Ex-collection: Peter Tillou M. Schorsch, Inc. Frank & Karen Miele

David A.Schorsch South Salem,N.Y. 10590 PO.Box 413 Telephone: 914-234-9556 By appointment only Consultants and Brokers of Fine Americana

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Superlative sponge-painted table of extremely rareform: Presently the only painted example known that is deeply serpentine on all four sides. Conforming top has notched porringer corners. Note painted lines simulating inlay on legs and apron. Completely original and superb condition, worthy of the finest collection. New England, ca. 1790.

One of but a handful of courting mirrors known with engraved looking glass, this one highlighted by a fanciful lovebird standing upon a tiled floor. Moldings and border glass color are of the earliest type, mid-18th Cent. A very rare and beautiful example.

EDEN GALLERIES Mrs. Irving J. Zweig Continuing our 30-year tradition of bringing you the finest quality.

Authenticated Antiques & Fine Arts

Tel. 518-854-7844 Appointment Necessary Salem, N.Y. 12865 9

"The Rose and The Lily MET, 1817" Remarkable American silk and watercolor on silk needlework picture from the Portland, Maine area.

13 x 153 / 4 inches.

Provenance: Davida Deutsch & Garbisch Collection

SHEILA &EDWIN RIDF,OUT 12Summer St(r2e0e7t,)-W88is2e-a64ss2eto Maine04578

p.o. box 5943 bethesda, maryland 20814 near Washington. D.C. 301-652-4626

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Museum of American Folk Art

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HANNAH DAVIS‘ HATBOXES Administration Dr. Robert Bishop, Director Gerard C. Wertkin, Assistant Director Charles Salamey, Controller Donna Kanner, Accountant Lillian Grossman, Assistant to the Director Jeanne Bornstein, Administrative Assistant Richard Griffin, Clerk

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44'14% -

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Collections & Exhibitions Elizabeth Warren, Curator Charlotte Emans, Associate Curator Joyce Hill, Consulting Research Curator Mary Black, Consulting Curator William C. Ketchum, Jr., Curator ofSpecial Projects Cynthia Elyce Rubin, Curator ofSpecial Projects Michael McManus,Curatorial Associate Valerie Redler, Curatorial Associate Jeff Waingrow, Curatorial Associate Pat Locke,Assistant, Curatorial Department Rohini Coomara, Gallery Receptionist Joseph Minus, Gallery Assistant Howard Lanser and Joseph D'Agostino,Installations

Departments Anne Minich, Director ofDevelopment Marie DiManno, Museum Shop Manager Nancy Dorer, Curator ofEducation Diane Finore, Director ofSpecial Projects Susan Flamm,Director ofPublic Relations Claire Hartman, Registrar/Exhibitions Coordinator Joan G. Lowenthal, Director ofPublications Edith Wise,Librarian Sara Robinson Farhi, Publications Associate Daniel N. Pagano,Development Associate Francine Flynn, Assistant Registrar/Assistant Exhibitions Coordinator Adrienne Krug, Membership Coordinator Nancy Mead, Assistant Shop Manager Carleton Palmer, StaffPhotographer

Programs Irene Goodkind, Nancy Brown,Co-Chairwomen Friends Committee Dr. Marilynn Karp, Director, New York University Master's Program in Folk Art Studies Dr. Judith Reiter Weissman,New York University Program Coordinator Lucy Danziger, Susan Klein, Docent Program Consultants Eleanora Walker, Exhibitions Previews Coordinator Sallie Nelson, Junior League Liaison Nancy Higgerson, Outreach Coordinator

The Clarion Joan G. Lowenthal,Editor Sara Robinson Farhi, Associate Editor Faye Eng, Anthony Yee,Art Directors Ira Howard Levy, Design Consultant Craftsmen Litho, Printers Ace Typographers, Typesetters

Museum Shop Staff Debra Babcock, Pamela Bucher, Elizabeth Cassidy, Sharon Cortell, Anne DeCamp, Elena Gordon, Lisa Haber, Caroline Hohenrath, Pat Hough,Timothy Koms, Annette Levande, Nancy Mayer, Laurie McClendon,Sally O'Day, Pat Pancer, Rita Pollitt, Raymond Scott, Eleanor Seymour, Myra Shaskan, Caroline Smith, Paula Spruck, Mary Wamsley, Norbert Wills, Ann Wilson, Helen Zimmerman

CANDLEWICK ANTIQUES ctgo.

Main Street Rte. 13 Mont Vernon, New Hampshire 03057 Telephone: 603-673-1941 Hours: Monday thru Friday, by chance or appnt. Saturday & Sunday 11 10 5

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Photo copyright C 1984 by Joan Tedeschi

Antique Quilts Handwoven Rugs & Blankets .

Contemporary Folk Art • Country Accessories ti Monday—Saturday 10-6

SWEET NELLIE

Do

A • COUNTRY • STORE

1262 MADISON AVENUE(90TH STREET)• NEW YORK,N.Y. 10128 • TELEPHONE • 212876-5775

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Letter from the Director Dr. Robert Bishop

It is with great pride that I report to you the many important exhibitions and educational programs the Museum is presenting. We look forward to an active autumn, with an extensive lecture series, and workshop program under the title, "The Academy:' fashioned after the classes attended by young girls at boarding schools in the nineteenth century. Our new gallery is attractive and accommodating;the many compliments and enthusiasm of visitors attest to the success of the choice of building and its design. Thanks to the talent and vision of Anne Bennett and Gordon Wallace of Bennett-Wallace, the Museum enjoys a gem of a space in which to house exhibitions until the completion of the final site on West 53rd Street. As you will notice, The Clarion, too, has a new look with its perfect bound format, and has garnered the American Association of Museums Award of Merit in the 1984 Museum Publications Competition for two issues, Fall 1983 and Winter 1984.

We hope that you will take the opportunity to visit the Museum and see the exciting presentation, "The World of Grandma Moses;' opening September 12, 1984, which promises to be the definitive exhibition of one of America's favorite folk artists. The two following exhibitions, "Erastus Salisbury Field" (October 31—December 9, 1984) and "The Jewish Heritage in American Folk Art" (November 8—March 15, 1985)are to be held in conjunction with other major New York museums; the Field exhibition, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Jewish Heritage presentation at The Jewish Museum.

Both are accompanied by handsome, well-written catalogues, and represent major in-depth treatment of their subjects.

We have also arranged with Restaurant Associates' American Festival Cafe at Rockefeller Center for the mounting there of a series of exhibitions of American folk art from the permanent collection and of objects

The Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. Annual Awards, May 15, 1984 Left to right: Barbara D'Argenio; Ray D'Argenio, Vice President, Communications, United Technologies Corporation; Mattie Lou O'Kelley, artist; Sally Clark, Director ofPublic Affairs, Business Committee for the Arts, Inc.; Dr. Robert Bishop, Director ofthe Museum ofAmerican Folk Art; Judith A. Jedlicica, Board of Trustees of the Museum of American Folk Art, and President of the Business Committeefor the Arts, Inc.

Lucy Danziger, Vice President of the Board ofTrustees, with herfather, Edgar M. Cullman, at the opening of the new interim galleries at 125 West 55th Street.

crafted in the folk art tradition. To inaugurate this exciting program, Restaurant Associates honored the Museum with a spectacular party under the stars on May 22. The exhibitions at the American Festival Cafe represent a major step in taking folk art beyond the Museum's walls for the appreciation of the public in a less formal setting. Our thanks to all our friends at Restaurant Associates and Rockefeller Center for pulling out all stops to ensure the success of this endeavor.

Each year the Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. recognizes those organizations whose support for the arts in America is judged to be outstanding.

BCA, which is a national organization of 160 business leaders committed to supporting the arts and to encouraging new and increased financial aid from the business community, is headed by Judith A. Jedlicka, a trustee of the Museum. This year I had the pleasure of serving on ajury—with Gudmund Vigtel, Director of the High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia; and Catherine Fox, critic, the Atlanta Journal—which se-

lected Mattie Lou O'Kelley, an acclaimed contemporary folk artist, to create a commissioned work for the awards. The original, signed, limited edition print by O'Kelley was presented to the award recipients at a special ceremony held in Atlanta on May 15, 1984. Among those organizations receiving awards was United Technologies Corporation, which counts the Museum of American Folk Art's touring exhibition, "American Folk Art: Expressions of a New Spirit' as one of the projects supported by its generous funding. We take this opportunity to say "thank you" to United Technologies, and are pleased that the Business Committee for the Arts has recognized them for their substantial, charitable contributions.

The Fall Antiques Show at the Pier's gala opening on Wednesday, October 24, is an evening not to be missed, and we encourage you to attend.

Many thanks to all of you whose support continues to assure the growth and development of the Museum,in all its facets and endeavors.

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American Folk Art at Sotheby's

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Very fine needlework sampler, Mary Ann Morton,Portland, Maine, dated September 17,1820, 2 inches, sold at our New York Galleries in January 1984 for $13,200. / 2x161 / 201

Each year in New York, Sotheby's holds regularly scheduled auctions of American Folk Art. Sotheby's, the only international art auction firm with 100 years of experience in America,offers the most expertise and the finest auction facilities in the world.

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For information about buying and selling at Sotheby's, please contact Nancy Druckman at(212)472-3512. Sotheby's, 1334 York Avenue at 72nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10021.

'S SOTHEBY Founded 1744

BERT & GAIL SAVAGE Rte 126 Center Strafford, N.H. 03815 603-269-7411

Always a large selection of Period country furniture in original or old finish, painted and decorated furniture, folk art, stick furniture and accessories.

Full-bodied canvas canoe trade sign,64 inches long, early 20th century.

Bari & Pipil Axelbapd

/6/ AiN/lECZ\G‘ ANTIQUES 109 WOOD TERR., LEON IA, N.J. 07605 (201) 461-8467 APPOINTMENT ONLY LOCATED 5 MIN. FROM N.Y.C.

ibutivetowuj Tht Nat II" x 15" OW 1 9fic C. 15

PHYLLIS HADERS (212) 832-8181

BY APPOINTMENT MAIL ADDRESS: 136 EAST 64TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10021

MASTERPIECE OF AMERICAN FOLK ART Trapunto Quilt, White Cotton, Homespun Back 101" x 109" Signed R. De Puy 1805 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Complete Provenance.

Verse at Base of Tree Reads as Follows: "1. 4-ow,ea/4dere rjeatale/t~47..&& i& a/0Liede&, 97waxttcA dzeirAcks,g2v deb-caPe ffnatafes/sweetszsIzarc lieezaeztyrazztstun,stic4caktretreat giN-gib dzip world,9-ax;anotto-Gegreat.-

Rare tobacconist counter top Indian carved from a single block of wood with its original nut brown surface.

Vermont 19th century height 20 inches

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

242 West 30th St., N.Y., N.Y. 10001 17

Museum of American Folk Art Board of Trustees

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

Members Mabel H. Brandon Catherine G. Cahill Karen D. Cohen Adele Earnest Barbara Johnson, Esq. Alice M. Kaplan Jana Klauer William I. Leffler Ira Howard Levy Cyril I. Nelson Cynthia V.A. Schaffner Katherine Steinberg

Bonnie Strauss Maureen Taylor Robert N. Wilson William E. Wiltshire III Trustees Emeritus Mary Allis Cordelia Hamilton Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr. Marian W. Johnson Louis C. Jones Jean Lipman

Development Advisory Committee Virginia W. Brieant, Director, Contributions to the Arts, Warner Communications, Inc. Jeanne R. Kerr, Vice President, Corporate Contributions, Time Incorporated

Marian Z. Stern, Assistant Vice Richard S. Locke, Executive President, Community Programming, Vice President, The E.E Hutton Group Chemical Bank Robert M. Meltzer, Chairman Dee Topol, Manager, of the Board, Miami-Carey Shearson/American Express Corporation Contributions Program Richard G. Mund,Secretary and Executive Director, Mobil Foundation

Current Major Donors

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

Over $20,000 Mr. and Mrs. Frederick M. Danziger Mrs. Eva Feld Estate of Morris Feld Margery G. Kahn Fondation Krikor Fondation Tarex *General Mills Toy Group Institute for Museum Services *IBM Corporation Japan-United States Friendship Commission 18

Jean and Howard Lipman *Manufacturers Hanover Trust Joseph Martinson Memorial Fund National Endowment for the Arts New York State Council on the Arts *Shearson/ Lehman /American Express Inc. *United Technologies Corporation Estate of Jeannette B.Virgin

$10,000-$19,999 *American Express Company Adele Earnest Margery & Harry Kahn Philanthropic Fund J. M. Kaplan Fund, Inc. Henry R. Kravis Ira Howard Levy Jean Lipman

Francis Sirota Martinson, Esq. New York Council for the Humanities Rockefeller Brothers Fund Mr.& Mrs. George Shaskan

$4,000-$9,999 Amicus Foundation *Bankers Trust Company Bernhill Fund *Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. Mr. & Mrs. Edgar Cullman Mr. & Mrs. Austin Fine *International Paper Company Barbara Johnson Mrs. Ruth Kapnek Mr. & Mrs. Robert Klein *Mobil Corporation

M

Current Major Donors

*Philip Morris, Inc. Swedish Council of America *Time Incorporated Norman & Rosita Winston Foundation $2,000-$3,000 *Bristol-Myers Fund *Catherine G. Cahill *Caterpillar Foundation *Chemical Bank *Coach Leatherware Joseph E. Cullman III *Exxon Corporation *Grace Foundation *E.E Hutton Foundation *Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Patricia & Richard Locke *Marsh & McLennan Companies Helen R. & Harold C. Mayer Foundation *Metropolitan Life Foundation *Morgan Guaranty Trust Company *Morgan Stanley & Company *New York Telephone Company *Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation *Rockefeller Center, Inc. *Schlumberger Horizons, Inc. *Seamen's Bank for Savings Alfred Tananbaum Foundation, Inc. *Warner Communications, Inc. William Wiltshire III Robert N. Wilson *Xerox Corporation $1,000-$1,999 *American Stock Exchange *American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. *Arthur Anderson & Co. Babtkis Foundation *Bank of New York *B.E.A. Associates *Bill Blass Ltd. *Bloomingdale's *Boll & Jacobs *Bunge Corporation Robert & Judith Burger *CBS,Inc. *Citibank, N.A. *Chesebrough-Pond's Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Peter Cohen The Compton Foundation *Con Edison Joyce & Daniel Cowin *Culbro Corporation John K. Davenport *Echo Scarfs *General Foods Corporation Emanuel Gerard Sumner Gerard Foundaition Susan Zises Green *Gulf+ Western Foundation Justus Heijmans Foundation *Institutional Investor

*International Telephone and Telegraph Judith A. Jedlicka Kriendler Berns Foundation Susan Kudlow *Lever Brothers Company *Macy's New York Christopher Mayer Estate of Myron L. Mayer Meryl and Robert Meltzer *N.L. Industries Foundation *The New York Times Foundation *Polo/Ralph Lauren *RA Controls Incorporated Richard Ravitch Foundation *Reader's Digest Association *Reliance Group Inc. Marguerite Riordon Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III Jon and Sue Rotenstreich Foundation Lorna Saleh Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Schwartz Rev. & Mrs. Alfred R. Shands III Arman & Louise Simone Foundation Herbert M.& Nell Singer *Sotheby's The Stitchery, Inc. Barbara & Thomas W Strauss Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Tananbaum Issac H. Tuttle Fund H. van Ameringen Foundation David Walentas Robert N.& Anne Wright Wilson $500-$999 Allan Albert Louis Bachmann Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Frank Barsalona Colgate Palmolive Corp.

Cowen & Company Mr. & Mrs. R.W. Dammarin Mr. & Mrs. Richard Danziger Mr. & Mrs. James DeSilva, Jr. Doyle Dane Bernbach E.M.D.L. American Folk Art John L. Ernst Richard C.& Susan B. Ernst Foundation Fischbach Corporation Mr. & Mrs. Edward Gardner Great Northern Nekoosa Corporation Joyce & Stephen Hill Theodore & Shirley Kesselman Mary Kettaneh Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Lauder Wendy Lavitt Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Levitt, Jr. Mainzer Minton Company Robin & William Mayer Mr. & Mrs. Murray Mondschein Pandick Press, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Moe Rosenman Mrs. WE. Simmons Mrs. Robert Steinberg

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

Cynthia V. A. Schaffner Karen S. Schuster The Museum also thanks the following donors for their recent gifts to the Permanent Collection and Library: Pam Benedict Robert Bishop Mr. and Mrs. Erwin C. Braman Dr. Stanley B. Bums Mr. W.B. Camochan Ms. Jane Cohen and Mr. Julius Cohen Allen Daniel David L. Davies Ralph Esmerian John Esteves Family Jessie Lie Farber and Daniel Farber Jacqueline Fowler Mr. and Mrs. Merle H. Glick Dr. and Mrs. Alfred Halpern Cordelia Hamilton Barbara Johnson The Executors of the Estate of Otto Kallir on behalf of one of the heirs.

Barbara Kaufman Dr. and Mrs. Arthur B. Kern Bruce Lacont Wendy Levitt Howard and Jean Lipman Rachel Martens Mrs. Clara Morthland Cyril I. Nelson Marion Prigoff Gail Gomberg Propp Marguerite Riordan Gertrude Schweitzer Jane Scott Jon Seri Dorothy Small Mrs. Philip C. Staples Gary J. Stass Mrs. Henry Tlimen

*Corporate Member A portion of the Museum's general operating funds for this fiscal year was provided by a General Operating Support grant from the Institute of Museum Services, a Federal agency that administers to the nation's museums,and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

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Fine American Furniture, Silver and Decorative Arts Highly Important American Furniture from The Collection of Dr. C. Ray Franklin including a collection of Folk Paintings

Auction to be held on Saturday, October 13, 1984 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at our galleries at 502 Park Avenue in New York. For further inquiries regarding this sale, please contact the American Decorative Arts Department at 212/546-1182.

A portrait of two children, by Joseph Whiting Stock, circa 1840. Sold in New York on January 21, 1984 for $7,150.

CHRISTIE'S

Catawba Valley, North Carolina two-gallon storage jar and Alkaline glaze teapot and sugarbowl.

DEANNEIFUSON

./1/WERICliV AlVTIQIIES PO ART Deanne Levison, Owner/Antique Consultant Sally W Hawkins 1933

Peachtree Road, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30309 (404) 355-0106

Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Southern snake cane painted grey and black.

Carved hand and snake cane.

19th-century.

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FRANK MARE SCA AMERICAN SCULPTURE

236 West 26 Street • New York, New York • 212.620.0955

London's Centre for English Folk Art and Americana'

Left to Right: Mahogany Gainsborough Chair, c. 1860 Unusual Primitive Clock, 36 Hour pendulum movement.

Plantation desk c. 1840, painted and grained.

