THE CLARION AMERICA'S FOLK ART MAGAZINE The Museum of American Folk Art New York City WINTER 1986
KELTER-MALCE 361 Bleecker Street / New York City 10014 212-989-6760 IN•GREENWICH•VILLAGE
RARE AMISH QUILTS From our collection of over fifty Amish quilts— the unusual, the startling—for the collector or corporate space.
We are always interested in purchasing exceptional quilts and textiles.
17 East 96th Street, New York, New York 10128.(212)348-5219 BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
"Portrait of Emma A\ tria FrctIcif'
Portrait of Emma Maria French, by J. Bradley, painted in New York City, circa 1840, will be included in an auction of American Folk Art on Saturday. February 1. For catalogues and information, please contact Nancy Druckman at (212)606-7225. Sotheby's, 1334 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021.
SOTHEBY'S FOUNDED FM
Janet Fleisher GALLERY 211 South 17th Street PHILADELPHIA 1 9 1 0 3 215 • 545 • 7562
Alligator with Lovers enamel on masonite 36" x 48"
William Hawkins Recent Paintings/Painted Constructions February 1 •March 1
1986
Second Floor Gallery: West African Painted Barbershop Signs
Ceramic bottle and jug decorated as possible grave markers. See: The Afro-American Tradition ofDecorative Arts, Vlach, pgs. 138-145.
Five gallon storage jar by Thomas Chandler of Edgefield, South Carolina. Celedon glaze with dark loops, impress marked CHANDLER MAKER. See: Carolina Folk: The Cradle ofa Southern Tradition, McKissick Museum, pgs. 4-5.
DE/INNEIIHSON
AMERE11.1.7.ANTIQUES' 1933 Peachtree Road, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30309,(404) 355-0106 Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
4
T.S.JOHNSON
"FAMILY IN THE FRONT YARD" oil on canvas 20x24 inches signed: lower right dated: January 1880
R.H.LOVE
106 EAST OHIO ST., CHICAGO, IL 60611 312/664-9620
BLANCHE GREENSTEIN
THOS K WOODARD
Queen Anne drop-leaf table. Eastern Massachusetts or Rhode Island, circa 1720-1740. Height 28/ 3 4'; width 44" x 45:15" with leaves dropped. A superb example of the early painted Queen Anne table in style,form,size,surface,condition,and authenticity.
WOODARD WEAVE Classic American Woven Rugs Catalog $5.00. We are always interested in purchasing exceptional quilts, collections or individual pieces. Mail or telephone inquiries invited. Photos returned promptly. 835 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10021(BETWEEN 69TH AND 70TH STREETS)TELEPHONE(212)988-2906
THE CLARION
Cover: Trade Sign: Man on a Bicycle (Detail); Amidee Thibault; St. Albans, VT; 1895; Wood, highwheeled Columbia bicycle;84 x 66 x 43"; Gift of David L. Davies, Museum of American Folk Art. The Clarion is published three times a year by the Museum of American Folk Art, 55 West 53rd St., New York, NY 10019;(212) 581-2474. Annual subscription rate for MAFA members is included in membership dues. Copies are mailed to all members. Single copy $4.50. The Clarion. America's Folk Art Magazine. WINTER 1986 Published and copyright 1986 by the Museum of American Folk Art. 55 West 53rd Street, New York, New York 10019. The cover and contents of The Clarion are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Museum of American Folk Art. Unsolicited manuscripts or photographs should be accompanied by return postage. The Clarion assumes no responsibility for the loss or damage of such materials.
CONTENTS
ANIMAL CARVERS OF NEW MEXICO
AMMI PHILLIPS
WINTER 1986
by Elizabeth Wecter
22
by Mary Black
32
by Nancy Jo Fox
38
By Carl Palusci
48
by Michael A. Hall
56
The Country Painter's Method
LIBERTIES WITH LIBERTY The Changing of an American Symbol
BRICK-END BARNS A Folk Architectural Form Rediscovered
Change of Address Please send both old and new addresses and allow five weeks for change.
THE PROBLEM OF MARTIN RAMIREZ
Advertising The Clarion accepts advertisements only from advertisers whose reputation is recognized in the trade, but despite the care with which the advertising department screens photographs and texts submitted by its advertisers, it cannot guarantee the unquestionable authenticity of objects of quality or services advertised in its pages or offered for sale by its advertisers, nor can it accept responsibility for misunderstandings that may arise from the purchase or sale of objects or services advertised in its pages.
Letter from the Director
17
Current Major Donors
18
Museum News
64
Membership
66
Index to Advertisers
72
The Museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation of folk art and feels it is a violation of its principles to be involved in or to appear to be involved in the sale of works ofart. For this reason,the Museum will not knowingly accept advertisements for The Clarion which illustrate or describe objects that have been exhibited at the Museum within one year of the placing of the advertisement.
Folk Art Criticism as Cosmologies of Coercion
7
EPSTEIN/POWELL 22 Wooster St., New York, N.Y. 10013 By Appointment(212)226-7316
Jesse Aaron Steve Ashby Peter Charlie William Dawson Uncle Jack Dey Antonio Esteves Howard Finster Clementine Hunter S.L. Jones Justin McCarthy Sister Gertrude Morgan Inez Nathaniel Old Ironsides Pry Nellie Mac Rowe Jack Savitsky Mose Tolliver Luster Willis and others
Victor Joseph Gatto 1890-1965 circa 1950 (oil on canvas, 16x20")
ROBERT F NICHOLS Santa Fe Americana—Decorative Art—Indian Art
Pottery wall plaque. Tesuque Pueblo, 19th-century.
652 Canyon Road (Across from the Compound Restaurant) Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 (505)982-2145 Associate: John C. Newcomer, Route I, Box 35A, Keedysville, Maryland
8
AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GALLERY Aiime Anton (212)239-1345 Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.or by appt. 242 West 3011h St., N.Y., N.Y. 10001
Carved wood wash sticks 19th c. Part of a larger collection of sculptural utilitarian folk art of wood and iron. Photos on request.
9
PRIMITIVISM • FOLK ART • UNIQUE AMERICANA
WHISTLER GALLERY INC. PG Box 362, Basking Ridge, New Jersey 07920
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6 6 - 6 2
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FROM MICKEY MOUSE TO MASTERPIECE EXCEPTIONAL PICTORIAL QUILTS FROM ALL PERIODS
Pieced and appliqued, Pennsylvania c. 1935 KATE AND JOEL KOPP
11
ERICA*
URRAH
WANTED
Baltimore Album Quilt, signed "Hannah Foote Baltimore 1850" Both ofthese quilts hare been sold prior to publication. 766 MADISON AVENUE • NEW YORK, N.Y. 10021 • 212-535-1930
ROGER •R•RICCO FRANK • MARESCA AMER
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ART
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"Anonymous,as well as known, artists of the past and present have created extraordinary and wonderful things which defy a place in the hierarchy of art history—objects elegant in design, line, and form, others raw, almost desperate in quality." We specialize in 18th,19th, and 20th Century American Primitive Art and continue to represent William L. Hawkins. Please request our art video on your letterhead. By appointment 212•645•2755/212 673.1078 Carved and polychromedfigure, New England, h 5", c. late 19 cent.
II
Li2AMIIN naRC?ik Iszz out eittanners tan Sefore you gIOW 014 f01 .CaTTLIT is tonttr uNeTt sit itou* six,ver ot Cox, Ver. xttalr vamoi away Mit ce vou get Learrtin4 vc4 rtever aecav
Wonderful Pennsylvania sampler dated 1822 by Elizabeth Karch. The silk embroidered figures playing with the spotted dog have painted faces and hair. The sampler with shirred ribbon border is in its original frame, 111 / 2" X 91 / 2"-sight. Subject to prior sale.
