The Clarion (Summer 1977)

"'CLARION Summer 1977

America's Folk Art Magazine

Museum of American Folk Art • New York City

cALLAN L. DANIEL Folk Art & Country Furniture in New York City (212) 799-0825 or (212) 787-6000

"Killingworth Image" by Clark Coe

"'CLARION

Summer 1977

America's Folk Art Magazine Contents

The Clarion, America's Folk Art Magazine, Summer 1977, No. 7.

Published quarterly and copyright 1977 by The Museum of American Folk Art, 49 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. Unsolicited manuscripts or photographs should be accompanied by return postage.

The Clarion assumes no responsibility for the loss or damage of such material.

Cover: Pieced quilt. Double Wedding Ring, c. 1920, Atlantic, Pennsylvania. 85" x 661/2". The handsome mosaic of colors against the black background creates a stained-glass effect. Promised gift from Cyril I. Nelson to the Collections of the Museum of American Folk Art. (Four-color cover illustration made possible through a generous contribution by Takeshi Fukunaga, DNP(Amerka), Inc.)

Letter from the President of the Board of Trustees Barbara Johnson

7

Letter from the Director Robert Bishop, Ph.D.

9

Museum of American Folk Art Board of Trustees: Mrs. Barbara Johnson, President; Mrs. Adele Earnest, Vice-President; Mr. Ralph Esmerian, VicePresident and Treasurer; Kenneth Page, Esquire, Secretary; Mrs. James Burke; Mr. Lewis Cabot; Mrs. Phyllis D. Collins; Dr. Louis C. Jones; Mrs. Norman LassaIle; Mrs. Ronald Lauder; Frances Martinson, Esquire; The Honorable Helen S. Meyner; Mr. Cyril I. Nelson; Mrs. Richard Taylor; Mr. Andy Warhol; Mr. William Wiltshire Ill; Mrs. Dan R. Johnson, Trustee Emeritus

Best of Friends—To Bruce Johnson Burton Fendelman

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Report of the Friends Committee Helaine Fendelman

12

The Docent Program Lucy Danziger

13

Museum Staff: Robert Bishop, Ph.D., Director; Patricia L. Coblentz, Assistant Director; Dianne E. Butt, Development Director; Luzy Danziger and Susan Klein, Co-chairmen, Docent Committee; Cynthia Schaffner, Weekend Coordinator, Docent Committee; Helaine Fendelman, Chairman, Friends Committee; Roberta Gaal, Chairman, Education Committee; Lynne Wizowski, Secretary

The Cyril I. Nelson Gift to the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art Julia Weissman

The Museum Shop Staff: Elizabeth Tobin, Manager; Kevin Bueche; Joan Falkins; Sally Gerbrick; Annette Meyers; Phillida Mirk; Hazel Osburne; Nancy Potenzano; Cynthia Schaffner THE CLARION Staff: Julia Weissman, Editor; Patricia L. Coblentz, Assistant Editor; Ellen Blissman, Designer; Beulah Allison and Dianne Butt, Advertising Address: 49 West 53rd Street New York, New York 10019 212 LT 1-2475 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 or quality of 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.

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Felipe Archuleta—Folk Artist Davis Mather

18

Portraits in Wood Julie Hall

21

Tinsel Pictures Jean Krolik

25

The Museum Shop-Talk Elizabeth Tobin

26

Edward Sands Frost and His Historic Hooked Rug Patterns Robert Bishop, Ph.D.

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James and John Bard, Ship Painters of the Hudson River Jean Lipman

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A Folk Art Calendar Across the Country

35

Beyond Necessity—Art in the Folk Tradition Elaine Eff

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EQUESTRIAN WEATHERVANE El CIRCA 1860, WOOD & TIN,0 57" X 32", ORIGINAL CONDITION

TIMOTHY & PAMELA HILL

AMERICAN ANTIQUES 56000 TEN MILE ROAD,SOUTH LYON, MICHIGAN,48178 (313)4371538

We congratulate the Museum of American Folk Art on the choice of its new director.

GEORGE E. SCHOELLKOPF 1065 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10028

(212) 879-3672

Tuesday, through Saturday, 10-5

AMERICAN ANTIQUESc&QUILTS AVENUE, NEW YORK, N.Y.10021 PHONE:(212)YU PROPRIETORS: BLANCHE GREENSTEIN, TOM WOODARD

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"Sunflowers" Appliqué Quilt. New England, circa 1865. 91 x 91 inches.

From our extensive collection offine quilts and A mericana.

We are open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

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AUCTIONS OF AMERICANA AT

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J. Rasmussen. View of the Berks-County-Almshouse, 1880. Oil on zinc, 311/2 x 393 / 4 inches.

To be sold in The American Heritage Society Auction of Americana on November 17, 18 and 19 at Sotheby Parke Bernet

An annual subscription to Americana catalogues costs only $70 (U.S.A., Canada & Mexico).

The catalogues comprise: furniture, paintings & prints, folk art, decoys, weathervanes, frakturs, needlework, quilts & coverlets, silver, glass, Chinese Export porcelain, Staffordshire pottery, maps, and other material of American historical interest.

Please enclose your check to Department CF If you would like further information about the acquisition or sale of American art and antiques, please write or call: Paintings / Mr. Peter Rathbone 212/472-3551

Furniture / Mr. Wm Stahl 212/472-3511 Decorative Arts / Mrs. Nancy Drucktnan 212/472-3512 in Los Angeles/ Mr. John E. Parkerson 213/937-5130, 7660 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles 90036 SOTHEBY PARKE BERNET INC

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Gary C.Cole AMERICAN DECORATIVE ARTS 45.East 80th Street, New York, N.Y. 10021 (212) 879-9432

American Folk Artist Mattie Lou O'Kelley is best at telling you what makes her art valuable...

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An intense five day seminar for those who want to invest in the best Americana... collectors, investors, dealers, decorators.

July 26-30 Sarah Lawrence College Bronxville, New York

July 26th Investing in American Folk Art Evaluating Folk sculpture, painting, textiles Early music concert/reception

July 27th Collecting Tiffany Art Glass Collecting Investing in Modern Collectibles

July 28th American Furniture The American Chair Knowing Shaker Furniture

July 30th Tour of restorations Visit special collections Unique luncheon

July 29th Decorative Antiques Decorating With Antiques Restoring Old Houses

Plus Informal gatherings Swap/sell/appraisal sessions Autograph sessions with authors Inside hints on good buys, and profit producing items

Featuring: Dr. Robert Bishop, Director, Museum of American Folk Art William Ketchum, author and instructor of antiques at New School, New York Mrs. Gwen Znerold, lecturer Cynthia Elyce Rubin, lecturer and researcher on Shakers

Detach and mail today 10% discount to members of The Museum of American Folk Art when registration is made prior to July 15, 1977.

Participants are urged to bring items for swap/sell/ bragging.

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Dear Members: I feel much better writing this Clarion letter to you than I did the last. That issue was a sad one; this is full of good news and optimism.

I am happy to tell you the following news. Our new director, Dr. Robert Bishop, has joined the Museum and immediately all of us have felt an upsurge in our morale.

The most wonderful statement Bob Bishop made at the last trustees meeting was, "I looked forward to being the head of this museum and to guiding it, but I had no idea how really great it is." When I asked him what he meant, he said, "There is so much substance on every level, I know in time we will build an art museum with an educational facility that is unmatched in this field throughout the world."

The Board has appointed a committee to search for a new building to house the museum. This committee is actively working with real estate agents, friends of the museum, and other interested people in their attempt to find a suitable structure. If you members have any ideas or know of a suitable site and how to get it,

Letter from the President of the Board of rfrustees

please let Bob Bishop know.

We were delighted to see so many of you at the opening of the Memorial Show to honor Bruce Johnson which the Friends of the Museum planned to take place a year after his death. We named the show "Best of Friends" because all of the participating members were friends of Bruce's in spirit if not in actuality. The art objects being exhibited are from their personal collections and are among the best friends of the lenders.

Some best friends have stepped forward and have made this show even more meaningful. When it looked as though it might be impossible to have a catalogue, Samuel Pennington, Publisher of Maine Antique Digest, as a very special gift to the Museum, offered to publish one. Through his generosity, he has given this show a sense of permanence and made it very important. H. R. Bradley Smith, Curator of Arts and Crafts at Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Massachusetts, a well-known authority in the field, has spent an enormous amount of time working with Riki Zuriff, Chairman of the Exhibition Committee, and Burton Fendelman, Guest Curator, and has devoted a major portion of the last several months preparing the text for the catalogue. His efforts are a special tribute to Bruce and the Museum he loved. I know you will enjoy the cozy warmth and humor Bradley so skillfully uses to describe the "Best Friends."

Another big event to look forward to: On September 20,1977, the Museum of American Folk Art will open an exhibition from the personal collection of our co-trustee, Andy Warhol. Few have realized that Andy collects folk art. We are delighted he will allow us to show his collection which has never been displayed before, for it has been formed with his very special eye. I know you all will want to see this show.

I urge you to help the Museum of American Folk Art establish a permanent site for all of the exciting things we have planned for the future. We have so many ideas and things we want to show that we could mount three exhibitions simultaneously. A new home will also enable us to once again display our permanent collection which has been significantly expanded in the last few months by major additions. We must find a way to do our permanent collection justice and to make it available to our ever-expanding membership and audience. We want to share our treasures and our love of folk art.

Barbara Johnson For the Board of Trustees 7

JOHN a NEWCOMER VA. 14ARPER:S FEWY, W.

WI'

304-535-6902 1141 WASHINGTON STREET HARPERS FERRY, W. VA. 25425

C NEWCONIER 18th & 19th CENTURY AMERICANA

Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 P.m.

Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Or By Appointment

Dear Members and Friends: I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the countless letters, telephone calls, and personal visits expressing your enthusiastic support for my appointment as Director of the Museum of American Folk Art. Leaving the Henry Ford Museum was not easy. It had become a very important part of my life; while I was there I was able to accomplish many professional and personal goals which could not have been achieved anywhere else.

In the past few weeks we have developed many new programs that I hope will do much to win new friends for the folk art field and, more specifically, for

Letter from the Director

the Museum.