Pewter Ink Stand c. 1850 Silhouette watercolour 'Man on horseback' Staffordshire Lion, c. 1840 Stick-up Decoy; Yellow Legs Pair of twist Candle Holders, c. 1840 Portrait of Leicestershire Ram,signed H. Minshell, c. 1870

Crane Galery

(3 mins. from Harrods)

171A SLOANE STREET,(First Floor), LONDON S.W.1. Tel: 01-235 2464 Daily 10-6 Sat 10-4 (Associated with Crane Kalman Gallery of 178 Bromp ton Road, London S. W3.

Tel: 01-584 7566 & 01-584 3843)

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Shooting Gallery, William F. Mangels & Sons Coney Island, C. 1910. Width 25', Height 11', Depth 4'6".

An exceptional discovery from the people who specialize in the unique.

Available for purchase at the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier, New York City.

GUERNSEY'S

New York, New York • Tuxedo Park, New York Mailing Address: Guernsey's, Tuxedo Park, New York 10987 212-794-2280 24

CAROUSEL FIGURE GALLOPING HORSE carved and painted pine New York, ca. 1860 1 2 inches high 56/

R.H. LOVE IFOLlii ART GALLERY 100 E. Ohio St., Chicago, IL 60611

312/664-9620

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the jeWiSil beRiCAQC iN AMERiCAN fail< ART

by Gerard C. Wertkin

M

izrach

Attributed to Mount Pleasant Artist Probably Lancaster County, Pennsylvania c. 1830 Watercolor and ink on paper 1 4" 9/ 3 4x 7/ Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Ten Eyck Gemberling Although fraktur attributed to the Mount Pleasant Artist are well-known, his identity remains a mystery. Among Pennsylvania fraktur illuminators, this artist's work is distinctive. It is notable for its bold linearity, the use of compass and ruler in the creation of simple geometric shapes, a relatively reserved use of traditional thematic materials and brief inscriptions in German or English. Known examples of his work include bookplates and birth and baptismal records.

This unusual, perhaps unique, example of fraktur from the hand of the Mount Pleasant Artist is a wall decoration inscribed with the word "mizrach" or "east" in Hebrew and containing a seven-branched menorah. The mizrach is used to mark the direction in which the Jewish worshipper faces in prayer.

In the diverse panorama of folk creativity in the United States, the traditional arts of the Jewish people form an important, if little known, chapter.

Surprisingly, none ofthe standard sources on American folk art include a single reference to the existence of the Jewish heritage in America,except perhaps for the work of twentieth-century "naive" painters, although it is commonplace that such religious folk cultures as the Pennsylvania Germans and the Spanish 26

of the Southwest must be considered in any survey ofthe field. In order to introduce this rich and multi-faceted tradition,the Museum of American Folk Art and The Jewish Museum have collaborated in organizing "The Jewish Heritage in American Folk Art' an exhibition which presents a new view of American Jewish life through the work of folk artists. The exhibition not only includes little-known works by American Jews but works reflecting the Jew-

ish experience in America regardless of the artist's religious affiliation.

The exhibition, which will be presented at The Jewish Museum from November 8, 1984 to March 15, 1985 breaks fresh ground and contributes to the continuing academic colloquy concerning the essential nature of American folk art. Last year, at the Washington Meeting on Folk Art jointly organized by the Museum of American Folk Art and the American Folklife Center ofthe

Library of Congress, Alan Jabbour, the Folklife Center's Director, observed that current presumptions about American folk art might well be clarified by a consideration of the traditional materials represented in "The Precious Legacy: Judaic Treasures from the Czechoslovak State Collections:' an exhibition which first brought to the attention of a large number of Americans the wonderful heritage of Jewish folk art in Central Europe. It is an important purpose of "The Jewish Heritage in American Folk Art" to correct the misconceptions clouding the literature as the result of omission and erroneous

generalization.

In its earliest years, following the arrival of North America's first permanent Jewish residents in Nieuw Amsterdam in 1654,the American Jewish experience may be viewed through portraits by "folk artists:' silhouettes, samplers and quilts. We see little in terms of Jewish content in these works, however. To be sure, Hebrew lettering may be found on a sampler; a quilt may contain a device which family tradition relates to the Jewish wedding canopy; and silhouettes may provide evocative images of early religious leaders.

However, the surviving body of mate-

rials is scant, perhaps befitting the size and scope of the young community.

Without the strength of numbers, Jewish settlers and their families in New York; Newport, Rhode Island; Philadelphia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Savannah and Charleston tended to assimilate the cultural patterns ofthe majority of the population. Having been uprooted from ancestral homes on the Iberian Peninsula in the late fifteenth century and making their way in succeeding generations to Holland and England, Brazil or the West Indies before settling in North America, these early settlers and the Jews from Central

F

amily Record

Isaac S. Wachman Milwaukee, Wisconsin July 30, 1922 Ink and watercolor on paper 24 x 18" Collection of Francisco E Sierra This appealing record of the marriage of David and Ida Goodman and the birth of their son, Jacob, was the work of Isaac S. Wachman, a manufacturer of"hand made artificial flowers for all occasions" in Milwaukee during the first quarter of the twentieth century.

A love of flowers and of the natural world is evident in this work. Cut work, a traditional Jewish folk art form, may be seen in the vine and the upper portion of the work. Among the folk figures introduced by the artist are four animals illuminating the Hebrew inscription at the top, which is from The Ethics ofthe Fathers or Pirke Avot, "Be strong as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer and brave as a lion to do the will of our Father in heaven:' As is the case in substantially all Jewish folk art, the figures are rendered in a flat, two-dimensional fashion without any attempt at modeling.

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ortrait of Simon Content(1785-?)

Europe who followed almost immediately, brought few traditions in the arts with them from overseas.

Residing in important ports and commerical centers, early Jews in the United States were upwardly mobile, and while many persevered in the faith, ensuring the uninterrupted survival of such institutions as New York's Shearith Israel congregation,others married into Christian families and were lost to Judaism. In these cities, there was a cosmopolitan outlook; by contrast, American folk art developed in the smaller, more insular cities and in the towns and rural areas of the country where fewer Jews resided. As Abram Kanof has observed, "the circumstances of Jewish history and the character of folk art coincide. Unselfconscious and primitive in nature, for all its charm,folk art is essentially a village development, largely unaffected by any surrounding 28

John Bradley (active 1831-1847) New York 1833 Oil on canvas 2x 26" 1 30/ Lent anonymously

13

ortrait of Angelina Pike Content (Mrs. Simon Content)(1805-?)

John Bradley (active 1831-1847) New York 1833 Oil on canvas 2x 26" 1 30/ Lent anonymously Simon Content was a prosperous New York merchant. He holds a Hebrew prayer book while his wife, Angelina, holds the Book of Common Prayer Bradley's portraits are distinguished by his attention to detail and his use of bright, clear colors.

"Ofcourse, Kanofis sophistication... referring to the substantial folk art traditions of European shtetl Jewry. Utilizing Kanof's yardstick, however, it may not be surprising that little folk art from Jewish hands was produced in the early years of Jewish settlement in North America. Those objects which do survive from the period are more the expression of such homely artistic activities as the working of samplers. In the letters of Abigail Franks, the matriarch of an important early Jewish family in New York,for example, there are references to the instruction of her son, Moses, in the art of painting upon glass by William Burgis, the noted American lithographer; and her daughter, Phila, in plain-work, flourishing, embroidery and quilting.' As many of America's earliest Jewish settlers maintained their religious identity, they also participated fully in the genteel artistic

pursuits of their neighbors.

The lack of distinctive Jewish folk art forms in the colonial period and the first years of independence was the result of a confluence of historical circumstances. The Jewish folk art heritage, rich and multi-faceted, was not to arrive in North America until the mid-nineteenth century when larger numbers of Jewish immigrants arrived.

These newer immigrants carried with them a material culture and artistic conventions firmly grounded in their faith. This may appear ironic because Judaism is generally considered to be iconoclastic and ambivalent to art.

With some striking exceptions and with varying emphases depending upon the time and place, the religious tradition has abjured the use of figurative representation as a violation of scripture.

However, while the prohibition against graven images may have limited the repertoire of imagery available to the Jewish folk artist, it also provided the challenge to discover in scripture, rabbinical lore and popular wisdom an ac-

ceptable iconography. This permitted the development of a distinctive corpus of materials upon which craftsmen and artisans were to draw.

While folk art in general is characterized by abstraction and two-dimensionality, these tendencies within Jewish folk art have a religous under-

Pair of Carved and Gilded Lions Artist Unknown Congregation Linas Hazedek, Kansas City, Missouri c.1900 Carved and painted wood 251 / 4 x 42/ 1 2x 1W Karp Family Collection The use of figures of lions to support the Tablets of the Law, a longstanding convention of synagogue architecture and decoration, has its roots in ancient Jewish art and poetry. This particularly fierce pair from a Kansas City synagogue once guarded the Ark in which the congregation's scrolls of the Torah were kept.

pinning. It has been noted that the floral motifs and animals of Jewish folk art "do not distinguish themselves by their pronounced physical structure, their naturalistic appearance or physical material characteristics. In the main they are spiritual, symbolic and abstract creatures. They do not draw from the woods or fields but from legends... and folklore!"

All discussion of Jewish folk art must ultimately confront the religious basis of Jewish life. Not all Jewish folk art has a purpose associated with ritual or ceremonial practice; almost all, however, has a religious content. "Folk art emerges to a great extent from the functional necessities of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;house, furnishings,toolsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and its chiefeventsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; birth, marriage, death... [It] is motivated by the pious determination to provide these with the appurtenances of religious observance!" Indeed, there is no religious system in the western world in which objects play such an important and distinctive role as in Judaism. In fact, they are essential to the

29

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living of the religious life.

The Sh'ma, the declaration of God's oneness, and the most important Biblical verse in the Jewish faith provides an example. It includes the well-known words, "and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your might, and these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart... and you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates'? (Deut. 6: 4-6, 8-9.) These simple if majestic declarations, viewed symbolically, may be taken to mean that the divine must be ever present in daily life, but in Jewish practice they become fully objectified.

Thus, the words themselves are encased in small leather boxes called tefillin, which are used during morning prayer six days a week, every week in the life of a devout adult Jewish male.

In the performance of this act, the words are actually bound on the hand and arm so that they are near the heart and placed on the head between the eyes. The day starts with this tangible expression of commitment to the religious idea. Similarly, the commandment that the words be placed on the doorposts of one's house and upon one's gates has led to the affixing of the mezzuzah, a receptacle on the doorframe of every threshold within a Jewish house, in which the words themselves, written by hand in tiny Hebrew script on a small piece of parchment by a scribe or sofer, are placed. To reside in a home without mezzuzot is a violation of a basic principle of Judaism.

The second wave ofJewish immigra 30

171=4 0

tion to America beginning in the 1840s was of Jews from Germany and Central Europe who quickly spread throughout the United States as itinerant peddlers and merchants. From their homes in Europe these Jews, unlike those that came before them, brought a variety of interesting folk art forms with them, one of the most distinctive of which is the Torah binder, also known as the wimpel. Fashioned from the swaddling cloth which protects the male child during circumcision, it is later decorated with folk images (associated with the traditional benedictions inscribed on the wimpel such as a marriage canopy) and then presented to the synagogue for

g

irl in White with Cherries

Attributed to Micah Williams (1782-1837) New York c. 1832 Oil on canvas 42 x 24" Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Gift of Miss Anna I. Morgan Although Micah Williams' preferred medium was pastel, a few oils survive, including this painting of a young Jewish girl, which is thought to have been commissioned while Williams was a resident of New York City (1829-33). According to recollections preserved in the family of the artist, the child died in the cholera epidemic which claimed almost 3,000 lives in New York City in 1832, and her parents never called for the painting. The work is also distinctive because it is a full-length portrait with considerable attention given to detail beyond the features of the subject.

orah Binder

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wrapping the scrolls of the Law. Although the restrictions of European crafts guilds imposed limitations on Jewish artisanship, the Jews of Central Europe were skilled in woodcarving, embroidery and other needle arts. They created stable communities which included synagogues and charitable and fraternal organizations in which these cultural forms could be given shape.

For the first time in the history of the Jewish settlement in North America, the design of houses of worship, the decoration of synagogue interiors, the making of ceremonial objects and the other needs of congregational and personal Jewish life in America could be fulfilled here.

The most important wave of immigration ofJews to the United States was of hundreds of thousands escaping the difficulties of life in Eastern Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Poland, Russia, Lithuania and Rumania.

With their arrival beginning in large numbers in the 1880s, a whole variety of transported Jewish traditions in the folk arts began to appear on the American scene. Among the handicrafts associated with Eastern European Jewry were the making of ceramic vessels, including commemorative plates and candlesticks; weaving, especially a unique form of ceremonial weaving called spanier work; lace making; and tombstone carving. Richly ornamented and decorated synagogues found in villages through much of Poland, Lithuania and White Russia must have made lasting impressions; the design motifs of carvings and murals such as fanciful animals and birds, signs of the zodiac, intricate flowering vines and other floral designs are found repeated in other forms of folk art created by

Artist Unknown New York 1846 Painted cotton with ink drawing 8/ 1 4 x 136/ 3 4" The Jewish Museum, New York This Torah binder records the birth of Morton Seligman on January I, 1846. The artist has included such varied pictorial elements as an ornately covered prayerbook, a Torah scroll in a purple mantle with a silver shield, a marriage canopy surrounded by a Star of David and supported by four vine-entwined poles, and an alms box. Other design motifs used to mark abbreviations in the Hebrew text include a small crown, Stars of David, leaves and clusters of colored dots.

The Hebrew inscription reads as follows: "Mordechai,son of Kalman Seligman, born fora good sign in New York, the 28th of Tevet[5]706 (= Jan. I, 1846). May the Lord raise him to the Torah and to the canopy and to good deeds Amen Selah:'

Eastern European Jews in America. As they entered into life in America, Eastern European Jews drew not only from this traditional design vocabulary but demonstrated their profound love of the new nation by incorporating American images within Jewish forms.

There is a great emphasis in Judaism on the wordâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;written, spoken and sung, in a way which pervasively impacts upon the folklore of the people.

Indeed, the word, decorated and adorned, is at the very heart of Jewish folk art. Soferim or scribes cultivated the Hebrew script in an unbroken tradition through the centuries. In this respect the Jewish approach may be seen mirrored in the folk arts of such Protestant groups in the United States as the Pennsylvania Germans, for whom the decorated words of Biblical and pious verses are an important element of 31

M

izrach

Joseph A. Michael c. 1870 Ink and pencil on cut paper 2" 1 7Y4 x 9/ Karp Family Collection The artist utilizes conventional design elements in this papercut Mizrach, although the appearance of the heart is somewhat unusual in Jewish folk art.

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folk expression. Although the traditional thematic materials available to Lutheran and Reformed penmen may be broader than Jewish folk imagery, continental Protestantism shares the resistance to literal or figural representation that has marked some periods of Jewish history. The fraktur of Pennsylvania have an interesting counterpart in the memorials and family registers of Jewish folk art.

Among the wonderful traditions brought from Eastern Europe with strong emphasis on the decorated word is the pinkas, or register. Not only a key to the communal, congregational and organizational life of Eastern European Jews and their descendants in America, the pinkas is frequently a fine example of folk art. Typically containing articles of association, rules and regulations, lists of members and officers and minutes, its title page, section or paragraph headings and the perimeter of its pages often contain ornamental scroll32

work, floral motifs, fanciful folk figures of animals or zodiac signs and fine Hebrew lettering, not infrequently the work of a sofer.

The art of papercutting, practiced widely among the Jews of Eastern Europe, has been continued by their descendants in the United States; most surviving Jewish papercuts date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The designs are often intricate and include the same basic iconography found in other forms of Jewish folk art, including flowers and floral vines, animals, crowns, stars and Hebrew inscriptions. Typical images include the Tree of Life, architectural motifs, the Decalogue and the Star of David.

In an illuminating discussion of Jewish textiles, which may serve as a model for a consideration of folk art in general, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett notes the traditional distinction between folk and professional produc-

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tion, "generally on the basis of subjective evaluation of the quality of the work and the degree of sophistication, naivete or primitiveness:' She encourages instead a consideration of the varying "repertoires of techniques and forms used by professionals as opposed to folk artisans:' as well as the differing methods of transmission of patterns and models, the organization of production, and the norms of interpretation in the community itself.5 As useful as the methodology is, distinctions between "folk" and "professional" artisanship in the context of Jewish handicrafts are often unclear. The art of the sofer or scribe is practiced in a professional setting. Yet the family records and memorials produced by soferim, utilizing stylized folk imagery and traditional decoration, are clearly folk art forms. Distinctions based solely on the ends served in production—sale as opposed to home consumption—are untenable in the context

of American folk art and seem problematic, as well, when considering Jewish traditional arts.

Most Jewish ceremonial art tends to use a well-known body of traditional motifs in ways hallowed by custom. It is transmitted within the community, even where its producers may have been non-Jews; is conservative in application, accepting change and influence from outside the group only slowly and with considerable reserve; and speaks in a design vocabulary well understood by makers and users. These facts would seem to render it "folk art:' as that term is understood by American folk art historians, regardless of the

professionalism of the maker.

This application may be seen in connection with the carving of shop and amusement figures, an American folk art form in which Jews, including Illions, Stein & Goldstein and Carmel, have been widely represented. Although some academicians may object to the classification of commercially-produced carvings as "folk art;' even in the larger shops there was a considerable degree of individual craftsmanship and hand finishing of the traditional repertoire of forms.The position ofJewish craftsmen in the sculpture ofshop and amusement figures is an interesting subchapter in the history both of American folk art

and of Jewish creativity in the New World. While this form of folk sculpture is not Jewish in origin, the woodworking traditions in which the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe had been schooled served them well in this craft in America.

As the years of the twentieth century passed, many of the folk art traditions brought with first generation immigrants began to wane. However, while many of these art forms suffered a period of neglect, there was almost a concurrent rebirth of interest in exploring Jewish themes through painting and sculpture. This trend may be seen not only in the work of untrained artists

b

oy Riding Bicycle (bicycle shop sign)

Louis Simon (1884-1970) Brooklyn, New York c. 1922 Painted wood and metal 40/ 1 2x 181 / 2x 23" The Brooklyn Museum Dick S. Ramsay and H. Randolph Lever Funds Shop signs and trade figures have long merited an important place in the history of American folk art. This inventive figure was the work of Louis Simon, who came to the United States from Russia at about the age of eighteen and operated a bicycle shop from 1912 to 1970 on Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn. During the almost sixty years that Simon was in business, he is said to have created several shop signs. This sign was one of the first, and was displayed in front of his shop for many years. An electric motor within the construction made possible the illumination of the figure's eyes, as well as the rotation ofits legs and the bicycle wheel itself.