SHEILA & EDWIN RIDEOUT 12 Summer Street, Wiscasset, Maine 04578 (207)-882-6420
GE PETER AMERICAN ANTIQUES
390 BLEECKER ST NEW YORK CITY 10014 212-691-9418
12
THE CLARION
Didi Barrett, Editor Faye Eng, Anthony Yee,Art Directors Marilyn Brechner, Advertising Manager Craftsmen Litho,Printers Nassau Typographers, Typesetters
MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART
Administration Dr. Robert Bishop, Director Gerard C. Wertkin, Assistant Director Charles Salamey, Controller Alexander Tosto, Accountant Lillian Grossman, Assistant to the Director Jeanne Bornstein, Administrative Assistant Cheryl Hoenemeyer, Accounting Clerk Richard Griffin, Clerk Jerry Torrens, Assistant Clerk
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Collections & Exhibitions
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Elizabeth Warren, Curator Claire Hartman Schadler, Director ofExhibitions Francine Flynn, Registrar Mary Ann Demos, Associate Curator Joyce Hill, Consulting Research Curator Mary Black, Consulting Curator Joseph Minus, Gallery Assistant Howard Lanser and Joseph D'Agostino, Installations
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Departments Didi Barrett, Director ofPublications Carolyn Cohen, Director ofSpecial Events Marie S. DiManno, Director ofMuseum Shops Nancy Dorer, Curator ofEducation Thomas M. Exton, Director ofDevelopment Susan Flamm, Public Relations Director Edith Wise, Librarian Nancy Mead, Museum Shops Coordinator Carleton Palmer,StaffPhotographer Charlotte Sonnenblick, Development Associate/Membership Norbert Wills, Security Head Raymond Scott, Guard
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Programs Dennis Duke, Director, The Great American Quilt Festival Barbara W. Kaufman, Director, The Folk Art Institute Dr. Marilynn Karp, Director, New York University Master's and Ph.D. Program in Folk Art Studies Dr. Judith Reiter Weissman, New York University Program Coordinator Karla Friedlich, Associate Director, The Great American Quilt Festival Cecilia K. Toth, Jane Walentas, Co-Chairs Friends Committee Lucy Danziger, Susan Klein, DocentProgram Consultants Kennetha Stewart, Exhibitions Previews Coordinator Susan Moore,Junior League Liaison
Museum Shop Staff Caroline Hohenrath, Sally O'Day, Rita Pollitt, Managers Judi Barrett, Michelle Beshaw, Sheila Carlisle, Elizabeth Cassidy, Rick Conant, Sharon Cortell, Camilla Crist, Anne DeCamp, Jean Dingman, Lucy Fagot, Elli Gordon, Claire Hulton, Eleanor Katz, Annette Levande, Katie McAuliffe, Nancy Mayer, Laurie McClendon, Janet Moranz, MaryAnne Murphy, Pat Pancer, Marie Poluso, Eleanor Seymour, Myra Shaskan, Caroline Smith, Hunter Thomas, Mary Walmsley, Monica Wellington, Doris Wolfson, Jennifer Young
Figural ceramics from Mexico by: Josefina and Irene Aguilar, Canaelario Mearano, Heron Martinez and the family of Teodora Blanco. HOURS: WED. - SAT. 11 A.M. - 6 P.M. & BY APPOINTMENT 75 UNIVERSITY PLACE A NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10003 A 505-7272 Lmm' -s 13
IN TRIBUTE TO
LOUIS MONZA 1897 - 1984 Photo: Ellen Page Wilson
"THE FLIRTERS" Woodblock 1966 10" x 13"
CAVIN-MORRIS GALLERY (Ethnographic Arts Inc.)
55 Hudson Street New York, NY 10013 (212)693-0045 By appointment
CYNTHIA BENEDUCE ANTIQUES FOLK ART • GRAPHIC TEXTILES • UNUSUALLY DESIGNED & PAINTED FURNITURE
Hobby Horse American. ca. 1870 42" x 80"
My partner, Michael Black, and I have combined our eclectic tastes and opened a new shop. Please look for us on Bleecker Street. 12-7, Mon-Sat. BENEDUCE & BLACK • 388 BLEECKER ST, NY, NY 10014•212-645-5037 14
American Folk Art Sidney Gecker 226 West 21st Street New York, N. Y 10011
(212) 929-8769 Appointment suggested
Natural Bridge — Virginia Largest size painting known of this popular Virginia subject; 49 x 42 inches. Excellent condition in vivid tones of green, brown, white, blue and yellow. Painted about 1860.
WE RECOMMEND A VISIT TO OUR GALLERY FOR A WIDE SELECTION OF CHALKWARE,SLIP DECORATED POTTERY, FRACTUR, PRIMITIVE OILS AND WATERCOLORS,WOOD CARVINGS AND WEATHERVANES.
15
RUTH W SHUTE(1803-?) and SAMUEL A.SHUTE(1803-1836)
A stunning folk portrait of Mrs. Phebe Buxton of Lowell, Massachusetts, painted circa 1830. Watercolor. gouache and applied goldfoil on paper, 251 / 2 x 211 / 2 inches. Phebe Buxton managed a dormitory known as the Merrimac Corporation at 39 Worthen Street in Lowell from 1827 to 1834. A companion portrait to this work is inscribed on the reverse,"Buxton,39 Merrimac Corp. $1.50." A Lowell directory of this period lists Dr. S. A. Shute as residing at 39 Merrimac Corp. We are interested in acquiring American Folk Art of this quality, especially works by R.W. and S.A. Shute.
DAVID A. SCHORSCII ,15
16 1037 North Street
/toicaied
Greenwich, Conn. 06830
By Appointment Only 203-869-8797
Consultants and Brokers of Fine Americana.
Letter from the Director Dr. Robert Bishop
Mrs. Dixon Wecter, founder and curator of Animal Carnival, Inc., first visited me at the Museum of American Folk Art several years ago. She was seeking information about the Museum and about the newly established Masters and Ph.D. program created by the Museum in association with New York University, the only such program in the country. Our conversations led to a discussion of her own educational project, Animal Carnival, Inc. While visiting many foreign countries, Mrs. Wecter had assembled nearly 150 examples of folk sculpture, paintings and textiles representing animals. Her ultimate goal was to present this diverse collection to an institution that would use it in exhibition and teaching programs. Further discussions led to the selection of the Museum of American Folk Art as the final home for Animal Carnival, Inc. "Ape to Zebra: A Menagerie of New Mexican Wood Carvings:' featuring works of art from Animal Carnival, Inc., is the first time the twentiethcentury Santa Fe school of wood carvers has been presented in such a comprehensive way. Many of the folk artists are spiritual descendants of the eighteenth and nineteenth-century Southwestern carvers of religious figures. They are, in effect, carrying forth the wood craft traditions of earlier generations into our own time. "Ape to Zebra: A Menagerie of New Mexican Wood Carvings" was presented at the Mexican Museum in San Francisco under the auspices of the Museum of American Folk Art, and a national tour will follow the New York showing (December 10, 1985-February 16, 1986). We anticipate other major exhibitions from the Animal Carnival Collection of the Museum of American Folk Art in the near future. A catalogue documents this important addition to the collection. Since the founding of the Museum in 1961, we have presented over 120 exhibitions. Most of these important shows
Barbara Kaufman, Director of the Folk Art Institute with Trustee Barbara Johnson, and Museum Friends, Eva Feld, Nell and Herb Singer, generous donors who through their contributions have made the Folk Art Institute possible.