This issue of The Clarion is the first in which we have used color and included advertising. It is our goal to live up to the publication's subtitle "America's Folk Art Magazine" and our staff would appreciate your reaction to this new project.

Reports on the progress of our Friends Committee and the newly-formed Docent Program will undoubtedly interest you,for they are vital, living parts of the Museum.

Numerous additions to the permanent collection have been made through generous gifts from our trustee, Cyril I. Nelson; our Friends Committee member, Phyllis Haders; and members Mike and Julie Hall, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Dumas, Mr. and Mrs. Day Krolik, Jay Johnson, Gary Davenport, Joe Budde, and Douglas Dennis.

A special project has been developed to make the Museum and collector world more aware of our very significant permanent collection. For the first time, we are attempting to represent the permanent collections in a comprehensive postcard program. Two specific collections have been singled out for initial presentation.

Several years ago nearly 200 wildfowl decoys were presented to the Museum as a gift from A. B. Martin. Miss Cordelia Hamilton and Herbert Hemphill augmented this collection with significant additions. The decoy collection was thoroughly scrutinized and several of the major pieces, including geese, ducks, and shorebirds carved by the world's foremost decoy-carvers, A. Elmer Crowell, Lemuel and Steve Ward, and Charles "Shang" Wheeler, were selected and handsomely photographed to create eight magnificent jumbo-sized four-color postcards.

The Museum of American Folk Art is constantly adding to its already impressive collection and a recent gift of several outstanding quilts has become a permanent part of the Museum's holdings. Several of the new additions have been included in a twelve postcard series which features important examples of American needlework from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. These quilts represent high points in the history of American textiles. Never before have American quilts been presented in such an exciting visual collection as the postcards now being offered by the Museum of American Folk Art. Our current exhibition, a memorial to the former director, Bruce Johnson, is outstanding, for it contains folk art masterpieces never, or rarely ever, exhibited before. Bruce would have been especially pleased by this tribute for it indicates the incredible contribution made to the history of American art by the folk artist.

The Museum staff is actively involved with the preparation of the next two exhibitions. The first, "Folk and Funk—Andy Warhol's Folk Art World," will be on display from September 20 through November 19, 1977, and will present for the first time the American folk art collection of our trustee. The second, "The All American Dog—Man's Best Friend in Folk Art," opens on November 30, 1977, and Continued on page 12 9

Best of Friends lb Bruce Johnson Burton Fendelman

In the fall of 1975, Bruce Johnson, Director of the Museum of American Folk Art, and Helaine Fendelman, guest curator, were discussing projects to benefit the Museum. One idea was the formation of a Friends Committee of dedicated volunteers for the purpose of attracting new members and additional funds. The idea was adopted by the Board of Trustees and the Friends Committee was an immediate success. After a number of introductory projects, a natural direction for the Committee to follow was to sponsor a show, permitting the members to gain firsthand experience in mounting an exhibition.

The tragic accident that took Bruce's life in June 1976 left the Museum without a leader, but served as the impetus for the Committee to fill part of the vacuum and show the viability of the

10

Museum to act positively in the wake of a major setback. It was decided that the exhibition would be a memorial to the work begun by Bruce to establish the Museum as a focal point for the study and exhibition of American folk art.

The show was assembled by the Committee using only objects loaned by the members of the Museum, thereby illustrating the uniqueness of our Museum—a personal institution whose members contribute ideas, work, and their own collections when assistance is needed.

The Exhibition Committee was chaired by Rikki Zuriff with Burton Fendelman serving as guest curator. The membership was contacted by mail, by newspaper notification, and by personal telephone calls and visits. Over the next six months the response was tremendous, with over 175 members sub-

mitting photographs of more than 725 objects for consideration.

H.R. Bradley Smith, Curator of the Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Massachusetts, a long-time friend of our Museum, agreed to record this important event by writing the text for the catalogue with the help of Mary Lou Kelley, art critic and free-lance writer.

Samuel Pennington, editor of Maine Antique Digest and a member of the Friends Committee, volunteered to print the catalogue. Didier Dorot, a commercial photographer, also a member of the Committee, contributed the photographic work.

This truly outstanding exhibition of 104 objects covering the entire range of American folk art is on exhibition through September 3, 1977. It is the best of the Friends of the Museum, a memorial to Bruce Johnson.

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Letter continued from page 9

runs through April 2, 1978. We anticipate this show to be a fun-filled period at the Museum; it was especially scheduled to coincide with the Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. We are sure you will want to add the unique folk art T-shirt, being produced especially for the Museum, to your Christmas Shopping List. "Spike," an outrageously funny bulldog from a painting owned by Scudder Smith and the Newtown Bee, will delight any "toughy" on your list.

As you can well imagine, the last few weeks have indeed been hectic. I feel, however, it is absolutely essential that members of the Museum become better acquainted with our efforts to broaden the knowledge of the folk art field and, therefore, extend an invitation to each one of you personally to stop by and say hello next time you visit.

Robert Bishop, Ph.D. Director

Report on the Friends Committee The Friends Committee of the Museum of American Folk Art was formed to aid the growth and welfare of the Museum. The long-range goals of the Committee are to expand the Museum's activities and to make the Museum a more valuable working institution for the New York area and the nation. Specific goals are to increase the Museum's membership and to enlist the members as active participants in specific events and the daily activities of the Museum. Annual membership dues for the Friends Committee are $25.

In the past the Committee has been limited to 50 members. We now feel that the interests of the Museum could be best served by a larger group of people who could be called upon to share their expertise and help make the Museum a more active organization by becoming a part of Museum fund-raising, educational, and social programs.

In addition to the personal pleasure members receive 12

from seeing the Museum of American Folk Art thrive, they are entitled to participate in an exclusive one-day seminar which will coincide with the annual meeting of the Friends Committee.

Projects sponsored by the Committee during the last year included a Manhattan House Tour, a Champagne Dessert, a Christmas Story Hour at the Museum, a Lecture Series, a Bus Tour to the University Hospital Antiques Show in Philadelphia and preparation of the special exhibition, BEST OF FRIENDS—To Bruce Johnson. Future plans call for the continued sponsorship of a lecture series, a bus trip to the Brandywine Museum at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, a Manhattan house tour in November, and numerous programs designed to increase an awareness of the Museum and its multi-faceted projects throughout the collecting community.

Why don't you consider joining the Friends? It's fun!

HELAINE FENDELMAN

The Docent Program

Front row, left to right: Susan Klein and Lucy Danziger, co-chairmen of the Docent Program; Julia Weissman, Joan Falkins. Second row: Jana Klauer, Clare Thaw, Eleanora Walker, Mary Taylor, Adrian Kopjanski, Peggy Miller. Standing: Nancy Stass; Sally Lubell; Cynthia Schaffner, weekend coordinator; Lee Ann Aukamp; Davida Deutsch; Annette Meyers; Hazel Osburne. Absent: Mama Brill Anderson, Joyce Cowin, Helaine Fendelman, Roberta Gaal, Judy Hatch, Laura Henning, Myra Shaskan.

The Museum of American Folk Art occupies a unique position in the field of American art. Through its permanent collection and its changing exhibitions, it is able to express to the public the special aspects of folk art and the particular manner in which folk artists document the social and industrial developments of American life.

To establish additional lines of communication with the public, a Docent Program has been instituted at the Museum.

The dictionary defines "docent" as a teacher or lecturer or a person who conducts guided tours through museums and discusses and comments on exhibits. The Museum is the ideal size to "discuss and comment on exhibits" rather than "conduct tours."

Docents will greet and introduce themselves to visitors entering the Museum and invite them to view the exhibition, indicating their availability to answer questions or to talk generally about the objects on display. To engage in these discussions, docents must be aware of the important social and historical matters which were often the inspiration and the background of the art objects as well as their important artistic characteristics.

Dr. Bishop has initiated a series of instructional lectures designed to familiarize the docents with the entire field of American decorative arts, especially emphasizing folk art. The class has been meeting for one-and-a-half hours one day a week since early April. It continued through June and will resume again in the fall.

A further teaching aid will be a class conducted by the curator of each exhibition for the purpose of explaining to the docents the unique objects on display.

Participation in research projects will serve a twofold purpose—it will broaden the knowledge of the docents and assist the museum professional staff in assembling changing exhibitions. The docents have been especially active researching material for the forthcoming exhibition, "The All American Dog—Man's Best Friend in Folk Art," to be mounted by the Museum in the late fall.

There is currently a sufficient number of participants in the Docent Program to staff the Museum two-and-a-half days a week. There appears to be enough enthusiasm on the part of people who are employed in full-time occupations during the week to expand the program so that they can participate on the weekend. Ultimately we hope to have docents on duty at all times.

The Museum-based program is just one part in the development of a total outreach program to the community.

Plans for the future call for trained docents to visit schools, community centers, social clubs and other service groups to explain through illustrated lectures the special place that folk art holds in the field of American cultural history.

A successful Docent Program will build a vital spirit at the Museum of American Folk Art. We invite you to become a part of this exciting program.

LUCY DANZIGER 13

The Cyril I. Nelson Gift to the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art Julia Weissman

The cover of this issue of The Clarion features a spectacular Double Wedding Ring quilt that will become part of the permanent collection of the Museum of American Folk Art, together with a pledge of nine additional works from one of our trustees, Cyril I. Nelson—more familiarly known as Cy. Cy, as an editor at the publishing firm of E.P. Dutton, has been responsible for bringing into print some of the finest, as well as most comprehensive, books on various American arts. Among them are several books that collectors, dealers, and students of American folk art consider indispensable: American Painted Furniture by Dean A. Fales, Jr.; several books on American quilts and coverlets by Robert Bishop 14

(the new Director of the Museum), as well as the Bishop books on American Folk Sculpture, Centuries and Styles of The American Chair, How to Know American Antique Furniture; and Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists by Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr., and this writer. All of these books, in addition to being lavishly illustrated, have a wealth of documented information, and all were edited by Cy Nelson.

Because of the existence of these particular books and because of Cy's support of the Museum through his participation as a board member, those who know him personally—at the Museum, at least—associate his name with American folk

Opposite page: Romantic landscape probably done by a seminary student. Massachusetts. Watercolor. 1830-1850. There are two paintings in the collections at Old Sturbridge Village which are by the same artist.