33

R

Polock Gravestone .becca e

Attributed to John Stevens 11 (1702-1778) Burial Ground of Touro Synagogue Newport, Rhode Island c. 1764 Gravestone rubbing by Susan H. Kelly and Anne C. Williams 37 x 27"

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Rebecca,the Wife of Zewhaciah Poi o k, died March 2d. J 7 64, 65 Years A -*M. ? 2( in Days

The Jewish cemetery at Newport, Rhode Island was established by 1678,a year after the first Jews arrived in that port city. Many members of the Polock family were prominently identified with the synagogue in Newport, including Zachariah Polock and his wife, Rebecca.

Rebecca's gravestone may be attributed to John Stevens 11(1702-1778), of the second generation of a family of three well-known stonecarvers of the same name, whose continuous tradition of stone cutting is the longest known in New England. Characteristic of the style of John Stevens II are his use of cherubim in the tympanum and his well-carved borders of vines and flowers. The stone is of a fine blue-black slate generally utilized by the Stevens family.

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who took brush in hand late in their years, such as Morris Hirshfield, Meichel Pressman and Harry Lieberman, but in the work of younger artists like Malcah Zeldis. There has also been a revival in the crafts tradition, and scores of accomplished craftsmen are again practicing the art of papercutting and of manuscript illumination. It is hoped that this exhibition will lead to the discovery and conservation of additional examples of Jewish traditional art and to the intensive study of this long neglected chapter in the history of folk art in America.

34

Gerard C. Werticin is the Assistant Director of the Museum of American Folk Art. NOTES 1. Abram Kanof,Jewish Ceremonial Art and Religious Observance. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1969, p. 41.

2. Leo Hershkowitz and Isidore S. Meyer, eds., The Lee Max Friedman Collection of American Jewish Colonial Correspondence:Letters of the Franks Family (1733-1748). Waltham, Massachusetts: American Jewish Historical Society, 1968, pp. 48, 3-4, 13.

3. Yekhezkel Dobrushin as quoted in Avram Kampf, "In Quest of the Jewish Style in the Era of the Russian Revolution': Journal of Jewish Art, Five, 1978, p. 61.

4. Kanof, op. cit. p. 42.

A fully illustrated 128 page catalogue documenting the exhibition will be available in hardcover($22.50)and softcover ($10.95) editions. It includes essays by co-curators Norman L. Kleeblatt, Curator of Collections of The Jewish Museum, and Gerard C. Wertkin, Assistant Director of the Museum of American Folk Art and by Mary Black, Consulting Curator of the Museum of American Folk Art.

BY B.H. FRIEDMAN Introduction The bottled images presented here are American but related in spirit to what the French artist Jean Dubuffet calls l'art brutâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;best translated as raw art, with connotations of the unpolished, the coarse, the diamond in the rough.

Like the works collected and catalogued by Dubuffet, these bottles are "done by people uncontaminated by artistic culture...the sense of mimicry, contrary to what happens among intellectuals, plays little or no part, with the result that their makers draw all (subjects, choice of materials ... means of transposition ...)from their own being and not from hangovers of classical or fashionable art. We witness here the artistic process in all its purity, raw, reinvented on all its levels by the maker, starting solely from his own impulses"?

The impulses are, typically, personal rather than social or commercial, immediate rather than historical, compulsive rather than casual. Like the work of artists who Dubuffet(partially inspired by Andre Breton and other Surrealists) discovered in France and

neighboring European countries, many of the object-bottles are made by those in isolated or alienated situationsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; sailors;farmers;the inmates of prisons, hospitals and asylums; and, in the case of the American bottle-makers, frequently lumbermen, whose whittling and painstaking constructions helped to pass time and relieve loneliness.

These bottles are divorced from the useful or functional purposes of much folk art. The best of them are, in their crude intensity, equally divorced from the merely technical skill of the virtuoso hobbyist. Though they connect with the nineteenth century tradition of placing ship models in bottles, there is, despite their small size, a more profound connection, in compulsion as well as spirit, with such "useless" monuments as the Postman Cheval's Ideal Palace in Hauterives, France; Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts, California; and James Hampton's Throne in Washington, D.C.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the first two of these built on cramped sites and the last originally stuffed into a garage.

35

How Did It Get There?

This question about technique is often the first to be asked, much as the nonartist asks about a sculpture or building or any other work of art whose magic mystifies. The question is mechanical, rather easily answered, and as far from the meaning of these bottles as is the engineering principle of a flying buttress from the meaning of Notre Dame Cathedral.

First comes the bottle—almost always a liquor or non-prescription medicine bottle, the latter of which, in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, often contained opium as well as alcohol. The original contents of these bottles killed pain, loneliness and time; what replaced the liquids was intended to do the same. Indeed, after the sculpted images were completed and placed, the bottles were sometimes refilled with water to simulate gin (Fig. 1), or tea to simulate whiskey.

The makers of ship models usually tried to find bottles which were clear, without scratches, bubbles, flaws, or lettering. The makers of other objects to be placed in bottles were not so selective. They used what was at hand, and they used the bottles as they stood, upright. Even when (rarely) the subject was a ship (Fig. 2), it was invented to fill a specific bottle and not inspired by an existing ship in need of a display case. The bottle was always the given, the impulse always to fill it.

With ships, as with other objects, the bottle determines the size of the elements put into it. Obviously nothing can be longer than the height of the bottle, nothing wider than the inside diameter ofits mouth. What is wider,in the final construction, must be hinged outside the bottle and opened inside or glued, pinned, screwed or otherwise assembled inside. For this, long thin tools are needed— the scalpels, tweezers, pliers and probes of a surgeon or a jeweler; and for objects less finely detailed, the improvised equiv36

Fig. 1 Crucifixion, 9/ 1 2 inches high, submerged in clear liquid, and found in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The body and face of Christ have a doll-like or child-like quality, echoed by the actual dolls (barely visible in the photograph) representing the two thieves on the flanking crosses. This is an excellent example of the Instruments of the Passion combined with such common tools as the pick and shovel(in theforeground). Behind the cross is a ladder surmounted by a single die (in addition to the three prominent dice below the left arm of the cross).

Fig. 2 Ship,in bottle 5-/ 1 4 inches high, with printed pennant which reads FOUND P] AT THE SOLDIERS' HOME, OHIO. Stickers ofan idealized 19th-century boy and girl(prince and princess?) adornfront and back ofthe carved stopper whose crosspiece—a gigantic "weathervane" —flits the shoulders of the bottle and holds a gold ball, perhaps intended to represent the sun.

alents of such unavailable tools.

The "tricks" in these bottles are those of patient craft, not of cheating.

None have been tampered with; none have had their bottoms cut and replaced. Such bottles exist but were made for money. These were made for love: of self, of the material world and its objects, of absent homes and cottage industries, and, in many examples, of God, the giver of all things. The challenge of surviving in a difficult place for a long time may also have been a common inspiration.

Horror Vacui The fear of empty space is manifested in much of the world's art and decoration, including Indian temples, Gothic cathedrals, Benin sculpture, Victorian parlors. As empty walls call for murals, tapestries, paintings, prints, carvings and reliefs, so empty bottles and jugs call for filling. With some turn-of-the century vessels, this was done on the outside, using bits of crockery, shells, buttons, screws, jewelry, utensils, postage stamps, cigar bands and miscellaneous objects of all kinds(Fig. 3).

This double impulse reflects the situations of the makers. Generally, women decorated the outside of bottles,jugs, and crocks, while working at home. There, dishes broke; buttons came off; dolls and toys were wrecked and discarded; keys and coins accumulated in bottom drawers. Everywhere

Fig. 3 Whimsy Jug, 11 inches high, found on Cape Cod. Like most bottles of its kind, this example offers a heterogeneous assemblage ofnatural and man-made objectsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a shark's tooth (at upper left), shells, pebbles, nuts, buttons, hooks, screws, chains, a necklace, a crucifix, a thimbleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all this and more embedded in putty and made uniform by a wash of gilding.

37

there were memories in physical form, souvenirs of domestic life, gathered by these women and used to pass their time, relieve their loneliness and neutralize the emptiness in their lives. On one broken crockery piece the inscription by Miss L.E. Eastman of North Haverhill, N.H., "WORK DONE WINTER 1906-1907:' speaks eloquently of the months devoted to comparatively easy external decoration; more ambitious pieces placed inside bottles presumably took longer still.

Generally, too, those who constructed objects inside of bottles were menâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;makers rather than gatherers; carvers primarily and gluers only incidentally. These men who lived in the cramped and comparatively possessionless quarters of a ship, a lighthouse, the log barracks of a lumber camp, or the cell of a military or civil prison had not only the external vastness of sea,sky or, sometimes,forest to face but almost always immediate crowding, physical discomfort, lack of women. While their wives and sweethearts expressed loneliness and frustration by preserving memories in the

Fig. 4 Woman at Spinning Wheel, in medicine bottle 58 inches high,found in New Hope,Pennsylvania, 6/ is dominated not only by the wheel, wrapped in bright red yarn behind which she stands, but also by the cross infront ofit and the scrap ofpaper in front of the cross. The woman isfrail, having an elongated skull-like head carved in wood, skinny arms, and a body given substance by a calico dress and white "Colonial" shawl and apron.

The cross presumably commemorates an ancestor ofthe bottle's maker It containsan inscription in pencil on the shaft, of which only the date 1799 is clearly legible. The scrap of paper is inscribed in ink: She maketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hand William Wight [?] artist [illegible] Apr. 19 [?] 1884 The wooden stopper has a crosspiecefrom which two beads hung: one hasfallen to the bottom of the bottle.

38

Fig. 5 Three Men Cutting and Splitting Logs, IPA inches high,found in Vermont, occupying a onegallon Duraglassjug. Wearing yellow straw hat, red-and-black checked woolen shirt, blue jeans and boots, one bearded man saws; another, with the same outfit and beard, splits logs, and a third, also bearded and in the same ouffit except that his shirt is ofplain redflannel, rests and smokes his corncob pipe. All of these figures have jointed limbs with attached, dangling threads which must once have gone through holes in the cork, making it possible to move them.

Fig. 6 Man with Bottle in Hand, Climbing Ladder, 103/4 inches high, found in Massachusetts. The figure is of pieced construction. Exceptfor the head, seemingly carved ofwood, everything else is made ofa translucent amber material which looks like beeswax. In any case, a viscous liquid has solidified at the bottom of the bottle, trappingfour ants, along with another on the side. The bottle within a bottle is a recurring motif

form of small objects, scattered on bottles like the scraps of a "crazy quilt;' the men expressed theirs by creating more rigid fantasies, typically as four-square as graves, crosses, Crucifixions, altars, looms, wishing wells, furniture and conventional architecture. However, these sexual generalizations break down in a work like the Woman atSpinning Wheel (Fig. 4). Here, there's an inscription, signed by "William Wight artist:' in 1884: "She maketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hand;' and we suspect that the calico dress, the white shawl and apron, as well as the wool on the wheel and the beads hanging from the stopper, were collaboratively contributed by the artist's wife.

The Message Whether outside the bottle or inside it, the message remains unchanged: the object is part of its maker's life and is valuable as suchâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a fragment of time, a relic. Again and again, what we see in a bottle is its maker, the workman, sometimes presented literally (Figs.

5,6) but more often symbolically, as in the many examples of his identification with occupational tools and with the suffering of Christ, himself a carpenter.

But always there is the presence of mortalityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;first, in the fragility of the bottles themselves, then in that of the objects inside them, as glue dries and elements become loose and crumble.

These bottles are humanly frail. They also repeat the message originally contained in them,the ambivalent message of alcohol, simultaneously liberating and depressing, stimulating and calming, visionary and deadening. Perhaps it is in a spirit ofrestoring things to their original state that some of these artists submerge their constructions in simulated alcohol, and indeed, if that is the case, it doesn't require too great a leap of the imagination to see in these bottles a still stronger image of originâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; that of the womb.

39

The Cross The most common image contained in these bottles is the cross, usually accompanied by the Instruments of the Passion or occupational improvisations on these, sometimes in Crucifixions, and sometimes in other cruciform variations,including a crosspiece connected with an extension of the stopper to prevent its removal. It is not going too far to say that, with a few exceptions— generally the most literal tableaux—all of these bottles contain the cross. If it is not upright,then it is in section, like a Greek cross, as if squaring the circle, boxing the compass,reaching out in all directions toward a continuous wall of glass.

Surely, for the makers of these bottles, the significance of the cross is deeply religious, specifically Christian. However, the cross antedates Christianity. It appears on Indian cave walls and in Egyptian tombs. As a symbol existing long before Christ and continuing into the present, it suggests a joining of opposites, a resolution of polarities as profound as those of the yin-yang, the swastika, the Star of David. In the cross, the positive or vertical isjoined with the negative or horizontal, life with death, the spiritual or timeless with the worldly or transient.

The few actual Crucifixions are either as crudely and powerfully carved (Fig. 7) as the crosses themselves or, for more realistic detail, incorporate collaged or inserted commercial images of Christ (Fig. 8). And, like the bare crosses—for example, the many non-Crucifixions or metaphorical "altars" (tables of sacrifice)—they also incorporate, along with the Instruments of the Passion, such tools as the shovel, the woodsman's axe, the hand saw and the pick. In none of the bottles are these common tools more poignantly presented than are the ones painted red and silver and partially buried which surround a small boy standing in front of a white cross on which 40

Fig. 7 Crucifixion,9inches high, possiblyfrom the Southwest.

This piece is unusual because the carvings are entirely painted—maroon carved stopper and cross-shaped base, stark white figure of Christ on a green cross, somberly clad smallfigures ofthefour Evangelists at His feet. The work seems to by stylistically related to the popular santos ofNew Mexico.

Fig. 9 Cross with Child and Tools, 10/ 1 2 inches high, found in Massachusetts. At the base of the disproportionately tall cross, a child stands as still and stark as the half:buried tools which surround him. On the arms ofthe cross perch two dovesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; perhaps duplicated symbols of the Holy Ghost.

The rather Art Deco bottle is marked in large raised letters,'OLD MR. BOSTON GUEST DECANTER:' along with the usual "Federal Law Forbids Sale or Re-use of this bottle:'

Fig. 8 Cruciffidon, in medicine bottle 6/ 1 2 inches high,found in Ohio. This example combines the carved Instruments ofthe Passion with the collaged INRI scroll, Christ figure, and cock (symbolizing Peter's Denial). The back of the bottle is graduated in 5 centiliter measures (up to 25); the front is appropriately decorated with a Gothic arch.

Fig. 10 Cross with Five Fans,8/ 1 2inches high,found in Massachusetts. The three largest fans extend from the top of the cross andfrom the tips of its arms. Two additionalfans have been placed at the base ofthe cross, which rests on a bed ofcotton.

doves perch (Fig. 9)—a literal or symbolic memorial to a lost child.

Besides the instruments and tools which accompany many of the crosses, the "fan" is a frequent motif—a decorative "flowering" ofthe cross itself, an extrapolation of it in a burst of spokes, which suggests stylized plant and tree forms or the sun's rays. This fan motif seems to have its origin in Holland and the Scandinavian countries where it was used particularly as Christmas decoration. In Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and elsewhere, Dutch and Scandinavian lumbermen carved fans as free-standing sculpture, as applied adornment, and specifically for bottles (Fig. 10). The fans were carved from a single piece of wood—usually straightgrained, flexible cedar—which, after patient carving, was soaked or boiled for opening and, with fans intended for bottles, closed again before reopening.

These fragile fans needed to be handled delicately.

The skein winders and motifs related to domestic and cottage-industry spinning and weaving also are very delicate (Fig. 11). Here, again, the cross is distorted; decorated; bound in string, yarn,ribbons, beads. It is captured and secured, and simultaneously open and ambiguous. The chair (Fig. 12) has a ladder-like structure and a cross-woven seat, although, as in other bottles where chairs appear (typically at the base of a cross), it is probably the symbol of a Witness to the Crucifixion.

And the niddy-noddy(Fig. 13)suggests not only the cross per se but the domesticity of yarn-winding and the anchor of seacoast commerce.

Perhaps the cross— as carpentry, sexuality, imprisonment, liberation, Crucifixion and Resurrection—is the ultimate message in these bottles. Or perhaps it is only this in relation to the bottle itself. Glass has always been a symbol of the Virgin birth, or purity in general. Light passes through glass without shattering it. So, here as 42

Fig. 11 Yarn Winder, 1134 inches to the top of rod penetrating stopper,found in Maine. Everything about this piece is unusual. The handsome old hand-blown bottle isstoppered with a six-bladed plug, which turns the upper winder. The latter is decorated with three balls, sixjugs, six more balls inside six supports, and is wound with twelve rows of gold thread.

Beneath it are six horizontal supports, each with a "bowling pin" and a ball on it, and at the bottle's bottom there are six more balls and six "table legs'

Fig. 12 Chair, in glass-stopperedflask, 85/s inches high, found on Cape Cod.

elsewhere, notably in museum display cases, glass holds visible secrets, encloses without concealment. Like wombs and homes, it imprisons and protects. Like a camera's lens, it tells and hides the truth as our eyes meet those of the bottles' makers across as much as a century or so, which is no more than a scrap of time.

B.H. Friedman is the author of six novels. The most recent, The Polygamist, has been bought by Columbia Pictures. He has also published Corning Close, a collection of stories; biographies of Jackson Pollock and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney; and several art monographs.

NOTES 1. The author appreciates the permission of Art in America to re-use material published there, March 1981, in somewhat different form.

2. Bottles with corks or carved stoppers are measured to top of stoppers.

3. Places where bottles were "found" indicates, most frequently, an antique or junk shop. For example, works found in Boston or on Cape Cod or in New York or on Long Island often came from distant regions, sometimes lumbering centers.

4. All photographs are by Allan Finkelman.

Some look imperfect because of dirt inside bottles, excessive refraction in the glass, etc.

5. Too many people to list have been helpful with this project, but I particularly thank Merwin Hart of Davenport,Iowa for information regarding winders and Ivan Majdrakoff of Oakland, California for information regarding chairs.

Fig. 13 Niddy-Noddy Winder,in Duraglass whisky bottle, 12 inches high,found on Cape Cod. A niddynoddy was held by the center piece with one hand while the yarn was wound with the other. The winding was done, typically, to the rhythm of a song and, when the song was completed, so was the skein. Green string, supporting the winder, pierces the cork. The winder itself is bound with red string. The resemblance to an anchorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an early Christian symbol ofthe cross, as well as of salvation, hope, and constancyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;makes one guess that this object could have been made by a (perhaps retired)sailor, bound, like the anchor to the sea, imprisoned by it.

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44

PHRENOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS FOOTNOTES TO THE BIOGRAPHIES OF TWO FOLK ARTISTS

By Mary Black Work records of nineteenth-century American folk artists reveal a number of ingenious methods for economic survival. Aside from portraits of every available relation, neighbor and friend within far-ranging circles of prospects, there were other, less obvious means by which these craftsmen prospered. This is a study of the unlikely association of two separate artists with a popular pseudo-science.