have been accompanied by catalogues or illustrated Clarion articles and checklists. In addition, we have also produced in conjunction with several publishers, most notably, E.P. Dutton, Inc., a whole library of volumes that preserve the results of the extensive work of our curators and guest curators. American Wildfowl Decoys written by Jeff Waingrow with photographs by our staff photographer, Carleton Palmer, and a foreword by founding trustee Adele Earnest details in full color over sixty of the best decoys in our permanent collection, most of which were the generous gift of Alastair B. Martin. Available at $14.95, the book accompanies the exhibition"An Art of Deception: American Wildfowl Decoys, which runs from December 10, 1985February 16, 1986. Gameboards of North America by Bruce and Doranna Wendel documents last year's exhibition, "Winning Moves:' which they organized. This publication, with an introduction by R. Scudder Smith, contains 72 pages in full color and is available at $12.95. Windmill Weights, a book written by Milton Simpson, and published in association with ourexhibition at the 1985 Fall Antiques Show sells for $24.95. This is the first book ever to deal with the subject and contains a complete background description ofhow weights were used, who their manufacturers were, and their relationship to the opening and development of the west-
em frontier in the nineteenth century. This fall we established the Folk Art Institute — a Museum-integrated post baccalaureate certificate program. The Folk Art Institute is housed at the Museum and information may be obtained by telephoning our Institute Director, Barbara Kaufman, at 212/586-1574. The generosity of Eva Feld, Barbara Johnson and Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Singer has provided the initial boost we needed to make the Institute a reality. The Great American Quilt Festival, which will be presented at Pier 92from April 24-27, 1986, offers another remarkable opportunity to learn about folk art. We have brought together over 100 of the country's best dealers who will display their merchandise for sale but who will also share their knowledge and provide information to the public at large at the same time. No place else has it been possible to see so many wonderful folk textiles gathered in one arena. Information is available by calling 212/581-2474. Over 20 workshops, 50 lectures, 8 major exhibitions of antique and modern quilts and nearly all of America's most important quilt dealers will come together for this national event. I would also like to mention one last project — the Twentieth Century Folk and Outsider Art Symposium to be held by the Museum from June 25-27, 1986, in conjunction with the exhibition, "Muffled Voices: Folk Artists in Contemporary America:' For the first time ever most of the best-known scholars actively involved in the area of twentieth-century folk art have agreed to participate. Since this is still a controversial subject, we are anticipating substantial attendance for this event which is being co-sponsored by some dozen of America's most important museums and cultural institutions. Join us and help the Museum of American Folk Art preserve America's rich folk heritage for today and for future generations. 17
Museum of American Folk Art BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Executive Committee Ralph Esmerian President Frances Sirota Martinson, Esq. Executive Vice President Lucy C. Danziger Vice President Karen S. Schuster Secretary George E Shaskan, Jr. Treasurer Judith A. Jedlicka Margery G. Kahn Theodore L. Kesselman Susan Klein
Members Mabel H. Brandon Catherine G. Cahill Karen D. Cohen Barbara Johnson, Esq. Alice M. Kaplan Jana Klauer William I. Leffler Ira Howard Levy Cyril!. Nelson Cynthia V.A. Schaffner Kathryn Steinberg Bonnie Strauss
Maureen Taylor Helene von Damm-Guertler Robert N. Wilson
Howard M. Graff Lewis I. Haber Phyllis Haders Barbara Kaufman Robert Meltzer
George Meyer Paul Oppenheimer Alfred R. Shands, III Hume R. Steyer
Trustees Emeritus Mary Allis Adele Earnest Cordelia Hamilton Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr. Marian W. Johnson Louis C. Jones Jean Lipman
NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL Frances S. Martinson Chairman Mary Black Gray Boone David Davies
DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE Jeanne R. Kerr, Vice President, Corporate Contributions, Time Inc. Robert M. Meltzer, Chairman of the Board, Miami-Carey Corporation
Marian Z. Stem, Assistant Vice President, Community Programming, Chemical Bank
Dee Topol, Manager, Shearson/Lehman American Express Inc. Contributions Program
CURRENT MAJOR DONORS The Museum of American Folk Art thanks its current major donors for their generous support: Over $20,000 Mr. & Mrs. Frederick M. Danziger *Ethan Allen Inc. Mrs. Eva Feld Estate of Morris Feld Margery G. Kahn Foundation Krikor Foundation Tarex *General Mills Toy Group *IBM Corporation Japan-United States Friendship Commission Mary Kettaneh Jean and Howard Lipman 18
Joseph Martinson Memorial Fund National Endowment for the Arts New York State Council on the Arts *Philip Morris Incorporated *Shearson/Lehman American Express Inc. *United Technologies Corporation Estate of Jeannette B. Virgin *Xerox Corporation
$10,000-$19,999 Adele Earnest Margery & Harry Kahn Philanthropic Fund J.M. Kaplan Fund, Inc. Ira Howard Levy Frances Sirota Martinson, Esq. National Endowment for the Humanities New York Council for the Humanities Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Mr. & Mrs. George Shaskan Mr. & Mrs. Robert Steinberg Barbara and Thomas W. Strauss Fund
$4,000-$9,999 Amicus Foundation *Bankers Trust Company Bemhill Fund *Campbell Soup Company *Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. Mr. & Mrs. James D. Clokey, III Mr. & Mrs. Edgar M. Cullman *Federal Document Retrieval Colonel Alexander W. Gentleman *International Paper Company Barbara Johnson, Esq. *Kallir, Philips, Ross, Inc. Mrs. Ruth Kapnek
CURRENT MAJOR DONORS
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Klein Larsen Fund, Inc. *Mobil Corporation *Seligman & Latz, Inc. Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation, Inc. Swedish Council of America *3M Company *Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., Inc. *Time Inc. Norman & Rosita Winston Foundation $2,00043,999 *Bristol-Myers Fund Catherine G. Cahill *Chemical Bank *Coach Leatherware Joseph F. Cullman 3rd *Exxon Corporation *Grace Foundation *Grumman Corporation *Gulf + Western Foundation *E.F. Hutton Foundation *Institutional Investor *Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Patricia & Richard Locke *Manufacturers Hanover Trust *Marsh & McLennan Companies Christopher & Linda Mayer Helen R. & Harold C. Mayer Foundation *McGraw-Hill, Inc. *Metropolitan Life Foundation *Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York *Morgan Stanley & Co., Incorporated *New York Telephone Company *Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation *The Rockefeller Group, Inc. Robert T. & Cynthia V. Schaffner *Schlumberger Foundation, Inc. Mrs. Richard T. Taylor *Warner Communications Inc. William Wiltshire III Robert N. Wilson $1,000-$1,999 *American Stock Exchange *American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Anonymous *Arthur Andersen & Co. Babtkis Foundation *The Bank of New York *Bill Blass, Ltd. *Bloomingdale's *Bozell & Jacobs *Bunge Corporation *Chesebrough-Pond's Inc. *Citibank, N.A. Mr. & Mrs. Peter Cohen *Con Edison The Joyce & Daniel Cowin Foundation Inc. *Culbro Corporation *Daily News John K. Davenport
*Echo Scarfs Mr. & Mrs. Walter B. Ford II *General Foods Corporation Emanuel Gerard Justus Heijmans Foundation *Hilton International Judith A. Jedlicka Theodore L. Kesselman The Kriendler-Berns Foundation Susan Kudlow *Lever Brothers Company *Lord & Taylor *Macy's New York Estate of Myron L. Mayer Meryl & Robert Meltzer *The NL Industries Foundation, Inc. *The New York Times Company Foundation, Inc. Geraldine M. Parker *Polo/Ralph Lauren *RCA *The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. *Reliance Group Holdings, Inc. *Restaurant Associates Industries, Inc. Mrs. Dorothy H. Roberts Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III Jon and Sue Rotenstreich Foundation Rev. & Mrs. Alfred R. Shands III Mrs. Joel Simon Arman & Louise Simone Foundation H. van Amerigen Foundation David & Jane Walentas Robert N. & Anne Wright Wilson $500-$999 The Bachmann Foundation, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Frank Barsalona David C. Batten B.E.A. Associates Robert & Judith Boies Edward J. Brown Robert & Judith Burger Colgate-Palmolive Company Cowen & Company The Dammann Fund, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Richard Danziger Mr. & Mrs. James DeSilva, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Deutsch Count & Countess R.M. Douglas Doyle Dane Bernbach, Inc. John L. Ernst Richard C. & Susan B. Ernst Foundation Evelyn W. Frank Mr. & Mrs. Edward Gardner James Havard Joyce & Stephen Hill Victor & Joan Johnson Theodore & Shirley Kesselman Jana K. Klauer Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Lauder Wendy & Mel Lavitt Manhattan Life Insurance Robert & Betty Marcus Foundation, Inc.