Below: Spencerian bird by a writing teacher with smaller birds done by pupils. New England. Watercolor on paper. Last half of the nineteenth century.

Right, top: Applique quilt. Pennsylvania. Circa 1850.89" x 68".

This was probably a bride's quilt since hearts are used in such profusion. Pineapples symbolizing hospitality are also incorporated in the six central blocks.

Right, bottom: Painting of a Young Girl. Georgia. Oil on canvas.

Second half of the nineteenth century.

(All of the works of art used for illustrations for this article are promised gifts to the Museum of American Folk Art from Cyril I. Nelson)

art and allied fields. However, others who are interested in art may be aware that Cy is also responsible for a good many paperback books on modern and contemporary art. As a matter of fact, he was "into" contemporary art books before he began acquiring (a publishing term meaning to buy manuscripts or book ideas) books relating to American folk art.

Editors who work on art books often, not surprisingly, find themselves collecting art. To paraphrase a line from that song in Finian's Rainbow, when such editors are not near the art they've learned to love from the last batch of books, they are apt to love the art they are near because of the present crop being produced.

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Top, left: Pieced quilt top, unique geometric design. Massachusetts.

1870-1880. 86" x 841 / 2". This extraordinary creation shows how closely a quilt can anticipate the powerful design and organization of a modern painting.

Top, right: Grisaille vase of flowers with painted frame. New England.

Watercolor on paper. 1835-1845.

Bottom, left: Little Eva and Uncle Tom. Southern. Oil on canvas.

1850-1860.

Bottom, right: Spuytenduyvil. Oil on canvas. Last half of the nineteenth century. This view of Upper New York City is certainly of local origin.

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But in Cy's case, the story is a little different. Cy has admitted that although he knows a good deal about modern art and art history, partly because of his studies at Princeton University and largely from having acquired and edited so many books on the subject, he was never particularly zealous about trying to collect contemporary art. One of his reasons for not doing so, he said, was that although his interest in art was (and still is) deep, it was also rather generalized. He simply liked art, all art. However, he added, his taste in modern art was "what you might call conventional." That is, like so many of us who consider ourselves art lovers, he favored the art and artists in the mainstream: Picasso, Braque, Gris, Matisse, Van Gogh, Calder, Klee (dare I say etcetera?). One must admire these artists from something of a distance, so to speak, since their works are in a price range that makes them accessible only to moneyed (i.e., well-endowed) museums and collectors, who often collect as much for investment purposes as for love of art.

For those among us who are in a sense relatively newly come to an esteem for and interest in American folk art, Cy's reference to this particular galaxy of modern artists has a certain significance. A great many contemporary artists collected and drew inspiration from primitive art and the art of the naives. Some of Elie Nadelman's finest sculptures are quite frankly derivative of American folk sculpture, for instance, and the flat, "distorted" perspective style of the limners has been adopted and adapted by many sophisticated painters and illustrators.

While still defying definition, American folk art comes under the umbrella of those two terms: naive and primitive.

And numbers of collectors and art lovers have found their way to the appreciation of American folk art through their experiences in learning to understand modern and contemporary artists who were so influenced by the untaught artists' spontaneity and apparent disregard for rules of form, perspective, and composition. (But it must be kept in mind that the composition of a work by a folk artist must bear up under the same judgmental standards that apply to any work of art.)

So, though I may be presuming, I think it could be said that while Cy's interest in collecting American folk art may have been, as he put it, "accidental," it could very well be that the criteria underlying his well-developed esthetic understanding of modern and contemporary art were perhaps unconsciously applied to folk art, even though his taste for it seemed to have been awakened suddenly.

"It all began by chance," he said, "when I happened to see a collection that someone here in New York was forming.

There was a small painting that I just had to have. It was of a white house, at sunset, somewhere in Pennsylvania. I don't have it any more, but I still remember it because I was so charmed by the wealth of detail: there was a small stream, little walks bordered by flowering shrubs, two or three couples parading around the grounds, and even a lightning rod on the house. I had never been exposed to folk art before, but I found something very appealing in it. And that was it, that was the beginning."

His admiration for the little painting, I discovered after his next remark, is perhaps not all that surprising. As we talked, Cy remarked that although his interest in art was eclectic and his understanding of it enriched by his reading, Continued on page 30

Left: The Pink House.

Found in Maine. Oil on canvas. Circa 1860.

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Davis Mather

Felipe Archuleta Folk Artist

What Good Is Being Famous IfI No Longer Be Here Much Longer?

18

A giraffe stands in Tesuque, New Mexico, seemingly browsing among the twigs and leaves of a cottonwood tree.

This tallest of animals has its head and part of its neck shrouded in the tender shoots of the tree.

"That's some giraffe you have there, Felipe. That sure is some giraffe," says Ben Ortega, a neighbor of the wood sculptor, Felipe Archuleta.

The giraffe is the second nearly lifesize giraffe Archuleta has made in a 10-year career as an animal carver. He has turned wooden logs into more than 45 different types of creatures, including bears, elephants, fish, kiwi birds, lions, ostriches, pigs, ponies, rams, sheep, and snakes. These lifelike animals have been shown at the Roswell Museum and Art Center in Roswell, New Mexico; at the Pasadena Art Museum in Pasadena, California; and at the Brooklyn Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in an exhibition entitled "American Folk Sculpture." Many are permanently displayed at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery in Lincoln, Nebraska.

As a sculptor of wooden animals, Felipe Benito Archuleta has carved out one of the fastest growing critical and popular reputations in contemporary folk art history. He is both pleased and troubled by this sudden fame. Pleased because he enjoys giving pleasure and receiving praise; troubled because the increasing attention has meant an invasion of privacy and a ceaseless sense of obligation.

Archuleta's work area is a corner of his small backyard— a sprawling, open space of sawdust and wood-shavings, with litters of finished and partially finished animals nestled here and there. Different lengths of cottonwood and Chinese Elm logs are strewn about in various stages of workmanship.

Peering out from this thick of unfilled orders and uncut logs, and growing reputation, sitting on the green vinyl seat of a backless kitchen chair, is Felipe Archuleta—Spanish-American native of New Mexico, ex-potato and fruitpicker, ex-fry cook and chef, one-time drummer, retired member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and joiners of America, father of seven, and beleaguered folk artist.

"Maybe I quit this tomorrow," says the 66-year-old sculptor, shaking his craggy, expressive face. "If I want to go to the cemetery I just keep making these things. Too many people come out and want this and that. I can't satisfy the whole world!"

As Archuleta talks, he and a helper begin work on a small pig and put the finishing touches on another. "Oh, Lordy," he says, leaving his chair to look at a long cottonwood log, "Oh, Lord. What's on my mind—I know it's something."

He makes measuring and cutting movements with his hand and extends his fingers along the log. Then with a chain

saw, he quickly cuts an 18-inch piece of wood from the log— the pig's trunk and head.

"Yes, I was a carpenter for 30 years. I was in the union— the carpenter's union. I joined in 1943. I did rough carpentry and finish, but mostly I did rough. But it was not very good.

There was no work sometimes. You wait, wait and no work."

Archuleta cuts the bark off the pig's frame with a hatchet, shaping a crude outline of the body as he hacks away.

"I just sit around and sit around and wait for carpenter work. But you have to do something. So one time I was bring my grocery and I ask in God for some kind of a miracle... some kind of a ... to do, to give me something to to to make my life with—some kind of a thing that I can make. So I started for about three days I started carvings after that. And they just come out of my mind after that."

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Balancing the wooden trunk across his leg, Archuleta draws in the pig's mouth, eyes, and nostrils with a flat, red, carpenter's pencil. Then, using the longest blade of a Swiss army knife, he begins the finishing work, whittling in quick, deft motions with the assurance of a man who spent thirty years cutting dead-straight two-by-fours and sheets of plywood.

The helper uses an electric sander to smooth out Chinese Elm legs which were carved, glued, and nailed the previous day. Archuleta stops whittling and, after carefully inspecting four pig legs, jumps out of his chair and throws the shortest leg in a refuse pile.

"Damn thing too short. Too many things can happen.

Oh, hombre, waste of time." He sinks down in the chair again. "In the first place, like I say awhile ago, I'm getting too old, and if I keep and make those things its going to be too much for me. And one of these days when I die, they're going to go to my hole in the ground and say, 'Oh no, I didn't get what I asked for.'"

Archuleta starts up the chain saw and cuts four notches where the legs will be inserted into the pig's body. The legs are then glued into the slots, strengthened by three or four nails. Next, he puts the ears on, using a fast-setting glue and sawdust. The rough areas are smoothed over with a file and sandpaper.

The artist follows no distinct pattern in creating his sculptures, working interchangeably with axes, picks, hammers, chisels, gouges, augers, sanders, and chain saws. He gets his materials just as informally.

"We go to the dump sometimes, and different people give me the wood."

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With a handsaw, he cuts a crevice down the pig's buttocks and then gouges out an exaggerated anus—a characteristic of many of his creations. Genitalia, too, are frequently larger than life and Archuleta relishes pointing them out.

"In case someone asks whether it's a boy or a girl—I show them this."

Many of his animals also have abnormally ferocious expressions, an effect he achieves by carving irregular white teeth against black or brown snouts.

The pig's tail is simply a piece of rope, curled with one loop and made rigid with doses of glue and sawdust. The pig is finished now except for painting either pink and black or black and white, depending on the order.

Relaxing, Archuleta inspects the pig. He is pleased and smiles. "It looks so easy making these things no? But it isn't.

You can see how much time it is. And the people, they still come more and more. I make these things not for the money, but to get rid of the people. What good is being famous if I no longer be here much longer. You know, too much work to satisfy too much people. They only want me. They say, 'Felipe, you make the best.'"

Portraits in Wood Julie Hall The American decoy has been collected, studied, and appreciated for over half a century. The decoy as an art form, however, has yet to reach a very wide audience even within the circle of its collectors and curators who specialize in American folk art. It is this author's belief that a double standard has unconsciously operated against the decoy keeping many collectors from understanding the full potency of this unique American art expression.