From the 1840s to the end of the century, the photograph became as common a guide as the print had once been, providing the painter, and somewhat less frequently, the sculptor, with inspiration for portraits. The painter, Joseph Whiting Stock, had an intermittent partnership with a photographer, making the camera his ally on several occasions. In recording likenesses "from corpse," his sketches were frequently augmented by photographs of dead subjects, both serving as memory guides in creating large, colorful and lifelike portraits (Fig. 1).

Two attributes, size and color, gave a painter a decided edge over the photographer and opened the way to a profitable sideline for Joseph Stock, as he painted anatomical and phrenological

studies, a practice begun early in his career and continued to its close. The record of this sideline, in fact the most extensive record of any American folk artist's working method, was made by the painter himself, in the 73 manuscript pages of a Journal covering fourteen years of his life, work and travels.

Stock's Journal is an after-the-fact com-

Fig. 1 Francis and Mary Willcox Joseph Whiting Stock Springfield, Massachusetts February 1845 Oil on canvas 40 x 48" National Gallery of Art, Washington,D.C.; Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch This portrait of the "deceased children of P W. Willcox" is recorded on page65 ofStock's manuscript Journal. Seven years before, the artist had painted the mother and father(Mr. and Mrs. Philo Willcox)and three other oftheir children, including a deceased son. In 1845, single portraits of each child(on 21 x 26-inch canvas)were painted by Stock, also "from corpse!' In this period, Stock had an intermittent business arrangement with his brother-in-law, Otis Hubbard Cooley, a daguerreotypist, and he may have had daguerreotypes, as well as his own sketches, to remind him of the appearance of the dead children.

pilation begun during a prolonged stay in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1842.'

On a spring Sunday in 1826, when he was eleven, an oxcart fell on Joseph Stock, crushing him beneath it. In the six years that elapsed between the accident and the beginning of his painting career, he was bound to his bed, doctors and "eminent surgeons" offering little hope of recovery. Eventually, he and his friends sought ways in which he might earn a living. Atthe age ofseventeen the search ended as his physician and friend, Dr. William L. Loring,suggested that he might be able to "easily attain and support" himself by painting portraits. His first and, indeed, only instructor was Franklin White, whom Stock identitied as a "pupil of Chester Harding."

In 1832, the year that Joseph Stock began his career as a painter, the comparatively new precepts of phrenology were introduced in America by the German physician, Dr. Johann Spurzheim, through a series of eighteen public lectures delivered at the Boston Athenaeum. This odd branch of science greatly influenced Stock and contributed to the success of his career.

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In the last decade of the eighteenth century,Spurzheim's teacher, Dr. Franz Joseph Gall of Vienna, had developed the science of reading character through a close analysis of size, form and attributes of a head divided into carefully described areas of influence; the result yielded a reading of the owner's health, disposition and talent.

A British traveler, Harriet Martineau, a contemporary observer, described its popularity: "When Spurzheim was in America, the great mass of society became phrenologists in a day." Caps and wigs were "pulled off, and all fair tresses dishevelled, in the search after oragnization."

On November 10, 1832, less than a month after his first lecture, Spurzheim suddenly died. The first Massachusetts Phrenological Society was founded in Boston on the day of his funeral. For the rest of the nineteenth century, and into the early years of the twentieth, phrenological principles were highly regarded means for reading the character of persons high and low, in a national examination of heads from the country's greatest intellects down to the skulls of executed murderers. The chief reason for its long life was the enthusiastic and flamboyant support of Orson Squire Fowler.

When Fowler was born in October 1809, in Steuben County, New York, phrenology was already a well developed movement in Europe. He was the first white child born in the town of Cohocton, and his brother, Lorenzo Niles Fowler, later to be his partner and an equal champion of phrenological matters, was born there less than two years later. Orson Fowler prepared for Amherst College at two lower schools in Massachusetts. At Amherst, he was a member of the class that included Henry Ward Beecher. When word of Spurzheim's lectures reached central Massachusetts, Fowler at once became an enthusiastic convert. Beecher's conversion was scarcely slower; as the fu46

ture orator pored over Spurzheim's books, he changed sides in a debate with his peers to embrace the phrenological principles that he had first scorned.

Of his earliest study of phrenology, Fowler later wrote that he "entered upon the collegiate study of mental philosophy ... to compare Phrenology, as an expositor of the mind ... with other metaphysical text-book systems." He found it "immeasurably superior." Or-

son Fowler's examination of his own head revealed deficiencies only in the departments of Ideality (aesthetic perception), and Amitiveness,of which,in his judgment, he had only a moderate supply (an estimate refuted, it would appear, by three happy marriages).

The twenty-four-year-old Fowler presented the first of many lectures on phrenology in Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1834. Soon he persuaded his brother, a recent graduate of Amherst,tojoin him

Figs. 2 and 3 Mr. and Mrs. William Belden (Hannah Wright) Joseph Whiting Stock Springfield, Massachusetts 1838 Oil on canvas 30 x 25" each Private Collection

domestic feelings are all strong...He is frank and candid to a fault... His ambition is very great...

He is modest and unassuming, solicitous of public favour and desirous of excelling ... Hope, Marvellousness, and Ideality give a fondness for the sublime and beautiful, ... Constructiveness, ideality, imitation, and comparison being very large, would give him uncommon mechanical powers and a natural taste and talent for the fine arts, and perfect finish in execution ...The study of nature is his delight, he revels and luxuriates in her beauty...

Stock recorded these portraits in his Journal immediately following the listings for Dr. and Mrs. Lester Belden, who were almost certainly relatives of William Belden. Dr. Lester Belden was, in 1835, a Springfield lecturer on phrenology.

in an itinerant circuit of meetinghouses and lyceums in which they would first lecture on phrenology, and then give practical demonstrations in reading the heads of attendants.

By the mid-1830s the brothers were in the nation's capital busily reading heads of the famous, Orson Fowler recounting meetings with many of his subjects on early morning walks in the capital.

Lorenzo Fowler developed a great interest in sculpture through his phrenological experience. He wrote of having "embraced every opportunity of becoming acquainted with American artists; taking measurements and casts of their heads." The brothers observed that the combination of phrenology and the arts was an important one: "In a few years every artist must be a phrenologist."

In 1836 Lorenzo Fowler established a New York City office next to the old

Park Theatre on Park Row and continued his effort to relate phrenology to fine art. The Fowlers' initial acquisition for their gallery of heads offamous Americans was the purchase of a death mask of Aaron Burr, made by an unknown artist on Staten Island. It was from the "Phrenological Rooms" at 286 Broadway that Lorenzo presented "L.N. Fowler's Phrenological Opinion of Mr. Thomas Cole" on May 30, 1837.2 This fascinating document presents astonishing insight into the character of the Hudson River School painter, and some of the conclusions from Fowler's "opinion" are presented here to illustrate the perceptions that informed many ofthe brothers' readings.

This gentleman presents many strong and interesting features of character. His temperament is peculiar, differing from most of his sex. It partakes of the nervous, sanguine and lymphatic ... the nervous, largely predominating, gives extreme delicacy of feeling and excitability... His

The brothers began publication of their American Phrenological Journal in Philadelphia in 1838. Until 1911 the Journal survived through phrenology's good times and bad. In its pages many enthusiasms besides phrenology were detailed. Temperance was extolled; tobacco, alcohol and tight lacing of corsets were damned; and hydropathic and dyspeptic cures were advocated.'

The theory and practice ofthe whole phrenological movement was generally available to the public at very low cost.

Subscription to the Journal was only a dollar a year, and the Fowlers' charge for personal analysis, a verbal examination accompanied by an explanatory pamphlet, was the same. For three dollars they offered a handwritten analysis in a personalized booklet, an offering similar to the analysis of Thomas Cole's head.

In 1834 Dr. James Swan moved to Joseph Stock's hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts. He soon established an association with the young artist, providing him with patronage and the means, after eight invalid years, to be free of his "long confinement to the couch." Swan came to the Stock house to order some anatom: ical illustrations. Stock began a series of thirty studies and painted the first of several portraits of the doctor. Stock recorded a price of $75.00 for the anatomical drawings, each 25 x 30 inches; no price is given for the portrait. In a more than even exchange, Swan made Stock mobile, "constructing a chair which answered all our expectations."

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Early in his career Stock began to make copies of prints and paintings of famous personages, painting a portrait of Lafayette to add to the subjects he had already attempted—Napoleon, Andrew Jackson and Sir Walter Scott.

The copies sold for five and six dollars.

While these well-known subjects might have been for patrons in the Springfield area, the selection suggests that they were Joseph Stock's first step in providing phrenological heads to some of the doctors whom he had met through his infirmity, for early in 1835 The Springfield Gazette carried notice of Dr. Swan's lectures on physiology, "delivered extemporaneously," and "illustrated by large paintings made expressly for this purpose." Swan's other lectures, on temperance, dyspepsia and phrenology, were also advertised.

Another of Stock's subjects—Dr. Lester W. Belden—was advertised as the Springfield Lyceum lecturer on Phrenology on the evening of January 28, 1835. Following the recording of Dr. Belden's portrait in Stock's Journal, portraits of Mr. and Mrs. William Belden are listed. Mr. and Mrs. Belden are almost certainly relatives of Dr. Lester Belden. The portraits of the Beldens (Figs. 2 and 3) are excellent surviving examples of Stock's skill with adult subjects.

In 1835, in Cabotville, a village near Springfield, Stock made two more copies of a Jackson portrait, one of his wife Rachel, and another of Martin Van Buren. A "Lord Byron group" was also copied. All these subjects were among the heads most widely used in phrenological lectures to display superior character. His first painting "from corpse" was noted in his Journal this year as he produced two large portraits of five-year-old Jane, the recently deceased daughter of William Livsey, a Methodist minister.

In 1840 Stock fulfilled another commission from Dr. Swan for six fulllength, life-sized anatomical illustra48

PHRENOLOGY L.N.FOWLER Maim-

Fig. 4 Phrenological Head Maker unknown New York, New York c. 1845 White glazed porcelain, with blue decoration Dimensions unknown The New-York Historical Society A plaster phrenological head, valued at 25 cents, was among the objects in Stock's estate. This more elegant model, also sold by Fowler and Wells, shows some of the areas that defined character in phrenological readings.

Figs. 5 and 6 Henry Clay and Daniel Webster Joseph Whiting Stock Orange County, New York 1853 Oil on canvas 30 x 25" each Mrs. John Luft, Middletown, New York These portraits, each on pre-primed canvas, were among the prizes Stock offered in a lottery of his works held in Goshen, New York, on New Year's Eve, 1853.

tions, on canvas 3 x 6 feet. The price noted was $65.00. This is the largest canvas size listed in Stock's Journal although several portraits 40 x 50 inches encompass almost the same area.

In October of 1840 Stock was in New Haven, Connecticut, where he completed several paid commissions and a number of portraits for which there was no charge. Six were offamily members and three were for two physicians— another portrait of Dr. Swan,one of his daughter, and one of Dr. J.M. Fletcher.

In Warren, Rhode Island, he noted a new order for eleven illustrations for Dr. Swan, as the physician continued his medical, temperance and phre-

nological lectures in Rhode Island.

Seven 25 x 30 inch "Illustrations of the Stomach" and four other subjects for Swan brought Stock $4.00 each.

Throughout the country the phrenological charts and busts(Fig. 4), lectures and publications of the Fowlers held sway. Employers required analysis of the heads of prospective employees.

Heads of everyday people were compared with famous ones, and the reading of cranial bumps was an enthusiasm applied to many purposes not dreamed of originally. Fowler and Wells' Self Instructor with its "Over One Hundred Engravings" was a convenient package in which to chart character. The heads of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster

(Figs. 5 and 6)served as ideal models, while the Phrenological Journal pointed to the heads of Byron and Napoleon, Sir Walter Scott, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren for further exploration. Issues of the publication contained illustrated maps and descriptions of the human head to inform individual analyses.

Orson Fowler did an analysis in New York of the bumps on the head of a wool trader from Stock's hometown. The manuscript that survives that meeting described a man "who would rather lead than be led," who was "firm as the hills when once decided," and was "quite independent and dignified, yet candid, open, and plain." Twelve years

later the Abolitionist leader, John Brown, fulfilled all Fowler's predictions as he made his fight against slavery.

A definition of the word, phrenology, was offered in Orson Fowler's Practical Phrenology: "Derived from two Greek words Phren; which signifies mind,and 'Logos,' discourse;the two together signifying the science of the mind, or its laws and phenomena as manifesied and indicated through the brain." Little wonder that young artists everywhere were among those who enthusiastically embraced phrenology and emulated the Fowlers in applying their skills to definitions of its principles.

In Springfield on October 26, 1854, Stock drew up his will. Eight months after the making of his will, Stock died in Springfield, on June 28, 1855, at the age of forty. Dr. A.W. Dufrene had been called to attend Stock in his last illness. The undertaker was Wells P Hodgett, who charged $24.00 for his services, only a little more than the amount charged for the best of Stock's portraits. There was an extra 75 cents due Hodgett for tolling the bell.

The inventory of the artist's estate supplements his Journal in revealing Stock and his way of life. The large black trunk and four packing boxes listed there are testament to his travels.

A backgammon board suggests companionable evenings with family and friends, with a flute to lend music and cheer. Painting materials, appraised at just under $60.00, equal about half the value of the finished paintings still in Stock's possession when he died.

Tubes of used and unused color, dry color in eleven tin boxes, a bottle of pink madder and two of ultramarine ashes, seventeen stretched and primed canvases in familiar sizes, gilt frames, a rosewood one and two "Eye Glasses" are listed among the painting materials.

His small library illustrates his wide ranging interests. About half the books 49

were artist sources,including gazeteers and travel guides. Other books, useful to him in painting phrenological and medical subjects, were bound copies of the American Phrenological Journal, the Water Cure Journal, Combe's Lectures on Phrenology, Water Cure by Bulver, Forbes and Houghton, Hydrographic Encyclopedia, Grimes' Mesmerism, Results of Hydropathy, and Consumption, its Prevention and Cure

by Water Treatment. There were treatises on diet, tobacco and temperance, and a Hydropathic Cookbook; most of the books and pamphlets were published and edited by the Fowlers.

All related to Stock's painting sideline, and in the case of the works on hydropathy, or the water cure, to Stock's overwhelming interest in it for the treatment of consumption, the disease that caused his death. One of Fowler and Wells' phrenological heads in plaster was also included in the estate listing.

His long association with Dr. Swan, and his own well-formed head, revealed in a self-portrait (Fig. 7), provide excellent reasons for his interest in this quasi-science.

Unlike the serendipitous discovery of Lorenzo Fowler's reading of the bumps on Thomas Cole's head,there is no similar document to describe the character of Joseph Stock. Why Fowler & Wells in New York paid a sizable sum to his estate is another unknown. While the new shop on Broadway bore this identification on its signs (Fig. 8), Fowler & Wells was originally the publishing activity for the phrenological brothers, Orson and Lorenzo Fowler. It may be reaching too far to suggest that Stock was doing sketches for the Water Cure Journal or for the American Phrenological Journal, still, the size of the unexplained debt compared to the prices charged Dr. Swan for large anatomical works for lecture use does not completely erase this as a possibility.

The likelihood is increased slightly when the many Fowler & Wells' pub50

Fig. 7 Self-Portrait Joseph Whiting Stock New Bedford, Massachusetts February 25, 1842 Oil on canvas 10 x 8" oval Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts Stock carefully recorded in his Journal the exact date(month, day and year)of this charming selfportrait.

lications in Stock's estate are considered, and further abetted when the Fowler's sale of famous heads in history, and of landscape prints and paintings are brought into consideration.

While Stock's work and career are recorded in his own Journal and in contemporary news articles and advertisements,the true identity of a second folk artist, and a very limited body of his work have been outlined and detailed in Jack T. Ericson's article, "Asa Ames, Sculptor," in the September 1982 issue of Antiques. Prior to publication of Mr. Ericson's study, a gathering of the few facts and artifacts associated with this skilled young sculptor's career had been mistakenly attributed to a myth-

=2,

Fig. 8 The Establishment of Fowler & Wells, 308 Broadway Photographer unknown New York, New York c. 1855 Photograph The New-York Historical Society The "head-quarters" of American phrenology in the mid-19th century, a not terribly delicate pun on the many specimen heads housed in the gallery. Note the phrenological busts beneath the shop sign.

Fig. 9 Phrenological Head of a Young Girl Asa Ames Found in New York State Polychromed wood H. 16Y4" Museum of American Folk Art, New York City; Bequest of Jeanette Virgin 1981.24.1 The phrenological character attributes are identified in cursive inscriptions on this colorful portrait bust.

ical Alexander Ames. Only eleven of Ames's works, signed, dated or ascribed, have survived. A twelfth piece was destroyed by fire in 1933, only three years after it was presented to a museum in Massachusetts.

One of Asa Ames's sculptures (Fig. 9) enters into this phrenological associationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the bust of a girl in a stylized salmon pink dress, her cranium mapped in color and identified with the Fowler's phrenological character attributes in cursive inscriptions. The bust, about life-size, like all the known pieces by Ames, was found in New York and is a comparatively new addition to the collection of the Museum of American Folk Art, the bequest of

Mrs. Arthur Virgin.

This charming and uniquely useful figure, among the few identified portrait busts comprising the whole of Ames's short career, is an important addition to the limited number of works that fulfill the Fowlers' precept that "every artist must be a phrenologist."

Ericson suggests that Asa Ames was the son of Jonathan and Persis Ames, emigrants from New England to Evans, Erie County, New York, a village about twenty miles north of Buffalo. Even if the young sculptor, who had been born in the first half of 1824, carved in an apprentice situation, it is unlikely that any of the works that survive could have been done much before 1846.

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Fig. 10 Head of a Boy Asa Ames Found in New York State, March 1847 Polychromed wood (yellow poplar) H. 18" The New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, New York; Gift of Stephen C. Clarke There are only eleven known surviving sculptures signed by or attributed to Asa Ames.

This portrait bust is less colorful but more fully articulated than the Phrenological Head of Young Girl, Fig. 9.

Seven of the sculptured portraits, skilled and realistic performances all, were dated by Ames in incised letters, the dates ranging from January 1847 to April 1850. The most elaborate of the inscriptions and figures is the memorial of a child holding a small offering plate in its left hand, with a lamb nestled nearby.

Although there is little development between the simplest of Ames's figures, with no inscriptions, and an 1850 memorial to two girls of the Ayers family, hair and dress styles of the mid-1840s are represented in the early, simple ones. Based on this premise, the phrenological head, the bust of a woman at Williamsburg, and one of a young man with a circular figure incised on the chest appear to be the earliest, dating to about 1846. The phrenological head is unique among the figures in having al52

most no articulation in the cranial area.

This is easily explained by its use; the shallow incisions used to divide the areas associated with character are seen in place of the incisive and stylized curves and curls of hair that are striking attributes of the other figures.

The head might have been for the artist's own use, which could imply, from his residence with families of two doctors, that he was studying this skill in one or both of the households.