Robin & William Mayer Mr. & Mrs. Murray Mondschein Louis Newman — in Memory of Paul Roberts Pandick Press, Inc. Richard Ravitch Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Moe Rosenman Mrs. Vera W.Simmons Smith Gallery Sotheby's Robert C. & Patricia A. Stempel Carolyn E. Stewart Mrs. Elizabeth Farrar Wecter Robert W.& Marillyn B. Wilson
The Museum is grateful to the Co-Chairwomen of its Special Events Committee for the significant support received through the Museum's major fund raising events chaired by them. Cynthia V.A. Schaffner Karen S. Schuster
The Museum also thanks the following donors for their recent gifts to the Permanent Collection and Library: Anonymous Gift Animal Carnival, Inc. Denny Beach and Anita Beach Willard Dr. Robert Bishop Lily Cates Mrs. Margaret Cavigga David Davies Mr. and Mrs. Frederick M. Danziger Marian and Don DeWitt Jacqueline Fowler Estelle E. Friedman Phyllis Haders Cordelia Hamilton Laura Harding Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. Elizabeth Ross Johnson Anne Baxter Klee Mrs. Lynn Lorwin Ken and Asa Miller Shirley Paris Mrs. Phillip Potter Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Sackton Mr. and Mrs. Irwin Warren Mrs. George F. Wick Jerome and Lillian Wiener
*Corporate Member 19
QUALITY & INTEGRITY FOR THE LONG RUN TARRYTOWN Antiques Market January 19, 1986 February 23, 1986 March 23, 1986
The New England Antiques Market January 5, 1986 February 2, 1986 April 6, 1986
10am-4pm The Sheraton Inn and Conference Center Route 495, Exit 28 Boxborough, MA 30 minutesfrom Nese Hampshire 40 minutesfrom Boston
An excellent, informal antiques market with the emphasis on American country furniture and accessories. Also, a fine selection of paintings, early glass, jewelry, toys, and quality collectibles. 150 dealers.
PREVIEW PARTY Friday, June 27 6 pm-9 pm SHOW Saturday, June 28 12 pm-8:30 pm Sunday, June 29 12 pm-6 pm
10 am-4 pm Westchester Marriott Hotel Tarrytown, New York DIRECTIONS Take 287 to Exit No. 1 Look for White Plains Road (Route 119).
Berkshire School Route 41 Sheffield, Massachusetts
The Tarrytown Antiques Market has come to be regarded as one of the most important shows of American furniture and folk art. The New York Times. 104 exhibitors at each show.
An outstanding new show located in Sheffield, Massachusetts featuring a wide variety of 18th & 19th century furniture, art and Americana. To benefit the Sheffield Historical Society
THE BOSTON ANTIQUES SHOW
HANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE ANTIQUE SHOW 65
RIDGEFIELD ANTIQUE SHOW Sponsored by the
FIFTH CONNECTICUT REGIMENT
PRE
Friday, October 10th, 5-8 pm
PREVIEW PARTY
SHOW Saturday, October 11, 11-6 pm Sunday, October 12, 11-6 pin Monday, October 13, 11-6 pm
SHOW Saturday, September 13 12-8:30 Sunday, September 14 12-6
Hancock Shaker Village Route 20, 5 miles west of Pittsfield, MA
Ridgefield Ice RinkRear of East Ridge Junior High Ridgefield, Connecticut
A superb show, held in the round stone barn built by the Shakers in 1838, with 50 exhibitors featuring a dazzling display ofcountry furniture, folk art, and quilts, with a focus on Shaker furniture and artifacts. The finest and most comprehensive offering of Shaker material in America held in one ofits most important historic architectural landmarks.
FORMERLY THE OLD IRONSIDES ANTIQUES SHOW
Friday, September 12 6-9
Held every September in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Sponsored by The Fifth Connecticut Regiment. Continental Line, Inc. Features 85 exhibitors in room settings, offering 18th and 19th century country and formal furnishings with the primary emphasis on American folk art.
Feb. 27/Preview Party/5-8 PM Feb. 28-March 1/Show/12-9 PM March 2/Show/12-6 PM The Plaza Castle Arlington Street Boston, MA Boston's major antiques event featuring a wide variety of period furniture, art & Americana. Sponsored by: The Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston
Write for free brochures on our upcoming shows
JACQUELINE SIDELI ANTIQUES SHOWS Slidell and Sideli Incorporated
Box 67, Malden Bridge, N.Y. 12115
Telephone 518-766-3065
BONNER'S BARN 25 Washington St. Malone, NY 12953 Phone: 518-483-4001 Photo By: Robideau Studios
Wonderful American Primitive Painting, Watercolor and Gouache on Paper, Vermont Origin, Signed by H.B. Young pinxt 1876, Original Period Gilt Frame 241 / 2"x All in excellent condition. H.B. Young painted in the Middlebury, Vermont area and painted mostly animals.
Shelly Zegart
•/'
• •
Fine quilts bought and sold Lectures Exhibits Appraisals 12-Z River Hill Road Louisville, KY 40207 (502) 897-9766 By appointment. • For offices and corporate spaces • For city and country settings • For collecting
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Quilts 21
Animal Carvers of Half a dozen years ago, Animal Carnival, Inc. was founded in San Francisco; its goal, to collect and protect a truly endangered species: folk art animals. Tourism, commercialism, plastic and questionable Anglo taste, combine to influence folk artists in unfortunate ways. A quest and preservation seemed imperative. The collection grew to zoo proportions. Now the animals — and fish and birds and snakes — journey to New York, a gift to the Museum of American Folk Art. "APE TO ZEBRA: A MENAGERIE OF NEW MEXICAN WOOD
CARVINGS, The Animal Carnival Collection of the Museum of American Folk Art;' will be at the Museum until February 16,1986. A pilgrimage to the wood carvers of New Mexico is in order, but some background first. The Spanish conquistadores and Franciscan friars brought the tradition of wood carving to New Mexico in the sixteenth century. The pieces were religious in nature; santeros carved bultos, three-dimensional figures of saints. However, some twenty years ago that tradition was blasted by a secular explosion compara-
ble in force to Krakatoa. Instead of bultos, today's artisans carve beasts. First pilgrimage stop, a visit to pay homage to Felipe Benito Archuleta who set off the explosion. In 1964, at age fifty-four, Archuleta, former field hand, cook, and carpenter, was unemployed and destitute. A devout Catholic, he prayed to God for virtud — strength, power, courage. The Deity answered promptly, directing him to carve animals. Two days later Archuleta gathered cottonwood from a river bed and carved a pair of oxen. His career was launched. During the past
Patriarch of the woodcarvers Felipe Benito Archuleta, of Tesuque, with pet dog and killer pig. Other animals by Archuleta are clockwise: SEATED / 2 x 19/ 1 2 x 37"; CATFISH; 1985; TIGER; 1970; Cottonwood, paint; 311 1 2. COYOTE; 1982; Cottonwood, paint, glass, sisal; 9/ 1 2 x 9/ 1 2 x 34/ Cottonwood, paint, glass, sisal, 351 / 2 x 9/ 1 2x 561
22
New Mexico
By Elizabeth Wecter
two decades Archuleta's stature as folk artist has grown to giant height. His droll, fierce, and powerful animals — two-story giraffes, four-hundred pound rhinoceros, as well as gorillas, coyotes, sheep, and pigs — are cherished by museums and collectors. He is the patriarch of New Mexico's animal wood carvers. Now a grizzled seventy-five, Archuleta still carves away in his dirt-floored workshop in Tesuque, just outside of Santa Fe. The shop is a gallimaufry of cottonwood logs, chain saws, hatchets, paint pots and Elmer's Glue, patrolled
Sculpture photos: Joseph McDonald Artist photos: Davis Mather
by three mock-ferocious dogs. Archuleta himself is as fierce as many of his animals. He mutters in Spanish and English,"What good is being famous if I no longer be here much longer." And, upon fmishing a piece, "Bueno, it's done. Couldn't be any better. God bless America. Thank you, Lord:' Archuleta is assisted by his son, Leroy, and his grandson, Ron Rodriguez. Both also work independently, but in the master's image — and shadow. In the peaceful countryside of Chupadero, Alonzo Jimenez now lives on land granted to his great grandfather under the Treaty of Guadalupe. He
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spent his childhood there, herding goats."There were no kids to play with, but I always had a knife in my pocket to carve. What else could you do but carve?" he asks. At age sixteen he moved with his mother to the San Francisco Bay area, finished high school, then became the consummate hippie. Striving to get his life in order, he returned to Chupadero, worked as a rough carpenter, and while hitchhiking one day, was picked up by Archuleta. Immediately Archuleta set him to work carving animals. What began as a happy apprenticeship turned acrid because of Archuleta's volatile temper.