Early American paintings and sculpture are collected for their full artistic content while decoys are often collected for their shape alone—usually the more abstract the better. Actually for decoys as well as for all art, abstraction is a means rather than an end. In fact, abstraction without great form or great feeling, does not give us the beauty we associate with the abstraction we see in the work of Mondrian or Picasso.

Great art, no matter how abstract, has its roots in the reality of experience.

Folk artists particularly link their work to the world of known things. Most American folk art is a form of portraiture, a visual representation of something well known to the artist.

Folk art is replete with specific "portraits" of real houses, animals, ships, and even landscapes. The folk artist never painted just any house. It was always a beloved homestead, pictorially perfect, without the omission of even one idiosyncrasy that was crucial to the artist's eye or knowledge.

In the case of the decoy, literally thousands of carvers created their versions of some twenty-five common species of waterfowl. If each specie of waterfowl is understood as a "sitter" for a portraitist using a knife and a block of wood, then it is easier to know what it is that is lacking in a mediocre decoy and what it is that makes a fine one. To the waterfowler who was also an artist, the birds were intimate friends, with particular temperaments, habits, shapes, colors, lines, postures, and mannerisms. These wild "sitters" were as well known to the decoy carver as were the human sitters who sat for Shel-

Top: Canvasback decoys made by John Schweikart, Detroit, Michigan, 1908. Schweikart added realism to his carvings by attaching scalloped shaped tin wing-tips to the bodies of his canvasbacks. He also probably created the Michigan "bull neck" style of canvasback carving that captures the tubular neck and angular head of the real bird so well.

(Collection of Jerry Catana and Julie Hall) Above: Canvasback decoys. These majestic birds have provided the inspiration for many fine decoys beginning with the beautiful feather and grass canvasback replicas fashioned by the American Indians a thousand years ago.(Photo, Paul Johnsgard)

don Peck or Ammi Phillips.

Imagine commissioning Sheldon Peck, Winthrop Chandler, Ammi Phillips, and William Matthew Prior to each paint a portrait of the same person. The portraits would, of course, have similarities but they would also have crucial differences.

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Left, top: Canvas-covered Canada Goose decoy

by Clarence Bailey, Kingston, Massachusetts, 1903. (Collection of Dr. George Ross Starr) Left, center: Canada Geese feeding. (Photo, Paul J oh nsgard) Left, bottom: Goose decoy by the Ward brothers. Perfect realism—perfect sculpture.

(Collection of William Purnell)

Right: Contented pair of Canada Geese. Perfect sitters for portraitists like the famous Ward brothers.(Photo, Paul J ohnsgard) Opposite page, top: Resting redheads. These contented birds prompted Nate Quillan to carve some of the earliest as well as the most beautiful decoys now gracing collectors' shelves. (Photo, Paul Johnsgard) Opposite page, bottom: "Low-head" by Nate Quillan. These tiny birds have a magnetism and a sculptural sophistication rarely surpassed by any carver. (Collection of Ed DeNavarre)

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Peck would reveal the personality of his subject with penetrating insight. If his sitter was of less than perfect disposition, Peck was always sure to let the viewer feel this beneath the cold and introverted image peering out from the canvas.

Chandler, however, saw the dignity and elegance of man and he expressed it over and over in the strong, calm faces he placed above the luxurious clothing and draperies styled into each of his portraits. Ammi Phillips saw the gentleness of the human race and expressed this view in a bold linear style similar to that of the great Italian religious "primitive" painter, Giotto. And finally William Matthew Prior painted man without guile. His portraits are simple and straightforward.

He reflected his outlook in a style that captured each sitter's form in flat unmodulated areas of handsome yet honest ordinary color.

Because few collectors are as acquainted with waterfowl as they are with houses and people, the role of portraiture in decoy making is often not understood. True appreciation of

decoys involves the visual comparison between the real duck, or "sitter," and its wooden counterfeit. The illustrations here focus on some carvings and some actual true life photographs of the stately Canada goose and the common redhead duck.

Carver Clarence Bailey from Kingston, Massachusetts made some of the most wonderful Canada geese to be found.

The bodies of his geese are simple. The long neck of the Canada was the most fabulous part of the bird for Bailey.

He depicted his subject in a manner reminiscent of a striking serpent. This carved portrait tells something about the more volatile side of the goose's nature and a great deal about Bailey's cognizance of this aspect of the bird's temperament.

The famous Ward brothers of Crisfield, Maryland always understood the basically gentle ways of the Canada goose and they always carved them in a swimming or floating position, and never in an agitated state. The Wards liked the interplay between all the forms of the elegant bird. When the Canada was relaxing on the water its modeled bill, round innocent face, graceful neck, full body and plate-like tail all came together sculpturally in a way that the Ward brothers could not resist imitating in wood.

The redhead, on first observation, is less ostentatious than the Canada goose. Its colors are unobtrusive, its body positions simple. It has nevertheless inspired many beautiful portraits. Nate Quillan carved around 1880 at Pointe Moulee, Michigan where he was a guide and hunting club manager for many years. The redhead was always one of Quillan's favorite birds. The redhead was most compelling for Quillan when it was resting, puffy and relaxed. It was at this time that its body became compact and unified in form, a perfect sculptor's model. His featherweight delicate eccentric redhead decoys are a balanced symphony of swells and light full forms. His carvings are finished off by the addition of tiny perfect bills and tails. Quillan created a redhead that blends reality and artistic vision with an impeccable sense of sculpture.

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Below: Courting redhead. This bird is raising his head to utter his courting call. (Photo, Paul J ohnsgard) Bottom: Eider Duck by Harrison Barry, Cross Island, Maine, circa 1900. (Collection of Julie Hall)

Above: High-head redhead by Zeke McDonald. (Collection of Jerry Catana)

In contrast, the alert, nervous redhead caught the imagination of carver Zeke McDonald. When the bird is watchful and looking for danger signals, it formed an image that McDonald translated into his distinctive lollypop headed decoy. Like much folk sculpture, the presence of this bird centers completely in the large oversized head and is trapped and magnified in its intense glass eye. Many carvers were under the impression that a decoy in a sleepy pose would soothe the wild birds into complacency, but for McDonald, the redhead as sentinel was the only bird worth carving.

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Finally, it is obvious that in the vocabulary of the portrait painter, the singularity of the subject matter was more finalized if a loved toy, book, or favorite chair was incorporated into the composition. This technique assured easier identification of the sitter and made each picture even more personal. The strange and humorous eider duck, for Harrison Barry of Monhegan Island, Maine, was most vividly characterized when it had its favorite food in its mouth. The eider duck is a sea diver, going down in the icy waters off Maine and Nova Scotia to hunt for his food. In order to insure his survival, the eider swallows whole mussels, shell and all. This Barry eider has just detached a large prize off some barnacle covered rock and is preparing to eat his dinner.

How much better could Barry have said "eider."

Decoys, like portrait paintings, depict the rich variety of life. The folk painters recorded the young and old, male and female, the common and the high-born. Decoy carvers left us their portraits of the stately swan and the humble coot, subtly colored canvasback hens, and dressy pintail drakes. The decoy maker carved his subject courting and playing, feeding and sleeping. Waterfowl carvers have created some of the best "portraits" in the world. Great decoys are imbued with all the personality and form that elevates the best art, be it on canvas, in wood, tin or stone, to the level of the masterpiece.

"Seeing" decoys is a challenge. The art in the decoy is elusive, subtle, mysterious, and easily lost in the dialogues that often destroy the art in many functional objects. Nonetheless, the more we look at decoys the more we see that this unique indigenous American art form is worthy of a place beside the great art from other ages and cultures. Our wooden bird portraits are coming into their own.

Tinsel Pictures Jean Krolik

Of the many examples of folk art produced in the home during the second half of the nineteenth century, the least well-known is the tinsel picture. Often an inquiry in a reasonably knowledgeable shop is answered by a look of total puzzlement. Books on early crafts tell much about samplers, theorems, and other home productions worthy of framing, but little about the tinsel picture.

Tinsel pictures are painted on the reverse side of the glass. A transparent or translucent color is used for the subject and the remainder of the background, which is most often black, sometimes white, and less frequently blue, is filled in with an opaque paint. Foil is then pressed behind the open or transparent spaces and a backing is applied. The foil scraps probably came from the wrappings of cigars or tobacco, or were carefully preserved from a package of imported tea or other precious commodity.

Flowers were most often selected as the subject of these pictures, varying from a single simple bloom to an elaborate bouquet in an even more elaborate container. Fruit was another popular subject, ranging from three bright red apples to a highly decorative assortment including a leafy pineapple in a formal bowl. Birds were occasionally depicted, but are much harder to find. They are usually quite gorgeous in outline and color, featuring gaudy parrots or peacocks with colorful tails.

Finding more than one picture made from an identical pattern causes speculation that these patterns may have been published at one time in a book or lady's magazine, similar to the patterns used in the stitchery of theorems and crewel work. They might even have been available in some sort of kit.

While tinsels were done to decorate the walls of the home primarily, some were clearly used to commemorate an event, similar to the frakturs of Pennsylvania. These examples have a photograph in the center, often encircled by a wreath.

The Tree of Life, representing a family, is another interesting motif in the fraktur style.

Continued on page 31

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The Museum Shop-Talk Elizabeth Tobin, Manager

26

Each issue of The Clarion will feature a list of books and catalogues on a selected subject as well as a description of a few of the things related to folk art available in The Museum Shop.

Inspired by The Clarion's cover illustration of the "Double Wedding Ring" quilt, this first book list concerns quilts and coverlets. The titles included emphasize historical development and design tradition rather than instructions in quilt-making or weaving. Each one is available from The Museum Shop. The books by Finley and Webster are reprints of earlier editions. Perhaps your mother or grandmother has a first edition of these books on her library shelf, but we have yet to see them in a bookstore other than ours.

Several books on this list were written by members of our Museum family. Bruce Johnson, our former director, was responsible for A Child's Comfort, Baby and Doll Quilts in American Folk Art which illustrates all of the quilts shown in a special exhibition at the Museum last winter. Three of the books carry the name of our director, Dr. Robert Bishop; one the name of our assistant director, Patricia Coblentz; three other authors well-known to us as members of the Museum are Jonathan Holstein, Patsy Orlofsky, and Phyllis Haders, who is a member of our Friends Committee.