One of the most charming of Ames's sculptures is the portrait of Amanda Clayanna Armstrong, polychromed on yellow poplar, the wood most frequently identified as the material of these figures. The subject, born in Adelphi, Ohio, in 1844, was the only daughter of Dr. Thomas Armstrong; the carving, created after the family moved to Evans, is dated November

1847. The full-length piece, 36 inches high, descended in the family of the sitter. There is a tradition that the sculptor lived with the family. He is identified as an itinerant artist and as a student of Dr. Armstrong's in the study of medicine.

Ericson was led to Asa Ames through the 1850 Federal Census for the town of Evans. That year Asa Ames, twenty-five-years-old, was living there with the family of Dr. Harvey Marvin.

The most critical word in the Census of the town of Evans, the only location identified in Ames's incised inscriptions, is his occupation, there listed as "sculpturing."

Ames, knowingly or not, seemed to be following the Fowlers' advice in studying both art and phrenology. The close association with physicians is intriguing, doubly so in the light of Joseph Stock's experience. Ames may have followed Stock in another, mortal path, for it is an Armstrong family recollection, recorded by Ericson, that the sculptor "died of'lung fever' a few years after carving Amanda." He was only twenty-seven at his death on August 4, 1851.

NOTES I. Stock's leather-bound Journal, in the collections of the Connecticut Valley Historical Society, Springfield, Massachusetts, gives place, subject, date, and often the size and price of 934 paintings.

2. The original three-page manuscript of Lorenzo Fowler's reading of Thomas Cole's head is the manuscript library of the Albany Institute of History and Art. This document, never before quoted in print, was brought to the author's attention by the Director of the Institute, Norman S. Rice.

3. Information concerning phrenology and the Fowlers was derived principally from: Stern, Madeleine B.,Heads & Headlines, University of Oklahoma Press, 1971; The American Phrenological Journal; The Water Cure Journal; Fowler, 0.S., Practical Phrenology, Philadelphia and New York, 1840.

Mary Black is Consulting Curator of the Museum of American Folk Art.

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Nearly without exception, the work of an artist is uneven. This is particularly true in the case of the folk art painter, who lacks the polish and influence of academic training. It is also one of the trickiest aspects of research, as one may start with a perfect heart stopper of a painting and never see its equal again though many examples may surface along the way.

Calvin Balis cannot be considered a limner of remarkable consistency, but a sole staggering gem assures his place in the folk art world: the portrait of George and Emma Eastman (Fig. 1). It is more than a portrait; it is a legacy of a way of life.

I first saw the painting while visiting the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri. My first thought was how had the painting come to rest so far from home, for it clearly had the earmarks of itinerant artists' work of the Northeast. It possessed a calm,languid charm that beckoned the viewer into its own special world. I was later told that the artist was "C. Balls!'

The curators knew neither his first name nor of any other works by him.

In the foreground of the portrait are two unsmiling children. The little girl sports sausage curls and is dressed in a red frock with lace borders at the neck and sleeves and with white organdy bloomers underneath. She holds a rose in her right hand and a cluster of grapes in the left, her straw hat dangling carelessly from one arm. Her older brother has a protective arm about her shoulder, and he pats the head of a reclining dog. The boy is dressed in a black jacket with silver buttons, white pants and a white collar. In the background is

a large prosperous homestead with elaborate manicured gardens. A passenger coach bearing the legend "Clayville to Utica" and led by four white horses is pulling up to the house.

The puffy clouds and blue sky crown the entire image like a halo, and one could nearly feel the spring breezes on the hill where the children are standing.

Back home in San Francisco,I could not forget the painting. No mention existed of any C. Balis in my rather substantial folk art library. A letter of inquiry to the Nelson Gallery brought a reply furnishing a description of the painting. Further information indicated that it had been bought from Edith Ha!pert's Downtown Gallery in 1933. Also, the following is listed: Collections: P.S. Eastman, Washington Mills, NY 1850 George Eastman, Washington Mills, NY 1891 (the boy in the painting) George W. and Archie D. Eastman, Sanguit and Washington Mills, NY Bibliography: Ford, Alice, Pictorial Folk Artfrom New York to California, New York, 1949, p. 69 illus.'

My quest began in earnest. Through the New York State Historical Association at Cooperstown, I learned that Agnes Halsey Jones had featured the painting in a 1958 exhibit entitled "Rediscovered Painters of Upstate New York:' At that time she confirmed that the Eastman house, though much altered, was still standing and operating as a restaurant called White's Inn. George Eastman lived and died in Washington Mills, New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the

Fig. 1 George and Emma Eastman, ages 6 and 4 C. Balis August, 1850 Oil on canvas 53 x 65" Collection: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri 54

â&#x20AC;˘ (2 I ,,â&#x20AC;˘,bycvnt,,,,, ;1VC . )t,11i to S7ittlierland

same village where his sons still live.

Mrs. Jones says rather cheekily of Emma, "The little girl grew up and married a Mr. Reynolds, and by the look of her you'd expect that she lived happily ever after72 At about this time the MunsonWilliams-Proctor Museum in Utica, New York sent me copies of correspondence dating from 1949 between their curator and the one at the Nelson Gallery. It seems that at the time the Eastman painting had gone "home" to Utica for a temporary exhibit. The curator then believed that its signature read "Chalisr This signature later turned out to be a clumsy copy of the original which had been done by the restorer when the painting was relined.

A visitor to that exhibit provided information that led to George Eastman's descendents and, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Harris K. Prior, then the director at Munson-Williams-Proctor, the following facts emerged: The boy and girl represented are George and Emma Eastman aged six and four respectively. They were the children of P.S. Eastman, who owned the house represented in the picture and who manufactured wagons and carriages in the shop across the street at the left of the house. I have talked with two sons of the George Eastman in the picture, namely, George W. Eastman of Academy Street, Sauguoit, NY. and Archie D.Eastman of Kellogg Road, Washington Mills. They have confirmed this fact and many others stated here.

The painting was handed down to Mr. George W. Eastman by his fa-

55

then It was then left by him with his brother, Archie D. Eastman. Archie sold the painting some 18 years ago to a dealer who "wanted to use it in a play:' He cannot remember whether he received $20 or $40 for it.

The house in the picture, that of P.S. Eastman, is shown in ground plan and elevation on an early map of the town of New Hartford, dated 1857. It is still standing, though much mutilated, and is now a roadhouse known as White's Inn. The map of 1857 also shows the carriage shop across the street with the creek running right under the building.

George Eastman, the little boy in the picture,died in Washington Mills at the age of 47. Emma,the little girl in the picture, married a Mr. Reynolds but that is all I could get from the descendents.

PS. Eastman probably came from Waterville, New York,... thence to Washington Mills. This branch ofthe Eastman family therefore may be distantly related to the branch from which came George Eastman, the founder ofEastman Kodak in Rochester, who was born in Waterville.

As the descendents recalled, the painting was not in such good condition when they last owned it. The rebacking was probably done after they sold it.

The inscription on the new canvas, copied rather clumsily no doubtfrom the original, distorts the artist's name so that the first letter is illegible.

However, by analogy with a very similar portrait in Canastoga, NY., which has not been rebacked and on which the original inscription is fairly clear, I judge the artist's name to be "Balis:" Due to Prior's detective work, a newspaper article appeared about the painting's history. Archie Eastman, who then ran a filling station in Washington Mills, lived about a block from the old home in which he and his brother had lived as boys.

Actually this dealer to whom we sold the picture didn't say he was a dealer.

He said he was looking around for some old things to be used in a play he was producing. Of course I never dreamed that we had an art treasure in our midst. Nor did any other members of the family. After our mother died I had hung the picture in my 56

Fig. 2 Elliot and Julia C. Balis pinxt Oil on canvas 36 x 42" Private Collection

home because I had room for it. Nobody else in the family had.4

Thus unfolds the Eastman saga, but not so that of the elusive Mr. C. Balis.

The facts are sketchy, and the truth is that the Eastman children are singly responsible for carrying him into history. After a year of research a body of work has emerged and some slim facts about his life.

Calvin Balis is listed as a portrait painter in the 1850 census of Oneida County, New York. At this time he was 33 years old, born in Oneida County in 1817. He is listed as having a wife, Mary (age 31),and four children,Charles(age

11),Edmund(age 7),Francis(age 5),and Harriet (age 1).5 The family appears again in the 1855 census minus Edmund and Francis, but with the addition of a new baby, Ida.6 By 1860, the Calvin Balis family mysteriously vanishes from all county records窶馬o listing even of a widowed Mary.

Balis is listed as living in Whitestown, New York in the census, but the town was later divided into several small townships. He is listed at the New-York Historical Society index as simply "C. Balis, portrait painter, probably at New Hartford, New York.

1846-1850r7 "New Hartford was the last town

formed from the once great town of Whitestown. :" states an early history of Oneida County. Most of the recently found Balis works were done in this immediate vicinity.

A few of the Balis works are signed "Jr:' It is possible that he was the son of Calvin Balis and Sally Cogswell Balis.

This theory originates from a cross reference to a possible sister, Jane Maria Balis, born to Calvin and Sally on December 13, 1811. It is significant that Jane Balis married Reverend Henry Bromley on October 7,1833 in Whitesboro, New York, originally part of Whitestown. These two moved to New York City, where Mr. Bromley was as-

Fig. 3 Adetheft Monroe and Harriet Howes, ages 7 and 4 1850 Daguerreotype Private Collection

Fig. 4 Adelbert Monroe and Harriet Howes, ages 7 and 4 C. Balis May 25, 1850 Oil on canvas 36 x 48" Private Collection 57

sistant pastor at the Madison Avenue Baptist Church.9 The senior Balis may have accompanied them to New York City. Although Calvin Balis, Jr. was painting upstate in the 1840s, a Calvin Balis appears as a New York city official in annual repeated lists during those years, twice as a Whig candidate for alderman.'° The second Balis painting (Fig. 2) that I came across bore some resemblance to the Eastmans, but was not nearly so imposing, lacking the fully developed background. I am sure this is the same painting (from Canastoga, New York) that Harris Prior referred to over thirty years ago. Also of two children, it was still badly in need of restoration, and, as it had never been cleaned or relined, I was at last able to see a genuine signature which appeared to read:"C. Balis,Pxt, 18507 The childrens' names were inscribed as well: "Elliot—aged 9 and Julia(?)— aged sr The costumes and poses are strikingly similar to the Eastmans.

There is even a dog, though of a different breed. The painting had been purchased in the Utica area and had been in the same family for fifty years; however, they were not descendants of the sitters and had no genealogical knowledge of them.

Eventually other paintings followed.

One signed portrait of Mr. D.C. Bessie, dated 1840, has a striking similarity to the work of Ammi Phillips. It is highly likely that Balis was influenced by Phillips, as Phillips was, in turn, by the Albany artist Ezra Ames.

During the 1820s Ammi Phillips's portraits became much more realistic than those of the earlier period.

This is perhaps due to the influence of the Albany artist Ezra Ames. The two artists covered much ofthe same territory on their itinerant trips. It seems evident that the trained portrait painter greatly influenced his country counterpart who would have had to have seen Ames' more finished, sophisticated portraits in villages along the Hudson. ..

This was also Balis' territory, and he would have had many opportunities to see the work of both men. Evidence indicates that Balis photographed his 58

Fig. 5 Adelbert Monroe Howes, age 14 months Attributed to C. Balis by family legend Oil on canvas 211 / 2x 28" Private Collection

Fig.6 American Madonna and Child Attributed to C. Balis c. 1840 Oil on canvas 27 x 22" Collection: New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, New York

subjects and used the image as a painting aid. The invention of the daguerreotype in 1839 in Paris was to have a long-reaching effect. By the mid 1840s the craze had reached rural America.

Some itinerant artists actually became photographers, and others either tried to paint in a more realistic style or gave up altogether.

Balis placed an advertisement in the "Democratic Reflector" of Hamilton, New York on January 29, 1845: "C. Balis has taken a room over W.H. Williams'jewelry store where he will paint portraits!'

Balis said at that time that he had ten years of experience. A subsequent notice in the same paper on February 19, 1845 stated that Balis had completed portraits of Mr. and Mrs. James W. Nye and Mr. and Mrs. A.M. Baker.

Mrs. Nye is shown with her infant daughter. James Nye was a local lawyer and politician who eventually became the United States senator from Nevada from 1865-1873.12 The daguerreotype (Fig. 3) of the Howes children was taken in 1850, the same year the Balis portrait (Fig. 4) was painted. The clothing is the same in each. Probably Balis deliberately used white trousers to lighten the whole effect ofthe boy's suit, as this combination of costume is seen in other paintings as well.

The owner of the Howes painting

and daguerreotype also owns daguerreotypes of the parents, Zenas Monroe Howes and Julia Smith Howes. He told me that he had seen the corresponding Balis portraits of the parents many years ago in the possession of their granddaughter Della Howes, now deceased. It is known only that she gave them to "someone in Buffalo:' Most Balis paintings are not as fully developed as the painting of the Eastman children. The backgrounds are murkier, with bone thin trees, fantasy cliffs and lakes. Hands are large and clumsy in the earlier works. The baby picture of Adelbert Howes(Fig.5)with his dog reveals awkward modelling of the feet, as well. This painting is an important link to "American Madonna and Child"(Fig. 6)when one notes the large clawlike hands. The oddly tipped ear on both babies is another clue.

"American Madonna" bears a striking resemblance to "Charles Bowen"(Fig. 7) in that they possess the same dark direct stare shared by many of the works. "American Madonna" is unsigned but was probably done by Balis.

Brother and sister paintings are clearly connected. Each boy has the previously mentioned white trousers and black coat with silver buttons, and each has a protective arm about his sister. The girls typically hold grape clusters or flowers.

Generally, in the later paintings the hands become smaller, tapering and flame shaped. "Charles Bowen" is a good example. Mouths are small and compressed; the indentation above the lip is markedly shaded. Eyes are bold and compelling; the pupil is always placed high. Ears have distinctive half-

Fig. 7 Charles Thomas Bowen C. Balis 1850 Oil on canvas 36 x 30" Collection: New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, New York

59

moon hollows. Details such as lace collars are carefully dotted.

The Cadwell family portrait(Fig. 8) has been attributed to Balis by stylistic similarities. As a youth,James Fairfield Cadwell worked in his father's buggy factory at Norwich, New York. He married Lois Phillips (1810-1882) on October 6, 1831 in Oneida County, New York. All of their children were born there. At the time of the painting the children were the baby, Dan (6 months), Abbey Jane(5 years), Mary(3 years) and Henry Dwight(7 years). At some point in the mid 1840s the family

Fig. 8 Cadwell Family Attributed to C. Balis Oil on canvas ' 2 1 6' x 4/ Collection: Ellen Brehm

60

moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin. James Cadwell holds the newspaper "Albany Argus" dated January 19, 1843.'3 The search for the elusive Mr. Balis and his work continues. This is an ongoing research project with many pieces still missing. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated, and should be sent to Cynthia Sutherland at the Museum of American Folk Art. Cynthia Sutherland is the former Assistant Curatot-of the Museum of American Folk Art. This is her third article for The Clarion.

Particular thanks are extended to Don Ladd,Ray Egan,Joyce Hill, Ruth Healey, Paul D'Ambrosio, Paul Schweizer, Norma Bury, and Ellen Brehm who were extremely supportive in this endeavor.

NOTES 1. Acquisition record, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, 1933.

2. Jones, Agnes Halsey, "Rediscovered Painters of Upstate New York," MunsonWilliams-Proctor Institute catalog, Utica, 1958, p. 25.

3. Prior, Harris K.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;letter to Paul Gardiner at William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, May 18, 1951.

4. Eastman, Archieâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from article in newspaper, Utica Observer-Dispatch, May 20, 1951.

5. Census record, Oneida County, NY. 1850 6. Census record, Oneida County, NY. 1855.

7. New York Historical Society Dictionary of Artists in America.

8. Jones, Potnroy, Oneida County, N.Y. Annals and Recollections, 1851.

9. Bromley family genealogy, privately published, 1911.

10. Manuals of the Common Council of N.Y. 1841-1854.

1 1. Bishop, Robert,"The Borden Limner and his Contemporaries'exhibition catalog, University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1977, P. 60.

12. "Democratic Reflector:' Hamilton, N.Y. 1845.

13. Cadwell family genealogy, unpublished.

CHECKLIST OF KNOWN WORKS OF CALVIN BALIS

1. "George and Emma Eastman" C. Balis, pinxt.

Aug. 1850 Oil on canvas 53 x 65" Collection: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri 2. "Mrs. M.Knapp" Balis, pinxt.

1856 Oil on canvas Collection: Mrs. Ruth Healey 3. "D.C. Bessie" Balis 1840 Oil on canvas Collection: Mr. Jock Hengst 4. "Mrs. C. Titus" Balis 1850 Oil on canvas Collection: Mr. Jock Hengst 5. "Elliott and Julia" Balis, pinxt.

Circa 1850 Oil on canvas 36 x 42" Private Collection 6. "Girl on Hobbyhorse" C. Balis 1852 or 1855?

Oil on canvas Private Collection 7. "Abraham Prescott" C. Balis 1842 Oil on canvas 33 x 27" Collection: Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts S. "Charles Thomas Bowen" C. Balis 1850 Oil on canvas 36 x 30" Collection: New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, New York 9. "Daniel Eels" C. Balis 1846 Oil on canvas 30 x 25" Collection: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York 10. "Sarah K. Bailey"

Balis, PX Hampton, New York Mar. 27, 1850 Oil on canvas 34 x 271 / 2" Private Collection 11. "David Babcock, Esq. of Attica" C. Balis Sept. 1854 or 1857?

Oil on canvas Private Collection 12. "Philocies in the Islands of Samoa" C. Balis 1848 Oil on canvas 13 x 16" Private Collection 13. "Mr. D. Hallinbok" C. Balis Yorkville, New York 1850 Oil on canvas Collection: Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. McGarry 14."C. Wilson" Balis February 1850 Current whereabouts unknown 15."Mrs.C. Wilson and son, A.H. Wilson" Balis February 1850 Current whereabouts unknown 16."Stephen W. Taylor" Signed "Balis" Collection: Colgate University, Hamilton, New York 17."The Morning Walk" C. Balis, Pinxt.

Sept. 1850 Current whereabouts unknown 18."The Old Oaken Bucket" C. Balis, Pinxt.

1853 Current whereabouts unknown 19."Adelbert Monroe Howes and Harriet Howes" C. Balis May 25, 1850 Oil on canvas 36 x 48" Private Collection 20."Adelbert Monroe Howes" Attributed to C. Balis by family legend Oil on canvas

21 x 281 / 2 " Private Collection 21."Zenas Monroe Howes" Current whereabouts unknown 22."Julia Smith Howes" Current whereabouts unknown 23."Smith Dewey" age 19 C. Balls Jr. Pinxt.