Jimenez left in 1978, and struck out on his own. The two no longer speak to one another. Some of Jimenez's pieces are truly splendid, some are diluted for the market place. Particularly bright, sensitive and witty, Jimenez admits that he is not living up to his full potential. His ideal, "To make a different piece every single time. If you have to make two of anything, then you've lost it. I want to make what my heart desires:' Another Archuleta disciple is David Alvarez. Born in San Francisco, he was reared and schooled in Oakland. Alvarez states he's been an artist all his life:"Since I was in kindergarten teach-
ers couldn't believe I was so good:'He, too, was submerged in the HaightAshbury hippie scene. Extricating himself, he hitchhiked to New Mexico in search of friend Alonzo Jimenez. Jimenez introduced him to Archuleta, who instantly put a brush and paint pots in his hands, and told him to paint a cottonwood turkey. Alvarez was then nineteen, and a respectful apprentice to his incendiary master. Their four-year association was a success. In the late 1970s, encouraged by Archuleta, Alvarez began to work on his own. While his work is derivative, it lacks Archuleta's macho potency. An eminently
Above left: Leroy Archuleta and his RABBIT;Tesuque; 1985;Cottonwood, 2 x 15'.' Above right: Ron Steve 1 4 x 6/ 1 paint, glass, twine, rubber; 9/ Rodriguez, Felipe Benito Archuleta's grandson. Opposite page: Alonzo Jimenez and his SEATED ORANGUTAN,Chupadero; 1978; Cottonwood, paint, sisal twine;62 x 44 x 34':
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practical young man, Alvarez says pigs are his favorite subject, "My number one best seller." His reverence for Archuleta is touching, "Felipe is a god with his animals!' David's brother Max Alvarez, also reared in Oakland, worked for ten years as a foreman for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Migrating to Cordova, he began carving as a hobby,"picked up a chisel and started carving a pig:' He moved to Santa Fe, and for one year carved nothing but pigs. His howling coyotes are particularly sleek and graceful, but it is disheartening to
come upon eight of them, well-nigh identical, in a gallery storeroom. He, too, is admiring of Archuleta but says, "Archuleta is more primitive, more crazy." It is startling to learn that Jimenez and the brothers Alvarez, with their Hispanic-Catholic heritage, are now converts to the World-wide Church of God, an evangelical sect based in Pasadena, California. Far worldlier and articulate is Mike Rodriguez, who lives on a glorious ranch in Rowe Mesa, thirty miles from Santa Fe. He and his companion, Nancy, built their adobe house them-
selves. They raise horses, and pigs whose favorite snack is Oreo cookies. Versatile Rodriguez worked as a plumber, carpenter, gas station attendant, actor, and rodeo rider. In 1970 he started drawing and sketching,then one day picked up a root and started to whittle. His animals are primitive and powerful, as macho as the man himself. Queried about his personal life, he responds lustily, "I've never been married but I've lived with a lot of women. That's the spice of life, being an artist and living with a lot of women:' There is no phone nor electricity in his house;
David Alvarez of Santa Fe, above, and his carvings, left to right: PIG; 1982, Cottonwood, paint;9/ 1 2x 6 x 141 / 21 PORCUPINE; 1981; Cottonwood, paint, straw; 20/ 1 2 x 15 x 361 ARMADILLO; 1984; Cottonwood, paint; 8 x 7 x 191 Opposite: Max Alvarez, David's brother, atop a burro.
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all of his highly original animals are carved with hand tools. "I do strong work:' he says, "I can't consider the market. God gave everyone the gift of creation. If you like a piece within yourself, you know someone in the world will like it:' Of Archuleta he says, "Looking at his stuff influenced me a lot. In his pieces he shows what he feels, and that to me is true art!' Ben Ortega, now in his sixties, lives in Tesuque. After army service, he studied under the G.I. Bill — two years in a machine shop, two years of cabinet making. Intending to be a machinist or
_
a prize fighter, he carved his first figures, a madonna and a saint,"just for fun:'He donated these to a sale benefitting the Santa Fe opera. They were the first items sold; a santero was born. Ortega has specialized in carving figures of St. Francis, and estimates that he has made at least ten thousand, now distributed all over the world. But he also carves animals and birds. He has a special affinity with wood, and scours the countryside searching for pine, cedar and cottonwood roots and branches."I have to find my right piece of wood that looks like the animal I'm going to carve:' he says,"so I carve just
Above: Mike Rodriguez and his carved WILD BOAR; Rowe Mesa; 1984; / 2. Opposite page, Cottonwood, paint, antlers, horsehair, plastic; 12 x 9 x 271 left: Ben Ortega and some of his santos. Right: Luis Tapia with one of his death carts.
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one of a kind!' Ortega's fame is such that a few years ago the Smithsonian Institution invited him to exhibit his work and demonstrate his technique. Luis Tapia, in his mid-thirties, describes himself as "home grown:' He was born in the village of Agua Fria, now a suburb of Santa Fe. He attended college in Las Cruces for one year, but, "Got thrown out for my social endeavors. I never bothered to go back, but was asked to lecture there about five years ago. So I gave them a lecture series:' Beginning as a painter, he restored retablos in historic churches; he also made furniture. Tapia began carv-
ing fifteen years ago. "I like animals, I like kids;' he says, and carved his Noah's Ark particularly for children. His work is skillful and powerful. He's currently carving a skeleton riding in a death cart, to be used in Holy Week processions. The teeth, he explains, "come from my kids, I compete with the tooth fairy. The skeleton's hair comes from the neighbor's dog:' Highly original Richard Luis ("Jimbo") Davila lives in rural El Rancho, with his wife, children, peacocks and ducks. He was born in Pennsylvania, but went west to college in Flagstaff, Arizona. He threw pots,
and says, "I went to all my classes for about two weeks:' Moving to New Mexico, he worked as a plasterer, but he has always drawn, emphasizing line and color. "There's a lot of feeling you can get out of a line, a squiggle:' says he. In 1980 he carved his first snake using one foot by twelve feet roughsawn pine lumber. Most of his snakes are sinuous in form, some are geometric, all are painted with vivid house paints. Davila says, "I've made two thousand of them, and I'm still coming up with new shapes. The real things are creepy, I don't even like to look at them:' His snakes have been so popular
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that two other artisans have invaded the field, copying his work."I'm not one of the Archuleta clones:' he says, "but I have a lot of respect for him:' Gentle, courtly Frank Brito, Sr. is in his sixties. He went to work as a plumber and plasterer when he was thirteen, to help his ailing father. As a lad however, he always whittled with a pocket knife. Recuperating from surgery in 1967, he started carving in earnest. Bultos were his specialty. "I discovered to my amazement that I could make a very good living and at
440. jr
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Above: Richard Luis ("Jimbo") Davila, of El Rancho, surrounded by his work. Left is SNAKE; 1984; Wood, paint, metal; 50 x 4" diameter. Above: RAINBOW TROUT; 1985; Wood, paint; 11 x 7/ 1 2x 411 Opposite page, left: Frank Brito, Sr. and right, Alejandro("Alex") Sandoval.
the same time enjoy the carving I always liked:' he says. "I never went back to any other work. It has made me very happy." His work is rich in detail, and painted with sophistication. The work of Alejandro ("Alex") Sandoval is droll and primitive. Now eighty-nine years old, Sandoval grew up in Pecos, New Mexico. He had little schooling."There was no money to pay the teachers:'he says,"no money to buy wood to keep the classroom warm, so we each had to take a piece of wood to school!' He helped his grandfather tend
the goats and cows,and helped cut trees to make railroad ties. He then worked successively as a carpenter, miner, and as a hospital orderly. Retiring to Santa Fe, he was encouraged by neighbor Frank Brito, Sr. to carve. "My neighbor, he says to me why don't you make saints, so I start!' He is a true ingenuo, an original. United by their Hispanic or Hispanic-Indian heritage, love of the beautiful New Mexican land, affection for animals and rapport with their media, these carvers are nonetheless, a decid-
edly diverse group. Yet together they have created a true American folk art form — a 20th century adaptation of a tradition firmly rooted in the past.