For further reading on the article by Dr. Robert Bishop, "Edward Sands Frost and His Historic Hooked Rug Patterns," which appears in this issue, we have on our shelves The Descriptive Catalogue of E.S. Frost and Co.'s Hooked Rug Patterns from Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum (2.50).

Folk art enthusiasts continue to look to the publishing company of E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., for its ever-increasing number of folk art publications. The three books illustrated in their advertisement in this magazine, How to Know American Folk Art edited by Ruth Andrews (6.95);A Gallery of Amish Quilts by Robert Bishop and Elizabeth Safanda (cloth 17.50; softcover 9.95); and Pictorial Guide to American Antiques by Dorothy Hammond (8.95), can all be purchased from The Museum Shop.

From books to calendars—By August we will have the 1978 edition of The Quilt Engagement Calendar (5.95) with 58 full-color quilts selected by Cyril I. Nelson, a Museum Trustee. We still receive requests for the first of The Quilt Engagement Calendar series printed in 1975. We consider it The Museum Shop tradition to carry this quilt engagement calendar every year. Another calendar entitled Folk Quilts 13.50) illustrates twelve quilts, one for each month. Each quilt was originally seen in the special exhibition, "A Child's Comfort, Baby and Doll Quilts in American Folk Art." This calendar was especially designed and printed so that the illustrations on each page can be removed and used as a postcard.

Many of you have seen the postcards we publish of the Father Time, Chief Tammany,the chalkware cat, the gate, flag orange cat Smutt, and the Gabriel weathervane. We are now presenting two new postcard series-quilts and decoys1 2" printed for us by Morgan Press. There are twelve 6" x 7/ postcards in the quilt series and eight 51/2"x 8" postcards in the decoy series which includes ducks, geese, and shorebirds chosen from the Museum's permanent collection by Adele Earnest, a Trustee of the Museum and a well-known expert in the field of decoys. Each postcard carries a comprehensive description on the reverse. These quilt and decoy postcards would make welcome Christmas greetings for your collector friends in 1977. The postcards are available by mail in two sets-a series of 12 quilts (3.60) and a series of eight decoys (2.40), with a minimum order of two complete sets. Add 1.00 for postage and handling for two sets and .50 for each additional set.

Thank you for supporting The Museum Shop which in turn helps to support our Museum.

BOOKS AND CATALOGUES ON QUILTS AND COVERLETS Bishop, Robert and Safanda, Elizabeth. A Gallery of Amish Quilts. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1972.

Cloth 17.50, softcover 9.95. and Coblentz, Patricia. New Discoveries in American Quilts. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1975.

Cloth 17.95, softcover 9.95.

Finley, Ruth E. Old Patchwork Quilts. (reprint Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them. Philadelphia: J .B. Lippincott Co., 1929) Newton Centre, Mass.: Charles T. Branford Co., 1971. 8.50.

Haders, Phyllis. Sunshine and Shadow: The Amish and Their Quilts. Clinton, N.J.: The Main Street Press, 1976. 5.95.

Holstein, Jonathan. American Pieced Quilts. New York: The Viking Press, 1972. 5.95. . The Pieced Quilt: An American Tradition. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1973. 8.98.

Johnson, Bruce A. A Child's Comfort, Baby and Doll Quilts in American Folk Art. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977. Cloth 12.95, softcover 6.95.

Orlofsky, Patsy and Myron. Quilts in America. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974. 24.95.

Petersman, Sabra Horack. Nineteenth Century Coverlets. Los Angeles: Craft and Folk Art Museum, 1976. 1.25.

Safford, Carleton L. and Bishop, Robert. American Quilts and Coverlets. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1972. 8.95.

Sheldon, Gwen. Early American Handwoven Coverlets. Los Angeles: Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, 1976. 1.50.

Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. Quilts from Nebraska Collections. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska, 1974.

6.00.

Burnham, Harold and Dorothy K. Keep Me Warm One Night, Early Handweaving in Eastern Canada. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1972. 27.50.

Warren, William L. Bed Ruggs: 1722-1833. Hartford, Conn.: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1972. 7.50.

Webster, Marie D. Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them. (reprint Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them.

Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday Page and Company, 1915) Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1972. 11.00.

Carlisle, Lilian Baker. Quilts at Shelburne Museum. Shelburne, Vt.: Shelburne Museum Publication, 1957. 7.50.

White, Margaret A. Handwoven Coverlets in The Newark Museum. Newark: The Newark Museum, 1947. 2.00.

Colby, Averil. Patchwork Quilts. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975. 8.95. . Patchwork. (reprint Patchwork. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1958) Newton Centre, Mass.: Charles T. Branford, 1977. 18.50.

Cummings, Abbot Lowell. Bed Hangings. Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1961.

5.00.

Curtis, Philip H. American Quilts in the Newark Museum Collection. The Museum New Series Vol. 25, Nos. 3 and 4. Newark: Newark Museum, 1973. 3.00.

DeGraw, Imelda G. Quilts and Coverlets. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1974. 6.50.

When ordering books or calendars, please note the following: List individual items and add total.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Members of the Museum of American Folk Art may subtract 10% from the total.

Add 8% tax if order is mailed to New York City.

Add 7% if order is mailed elsewhere in New York State.

Add postage and handling charges as follows: 1.00 for a single item. .50 additional for a second item. .25 for each item over two.

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Edward Sands Frost and His Historic Hooked Rug Patterns Robert Bishop, Ph.D.

Edward Sands Frost, a Yankee peddler working out of Biddeford, Maine, watched his wife Ellen Frost make her first hooked rug in 1868. Nearly twenty years later he recalled the event, "...I noticed that she was using a very poor hook, so, being a machinist, I went to work and made the crooked hook ... which is still in vogue today."

"1 had 'caught the fever'... so every evening I worked on the rug until it was finished, and it was while thus engaged ... I told my wife I thought I could make a better design myself than that we were at work on ... 1 wrote my first design on paper and then put it on to the cloth and worked the flower and scroll already for the ground-work ..."

"I got orders for some twenty or more patterns like it within three days ...I put in my time evenings and stormy days sketching designs ... as the orders came in faster than 1 could fill them I began, Yankee-like to study some way to do them quicker. Then the first idea of stenciling presented itself to me." "...I went out to the stable where 1 had some old iron and some old wash boilers I had bought for their copper bottoms, took the old tin off of them and made my first stencil out of it ... I got there some old files, half flat and 28

half round ... and forged my tools to cut the stencils with. I made a cutting block out of old lead and zinc."

"I began making small stencils of single flowers, scrolls, leaves, buds, etc., each one on a small plate; then I could with a stencil brush print in ink in plain figures much faster than I could sketch ... I then had the art down fine enough to allow n'ie to fill all my orders, so I began to print patterns and put them in my peddler's cart and offer them for sale. The news of my invention of stamped rugs spread like magic ...

1 at once became known as Frost, the rug man ..."

I soon found that I could not print fast enough ...1 began to make a whole design on one plate ... till I had some fourteen different designs on hand, ranging from a yard long and a half yard wide to two yards long and a yard wide ..."

11 ... I failed to find a man who dared to invest a dollar in them; in fact, people did not know what they were for, and I had to go from house to house ...for I found the ladies knew what the patterns were for."

The patterns for these rugs were stenciled at Greenfield Village and worked by members of the Greenfield Village Craft Department.

(Photographs courtesy of Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum)

"... The question of how to print them in color so as to sell them at a profit seemed to be the point on which the success of the whole business hung ... in March 1870, one morning about two o'clock ... I seemed to hear a voice in my room say: 'Print your bright colors first and then the dark ones.' That settled it ... I sold my tin peddling business and hired a room in the building on Main Street just above the savings bank, where I began in the month of April (1870) to print patterns in colors ..."

Frost made the patterns full-size on the basic burlap and stamped the designs in color to guide the rug-hooker.

His sales covered all the "down east" region of the country— Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut—and extended into Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York as well. In his travels through the countryside, the alert peddler noted the many colorful and

thoughtfully designed rugs hooked by farm women. He acquired the best examples through outright purchase or trade and used them as the basis for his many stencils.

Research indicates that Edward Sands Frost was the first person to produce hooked rug patterns on a multiple, if not a mass, basis. By 1876, he had created over 750 zinc stencils that could be used to create some 180 different designs and had been awarded medals from both the Mechanics Institute and the American Institute for the excellence of the designs.

Born in Lyman, Maine, on January 1, 1843, Edward Sands Frost was a true New England Yankee. He became a machinist after completing his education in local schools.

Later he joined the Union Army, but was mustered out in 1863, because of poor health. Following his discharge, he settled down with his wife in Biddeford, Maine.

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He purchased a wagon and a team and turned to peddling on the open road. A friend, recalling the cart, described it as being stocked with tinware, rugs, rug patterns, calico, and "everything imaginable."

In 1876 his health again failed. He sold his stencils to James A. Strout, Mayor of Biddeford, and left the rigorous New England weather for the more gentle climate of Pasadena, California.

Using the name E.S. Frost & Company, Mayor Strout continued the business until around 1900. By 1902 the Frost enterprise seems to have withered away. Fortunately, the zinc stencils were stored rather than destroyed. Between 1910 and 1920 the Newbury Yarn Company of Newburyport, Massachusetts, offered a line of Frost hooked rug patterns made from the original stencils. In the mid-1930s the Frost stencils were purchased by Charlotte K. Stratton of Greenfield, Massachusetts, who recatalogued the entire group and published every complete pattern.

Capitalizing on Frost's success, several imitators, including Pond and Company of Maine and E. Ross & Co. of Ohio, started businesses in the 1880s. Pond advertised nationally in the home economy periodicals of the 1880s and 1890s and his hooked rug patterns were purchased in every state of the country. In 1889 the Ross firm issued a complete catalogue of their patterns which were printed or stenciled on the

basic hooking foundation. Their sales activity seems to have centered in the area west of the Allegheny Mountains. Many of the patterns marketed by E. Ross & Co. are identical to those created by Frost; others are a combination of Frost's design elements. Unless a rug is signed, it is impossible to be certain if the stencil was produced by E.S. Frost of Maine or E. Ross of Ohio.