1834 Oil on panel 12 x 15W Private Collection 24."Cadwell Family" Attributed to C. Balls 1843 Oil on canvas 6 x4/ 1 2 ' Collection: Ms. Ellen Brehm 25."Portrait ofa Girl" C. Balis Pinxt.

1842 Current whereabouts unknown 26."Portrait ofa Girl" C. Balis Pinxt.

1847 Oil on canvas 30 x 25" Current whereabouts unknown 27."James W. Nye" Current whereabouts unknown 28."Mrs.James W. Nye with Infant" Current whereabouts unknown 29."A.M. Baker" Current whereabouts unknown 30."Mrs. A.M.Baker" Current whereabouts unknown 31."American Madonna with Child" Attributed to C. Balis Circa 1840 Oil on canvas 27 x 22" Collection: New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, New York 32."Aristus Brown" C. Balis 1850 Private Collection 33. "(illegible) Brown" C. Balis 1850 Private Collection 61

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Growing up in the mountains of Vermont in an old gambreled farmhouse of 1670 vintage and running free as the wind on 240 acres of pastures, woodlands and pine forests had every influence on my becoming a primitive painter half a century later. The six Jersey cows, five horses, including my own mare,"Midget:' to say nothing of the thousands of turkeys, Rhode Island Reds and Leghorns, spelled paradise for my brother, two boy cousins and me.

The pond in the pasture with a winding brook and visits to the village store were all waiting to be captured by paint and brush in both summer and winter scenes. The winters with deep snows and frosty early morning sleigh rides to the little white two-room schoolhouse three miles down in the valley of West Hartford, and the ten-mile ride by buggy or sleigh to St. Anthony's Church in White River Junction were all stored in the back of my mind as I grew up.

Perhaps I was born with a creative spirit, for even as a small, blue-eyed, barefoot girl of six with long golden curls, I would laboriously write stories that would sometimes stretch half a mile long in the ruts of a dirt road.

Using a stick for a pen, I wrote my story as best I could. Often it took the whole morning to complete. Then, I would beg the boys to "read it' but they couldn't, of course! I would then bribe them to let me read my tale.

Sometimes the grocer came by in his wagon with its heavy wheels, erasing the story. I stamped my foot in the dust, tears of frustration running down my dust-stained cheeks. Even thoughts of the rare treats ofraisins and peppermint sticks Mother always bought from the grocer were of no comfort. After he left I began to cry all over again.

"My goodness, I never did see such a stubborn child:' I overheard Mother tell Aunt Janie, who was visiting us.

Someone was always visiting, it seemed. The farmhouse was big, and my parents' hospitality was equally 64

generous.

Father worked in hotels down in the valley, coming home on weekends, except at planting and harvesting time.

Mother came from a Nova Scotian farm, and went to Boston to train for nursing. It was there that she met Father, who was Irish. Until they married,

he was a captain of dining rooms at luxury hotels in Bar Harbor, Maine, summers and Jekyll Island, Georgia, winters. After their wedding, Father was employed in Boston clubs, the Boston City and the Algonquin, as the carefree life of constant travel was no longer practical.

The Creative Spirit

by Rose Labrie When my brother and I were mere babies, the terrible plague of 1918 flu struck, killing five hundred thousand people. More than twenty million were stricken, our family included. There was no one to care for us; everyone was either ill or dying, as Boston was very badly hit. Wooden boxes were piled as many as seven deep up and down the street: there were no coffins left.

Aunt Mary, Mother's sister, who was

Munsell's Store, West Hanford, Vermont; Oil on linen; Collection ofthe Early American Society, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Rose Labrie in Sheafe's Warehouse Museum.

(Photo Courtesy ofthe Portsmouth Herald, Portsmouth, New Hampshire)

expecting her first child, was ordered not to come near us, yet she passed food through the window, Mother said.

Only the doctor cared for us as best he could. My parents, brother and I survived, but I was left anemic, and brother Connie's(for Constantine) legs wouldn't grow. So the doctor said, "Take these children away from Boston.

They must have country life:' And that is how we came to live in West Hartford, high on the mountain.

At first Father tried farming, but it just wasn't his cup of tea. Mother ran the farm, and Father worked in the valley in a hotel. Wejoined him some winters.

We sold the hens and turkeys for the Thanksgiving market and lent out the animals to various neighbors. Going away just meant placing the linens in the huge trunks, draping the furniture with sheets and turning the big key in the lock.

Connie and!grew strong and healthy with the clean mountain air and farm life. Aunt Mary, who by this time had two children, was stricken with tuberculosis. My little cousins, aged oneand-a-half and a baby nine months old, came to live with us, and Aunt Mary went away to a sanitorium. In effect Mother had four children, with my brother, the eldest, only four years old.

Aunt Mary spent one whole summer on the farm with us, living in the pine grove down in the south pasture. She 65

Family Skate; Oil on linen canvas;24 x 36"; Collection ofMr. and Mrs. James Labrie.

had a hammock for her bed, and we older children carried food to her. Only a rough shelter protected her from the summer storms. How frightened she must have been during the nights with only a lantern for light to keep the wildcats and bears away. Bears did live in the big woods above the farm. She was so anxious to get well and to be near her children, even though she could not touch them, that she found the courage necessary to stay there.

This situation certainly was a far cry from the easy life Mother had had in Boston. We were like pioneers, frequently carrying water from a well when the kitchen pump went dry, as it often did.

Later came the move to the adjoining farm, the New Farm. While a mansion in comparison, with indoor plumbing, polished floors, crystal doorknobs, 66

plate glass windows and even a "separator room;' still, it never had the appeal for us children as did the "Old Farm:' with the pump in the sink in the huge kitchen and the scent of wild pink roses banked high all along the north side of the house, covering two windows. There was the corn crib and ash house, and dirt cellar filled with the sweet aroma of barrels of apples, and the jars of raspberry and blackberry jams,to say nothing of the jugs of pickles. For Mother the move was good as she did not have to work so hard.

Meanwhile, Aunt Mary did become well, and my cousins went home. Yet, later she again would become ill, and the boys would return. Most of their childhood years were spent with us,off and on. They were like brothers, and I missed them. Each time they went away, I ran and hid in the haymow and

cried. It is said, "To part is to die a little.' For me it is so. There were so many goodbyes during those years: to Father each week, and then to the animals when we went away some of the winters. My horse, Midget, seemed to know when we were leaving and always nuzzled my shoulder. I petted her and told her not to forget me. She never did.

The winters in various towns and cities were interesting, yet lonesome, for I missed my wild pets, like "Bimbo' the Red Chipmunk, who played hide and seek in and out of my pocket.

Most of all, I missed Midget and the life of a farm child.

The thrill of the return to West Hartford in the early spring! Life gradually settled into its familiar pattern: the animals came home, and the children resumed classes in the village school. I spoiled my beloved ponyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Girl with Geese; Oil on linen canvas;18 x 24";Private Collection.

Lost in the Forest; Oil on linen canvas;18 x 24"

we raced like the very wind!

And so the happy years passed, with sliding on the big double runner three miles down the mountain to school one winter, until the day we couldn't stop, and we all ducked our heads and passed beneath a stalled freight train. That forever ended sledding to school, as Mother had about a dozen calls from horrified villagers telling her how we'd almost been killed.

There were the harvest festivals, and the big dances at our new farm with the neighbors coming in as Father played both the violin and the accordion. He played many tunes from across the sea.

We children were all put to bed, but I would sit on the stair and peep through the bannister, and watch the gaiety.

The fireflies were enchanting to me.

Always an avid reader,I had my nose in a book every night and at dawn. Mother decided "No reading in bed' so it was light's out. I slipped out of bed and out of the back door with a paper sack, and figured that if I caught enought fireflies I would have my own light by which to read my new book. I caught seventyeight fireflies and as many mosquito bites. Unfortunately, my plan was not a success because the creatures couldn't shine through the thick paper bag. Disappointed, I finally fell asleep after placing the sack on the marble bureau.

The next morning, to my consternation, only seven fireflies remained in the bag. I looked and looked,deciding that the rest must have escaped out of doors somehow. That night the big kitchen parlor, downstairs keeping room, bedrooms and pantry began to glow here and there with a phosphorescent light. The fireflies!

Mother was not too happy about the situation, and for three evenings my brother and cousins nobly came to my rescue and helped capture the elusive little bugs. That ended my reading in bed! The next day, I overheard Mother telling cousin Florence about the firefly chase. She said, "Rose seems to be up to something all the time; I can't imag67

me where she gets the ideas:' Cousin Florence, who was visiting from Boston,replied,"I think she has a creative spirit, always telling stories. I think she'll be a writer someday:' Thus the happy years continued, until I was nine years old. During those years, Mother found it increasingly difficult to manage the farm alone, and the moves back and forth in winter were hard for her, as sometimes we lived in suites in luxurious hotels, and sometimes she was lucky to find something to rent, especially when the cousins were with us. This life was difficult for Father, too, and one winter he caught double pneumonia. We nearly lost him.

That settled matters.

We moved from the New Farm to the town of White River Junction, down in the valley, where Father bought a restaurant. By now there were six children, as Aunt Mary had two baby girls who came to live with us because she was ill again. We remained here until Connie and I graduated from grammar school. I still missed my life on the farm, yet there were many adventures to be had in the town,like swinging out over the river on a long rope. Ofcourse, Mother didn't realize what we were doing. She placed us all under God's care.

In high school I signed up for a drawing course, as I loved art. Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to follow instructions. My work looked childish compared to that of the other students.

One day the teacher asked me to stay behind so that we could talk. I wasn't surprised when I was asked to change to a course in music appreciation. Thus ended art for me for thirty-five years.

After high school I attended the School of Beauty Culture, married Fred and had three children, two sons and a daughter. All during those years I was writing, and when we moved to the coast in 1941, began to study seriously at the nearby University of New Hampshire, with such eminent professors as Robert Grant, Edmund Cor68

Comrades; Oil on linen; 20 x 24";Private Collection.

Naomi;Oil on linen canvas;16 x 20"; On permanent exhibition in the Victorian Parlor ofthe Elliott Museum, Hutchinson Island, Stuart, Florida.

Her costume is deep green velvet; her hair, auburn; her eyes, brown.

Pastoral Landscape; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; 1978; Oil on canvas;24 x 30"; Collection ofthe Museum of American Folk Art, Gift ofthe artist;1980.9.1.

The Sleigh Ride; Oil on linen canvas;20 x 24"; Collection ofMr. and Mrs. Robert Morrill.

tez and Carroll Towle. My work was published regularly in area magazines and through the World Press Association. I wrote feature articles, histories and stories about artists. I greatly enjoyed being with artists.

The Pemaquid and Nubble lighthouses were the subjects of two histories. Taking photographs, writing poetry and planning the whole project, I produced the stories in pamphlet form and distributed them myself to book stores and gift shops. It was great fun and successful, too; I reprinted the Nubble story four times, distributing eleven thousand copies during a span of fifteen years. My poem,"The Rocks of Nubble Light:' became quite recognized. One day the owner of one of the major outlets, the Whispering Sands Gift Shop at York Beach, Maine, Maxwell Thomson, telephoned and said, "Mrs. Labrie, why don't you do a sketch to illustrate your poem;I'd like a placemat and think that it would sell 69

very well:' I told him that I couldn't draw a straight line, but he insisted that I try. Collecting inks and drawing paper at the art supply store, I went home and began drawing the lighthouse. I cut out pieces of paper to cover blotches that I made, until the paper looked more like a jigsaw puzzle. After!completed the scene, having sketched our two younger children fishing off the rocks and our artist friend David painting on the rocks at his easel, I felt that at least "it told a story:' I sent the drawing to David O'Neill, a professional artist and good friend; had he been negative about my work I would have given it up right then and there. Instead, he wrote,"This is wonderful! This is what we call primitive Our Lady of Frenchman's Light; Oil on linen canvas; 24 x 30"; Collection ofDr Warren Eames.

King the Leprechaun Pony; Oil on linen canvas;21/ 1 2x 26" This painting is the illustrationfor the artist's children's book on the New Hampshire abused pony who was the subject of worldwide publicity.

70

art. Your work has character. Do some more!' I believed David, for he was a stern critic when it came to art.

Only then did I show the sketch to Mr. Thomson, and he thought it was fine. The placemats were made, along with napkins and notepaper. From then on, I drew everything in sight.

During this time, my daughter received a gift of oil paints from David.

One day I got them out, bought a canvas board and painted some flowers.

Wanting to exhibit in the amateur art show in town,I was overly eager for the oils to dry. I decided that the oven would hasten the process. I set the temperature dial at 4000 and placed the canvas inside, very satisfied with my first real attempt at painting. I took a

Randy the Rooster; Oil on linen canvas;18 x 2.47 This painting will serve as the cover illustrationfor a children's book ofthe same title.

book down from a shelf and sat down to read while I waited. An awful smell crept from the oven, and smoke seeped from around its door. Still, I didn't want to open it, as I thought that the painting had to "set:' Finally, the smoke became so heavy that I took a peek, only to find my picture a bubbling mess of something resembling porridge! Several years passed before I dared another attempt at oil painting.

Meanwhile, I was gaining a reputation as an artist with original ideas.

Beginning with my early paintings in oils, my work has been in constant demand. The University of New Hampshire comissioned backgrounds for their Colonial Heritage series, and the Early American Life Society of

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has used my paintings for covers of their magazine, Early American Life. In all, my paintings are in more than 100 private and public collections in America and abroad in Scotland, France and Alaska.

Italy has nominated me to the Academia Belle Arti, and I have been exhibited widely, from Montreal, to New York, to Florida. My work is included in the collections of the Museum of American Folk Art and the Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, among others. The children's books that I have written, King the Leprechaun Pony and Dancer's Image, as well as a new book, soon to be released, Randy the Rooster, are all illustrated with my own paintings. I

have read my books to more than twelve thousand children in area schools. Perhaps the nicest thing of all, loving children as I do, is to have UNICEF select my painting "On a Sunday Afternoon" to be published as a greeting card cover in 1985.

I am honored that all this has come to pass, and I know that the enchanted years on the old farm high in the mountains of West Hartford, Vermont, and the rich life shared with my parents, brother and cousins and animals, all influenced and nurtured the creative spirit in me.

Rose Labrie is an artist and writer who lives and works in Rye, New Hampshire.

71

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

By Appointment(212)226-7316 Jesse Aaron Steve Ashby Peter Charlie Uncle Jack Dey Antonio Esteves Howard Finster Victor Joseph Gatto Si.Jones Justin McCarthy Sister Gertrude Morgan Inez Nathaniel Old Ironsides Pry Nellie Mae Rowe Jack Savitsky Mose Tolliver Luster Willis and others

William Dawson

E.M.D.L AMERICAN FOLK ART ANNOUNCES ITS FALL SCHEDULE 1984 OCT.6-8 HANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE ANTIQUE SHOW THE HANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE ANTIQUE SHOW PITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS OCT.13-NOV. 13. HASTINGS ART,"FOLK ART" 138 MAIN STREET NEW CANAAN, CT. 06840 203-966-9863 NOV.29-DEC.30 E.M.D.L./E.M. DONAHUE 28 EAST 10TH STREET NEW YORK CITY 10003 212-477-3442

BY APPOINTMENT "REV. HOWARD FINSTER AND OTHER CONTEMPORARIES"

ELLEN MARIE DONAHUE 72

RONALD SOSINSKI

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLRART BOOK AND GIFT SHOP CATALOG

00n our cover: Perfectly scaled Windsors by Pennsylvania furniture maker G. J. Headley. Crafted / 1 4-size (9" H. x 6" W. x 6" D.). Numbered and signed. Bow back or continuous arm style with worn milk paint finish in red or green. $100 ea. (p/h $2.50) <'.Polite puss will hold the door for you. Hand painted in oils on oak, these doorstop cats stand 9" tall. Catcolored, of course. $25 (p/h $2.50) The Bear Factsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Standing: Diane Zepp's bears with mischievous shoe button eyes. Order before Dec. 1 for holiday delivery. Mrs. Mudpie, 20" tall $140 (p/h $2.50) Little Muddy, 12" tall $60 (p/h $2) Sitting: Humpbacked honey bears of soft mohairlike fabric with hand embroidered details from A. J. Collectibles.

9" bear $50(p/h $2.50) 14" bear $55 (p/h $2.50) Elegance of form and function.

Set of 9 pantry boxes stacks 33" high, nests for storage. Boxes range 4" to 14" diameter. In milk paint colors with a pleasantly worn finish. $170 (p/h $5)

Twisted wire basket holds anything your heart desires. $18 (p/h $2.50) Wooden apples. $12 ea.(p/h $2.50) Overshot napkins handwoven in natural/blue $6 ea. (p/h $2)

<>Company for dinner. Hand carved wooden napkin rings are topped by whimsical folk. Set of 2. $20(p/h $2) Folk Heartsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;A Celebration of the Heart Motif in American Folk Art by Cynthia V. A. Schaffner and Susan Klein. Over 150 pictures with commentary. Publication date late October. $25 (p/h $4) ()Hearts and flowers. Tin wall pocket holds your flower arrangements. Signed and dated by tinsmith David Claggett. 8" x 5W'$24 (p/h $2.50)

FOLK HEARTS .4 Celebration afihe Heart Ilablin 4nteriwn Folk .-trIfOrnt IMO la PM

Cynthia V.A. Schaffner and Susan Klein

<>Love on the wing. Calligraphic angel delivers the message "Dear Love" with a flourish. Red comb grained frame. 43 / 4"sq. $42(p/h $3) Special delivery. Heart-in-hand cut and woven paper picture. Brown background. Red sponge grained frame. 4W x 6" $42 (p/h $3)

Angel ornaments adapted from American stone carvings and basreliefs. Terra cotta colored casting stone. Set of 3 $21 (p/h $3.50) Glazed redware plates are slip decorated in yellow. Set of 4.

Please specify style by letter.

A: Heart and home, two each.

B: Cow, sheep, rooster, rabbit.

7" fruit plates $60 (p/h $4) 9" dinner plates $68 (p/h $4)

... 'qi4r 4 1! *a. . :14 0,41• ,% fl:t. , ..41 a• goke-17 , I1 k7 f0 #1 , 7 114"....•rtr.7.54.474.! ' ° . 7t7

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AMERICAN FOLK

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A/ CAN 0$,A4A, DECM

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•:\ Scrimshander Marcy Pumphret brings the high seas to the high C's. Nautically themed bookmarks are made from old ivory piano keys. We'll choose a design for you. $16 ea. (p/h $2.50)

CR'iiiNi

American Decorative Arts-360 Years of Creative Design 405 pp. $65 (p/h $5) American Folk Art, Expressions of a New Spirit A Museum of American Folk Art publication. 146 pp. $29.95 (p/h $4) The Knopf Collectors' Guides to American Antiques: Folk Art 480 pp. Softcover. $13.95 (p/h $3) The Quilt Digest 80 pp.