Elizabeth Wecter is guest curator of "Ape to Zebra: A Menagerie of New Mexican Woodcarvings!' A collector offolk art animals,she founded Animal Carnival, Inc., a non-profit organization in San Francisco. She was Editor of Publications for the Los Angeles County Museum,and served on the boards of the Pasadena Art Museum and the Museum Society of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
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An exhibition of four paintings of similarly posed children in red dresses, Children in Red by Anuni Phillips, offers an opportunity to see clearly the use of formulas by itinerant 19th century portrait painters. The exhibition and\this article are part of continuing research by Mary Black on Anuni Phillips. The paintings will be on display at the Museum of American Folk Art until February 16, 1986, after which it is scheduled to be shown at the Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, from March 7 to April 27, 1986.
How did an itinerant painter go about his business? Almost all of us have encountered legends of failed artisans stumbling about the countryside in search of work and sustenance. And the word itinerant conjurs up visions of peddlers selling pots, pans, needles and pins. Closer scrutiny of the life and method of a rural painter in the first decades of 19th century America yields the surprising view that he was, in fact, the aristocrat of traveling salesmen. We close in on the true vocation of the country painter when we begin to see him, and infrequently her, as an
Ammi Phillips The Country Painter's Method By Mary Black
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Girl in Red Dress with Cat and Dog; Probably New York, Amenia Area;1834-1836; Oil on canvas;30 x 25"; Promised Gift, Private Collection, Museum of American Folk Art. Portrait of a Girl in a Red Dress; Region unknown; Date unknown; Oil on canvas; 32 x 27"; Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois.
entrepreneur selling skills and moving only when there are new patrons to be found at the end of a recently explored road. He advertised his presence and his wares in local papers and posted the hours when he might be found. Most commonly that was the leading tavern in towns where he had familial or friendly connections. The itinerant painter learned early to overcome hur-
dles in expressing anatomy and form. To expedite his task — and satisfy a clientele not intent on originality — he developed formulas for drawing figures and faces. Since clients often saw recently completed works as examples of the painter's skill, a reasonably sure way of pleasing a patron was to repeat a pose, costume or possession from a just-finished portrait. Writings and portraits together give us a picture of the firmament in which these artisan travelers were stars. The works supply painted evidence. But primary information comes from Joseph Whiting Stock's journals of fourteen years; Erastus Salisbury Field's advertisements and letters; and John Vanderlyn's testimony to, among other things, the progress of "one Phillips... moving about through the country" in the 1830s. The path of 19th-century itinerant painters logically follows the opening of new territories for settlement throughout New England and the MidAtlantic states. While in colonial America painting was concentrated in the cities, by the time the itinerant artist was triumphant, the population centers had moved up river to new locations. The artist followed Sullivan's soldiers and their families to land grants in central New York and pressed further to the Western Reserve in Ohio. He followed Pennsylvania settlement as pioneers moved westward. An example is Jacob Maentel, who journeyed from Pennsylvania's eastern counties to relocate in the Rappite community of New Harmony, Indiana. Despite hundreds of lost canvases and vanished subjects, there are enough identified paintings surviving from this period to direct the modern inquirer to the right doors. There one finds family names woven together like garlands. And scattered throughout those inter-
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locking families are portraits attributed to men like Winthrop Chandler, John Brewster, Jr., Noah North, Joseph Whiting Stock, Erastus Salisbury Field and Ammi Phillips, who overlapped in their service to the patron families of the day. Virtually all these artists relied on formulas in their work. Erastus Salisbury Field painted both his sister Maryette Field Marsh and one of his sistersin-law, Aurilla Field Field (who was also his cousin) in identical costume. Similarly, Clarissa Gallond Cook and her sweet-faced sister Almira Gallond Moore are both dressed exactly the same except for the way they wear their accessories — the carnelian pin, belt buckle and tortoise-shell comb. Joseph Whiting Stock who worked in the same time and place as Field, as well as Phillips, was less dramatic in his repetitions than the other two artists. Nonetheless, Stock's dark costumes, which strikingly emphasize the pale faces of his women, are often of a similar fashion and frosted with little collars that are almost alike. The men's suits — dark, to contrast with their snowy shirts — seem cut by the same tailor from one endless bolt of broadcloth. In providing his child subjects — alive and "from corpse" — with pets, Stock's playfully mixed species, inventing canines who looked like sphinxes, and cats that resemble a race of Chinese temple dogs. Ammi Phillips, with more than 500 portraits surviving, is, in fact, the artist whose several painting formulas are the most readily available for study. Repetition enabled Phillips to work efficiently even though many of the details of his faces and costumes required time-consuming and meticulous brushwork. There are, for example, the four identical portraits that he painted of Sarah Totten Sutherland of Amenia early in
34
the 1840s — one for each of her four daughters. The only difference among them was the number of interlocking circles of painted embroidery on the right side of four lace collars. Phillips used other formulas, as well. Three standing life-sized portraits of children hung together for the first time in 1968 in the first comprehensive exhibition of Ammi Phillips' work at
Andrew Jackson Ten Broeck; Hudson, New York; 1834; Oil on canvas;39x 34";Collection ofPeter Tillou. Little Girl in Red Dress; Region unknown; Circa 1835; Oil on canvas;32 x 263/4";Private collection.
the Museum of American Folk Art.' Harriet Leavens and Harriet Campbell, both painted about 1815, were dressed alike with identical green-fringed parasols, red-and-green reticules and deep pink slippers. John Yonnie Luyster, from about 1838, was the sole standing boy's figure known at that time. Since then, several girls and boys, as well as two brother and sister pairs, have been
found to illustrate Phillips' use of the standing child figure. Examples appear from the earliest part of his career — the Barstow children of 1811 — to the late Boy in Pink with his Dog of about 1855. Like Stock's domestic creatures, Phillips' dogs are a breed apart. They represent another repeated formula, with some very slight variations. With the exception of the lone mastiff (the
dog shown in Boy in Pink with his Dog), there are enough similar-looking terriers appearing in Phillips' portraits to imagine that the entrepreneurial artist sold puppies to his clients as a profitable sideline. Within the last year, however, it is four portraits of children, all seated by Phillips in one familiar formula, that have captured special attention. One portrait, with an announced purchase price of $1 million — reportedly a first for folk art — is a promised gift to the Museum of American Folk Art. Another was recently acquired by the Terra Museum of American Art in Chicago at a Christies' sale where it set an auction record for folk painting. The other two are in private collections. The only identified portrait — the one boy — is owned by collector and dealer Peter Tillou. The subject is Andrew Jackson Ten Broeck of Hudson, New York, and it was painted in 1834 when the boy was a year and a half old. While the set of his arms and figure — as well as the costume — is the same as that of the three girls, the boy's image is flipped to face the viewer's right.' All four children are dressed identically in red dresses with waist sashes piped in white. Appearing discreetly below the dresses are flared pantaloons finished off with at least one row of pleated ruching. The Museum of American Folk Art's girl has an extra flourish on her pantaloons and a gathered lace edging on her puffed sleeves. Two of the girls wear black slippers, but young Ten Broeck and the Terra little girl sport scarlet slippers. All three girls are seated on green-upholstered benches with brass tacks securing the leather or fabric to the frames. One of the most interesting elements in the portraits is the coral beads — a 19th-century charm against evil, according to legend — which all three
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girls wear. Each has a different number ofstrands: MAFA's has four;the private collector's has three and the Terra Museum's has two. It is just possible that Phillips was playing a numbers game — similar to the one he played with the interlocking circles on the Sutherland portraits — and the number of strands were to indicate the age of the sitters. If we can believe that every birthday brought another string of coral, the girl in the MAFA portrait — the most elaborate one, with an extra ruffle, extra lace, extra fillip in the upholstery and an extra critter (a very unfeline white cat) — was painted on or after her fourth birthday. When Daniel Terra purchased his painting, shortly after the MAFA's promised gift was announced last year, some observers advanced the idea that the subjects of these two folk portraits were sisters. But the existence of four identical poses suggests this is unlikely. Indeed, if we look at the wellknown family assemblages painted by Phillips — the unidentified journalist, his wife and two children in the Princeton Art Museum collection or the Russell Dorr family at Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center — we see that Phillips made a special effort to individualize the dress and details of children within a single family. In the children in red, Phillips individualized the faces while making little attempt to vary the dress and pose. When and where were these similar portraits painted? The 1834 likeness of Master Ten Broeck suggests an answer. That summer Phillips quit Rhinebeck where he had lived since 1929. Two summers later he had returned to Kent, Connecticut — not far from his birthplace — where, known as the Kent Limner, Phillips developed the formula for the graceful forward-leaning ladies of the period.