An original Ross catalogue is included in the Carl Drepperd Collection of Early American Business Records in the Robert Hudson Tannahill Research Library at Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan. Nearly all of the Frost patterns illustrated here are also included in the Ross catalogue.

The art of rughooking seems to have been practiced only rarely in the eighteenth century. A comparable method is reputed to have been used in the seventeenth century, but the majority of "old" hooked rugs date after 1890. Collectors should remember that old hooked rugs are not rugged floor coverings.

Patterns for rugs featuring the Frost designs are still available. Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum purchased the historic Frost stencils from Charlotte K. Stratton in 1958 and craftsmen there recreate the Frost designs for modern-day rug-hookers. A descriptive catalogue illustrating over 160 patterns is available for $2.50 from the bookshop at the Museum of American Folk Art.

Nelson continued from page 17 Left: Pieced quilt. Maine. 1880-1890. 871 / 2" x 82-3/4". Tiny white anchors printed on the blue fabric emphasize the nautical design of this quilt which was inspired by a mariner's compass.

his personal taste and choices were apt to be on the conservative side. "There is," he said, "a lot of art I find fascinating, but I wouldn't want to live with it." If there is any one word to describe the kind of folk art Cy Nelson collects, it is "livable." It is art you can live with comfortably yet find continually stimulating and interesting because of the quality and intriguing details of each piece, both in the paintings and the quilts.

All kinds of experiences go into the shaping of one's esthetics. Cy also revealed that he had been "raised with American antiques, in my parents' home in New Jersey, and our summer home in Maine, which has been in the family for over fifty years." One either rebels against tradition or— as Cy seems to have done—amalgamates it into more modern concepts.

Cy claims to be a born collector, but his "disease" (as he put it) didn't really begin to take over until he was out of college and in publishing. He had done some research on William Butler Yeats and, in 1948,found a small Yeats volume 30

he had been looking for. It cost all of $3, he remarked, and in the search for it, he had found even more fabulous things— which is part of the excitement of collecting.

When I asked him how much of his art collection he had discovered himself or if he did much scouting around, he indicated, "The unfortunate thing about working for a living is that it doesn't leave you with enough time to do the personal hunting and searching that makes collecting so intriguing and challenging." So these days, while he does some exploring at the antique shows and an occasional flea market, he chiefly relies on dealers to alert him to something special. But, he said,

it's not just lack of time that prevents him from going overboard in collecting, it's lack of space as well. Walls and rooms can hold only so much.

Quilts, four of which are included in the pledge to the Museum, are a special interest, the predictable consequence of his work with the quilt books, and reflected in the beautiful and popular quilt calendars he has produced.

Cy Nelson's gift is a kick-off, for it is his hope that many others will wish to donate significant artworks to the permanent collection of the Museum of American Folk Art.

Tinsel Pictures continued from page 25

The original framing of tinsels also adds to their charm.

Frames vary from curly maple and simple pine to fine old gilt. It is best to leave the tinsels in these frames unless repairs are absolutely mandatory, for old paint should not be disturbed. When they must be taken apart, there is added interest in what may be found behind the wooden backing—the old newspapers, scraps of calico or other materials, as well as the carefully applied bits of tinsel.

Tinsels were done in countries other than America.

In England, popular actors and actresses were portrayed in this manner, their costumes bright with tinsel trim. Religiously-inspired pictures have been found in Spain and an

example from India shows a goddess with foil gleaming behind the bracelets on her arms and her wide girdle.

Though tinsel pictures were never too numerous, they are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Just as with other antique treasures, they are breakable. Once the glass of a tinsel picture is shattered, the picture is gone. However, the qualities that first delighted collectors—the varied and charming techniques of this folk art, their color and their simplicity—exist in each picture discovered today.

(All of the works of art used for illustrations for this article are promised gifts to the Museum of American Folk Art from Mr. and Mrs. Day Krolik)

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James and John Bard Ship Painters ofthe Hudson River Jean Lipman

S.S. America by lames Bard (1815-1897), New York, 1852. Oil on canvas.

(Collection of Albany Institute of Art and History, Albany, New York)

The great majority of nineteenth-century American folk artists worked as portrait painters. But quite a few talented self-taught artists painted "portraits" of houses and farms and ships. The most prolific and notable marine painters of their time were the twin brothers James and John Bard of New York City, who immortalized the early Hudson River steamboats and the Hudson River highlands as viewed from the handsome speeding ships.

John (1815-1856) and James (1815-1897) were said— according to an obituary article published in the April 1, 1897, issue of Seaboard magazine—to have made drawings and paintings of about 4000 ships built at or around the port of New York. About 400 of these have survived and been recorded. The obituary article for James Bard is an important document as it is the only contemporary biographical account and critical comment we have on the Bards. It reads, in part: 32

"Mr. James Bard, the last of New York's oldtime marine artists, died at his home in White Plains, N.Y., on Friday last, March 26, in his 82nd year ... Mr. Bard was born in 1815, in a little house overlooking the Hudson, in what was then the suburban village of Chelsea; his early home stood on the land which is now bounded by 20th and 21st streets, and 9th and 10th avenues, New York City. His twin brother, John, died in 1856 ... Mr. Bard made his first painting in 1827, finishing in that year a picture of the Bellona, the first steamboat owned by Commodore Vanderbilt, with whom he was well acquainted. From 1827 to within a few years of his death Mr. Bard made drawings of almost every steamer that was built at or owned around the port of New York, the total number of these productions being about 4,000. Probably Mr. Bard was without a parallel in the faithfulness of delineation in his drawings of vessels. His methods of work, the

minuteness of detail, and the absolute truthfulness of every part of a steamboat which characterized his productions, cannot but cause wonder in these days of rapid work. His pictures were always side views, and this often made faulty perspective, yet a Bard picture will ever be held in esteem for its correctness and the beauty of drawing.

"Living during the time of the days when shipbuilding at this port was the greatest of any in the country, and when myriads of beautiful river, sound and ocean craft were turned out every month, Mr. Bard with his talent, had opportunities of becoming acquainted with all the leading shipbuilders and vessel owners in the days before the [Civil War]. He knew them all, and was held in high regard by them, and shipbuilders have said that they could lay down the plans of a boat from one of his pictures, so correct were they in their proportions. Before making his drawing, Mr. Bard would measure the boat to be pictured from end to end, and not a panel, stanchion or other part of the vessel, distinguishable from the outside, was omitted; each portion was measured and drawn to scale.

"His life work is finished, and the world is richer for it.

Were it not for the pictures to be found here and there—and now fast disappearing—we would not know what beautiful specimens of steam vessel architecture our forefathers were capable of turning out. No one in his time compared with James Bard in the matter of making drawings of vessels, and his name will ever be associated with the lists of artists of this country who make a speciality of painting pictures of vessels.

In this art he was the father of them all."

What interests us now is not the "correctness" of the Bard paintings, but their splendid perfectionist style. James Bard's ship paintings are, indeed, so closely related to mechanical drawing that it has been thought that he might have been a shipyard draftsman; he certainly visited the shipyards where the vessels he painted were constructed, and the dates of many of the paintings coincide with the year the ships were built.

However, it is significant to note that he did not copy specific plans or adhere to a constant scale for his paintings. He made accurate notes for the sizes of every part of the ships to be portrayed, but he didn't hesitate to depart from these meas-

Left: Princeton by James Bard. Watercolor, gouache, pencil on paper. (Collection of Dietrich Corporation, Reading, Pennsylvania)

Left: Steamboat Utica by James(1815-1897) and John (1815-1856) Bard, New York.

Gouache on paper. (Collection of The NewYork Historical Society)

33

urements if it suited his design to do so. Notes on his drawing of the ferry lay Gould, built in 1868, read: "This side house is short by 6 ft. as the Extra Window is not made which is 16th one ... There is 6 ft. more room wanting for the name place or 6 ft. more distance between the windows where the name is ... The smoke pipe is not in the right place as it is 24 ft. from its Center to the Center of Beam Frame ... the other parts of the draft of Cabin stair House is right and so is the Steam Pipe and wistle also right yet I will show the pipe so as to draft on the Canvasses."

The Bard drawings and watercolors are of relatively minor importance; the large oils (30 x 50 inches is typical) are among the most remarkable and appealing folk paintings that exist, in a class by themselves as a great series of ship portraits. It should be noted here that early works are signed by both brothers—"J. & J. Bard"—but the later large oils are all signed by James, and include not only the date but often, obviously for practical business reasons, his complete address as well. Bard paintings, moreover, present no stylistic problems for attribution. Striking elements of the Bard technique and style add up to easy identification. The exact profiling of the white vessel, the filigree of colorful detail, the stylized waves and effervescent spray of bubbly water at the paddle wheel and at the bow as the ship cleaves the clear water, the stiff little tophatted passengers shown in sharp silhouette in their black frock coats, the oversized banner carrying in bold letters the name of the boat, and the typical Hudson River scenery as background, sometimes dotted with little two-dimensional houses, with tiny sailing craft near the shoreline—all these add up to unique composite scenes. Naive indeed, with a frank avoidance of complex perspective, these paintings can compete in interest with the work of the most accomplished twentiethcentury "precisionist" and "photo-realist" painters.

The subject matter of the Bard works, important as it is, seems only a point of departure for the Bard style. The paintings, as we view them today, are striking compositions in line and color, invariably related more closely to the artists' personal image of a ship than to the actual model. It is merely necessary to compare any academic marine painting of the time with one by James Bard to appreciate his unsophisticated, reductive approach. The binding agent in the Bard painting—as for any primitive scene—is design rather than a realistically consistent perspective or enveloping atmosphere, 34

both of which are notably missing in folk art. The omission of aerial perspective made way for the brilliant clarity of the best folk paintings, while emphatic personal design in place of our familiar academic perspective and optically realistic rendering accounts in large measure for their special originality.

Nineteenth-century folk art was first appreciated by the twentieth-century artists who valued personal style above traditional academic taste. Today the Bard paintings should be of particular interest to the new generation of realist painters who interpret what they see (actually photograph their models) in altered terms of personal, precisionist compositions.