Softcover. $12.95 (p/h $3) The Iron Heart-as cold,and as hard,as it sounds!

Hand forged wrought iron puzzle.$12 (p/h $2)

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK-ART 55 WEST 53RD STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10019 ATTN: MAIL ORDER NAME ADDRESS STATE

CITY Style/Color

Qty.

ZIP

PHONE

Description

<..." Beautiful bovine gazes out serenely from her corn-framed vantage point. Acrylic on wood panel by folk painter Jim Scott. 16" x 11" $45(p/h 54)

Please make check or money order payable to Museum of American Folk Art. Prices subject to change without notice. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. *New York residents must add applicable sales tax.

Price Each

Merchandise total Less 10% membership discount, if applicable Subtotal *Add sales tax Add postage/handling TOTAL DUE

Merchandise Total

Postage/ Hdlg. & Shpg.

(i,TARRYTOWN E_ Antiques Market

-3.1.

2 1 11"

Westchester Marriott Hotel Tarrytown, New York

The New England Antiques Market

September 23, 1984 November 18, 1984 January 20, 1985 February 24, 1985 March 17, 1985

October 14, 1984 December 9, 1984 January 6, 1985 April 7, 1985 June 2, 1985

The major marketplace for Americana featuring 200 outstanding dealers on a rotating schedule DIRECTIONS: Take 287 to Exit No. 1 Look for White Plains Road (Route II% Hancock Shaker Village Route 20, 5 miles West of Pittsfield, MA

THE HANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE ANTAQUE 4 7 • SHOW -

k

Route 495, Exit 28 Boxborough, MA 1

.411114%

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The Sheraton Inn and Conference Center

RIDGEFIELD

.i., .!`- t.

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ANTIQUIA; SHOW -- -

To benefit the educational programs of the Shaker Village

Saturday, October 6 Sunday, October 7 Monday, October 8

Featuring 18th & 19th Century Americana, folk art & related accessories

Saturday, September 15 Sunday, September 16 Ridgefield Ice Rink — Rear of East Ridge Junior High Ridgefield, Connecticut

JACQUELINE SIDED ANTIQUE SHOWS Sideli and Sideli, Incorporated, Box 67, Malden Bridge, New York 12115

518/766-3065

77

CHARLES W. HUTSON (1840-1936)

Bruce Brice

Popeye Reed

David Butler

Nellie Mae Rowe

Rev. Howard Finster

James "Son Ford" Thomas

Clementine Hunter

Mose Tolliver

O.W. "Pappy" Kitchens

Bill Traylor

John Landry

Chief Willey

Sr. Gertrude Morgan

Estate of Charles Hutson

GASPERI FOLK ART GALLERY 831 St. Peter Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70116 (504) 524-9373 "COME HERE RASCAL, I'LL EAT YOU ALIVE" 0i//Academy Board, C.1920

-ITIT:PI•Mgag

ERY GALL RSON A ANDE MARN 40 East 69 Street • New York City. 10021 • 249-8484 • By Appointment

Unique hand wrought pig weathervane.

19th-century; sheetmetal; 28 x 15 inches.

The Fall Antiques Show at the Pier.

October 25 - 28, Passenger Pier #90 Hudson River & West 50th Street, N.Y.C. , .

Christopher Selser American Indian Art

15 Park Avenue New York, NY 10016 (212)684-5853 by appointment

Ceramic jar.

Zia Pueblo circa 1920 18 x 18

Central Connecticut Mantel Circa 1800-1810 From the Collection of over 100 Fine Period American Mantels Exhibiting in the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier, October 25-28.

FRANCIS J. PURCELL II 88 North Main Street, New Hope, PA 18938

By Appointment â&#x20AC;˘ Telephone: (215) 862-9100

79

FOLK ART GALLERY%

Allan Herschell 1187 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10028(Between 80th & 81st Streets)â&#x20AC;˘ 212 628-5454

"DELIVERING THE MAIL"

by Philo Levi("Chief') Willey 0/M 20 x 24

JOHNSON JAY America's Folk Heritage Gallery 80

1044 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y 10021 Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Saturday, noon-6 p.m.(212)628-7280

Ethnographic Arts,Inc.

Hula Dancer

19th and 20th Century Folk, Outsider, and Tribal Art *

*

*

Folk Outsider Tribal Popular Self-taught Natural Untaught Art Brut Obsessive Instinctive Non-traditional Naive Visionary Sunday Art Grassroots Unconscious Isolate Primitive Compulsive Spontaneous Folk Outsider Tribal

*

*

*

Randall Morris/Shari Cavin-Morris 56 Crosby Street New York City, New York 10012

One of seven Black folk art figures from the Baltimore, Md. area. Bull Rider, Country Doctor, Thinker, Pearl Finder, Gospel Singer, Old Man. Composed of found objects which include shells, nuts, thistle, pine cone, burrs, feather, milk bottle paper cap.

ANNE & MARTIN ELLMAN American Indian â&#x20AC;˘ Early Alaskan Eskimo' â&#x20AC;˘ Americana

(212)334-9381

By Appointment

By appointment (914) 457 - 3847 P.O. Box 26

Montgomery, N.Y. 12549

II

0 /0 /0 /0 /0 /0 /0 et /0 /0 /0 /0

VAirian Ali& Al& III MOH 00

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11

Vivian Harnett Antique Country Furniture and Accessories 456 Main Street Piermont, New York Shop hrs. 12:00 — 4:30 Wednesday thru Sunday — anytime by appointment — (10 minutes south of Tappan Zee Bridge)

(914)365-0333

IIIuIf

FARM liOBLOWSHI Polish-American Folk Painter Colorful, complex, fanciful scenes of Paris, Mexico, India, New York, many other places, and the story of the newly-acclaimed 20th century folk painter who created them, whose work will be shown in New York City in 1985. Prepared for the 1984 premiere exhibition of his work at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center. Exhaustively researched, 72 pages, 26 plates (11 in color), comprehensive catalog notes.

Also: Premiere exhibition poster, limited edition, 18"x24", four-color.

Book, $1650 prepaid (+$2.00 post. & hand.)

Poster, $6.50 prepaid (+$1.50 post. & hand.)

New York State residents, add appropriate sales tax.

SUMMERTIME PRESS P.O. Box 1555, Murray Hill Station, NYC 10156

Fid% Country t.Manor tAntiques 1165 Coast Village Road Montecito (805)969-6841

niii." oil

since March, 1980

it

THE HIGH TOUCH NEWSLETTER of contemporary folk art

Monday - Saturday 10-6 Sunday 1-5 Personal vignettes of folk artists, topical news, calendar, commentary, new finds and new directions in 20th century folk art.

Primitives • Quilts Folk Art • Paintings Furniture

Amply illustrated. Five issues per year.

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

82

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

SPECIALIZING IN KITCHEN ANTIQUES

"Bee in the Kitchen'

PAT GUTHMAN ANTIQUES ç

342 PEQUOT ROAD SOUTHPORT • CT • 06490

TEL • 203-259-5743 TUESDAY—SATURDAY: 10 AM-5 PM or by appointment

*************************************

Cow.Relief carving, 31"x17Grouper. Cedarilead.22-x 16" Running Fox.27-x 12" Thomas Langan, maker

TI? LANGAN KENNETH & IDA MANKO Quality Folk Art

american folk art gallery 320 SeaCliff Avenue•SeaCliff•NY11579.516 6715875

(207) 646-2595 We are located in Moody. Maine, mid-way between Ogunquit and Wells on coastal Route I. Our barn gallery is always stocked with country furniture, paintings, weathervanes,and folk art for the advanced collector. ********** *** ********************* ***

Thursday through Sunday 12 to 5 83

Museum News

a guided walk-through of the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier prior to the public opening at noon. The tour will highlight the booths and trends ofthis year's show and will allow participants a glimpse of the art and antiques before the crowds rush in. A $20 fee includes admission to the show, an expert guide, catalogue and refreshments.

Cynthia V.A. Schaffner and Susan Klein will sign copies of their book Folk Hearts during the preview evening, Wednesday, October 24, after 7 p.m.

THE FALL ANTIQUES SHOW AT THE PIER OPENING NIGHT BENEFIT Wednesday, October 24, 1984 America has taken the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier to its heart. "From Hearts and Hands"celebrates the sixth annual preview to benefit the Museum of American Folk Art on Wednesday evening, October 24.

The gala opening will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Passenger Terminal Pier at West 50th Street and the Hudson River. The corporate sponsor for the benefit and for the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier is Ethan Allen Inc. Honorary chairman ofthe benefit event is Nathan Ancell, Chairman of the Board of Ethan Allen Inc. Benefit Committee cochairwomen are Museum trustees Cynthia V.A. Schaffner and Karen S. Schuster; Walking Tour chairman, Davida Deutsch; exhibition curators, Cynthia V.A.Schaffner and Susan Klein. Produced and managed

by Sanford L. Smith and Associates, the show has been heartily applauded for its quality, scope and innovation.

Hearts from the kitchen will be brought to the table by The Silver Palate. A specially designed menu inspired by the traditional regional cooking of the Pennsylvania Germans, who used hearts in both the shapes ofthings they cooked as well as their art, will be presented. Celebrating the heart motif in American folk art is a special exhibition, "Folk Hearts;' curated by Cynthia V.A. Schaffner and Susan Klein.

Based on their book of the same title, recently published by Alfred A. Knopf, the exhibition includes over 30 painted, quilted, incised, carved and sculpted hearts. Embellishing love notes, fraktur and valentines, hearts as a design element decorate pin cushions and textiles, knife boxes and cookie cutters, scrimshaw and ditty boxes.

Tickets for the festivities are $75 per person; Patron tickets are $150 and include the opening night benefit, a weekly admission pass, a catalogue of the show and a copy of the book Folk Hearts. Tickets may be purchased at the Administrative Offices of the Museum, 55 West 53rd Street, New York, New York 10019, 212-581-2474.

84

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART FEATURES LOAN EXHIBITIONS OF WORKS OF ART FROM ITS PERMANENT COLLECTION AT THE AMERICAN FESTIVAL CAFE, NEW YORK CITY (Clockwise from top) Director, Robert Bishop with Fall Antiques Show Benefit co-chairwoman, Cynthia V.A. Schaffner; co-curator, Susan Klein and co-chairwoman, Karen S. Schuster.

Thursday, October 25â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Sunday, October 28 The Fall Antiques Show at the Pier has become one of the most important shows in America since its inception just a few years ago. It has won a name for consistent and quality innovation, and was the first to emphasize folk art in 1979; the Arts and Crafts Mission style in 1980;the art and artifacts of the American Indian in 1981;and bent wood design and Renaissance Revival furniture and accessories in 1982. Last year the show featured furniture and decorative objects created by architects of the 1920s to the 1940s, including work by Mies van de Rohe, Norman Bel Geddes and Marcel Breuer. The 1984 Fall Antiques Show at the Pier has drawn a record number of dealers; reaching beyond the one hundred mark,the exhibitors this year will include more than a dozen distinguished antique dealers who have never shown in New York before.

SPECIAL EVENTS On Thursday morning, October 25, at 11 a.m., Davida Deutsch will once again give

The Museum of American Folk Art is pleased to announce its participation in Restaurant Associates' new American restaurants at Rockefeller Center. The American Festival Cafe, designed by Philip George,pays tribute to the aesthetic as well as the gastronomical heritage of our country. With floors tiled in quilt patterns, such as Baby Blocks variation and strong Amish

Carousel Horse; Marcus Charles Illions; Coney Island, New York; c. 1900; Painted wood with glass and horse hair; 46.5 x42 x 10'.'

On view at the American Festival Cafe.

geometrics, the restaurant also houses a series of loan exhibitions from the Museum.

The vitality and diversity of American folk art will be highlighted by these exhibitions, which will change approximately three times yearly.

Dr. Robert Bishop, Director of the Museum of American Folk Art,comments, "In the spirit of its commitment to increasing public awareness of America's rich folk heritage, the Museum welcomes the opportunity to reach out to a wider community beyond its physical walls at 125 West 55th Street': The exhibitions,organized by guest curator William C. Ketchum, Jr., include sculptural objects from the permanent collection as well as contemporary objects crafted in the folk art tradition. On view in the premier exhibition are a carousel horse from Coney Island, a 19th century painted metal weathervane in the form of a cow, a striking American eagle with a flag on its breast and a richly varied assemblage of shorebirds, among other fine examples of American folk art.

NEW EXHIBITION AT THE VISTA INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D.C. As part of its continuing series of exhibitions at the Vista International Hotel's American Harvest Restaurant in Washington, D.C., the Museum of American Folk Art, under the direction of Cynthia Elyce Rubin, Curator of Special Projects, currently is highlighting the rich heritage of America's folk sculpture with the work of contemporary folk artist, Norton Latourelle of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Influenced by the pure, functional and often whimsical design of American folk artists of the past, he continues to carry on a folk art aesthetic with his carved fish, animals and waterbirds.

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART APPOINTS THREE NEW MEMBERS TO ITS BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Norton Latourelle and Friends Photo courtesy of Vista International Hotel Alexander Braune, General Manager

appointment of three new members to its Board of Trustees. All come with strong backgrounds in the support ofthe arts. They are: Mabel H. Brandon, Kathryn Steinberg and Helene von Damm. Mabel (Muffle) H. Brandon was formerly the Social Secretary for the White House, and is now President of the Washington, D.C. office of the public relations firm of Rogers & Cowan. Kathryn(Mrs. Robert)Steinberg is a collector of American antiques and has long been active at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And the third new member, Helene Von Damn, is the United States Ambassador to Austria and is currently hosting an exhibition of American quilts from the Museum's collection at the United States Embassy in Vienna.

The Museum welcomes these three new Board members and is deeply appreciative of their support and dedication to the Museum in all its endeavors.

For those who wish to enjoy the fun and satisfaction of being a

MUSEUM VOLUNTEER, contact the office about your talents and interests: •Benefit Events 0 Planning 0 Decorations 0 Reservations •Mailings •Office Aides(Typing,filing, record-keeping) •Receptionist •Salesperson in The Museum Shops •Other volunteer work for which I have special talent or experience

Call(212)581-2474 or write to: MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLKART 125 WEST 55th STREET NEW YORK, NY. 10019

The Museum is pleased to announce the 85

C__7a

Our Increased Membership Contributions January—April 1984

We wish to thank the following members for their increased membership contributions and for their expression of confidence in the Museum: Dennis Alter, Horsham,PA Mrs. David Altschuler, Chestnut Hill, MA Paul Anbinder, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Edward C. Anderberg, Laurel Hollow, NY J. Augustyn, Chicago, IL Thomas Baker, Princeton Junction, NJ Mr. & Mrs. Frank Barsalona, New York, NY J. Martha Bartlett, Washington, DC Martha L. Bass, Wall, NJ Charles A. Bell, New York, NY J. Howard Brosius, Northwoods, PA Margaret E. Bruckart, Frederick, MD Audrey Chatzky, Scarsdale, NY Stephen H. Cooper, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Michael Crouch, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Edgar Cullman, New York, NY Mrs. H. Del Guercio, Port Jefferson, NY R.K. Descherer, New York, NY Mrs. Philip Domenico,Jamesville, NY

Susan L. Dnickman,Tucson, AZ Jane C. Duncan, St. Louis, MO

John T. Moran, Sturbridge, MA Flo & Joseph Morse, Lyme, NH

Evelyn Egan, Austin, TX

Mr.& Mrs. Donal C. O'Brien, Jr., New York, NY

Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Fowle, New York, NY Elly Friedman, Jeannette, PA Mrs. K. Evan Friedman, New York, NY James Frink, Nacogdoches, TX

Mr. & Mrs. Edward Parmacek, Atherton, CA Nancy D. Pluckhan, Dunwoody,GA

Mr. & Mrs. Merle H. Glick, Pekin, IL Dr. & Mrs. Donald Glugover, Scotland, CT Virginia Guenzel, Lincoln, NE

Dr. W.J. Robbins, Lancaster, PA Mr. & Mrs. Stephen J. Rogers, Ann Arbor, MI Fay Roth, Forest Hills, NY Frederick G. Ruffner, Jr., Detroit, MI

Michael & Julie Hall, Bloomfield Hills, MI Kate Hansen, New York, NY Mrs. Jimmie D. Harrington, Fort Worth,TX Chris Haugh & Ron La Bow, Katonah, NY Mrs. C.V. Henry III, Lebanon,PA Anne I. Hills, Stockton, NJ

Beverly & Jerome Siegel, New York, NY Mrs. WE.Simmons, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI Anne & Andrew Smith, New York, NY Susan Spitz, New York, NY Robert C.& Patricia A. Stempel, Bloomfield Hills, MI

William Ketchum, Rye, NY Jacqueline Key, Greenwich, CT

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas W. Thobum, Jr., Ligonier, PA Edward Thorp, New York, NY

Marjorie & Frank Madigan, Chesterfield, MO Suzanne Mathews,San Antonio,TX Robin & William Mayer, New York, NY Heath B. McLendon, Summit, NJ Grete Meilman, New York, NY

Mary W. Williams, Rutherford, NJ Mr. & Mrs. Robert A. Wilson, Dallas, TX Don Zomow, Bridgehampton, NY

Our Growing Membership January—April 1984

The Museum Trustees and Staff extend a special welcome to these new members: Jennifer Alexander, Dallas, TX Katharine Alrnirall, Hemlock, MI Cornelia Andre, Dallas, TX Mr.& Mrs. John D. Angelillo, Clifton, NJ Phyllis R. Anscombe, New Haven,CT Catherine Anthony, Houston,TX Bonnie Ardita, Ringwood, NJ Brian Asher, Tigard, OR Dan Bailey, New York, NY Adrienne Barbeau, North Hollywood,CA Susan Whitney Barker, West St. Paul, MN Barn Batson, Atlanta, GA Judy Bavely, Mannington, WV Ann L. Bennewitz, New York, NY Betty Berdan, Halowell, ME Lauze Bernard, Paris, France Mrs. Jennie E. Betts, Englewood,CO Gemma Biggi, New York, NY 86

Leldon Blackmon, Washington, DC Carol S. Blancard, Yorktown Heights, NY Roz Bliss Interiors, Rochester, NY Sue Bloom, Brooklyn, NY Mrs. R.A. Blum,Libertyville, IL Catherine Boivin, New York, NY Kate Bomberger, Beltsville, MD Megan E. Bowman, New York, NY Pam Boynton, Groton, MA Mabel H. Brandon, Washington, DC Michael Braun, New York, NY Carol Brown, Putney, VT Margie Brown, Dallas, TX Ms. Joyce A. Bruno, Chatham, NJ Ronald J. Burch, Albany, NY Mrs. Juliana W. Burrow, Washington Township, NJ Caisse Generale D. Epargne, Brussels, Belgium Mrs. Lee Callinan, Bolton, MA Sarah Campsey, Elko, NV Theresa Capuana, Mamaroneck, NY Stephen M. Carta, Guilford, CT