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Two More by Phillips
Since the discovery of these four remarkably similar portraits of children by Ammi Phillips, others using the same formula are coming to light, as well. In Portrait of James Salisbury (above), for example, Phillips used the same pose and strawberry plant, but altered the details of the dress and changed the color from red to blue. In Mrs. Mayer and Daughter (right), Phillips painted a miniature version of the child and put her on her mother's lap. The Mayer child is posed the same as the others, wears the same red dress and scarlet slippers, and holds a small spray of greens. It is assumed, because of the three strand coral necklace, that she is a girl; however, she is seated in reverse like Andrew Jackson Ten Broeck.
Left: Portrait of James Salisbury; Circa 1835; Oil on canvas;32 x27";Private collection. Right: Mrs. Mayer and Daughter; Circa 1835; Oil 1 4"; on canvas; 3778 x 34/ The Metropolitan Museum ofArt, Gift ofEdgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch.
But from 1832 to 1834, Phillips was portraying the aristocracy living on both sides of the Hudson below Albany — the intermarried DeWitt, Ten Broeck, Sanders and Livingston clans. There, in almost all the great houses he visited, the painter would have encountered great shadowy ancestors of all these families formally painted by eminent colonial artists Pieter Vanderlyn and Nehemiah Partridge. It was probably in this environment, that Phillips, seemingly uninfluenced by the massive portraits on the walls, evolved the icon of the seated child in red. Here the old Dutch and English families — and their friends and neighbors — had the chance to drop in on each other to see how the latest round of portraits might be going. The survival of at least twenty paintings dating to this brief time period — four of them these little figures — attest to neighbors successively employing Phillips to paint their children in a format that they found attractive. Mary Black is Consulting Curator ofthe Museum of American Folk Art. Former director of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center and of the Museum of American Folk Art, and former curator of the New-York Historical Society, Black is the author of numerous books and articles. NOTES 1. The catalogue for that exhibition Ammi Phillips PortraitPainter 1788-1865 was written by Barbara C. and Lawrence B. Holdridge with an introduction by Mary Black; published by Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. for the Museum of American Folk Art. 2. Andrew Jackson Ten Broeck is, so far, the only known Phillips portrait set into a landscape. It is really only a suggestion of a landscape; he sits beneath a leaden sky on a flattened rock under a hickory tree, an allusion to his namesake, holding a burr and a hickory nut. In contrast to the girls, his dog is at the right, the head visible, but the body hidden by the tree trunk.
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Liberties with Liberty The Changing of an American Symbol I Circa 1595
One of the first symbols of America, the newly discovered continent, was a savage, barebreasted Indian Queen. The engraving, right, Personification ofAmerica; Adrien Collaert II after Martin de Vos, Europe; 1765/ 2"; 1775; Laid paper; 12 x 161 The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, was widely circulated and helped establish the Indian Queen as America's first female image. A formidable, swarthy, often Amazonian woman, the Indian Queen was soon adopted by mapmakers and illustrators, as well as folk and fine artists. In the earliest representations, the Indian Queen brandished a club, but that quickly changed to a bow, arrow and tomahawk. She was often pictured with an armadillo, llama or alligator. In this particular depiction, the Indian Queen is posed against the vast American wilderness.
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by Nancy Jo Fox
S
In honor of the Statue of Liberty Centennial, the Museum of American Folk Art presents the exhibition "Liberties with Liberty:' a celebration of the changing image of the female symbol of America through the eyes of the folk and popular artist. Supported by a generous grant from The Xerox Foundation, the show opens on February 25 and remains through May 18,1986.
Inspired since the country's earliest days by the high ideals of freedom and equality, folk artists created work in every medium depicting America. One kind of folk art influenced another. Liberty and Columbia weathervanes spun on church steeples reminding Americans of spiritual values, while carved and painted tavern signs lured them for spirits of a more temporal
1750
Left: Indian Princess with Two Pilgrims; Artist unknown; Region unknown; Circa 1750; Wool and silk on linen; 10/ 3 4 x 13/ 3 4"; Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Screven Lorillard, 1953. The Indian Princess was the second of America's female personifications adopted by artists and illustrators. She was viewed as Britannia's rebellious daughter, and prevailed up to and through the time of the American Revolution. In this charming needlework picture, most probably the efforts of a Colonial schoolgirl, the Indian Princess has lost much of the ethnic character of her mother, the Indian Queen, and is fashionably garbed in the style of the day. The flowers, fruit trees, animals and birds that surround her and her Pilgrim allies, suggest the riches and opportunities offered by the new land.
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nature. Carved Indian Princesses advertised the sale of tobacco along America's main streets. Housewives stamped cookie dough with a Liberty mold, hung printed toiles with Plumed Goddesses at their windows and when the fabric began to wear out, recycled it for cushions, quilts, and clothing. Families covered their beds with woven textiles showing Liberty's profile; heated
I Circa 1800
Right: Liberty in the Form of the Goddess of Youth Giving Support to the Bald Eagle; Artist unknown; New Jersey or New York; Circa 1800; Silk threads, watercolor, sequins and mica on silk; 26/ 3 4x 28/ 3 4"; DAR Museum. This popular subject is based originally on a 1791 watercolor by the English painter William Hamilton, called Hebe Offering a Cup to the Eagle. An American version turned Hebe into Liberty and the eagle, a Roman symbol of Jove and a sign of power, into the American Bald Eagle. In this needlework, the Goddess of Liberty is poised before the Trenton Arches, erected to honor George Washington.
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rooms with an iron "Birth of a Nation" stove figure; and hung patriotic drawings, watercolors, oil paintings and lacy Scherenschnitte over mantels. Busy fingers stitched needlework with all the images of America. Carvings and banners of Liberty were carried in parades, while children on the sidelines clutched homemade cloth Columbia dolls. And lonely sailors etched
scrimshaw Liberties and Columbias, a sort of sanity at sea, while a robust Goddess of Liberty figurehead led the ship safely homeward. Americans felt completely free interpreting Liberty, using found and recycled materials, bright colors, and their own rules of composition and realism. The results are an astonishing array of imaginative and eccentric art.