Their deliberate approach to clarifying the complex content of their subject matter does not appear, in the final result, to be fundamentally different from the unself-conscious simplification that makes the Bard paintings so fresh and fascinating.

The excellence of the Bard works obviously results from the clarity, energy, and coherence of the artists' vision rather than from the interest inherent in the subject as such. The Bards' instinctive sense of color and design when transposing their accurately noted details onto a canvas is what makes these pictures outstanding works of art.

James Bard, the major partner in the two-man marine art firm, painted ships from the age of 12 (if the date in the obituary article is correct) into his mid-70s, with no diminution of quality in the later years. The last known works were made in 1890, and one of them, a fine crisp portrait of the steamer Saugerties, is signed simply, but with pride, "J. Bard, N.Y. 1890,75 years."

Bard paintings combine delicacy and strength, clarity and verve. They are not realistic in an academic, visual sense; they are super-real, with more details, shown more sharply, than could be seen at any one time. The Bard ship paintings are meticulous studio works, not paintings done on site from life. They combine all the bits that especially interested the painters—and their clients—in the most dramatic way possible, always focusing on the bright swift ship that was the pride of its owner, builder, and captain; and the pride of the painter.

The special exhibition, "Land J. Bard: Picture Painters," is being shown at the Hudson River Museum, Trevor Park-onHudson, Yonkers, New York, and will run through September 11, 1977. Over 65 important works of art, including drawings, watercolors, and oil paintings, will be on display.

A Folk Art Calendar Across the Country

Currently THE STEWART E. GREGORY MEMORIAL PARLOR. A permanent exhibition of furnishings from the period 1750 to 1800. The Wilton Heritage Museum (Fitch House), The Wilton Historical Society, Wilton, Connecticut.

Currently—July 31,1977 TRAMP ART. Traveling exhibition sponsored by the Museum of American Folk Art, New York City. Lufkin Historical and Creative Arts Center, Lufkin, Texas.

July 1977 MICHIGAN FOLK ART: ITS BEGINNINGS TO 1941. Traveling exhibition sponsored by The Museum, Michigan State University and the Michigan Department of State, Michigan Historical Museum, Lansing, Michigan. Museum of Arts and History, Port Huron, Michigan.

July 3—July 16 THIRTIETH ANNUAL SEMINAR ON AMERICAN CULTURE. New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, New York.

Currently—July 31,1977 MISSING PIECES, GEORGIA FOLK ART, 1770-1976. Traveling exhibition sponsored by the Georgia Council for the Arts and Humanities, Atlanta, Georgia. Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Georgia.

July 7—August 26,1977 ZEDEKIAH BELKNAP. Traveling exhibition sponsored by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Williamsburg, Virginia. New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

Currently—September 5,1977 EVIDENCE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT: SCHOOLGIRL ART IN EARLY 19TH CENTURY NEW ENGLAND and YOUNG WOMEN IN NEW ENGLAND: 1800-1845. Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts.

July 26-30,1977 I LOVE OLD THINGS. Traveling seminar sponsored by the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and Advances in Instruction. Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York.

Currently—September 11,1977 J. AND J. BARD: PICTURE PAINTERS. The Hudson River Museum, Trevor Park-on-Hudson, Yonkers, New York.

Currently—September 26,1977 OHIO AMISH QUILTS from the Collection of Darwin Bearley. Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, Massachusetts.

Currently—December 4,1977 MAKING FACES: ASPECTS OF AMERICAN PORTRAITURE. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Williamsburg, Virginia.

Currently—Spring 1978 DIAS DE MAS, DIAS DE MENOS (DAYS OF PLENTY, DAYS OF WANT). An exhibition of objects made by the Spanish in New Mexico.

Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

August 1977 MICHIGAN FOLK ART: ITS BEGINNINGS TO 1941. Traveling exhibition. Ella Sharp Museum, Jackson, Michigan.

August 15—September 25,1977 TRAMP ART. Traveling exhibition. The Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, California.

September—October 1977 MISSING PIECES, GEORGIA FOLK ART, 1770-1976. Traveling exhibition. The Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts, Columbus, Georgia.

September 17—October 31,1977 ZEDEKIAH BELKNAP. Traveling exhibition.

Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts.

35

JOHN dIACQUELINE SIDELI AMERI

N DECORATIVE ARTS

ROUTE 66 MALDEN BRIDGE, N.Y. 11215 PHONE 518-766-3547 APPOINTMENT ADVISED

PAIR CAST IRON HORSE HEADS. CIRCA 1850.

HEIGHT 15 INCHES.

PIECED AND APPLIQUED QUILT FIRST QUARTER 19th CENTURY SIZE 108 X 20 inches

FELT RUG THIRD QUARTER 19th CENTURY

Beyond Necessity Art in the Folk Tradition Elaine Eff National Endowmentfor the Humanities Intern, Winterthur Museum

Watchstand. Painted tulipwood. Nineteenth century.

(Collection of H.F. duPont Winterthur Museum)

The Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware, will present a portion of its extensive but little known collection of American Folk Art at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania,from September 17 through November 16,1977. The exhibition, made possible by grants from the Delaware State Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts in an effort to make museum collections more widely available to the public, will feature 225 objects selected over a 50-year period by H. F. duPont before his death in 1969. The Winterthur Museum, known for its outstanding examples of American decorative arts dating between 1650 and 1850 displayed in 200 period settings, will highlight these overlooked treasures in the special exhibition "Beyond Necessity: Art in the Folk Tradition."

For the first time in a major folk art exhibition, emphasis will be placed on functional and sociological contexts in

which the objects originated in an attempt to give them meaning beyond their superficial attributes. A 120-page catalogue with an essay by art historian Kenneth Ames will be available in September. A 3-day conference, November 10-12, featuring panels with folklorists, art historians, anthropologists, and museum professionals will further examine the folk art phenomenon, its history, its present state, and future.

The exhibition, designed by Vincent Ciulla, and conference are being coordinated by National Endowment for the Humanities Intern Elaine Eff with Winterthur Curator Donald Fennimore and Brandywine River Museum Curators Anne Mayer and Joan Gorman.

Museum of American Folk Art members and Friends will want to set aside Saturday, September 24, for a special Museum-sponsored trip to the Brandywine Museum to visit the exhibition. For more information about this trip, please contact the Museum of American Folk Art office.

37

". .. A SPECIAL ART FROM A SPECIAL PEOPLE."*

A GALLERY OF

AMISH QUILTS ROBERT BISHOP and ELIZABETH SAFANDA "The first book to be devoted to serious study of the Amish quilt, this work defines the nature of Amish expression."—The American Art Journal

"More than a book of pretty pictures, this collection gives insight into an unusual way of life that persists in the modern world."—Birmingham News

"A rainbow of adventure. . . .

This isn't just a book for quilt lovers . . . it is a book for anyone who appreciates beauty in anything—be it an oil painting or a sunset." —The Antiquarian

"A deep appreciation and doubtless compelling desire to own, to touch, to enjoy a quilt from the Amish needle will be the most likely result of reading this very special volume."—Antique Monthly*

153 color plates, 15 halftones, 81/2" x 11".

The boldly colored Amish quilts made in Pennsylvania—particularly Lancaster County—and in the Amish communities of Ohio and Indiana have become much sought after by collectors because the simplicity of their designs and most unusual color combinations appeal strongly to modern taste. This book, the first to be published on the subject, shows over 100 of these quilts in color,together with splendid photographs of the Amish people.

$17.50 cloth

$9.95, paper 1-\

125 YEARS 0) U I

I UINJ

201 Park Avenue South, N.Y., N.Y. 10003

HOW TO KNOW AMERICAN FOLK ART Edited by Ruth Andrews

ICq014r MERICAN AFOLK Aft,11 the A.pects of

Edited by

Field

Andrews

Oiseuiss perts

This beautifully illustrated volume celebrates the great expressive power and high aesthetic quality of American folk art.

Eleven of the most distinguished authorities in the field demonstrate the substance and purpose of folk art and explain its development from Colonial times to the twentieth century. Chapters include "Early New England Gravestones," "The Wildfowl Decoy,""Redware and Stoneware Folk Pottery," "Folk Art of Spanish New Mexico," "American Folk Painting," "American Country Furniture," "American Quilts," "Pennsylvania German Folk Art," "American Folk Sculpture," and "American Folk Art in the Twentieth Century."

Ruth

122 halftones and 32 color plates, S6.95

)201 Park Avenue South, N.Y., N.Y. 10003

( 125 YEARS r)1J —rUwoN

The Long-Awaited Price Guide for Antiques Dealers and Collectors

PICTORIAL PRICE GUIDE TO AMERICAN ANTIQUES and Objects Made for the American Market OVER 5000 OBJECTS IN 300 CATEGORIES ILLUSTRATED AND PRICED

Dorothy Hammond

GUIDE PICTORIAL PRICE ANTIQUES AMERICAN American Market TO Objects Mode for the

CATEGORIES and IN 300 OBJECTS PRICED OVER 5000 ILLUSTRATED AND HOMMOnd Dorothy

224 pages, index, 81 / 4"x 107 / 8" oversize format, $8.95 paperbound

More than 300 categories of American antiques are covered in this essential guide,which pictures more than 5000 objects in 1000 group photographs.

Each entry is keyed to dealer or auction price, the year sold,and the location or state. Judge the fair prices of glass, furniture, toys, tools, weathervanes— and everything else found in antiques shops and attics.

125 YEARS

(hi rr-rnnn .11-1‘-'1 " 11.1

201 Park Avenue South, N.Y., N.Y. 10003

Living with--A fine Amish quiltis a work of art, disciplined in design, with a distinct and rare sense of color. Each a momentin time. These textile paintings were made for living with.

Fine pieced, applique, and Amish quilts, circa 1840-1930.

lam interested in purchasing folk art, cradle and trundle quilts.

PHYLLIS HADERS By appointment Mail address: 136 East64 Street, New York, N.Y. 10021 (212)832-8181

Early-nineteenth century theoremfrom New England.