Carter & Carter Company,Inc., Lincolnton, NC Muriel S. Cassidy, Westfield, NJ Colin Clarke, Elizabeth Bay, Australia Susan J. Cluff, Springfield, VA Mrs. R.F. Cockfield, Birmingham, AL Mrs. Robert Cohen, Youngstown, OH Candace Conard, Birmingham, AL Mrs. TN. Conlon, Lima, OH Suzanne Courcier, Austerlitz, NY Leisa Suhayda Crane, New York, NY Dallas Museum of Art Library, Dallas, TX Richard B. Dallas, Wyndmoor,PA Ted Daniels, Philadelphia, PA Mrs. Marian Davis, South Orange, NY Lenahan de Rouin, Glen Ridge, NJ Mrs. James V. Decker, Palos Verdes Estates, CA Edward F Dratz, Westport, CT Mrs. Edwark Duffie, Franklin Lakes, NJ Ann S. Earley, West Brookfield, MA Mrs. Donald C. Ebel, New York, NY Sharon Falconer, Mamaroneck, NY

Our Growing Membership

Daniel & Jessie Lie Farber, Worcester, MA E. Faust-Levy, New York, NY Mrs. Edwin R. Feinour, Roanoke, VA Jennifer P Feldman, New York, NY Thomas J. Ferris, Los Angeles, CA Michael & Rosemary Flowers, Sterling, IL Harry Fonseca, Albuquerque, NM Susan Fortunato, Franklin Park,IL Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Foulk, South Royalton, VT Mrs. William H. Frank, Somers, NY William Frantz, Malden Bridge, NY Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Friedlich, New Vernon, NJ Mrs. Susan L. Friedman, Sherman Oaks, CA Sharon W. Fuelling, Arcadia, CA The Gaffey Family, Wallingford, CT Mr. & Mrs. Lee Gartrell, New York, NY Dr. & Mrs. S. Gentin & Family, Great Neck, NY Bonnie & Robert George, Hartsdale, NY Christopher Giglio, Bronx, NY Frederick & Pepper Golden, Westport, CT Barbara & Stanley Grabias, Reading, PA Mrs. Roger Granet, Madison, NJ Jo Ann Green, Liberty, MO Sandra Greene, San Jose, CA Ellen Gross, Great Neck, NY Ellen S. Gudwin, Syosset, NY Kimberly Haldeman, Lancaster, PA Roberta Hansen, Yarmouth, ME Eileen Harris, Santa Monica,CA Travis L. Hemlepp, Brooklyn, NY Mrs. Carl Hensley, Mountainside, NJ Nadine & David Heyman,Port Washington, NY Robert M. Hicklin, Jr., Spartanburg,SC Historical & Creative Arts Center, Lufkin,TX Natalie Hodges, Santa Barbara, CA Mrs. Helen M. Holleger, Milford, DE Mr. & Mrs. C.E. Homer III, Kennebunkport, ME Homespun Elegance Ltd., Fredericksburg, VA Carol Shaskan Horn, Bethesda, MD Herbert S. Hughes, Yarmouth Port, MA Laurie H. Hutzler, Ridgewood, NJ Stephen P Huyler, Camden, ME William Jamison, Portland, OR Lynn A. Jensen, New York, NY Gregory W. Johnson, Phoenix, AZ Sally Johnson, Houston, TX Mr.& Mrs. Richard W. Jones, Gladwyne,PA Suzi Jones, Anchorage, AK Frederick J. Kaiser, Jr., Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ Cecilia Karam, Brooklyn, NY Peggy Karren, San Francisco, CA Anne & Fred Kautrowitz, Dover, MA Maureen A. Kelly, Teaneck, NJ Dr. Hugo Kierszenbaum, Plainview, NY Mary Kilboum, New York, NY Joanne Klein, New York, NY

Marilyn P Klion, Cos Cob,CT Millicent Kugler, Melville, NY Mrs. Leon Langford, Texico, NM Pamela I. Larson, Brooklyn, NJ Lynne Lemer,Short Hills, NJ Pierre Lessard, Quebec, Canada Mrs. Martin Levin, West Orange, NJ Zela Lewallyn, Dalton, GA Renee Lewis, New York, NY Lucy L. Lord, New York, NY Harry Lowe, Washington, DC Rhoda Lowenstein, Westfield, NJ Marilyn 0. Lubetkin, Houston, TX Mrs. H. Luria, New York, NY Suzan Shaskan Luse, Washington, DC Lyford, Philadelphia, PA Karen MacCarter, Littleton, CO Susan Manes, Washington, DC Susan Marks, Brooklyn, NY Nina D. Mathus, Salisbury, CT Beatrice S. Matz, Natick, MA Mr.& Mrs. Christopher Mayer, New York, NY Mrs. T.P. McCarthy, Garden City, NY Marjorie W. McConnell, Westmount, Canada Sam McCullough, Minneapolis, MN Mrs. Robert J. McKean,Jr., Rye, NY Ronald Merican, New York, NY Florence Merritt, Rochester, NY Louise Allen Metzger, Prairie Village, KS Audrey Meyer, East Haddam, CT Andrea T. Miller, New York, NY J.D. Miller, Doylestown,PA Kate Miller, Bridgewater, NH Jane Mollett, Tolland, CT Elizabeth Morash, Long Valley, NJ Mrs. Deane Morris, Tulsa, OK Mrs. Janice Moss, New York, NY Penny Murphree, Houston, TX Richard E. Nathan, Brooklyn, NY Gustave G. Nelson, Cheshire, MA Nancy Newell, Little Rock, AR Jane S. Nichols, Madison, MS Mary Ellen Nolan, Bridgeport, CT Claudia O'Brien, Pasadena,CA Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan E Orser, Perrysburg, OH Marilyn Osborn, Rochester, NY Richard Owen, New York, NY Charlotte Owens, Portland, OR Carl M. Palusci, New York, NY Susan Parrett & Rod Lich, Georgetown,IN Tom Pearsall, New York, NY Diantha & Earle Pearson, Murray Hill, NJ Janie Pelofsky, Kansas City, MO Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA Roberta Perkins, Saddle River, NJ Elizabeth Thomas Perry, Deerfield,IL Norman Peterson, Canton, OH

Cheryl L. Petroski, Murray Hill, NJ WW.Pierce, Bryn Mawr,PA Mrs. Mardell Pinckney, Menlo Park, CA Merrilee J. Possner, New York, NY Thom Rakes & Denise Matroni, Columbia, MO Patricia Ann Ready, Essex Junction, VT Susan S. Riedel, Cambridge, MA J. Rose, Los Angeles, CA Susie Ryan, Trenton, MO Mrs. Ruth Sagmer, South Orange, NJ Sheila Salmon,Sunnyside, NY Mr. & Mrs. B.A. Santini, Garden City, NY Dorinda Schreiber, New Canaan,CT Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY K. Seastrom, Bloomington,IN Madelyn S. Seidl, Houston, TX Bruce P Shaw, Boston, MA Millie Shields, Morristown, NJ Miriam Silverman, New York, NY Mrs. John C. Smith, Boyds, MD Carol Snope, New Albany,IN Joan W Sobkov, Baltimore, MD Nancy B. Spangler, Milton,PA Mrs. Selden Spencer, Aiken,SC Nancy Spitzer, Chevy Chase, MD Sue Stahlman-Leason, Allentown, PA H.H. Stansbury, Catonsville, MD Mrs. Philip C. Staples, Jr., Haverford,PA Matthew C. Starr, Washington, DC Susan B. Stavropoulos, New York, NY Bette Sterling, Bellevue, WA Betsy Stern, Scarsdale, NY Dan Storper, New York, NY Mary Strattan, Cedar Falls, IA Jeanne Crane Strausman, New York, NY Mrs. Ruth Sussler, New London,CT Joan Sutherland, Westmount,Canada Nancy Swienjy, New York, NY Mr.& Mrs. Martin Tepper, New York, NY Sophie S. Trent, Chamblee, GA Catherine Urstadt, Bronxville, NY Sherry Van Liere, Farmington, CT Judith G. Vars, Wayzata, MN David Voight, Washington, DC Karen & Paul Weissman, Rowayton, CT Tom Whitehead, Natchitoches, LA Deborah S. Whitmore, Chicago, IL Cynthia K. Wilcox, Columbus,OH Mrs. Betty Williamson, Old Lyme,CT Tedd Wiminer, Arcata, CA Nancy Winters, New York, NY Mr.& Mrs. Harry D. Wood,Beulah, MI Nancy Adams Wright, Scotland, CT Karen Wyse, Orinda, CA Mr.& Mrs. Wayne Yetter, Mechanicsville, PA Jean K. Zadvorney, Endwell, NY 87

POST OFFICE BOX 454 DENMARK, WI 54208 (414) 863-8069

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

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

88

Hale Road, Tilton, NH 03276 (603) 286-3046 (603) 286-8562

Fine Period Interiors "The Last of the Best ..."

â&#x20AC;˘..

WIGGINS BROS. Itinerant Artists

Whatgood is the living room if yourfamily isn'tliving there?

A living room isforliving in. When children feel the living room is more for showing than for living...they take their living somewhere else. And that's really a shame. When children bring friends home,they should learn the pride of entertaining in their living room.. not when they grow up... now,as they grow.

Today rather than tomorrow. Ethan Allen thinks the happiest homes are those where the living room is alive with the joys offamily living. We believe a home should be a place where people find fun and excitement today...not a place where they're waiting to live tomorrow.

We'll help make it more livable. To make your home gracious and lovely, yet one your whole family can truly live in, turn to your Ethan Allen Gallery.

Ideas to make decoratingfun. We'll walk with you through scores of"idea rooms," all inspiringly furnished and ••,-.„

excitingly accessorized. We offer you complimentary design service to help you create a home that is uniquely "you".. and we'll make it fun,not a chore.

With thatspecialEthan Allen care. You will find enduring designs — of uncompromising quality and value. But, most important,you'll find care. Real care and consideration for you and the lifestyle you want your home to reflect.

Come visit us. Now. Not later. Working together,let's see if we can't start putting a new kind ofliving, not just in your living room but in your whole lifestyle.

Each ofus in theEthan Allenfami4,is dedicated to helping you create a beautiful, lasting home environmentforyour family.Ifyoufeelthere are ways we can improve ourproducts orservices."in any way...I wantto hear aboutit Ofcourse, I would like to hearyour commentsof satisfaction too.just write.

Nathan S. Ancell,Chairman Ethan Allen, Danbury,Connecticut 06810

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Ethan Allen Galleries We care about your home...almostas much as you do.

"THE STRENGTH OF AMERICA RESTS IN ITS HOMES."Abraham ,non In the four centuries since the crude cabins of the first settlers in the New World spelled refuge and security, Americans have had a continuing and creative concern for the environment of their homes. Arriving here with only a few treasured possessions, our forefathers strove to create the ambience of the homes they left behind. As they were more able to cope with the rigors of a new life-style, they began to fashion their own furniture, develop their own colors, weave fabrics, decorate simple furniture, bare walls and floors with paint and pattern, and to give reign to their talents and interests in what we prize today as American Folk Art and antiques. All these add up to a cherished heritage that lends the best of the past to our homes today.

Since the first pieces of Ethan Allen furniture were created in the mid-30's at our Beecher Falls, Vermont Plant, our special mission and commitment has been to nourish and expand the treasured decorative heritage of the American traditional design expression in home furnishings. Today, Ethan Allen is by far the

largest and best known producer of meticulously crafted reproductions and adaptations reflecting the best of American traditional design.

It is not only for their sense of history and "roots" that American traditional home furnishings are so highly esteemed. Of perhaps greater importance, is their reflection of the solid human values that help build America to the greatest nation on earth — values that brought the first settlers to this country — values that were instilled at home and passed on from one generation to the next — values that placed the concept of creating "a good home" above the mere acquisition of fame or wealth. To all of us at Ethan Allen, that's what it's really about.

For over 50 years, Ethan Allen has been committed to helping Americans create beautiful home environments, rich in our heritage. It therefore gives us great pride and pleasure to join with the Museum of American Folk Art in both celebrating and maintaining a unique and historic tradition.

Nathan S. Ancell Chairman Ethan Allen Inc.

Ethan Allen• Danbury, Connecticut 06810

ink and watercolor

10 x12

Animal Portraits and Fracturs commemorating personal events marriages,births, anniversaries, memorials,family trees etc.) By commission. Inquiries welcomed.

Susan Gray oil on wood

401

Portrait of Katherine

17x 20

42 WEST TWELFTH STREET, N.Y.C. 10011 (212)675. 2243

ittance pectalists tiJ

HUNTINGTON T. BLOCK INSURANCE 2101 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037 Telephone 202/223-0673 or Toll Free 800/424-8830 Telex 892596

92

THE HOBBY HORSE Unknown American Artist, Circa 1850, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Fine art print meticulously reproduced from the original. 24" x 231 / 2" Only $20.00 shipped prepaid.

HEDGEROW HOUSE Publishers of quality fine art prints. Offering the finest collection of American folk art reproductions available today. For a free color brochure write to: HEDGEROW HOUSE,230 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK, NY 10001 (212)679-2532 We welcome inquiries from museums, private collectors and owners of American folk art paintings.

"After viewing the first edition of The Quilt Digest, one feels that the 1984 offering cannot arrive too soon." — The Indianapolis Star

The Book for Quilt Lovers

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The Quilt Digest 2,

our 1984 offering, is enlarged and improved with:

• A heavier, laminated cover

• Patsy Orlofsky, author and a leading quilt conservator, returns to writing with "The Collector's Guide for the Care of Quilts in the Home." It is handsomely illustrated; •Penny McMorris, producer and host ofthe PBS television series Quilting and Quilting II, contributes the introduction to "Victorian Style," a pictorial essay of vintage sepia-tone photographs taken in a turn-of-the-century Chicago home; • Linda Lipsett,quilt historian and collector, shares "A Piece of Ellen's Dress," the true story of a native Vermonter, her quilt and her struggles as a pioneer wife in the Wisconsin wilderness of the 1830's; • Elizabeth Akana, quiltmaker and author, presents new discoveries about the Royal Hawaiian Flag quilt in a lavishly photographed article entitled "Ku'u Hae Aloha"; • Michael Kile, in the second of The Collector series, introduces a Cape Cod fatherdaughter team's extraordinarily comprehensive collection of American quilts,in full color; • Roderick ICiracofe, in response to reader demand, expands Showcase, introducing twenty-four pages of remarkable antique and contemporary quilts in large, full-color photographs.

8o pages 6o color photographs 15 black-and-white photographs and illustrations If you are a quilt lover, you won't want to miss The Quilt Digest. Available in fine antique, quilt, book and museum shops across the country, including: Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shops 55 West 53 Street 6to Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Promenade New York City or directly from the publisher by using the convenient order form below.

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BRENDA OVERSTROM- 212 608-3290 55 HUD5ON/ST. NEW YORK, NY 10013r

PENNSYLVANIA CARRIAGE

The Quilt Digest 1, our inaugural edition, is still available.

Just fill in the appropriate blanks on the order form.

KIRACOFE AND KILE 955 FOURTEENTH STREET SAN FRANCISCO 9-F 4 Send Us: Your name Address City

State_____ Zip

THE QUILT DIGEST (194 _ copies @ S x 2.93 each THE QUILT DIGEST i (x983)

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copies @ S9.95 each

Black, Dove Gray or Old Yellow Overall Size (excluding handle) 23-1/2" long, 21-1/4" high, 14-1/2" wide $240 ppd One in a select series. Brochure on request.

California residents add 6% sales tax Postage 8c handling(S .3o x number of copies ordered) $ Total amount Enclose your check made payable to Kiracoje and Kile for the total amount shown,and mail it to 955 Fourteenth Street, San Francisco 94114. Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. We are happy to send gift copies directly to recipients.

Wcodsbed OriOpab Box 3, Dept. 16, Itasca, IL 60143 312 439 5535

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1984-1985 THE E.M.C. FRENCH

Concord flintiques

New Hampshire Highway Hotel SUNDAY 1984 OCTOBER 21st NOVEMBER 18th 1985 JANUARY 20th FEBRUARY 17th MARCH 17th

airs

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

10:00 a.m. to 2:00p.m.

Admission—$2.50 Pre-show Admission 8 a.m. —$35.00 S. K. French, Mgr.

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

"Sheep Shearing"

by Barbara Chipman Moment Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 32"

JAY America's Folk Heritage Gallery

JOHNSON

1044 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10021

Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Saturday, noon-6 p.m.(212)628-7280

CL.M.

Index to Advertisers Ethan Allen All of Us Americans American Primitive Gallery Marna Anderson Bari & Phil Axelband Bartholomew Fair, Ltd. Huntington T. Block Bonner's Barn Candlewick Antiques Betty Carrie Christie's Country Manor Antiques Crane Gallery Eden Galleries Leslie Eisenberg Martin Ellman EMDL Epstein/Powell Ethnographic Arts Fall Antiques Show at the Pier Folk Art Finder 96

90, 91 10 17 78 15 62 92 2 11 95 20 82 23 9 80 81 72 72 81 Inside Back Cover 82

S.K. French Galerie St. Etienne Pie Galinat Gasperi Folk Art Gallery Susan Gray Guernsey's Pat Guthman Phyllis Haders Carl Hammer Gallery Vivan Harnett Harvey Antiques Hedgerow House Herrup & Wolfner Home in Indiana William Jauquet Jay Johnson Kelter-Malce T.P. Langan Deanne Levison R.H. Love Folk Art Gallery Kenneth & Ida Manko Frank Maresca

95 63 88 78 92 24 83 16 62 82 8 93 63 53 88 80, 96 Back Cover 83 21 25 83 22

1 73 94 95 79 10 Inside Front Cover 6 John Keith Russell 15 Gail & Burt Savage 7 David Schorsch 79 Selser Christopher 77 Jacqueline Sideli Antique Shows 14 Sotheby's 82 Summertime Press 12 Sweet Nellie 94 The Quilt Digest 4 Thomas K. Woodard 89 Wiggins Brothers 94 Woodshed Originals 3 Wunderlich & Company, Inc.

Steve Miller Museum Shop Catalog Brenda Overstrom William A. Pease Francis J. Purcell II Sheila & Edwin Rideout Ricco-Johnson

Fall Antiques Show At the Pier

OCTOBER 25-28,1984 Daily: Noon -10pm

Sunday: Noon-6pm

Passenger Terminal Pier West 50th Street at the Hudson River Benefit Preview for the Museum of American Folk Art, October 24,1984-6-10 pm

Information:(212)581-2474

Lancaster Amish Quilts 1890-1930

Superb examples of classic Amish patterns.

KELTER-MALCE ANTIQUES 361 Bleecker St. New York City 10014 212-989-6760 Tues.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Sat. 12-8 p.m.

IN GREENWICH VILLAGE

We are interested in purchasing exceptional quilts and textiles.

Please visit our booth at the Pier Show, October 24-28.