Robert E. innaipan Brian A.Ramaekers 1510 MARSHALL STREET, HOUSTON, TEXAS 77006 TELEPHONE (713) 526-0095 APPOINTMENT SUGGESTED

Commercial and Industrial Products and Services for Safety, Security and Protection

AI>

SILENT WATCHMAN速 THE SILENT WATCHMAN CORPORATION 4861 McGAW ROAD, COLUMBUS, OHIO 43207 (614)491-5200

"MAMMIES BENCH" or Rocking Settee Conn. C. 1800 Pine, painted black and has original gold stenciling.

48" long " wide 2 1 14/

This Windsor Back Mammies Bench is completely original with no restoration and is the only LEFT HANDED MAMMIES BENCH that we know of.

A later model—c. 1830 with arrow back—can be seen at the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan or in "America's Folk Art." Treasures of American Folk Arts and Crafts in Distinguished Museums and Collections written in 1968 by Country Beautiful Foundation Inc. Waukesh, Wisconsin Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, N.Y.

JILL OF STORY HILL ANTIQUES Jill and Edward Abrahams 760 Madison Avenue (at 65th Street) New York, New York 10021 (212) 988-1040

From the collection of outstanding crib quilts

AAAAAAA "Princess Feather" applique, crib quilt.

Size 50 X 50 inches; Penna. Dated 1860.

Rust and Green on white with red border; Very good condition.

"Checkerboard" Amish crib quilt. Ohio, c. 1920; Size 38 X 46 inches; Bright Red & Blue. Excellent condition.

NONESUCH, ART AND ANTIQUES By appointment only.

575 N. Saltair Avenue Los Angeles, California 90027

Jay Johnson's America's Folk Heritage Gallery 213 W. 22 St., New York City (212) 255-7726 By appointment only or

Phoenix Antiques Closter Road Palisades, New York (914) EL9-2692 Open Friday-Sunday 12 noon-5:00 P.M.

Above: Giraffe and Pair of dogs by Carl Wesenberg

Above: Eagles by Julius J. Skroderis

Above: Ship models of the Revolutionary War schooner Hannah by J. 0. J. Frost. From the artist's estate.

ur shop in Sheffield is now open!

Plan to visit us soon and see all our latest acquisitions.

mama anderson 1 ,1111111101.1111 1111 RIOMM I

11111111 /11111111111

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(212)624-5647

by appointment only

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GOODseHlITCHINSON A

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7iZOCia T IQU ARIAN

Shop: Route No. 7, (on the Green), Sheffield, Mass. 01257 (413) 229-8832 Office: Tolland, Mass. 01034 (413) 258-4555

american folk sculpture

Applique Quill, Pennsylvania, c. 1890.

Fine sheep weathervane;copper body and zinc head.

Original gilding with verdigris, circa 1870. 30" x 23".

edmund I. fuller woodstock, n.y. 12498

by appt.

We buy textile folk art, including QUILTS, HOOKED RUGS, SAMPLERS, RAG DOLLS AND ANIMALS. Photographs promptly returned.

JOEL and KATE KOPP

(914) 679-8696

316 EAST 70th St

NEW YORK,10021

M 535-1930

*

kredy Games 18th & 19th Century Americana

Edward Hicks (1780-1849) "Peaceable Kingdom" 1830, oil on canvas 17% x 24 inches

kinedy Galleries 40 West 57th Street, 5th Floor New York 10019(212)541-9600 Open Monday-Friday 9:30-5:30

This important American painting is an example of the high quality of American art that Kennedy Galleries sells to museums and collectors throughout the world. Your inquiries are invited about our collection of 18th, 19th & 20th Century American paintings, watercolors, drawings and sculpture.

American Primitive and Country Furniture and Accessories for the Collector and Dealer

Mary Strickler's Quilt 936 B. Street, San Rafael, California 94901 15 Minutes North of San Francisco (415) 456-7394

UNDERGROUND ANTIQUES 159 Prince Street Soho New York, New York Thurs.-Sun. 1-6 pm or By Appointment (212) 260-6513 • (212)260-6964 (evenings)

AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF FINE ANTIQUE QUILTS, INCLUDING EARLY AMISH QUILTS. AMERICAN FOLK ART, INCLUDING BASKETS AND HOOKED RUGS.

FINE AMERICAN ANTIQUES 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY

FURNITURE • PAINTINGS • FOLK ART

VILLAGE SQUARE • 115 MASON STREET GREENWICH • CONNECTICUT06830 (203)869-9650-51

S AKLR

QUALE11

MR NII SEl MS t, CIILLEGFORS

Antique Patchwork Quilts and American Folk Art Purchases and Sales MARCIA SPARK POST OFFICE BOX 6722 TUCSON, ARIZONA 85733 (602) 793-8714

ottipt '•-•°'-',9 4w •A-•„f

44/•

CRAZY QUILT CAT NOTEPAPER (BELOW) PACKETS OF 10 $3.00 POSTPAID WHOLESALE PRICES AVAILABLE

...

Dealers in Shaker is& for Museums''\1 and Collectors..

Appraisers.

•

,,4 l 11 pek Ami USW 111.

1977 QUILT SHOP DIRECTORY $3.00 POSTPAID

•

R.D. Box 226, Chatham, New York 12037 518-392-9654

For the best in Shaker, plan a visit to our Shaker Gallery.

Appointment necessary.

COLLECTORS RESEARCHING AND SHARING THEIR INTEREST IN AMERICAN POTTERY

POTTERY COLLECTORS NEWSLETTER The Pottery Collectors Newsletter is printed so that collectors may share their interests, increase their knowledge and improve their collections. The newsletter is researching America's ceramic hen age and keeping collectors informed on the ceramic ware produced today.

If you are interested in Indian pottery, early earthenware, stoneware. art pottery. production line pottery, present studio pottery, utility ware . .. ANYTHING IN CERAMICS . .. you should subscribe to P. C. N. Subscription rate for one year $7.50 for bulk mail $9.50 for first class mail

With Binder $10.00 $12.00

Red, blue or green binders available.

(3 ring)

The newsletter is printed 10 times each year

EACH VOLUME

IS INDEXED

IN OUR SIXTH YEAR: POST OFFICE BOX 446 ASHEVILLE. NORTH CAROLINA 28802

Feathered Stars, c. 1875, Pennsylvania, 80" X 60".

KELTER-MALCE ANTIQUES Folk Art and Quilts 361 Bleecker Street New York, N.Y. 10014 (212) 989-6760 Summer hours: 12-8 Tuesday through Friday

Marvelous double portrait, carved pine with the original polychrome surface; New England, c. 1840.

In original untouched state.

15 X 14 inches.

vt3R NITURE•Amt

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0...

TILLOU GALLERY„,..,I' .1.

PROSPECT STREET 42, ,t

,> •.+) •-iie

LITCHFIELD, CONN. 06759

."

T• ,..1‘ . c-,, S° •PETER H.TILLO•,.

CODE 203 • JO 7-5706

II PHOTOGRAPHY

An""lh

JANOS AND ROSS ow0000soolospoowooppoow

Color or B&W

Specialist In •Paintings •Antiques •Catalogues

•Sculptures •Interiors •Postcards ROMAN STRIPE Amish, Ohio, c. 1910, size 69" X 85".

Black sateen field. Royal blue small border. Multicolored cotton, silk, sateen stripes. Superb quilt in mint condition.

All photographs are made on location unless otherwise specified.

By appointment ONLY

NOEL ALLUM (212) 582-5236

thai1L5 rue

SPECIALIZING IN EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY ANTIQUE AMISH/MENNONITE QUILTS. Large selection always in stock where sophisticated designs and superb craftsmanship combine to create the ultimate in contemporary imagery. Also carry Folk Art. Come and see us. Mail and phone inquiries welcomed.

Large S.A.S.E. plus $1.00 for list.

BARBARA S. JAN OS BARBARA ROSS

By Appointment Only

353 East 83rd Street (9B) New York, New York 10028 (212)988-0407

AN NUNZIATA ANTIQUES

30Stin0 Lilen DAWest%erAnticres we[come, Jonah and the Whale c. 1870 Dimensions: L=141/2" X W=8"

lat-BisLop tofke Museum of(Amer'catrokkrt

Specializing in PRIMITIVES FOLK ART COUNTRY FURNITURE 269 West fourth Street (at Perry) New York 10014 929-3697

Daily 2-8 pm Closed Sun. & Mon.

A Morning Stroll in Rhode Island Mid-19th Century—Artist unknown.

4in.

3 4x23/ 3 Oil on canvas 17/

Stephen Gemberling 24 East 81st Street, New York, N.Y. 10028 737-2972 Hours: Wed.—Sat.: 10-5:30, and by appointment

DROSSOS P. SKYLAS

Summer Hours beginning June IS, Tues. - Fri., 10- 5:30

JUNE, 1977 PHYLLIS KIND GALLERY 139 SPRING/NEW YORK 10012

Index to Advertisers Allum, Noel America Hurrah America's Folk Heritage Gallery Anderson, Mama Annunziata Antiques Cole, Gary C. Daniel, Allan L., American Antiques Dutton & Co., Inc., E. P. Fuller, Edmund L. Gemberling, Stephen Good & Hutchinson Associates Antiquarians Greenwillow Farm, Ltd. Haders, Phyllis Hill, Timothy and Pamela, American Antiques I Love Old Things Janos, Barbara S., and Ross, Barbara, Antique Amish Quilts Jill of Story Hill Antiques Kelter-Malce Antiques Kennedy Galleries

Kind Gallery, Phyllis Kinnaman, Robert E. and Ramaekers, Brian, American Antiques Kronen Gallery Mary Strickler's Quilt Newcomer, John C. Nonesuch, Art and Antiques Pottery Collectors Newsletter Schoellkopf, George E. Schorsch, Inc., M. Sideli, John and Jacqueline Silent Watchman Silver Spring Farm Antiques Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc. Spark, Marcia Tillou Gallery, Inc. Underground Antiques West River Antiques Woodard, Thos. K.

Theorem On Velvet—Artist Unknown, 19th Century 83/4"x 103 / 4" Exhibited At: "The Cat In American Folk Art" Museum Of American Folk Art N.Y.C. 1976 See Plate 5 "American Cat-alogue"

JUDY LENETT SILVER SPRING FARM ANTIQUES Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877 203-438-7713

By Appointment Only