From the beginning, America — like the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia — was personified by a regal female figure. The Indian, which to the white settlers was an exotic representation of the potentials for a new life in this untamed land, was a natural choice. As early as 1595, an engraving of a savage Indian Queen, barebreasted and mounted on an armadillo,
became a popular image. Amazonian in size, and often swarthy in skintone, the Indian Queen was based on "popular notions about the barbarous Indians of the semi-tropical, Caribbean region:" Her club, brandished in the earliest representations, eventually changed to a bow and arrow. Parrots, monkeys, pumas and stags accompanied her amid tropical foliage. At her feet, represent-
ing the natural wealth of the new world — a constant lure to adventurers — were ingots, vessels of gold, chests laden with jewelry and cornucopias spilling forth fruits and flowers.' From about 1570 to 1765, America, the continent and the colonies, was allegorized in the arts by the Indian Queen. But the growing importance of these colonies to the rest of the world,
Circa 1815
Left: Liberty; Artist unknown; Coastal Massachusetts; 1790-1810; Painted pine; 537A6 x 24/ 1 2x 12/ 1 4"; Museum of Fine Arts; Boston; H.E. Bolles Fund. A demure,yet barebreasted Liberty figure holds the Liberty Cap and Pole. The cap dates from 750 BC when the Trojans and Phrygians, as liberated slaves, wore the Roman felt hat to symbolize independence. The cap was joined to the pole in 263 BC when Salturnius, in a grand gesture, held the cap aloft on a pike. Right: Memorial to General Washington; Artist unknown; Region unknown; Circa 1815; Watercolor; 15/ 3 4x 105/16"; Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch Collection. This transitional goddess figure amid tropical foliage mourns the death of George Washington, but both the date and the spelling of the first president's name on the monument are incorrect. 41
as well as their own rising nationalism, made clear the need for a new symbol. The Indian Princess was to become this new symbol. A step removed from the Indian Queen, the Princess came to stand for the attainment of liberty, rather than domination over enemies. Still dressed in feathers and long flowing gown,the Indian Princess was, however, no longer of alien race.
Youthful, and somewhat haughty, she was characterized as the distant, rebellious daughter of Britannia. She was pictured with symbols of colonial trade — cargo ships, bales of cotton, tobacco. And under her feet were the emblems of the English monarch — lions, crowns, chains — as well as the keys to the French Bastille, a symbol of monarchic tyranny.3 Gone were the parrots and
In keeping with her mission, the
Circa 1840
1815
Left: America; Artist unknown; Region unknown; 1815; 131 / 2 x 111 / 2"; New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown. A warlike eagle sends forth thunderbolts directed at a cowering lion and a frightened female figure, both representing Great Britain. The Union Jack has fallen to the ground, but the Stars and Stripes are held high by the image of Liberty, protected by a soldier in a tricorn hat. This watercolor celebrates America's successes against the British in the War of 1812. Right: Mount Airy Fire Company Hat; Artist unknown; Pennsylvania; Circa 1840; Pressed felt, paint with gold lettering;6 x 113 / 4 x 131V; Collection of the Philadelphia Contributionship. A stovepipe hat worn mainly for dress parades features Liberty with cap and pole seated on rocks. She holds the Liberty Cap and Pole, while an American flag and shield protect her. 42
armadillo, replaced by the rattlesnake,' a deadly reptile unknown in Europe that neither attacks without provocation nor surrenders once provoked. It came to stand for colonial rebellion and, as it has no eyelids, for constant vigilance. A popular flag of the period showed the snake with the words "Don't Tread on
Indian Princess began to be pictured — particularly in European prints — with the Goddess of Liberty, as well as the evergreen Liberty Tree. She was seen reaching for the Goddess's Liberty Cap and Pole,' as if aspiring to become one with her. Though she was still sometimes shown with tomahawk, scalping knife or bow and arrow, she began to appear with sword, spear and occasion-
ally a peacepipe. She was also seen, in some depictions, without her feathers, anticipating the neoclassical transformation to come. With English recognition of the sovereignty of the United States,the Indian Princess began to be viewed as Britain's "free sister!' She continued to carry the flag, often topped with the Liberty Cap, but was more often accompanied by
George Washington or the American eagle. Slipping into her new role, the Princess's facial features began to soften. Her profile and hairstyle became more classical and she posed by fluted columns and urns, bestowing olive and laurel wreaths on famous Americans. She traveled in chariots, sometimes accompanied by the Goddesses of Wisdom, Justice and Liberty.
11849
Left: Liberty,derail; J. Van Ness;Palmyra, New York; 1849;Cotton and wool double weave;82 x 95"; New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown. Four framed portraits of Miss Liberty are woven into the corners of this striking coverlet. Accompanying the neo-classical image are a number of other patriotic symbols including the flag, the American Eagle, and the motto"E Pluribus Unum:' The cornucopias represent the abundance associated with this country.
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By the late 1790s it became unclear whether the feathered Indian Princess was changing into a Greek Goddess or a Greek Goddess was placing feathers and plumes in her hair. Tall, fullbreasted, and dressed in classical drapery falling to her sandaled feet, she was a theatrical vision of what the country wanted to be. The young nation was as caught up as Europe was in the neo-
11851-1854
classical revival. Architecture,fashion, furniture, decorative arts, and folk art reflected the romanticized imagery of ancient Greece, Rome and the discoveries at Pompeii.6 Every artist who depicted America's female persona contributed something new to the image. Accessories were borrowed one from another. Indeed,the woman herself took on different identi-
11850-1860
Left: Liberty and Justice; Captain Henry Fisher; Made on the ship Splendid; Edgartown, Massachusetts; 1851-1854; Sperm whale ivory; 4Y4 x 1/ 1 2"each; New Bedford Whaling Museum. The Goddesses of Liberty and Justice often appeared together as in this pair of scrimshaw lovingly carved by a sailor at sea. Right: Goddess ofLiberty; Artist unknown; Region unknown; Circa 1850-1860; Polychromed wood carving of ship figurehead; 70 x 19 x 22/ 1 2"; State Street Bank Corporate Art Collection. Figureheads were used as talismans, as well as to announce the ship's identity and country of origin. Following the Revolution, a variety of patriotic symbols were carved: eagles, early patriots, Columbias and Liberties. This Liberty figure symbolized not only a free nation, but also stood for free trade and sailor's rights, as well.
44
ties. Between 1783 and 1815, examples can be found of the Indian Princess, the plumed Greek Goddess, Minerva, the Goddess of Liberty, and Columbia all representing the new nation. Columbia,from Christopher Columbus, was a particularly popular image. Once suggested as a name for the new country, "Columbia" was also a popular song, the name of two American
warships, and ultimately the home of the new capital. In 1784, King's College changed its name to Columbia. The Columbia figure wore no feathers nor carried a bow and arrow.' She was, on occasion, accompanied by the Liberty Cap and Pole, as well as the flag, shield, eagle and dates ofthe drafting of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Often dressed in white,
she wore the starred national banner across her chest. The most prevailing image during this time, however, was the Goddess of Liberty. Unlike Columbia, Minerva and the others, she symbolized but one moral quality — liberty, the country's most passionately held value. Americans made the classical Goddess of Liberty their own. She was wrapped in
the Stars and Stripes, or held the flag high. She was covered by the American shield and guarded by the American eagle. In 1793,she appeared on the first coin to be minted by the United States government.' With the gift of the Statue of Liberty from the people of France to the people of the United States, the evolving personification of America found its final
11870
Left: Columbia; Artist unknown, probably Cushing and White; Waltham, Massachusetts; Circa 1865; Copper; 38 x 27 x 2"; Collection of William L. Harrington. Columbia, a popular image often used to represent the young nation, wears a fringed girdle, sash across her chest, and Liberty Cap. A rare weathervane form, this piece was saved from a burning schoolhouse and found in Ogunquit, Maine.
45
incarnation. Designed by Alsatian sculptor Frederick August Bartholdi, using his mother's face as a model, the Statue of Liberty stands higher than the Colossus ofRhodes which served as the artist's inspiration. Like the previous female images, this one, too, was a combination of stock symbols and themes: Her raised right arm with flaming torch came from the earliest
illustrations of Faith; her radiant crown can be traced to images of Truth; and her majestic pose dates to the third century BC when the Romans built a temple for the Goddess of Liberty on Aventine Hill.9 The language of symbols has been used since the beginning of time. And public monuments, both architecture and sculpture, are symbols of the com-
mon ideas — often pride, hope and love — shared by a whole nation. Because of this country's melting pot nature, America's icons are often the products of a variety of Old World — as well as New World — traditions. The Statue of Liberty is one such icon — a uniquely American patriotic symbol that has so permeated the national psyche that she instantly con-
I Circa 1900
11875
Left: Centennial Progress USA, July 4, 1876; Montgomery C. Tiers; New York; 1875; Oil on Canvas;68 x 483/4". Private collection. A crowned Liberty accompanied by all the presidents to date leads America into the future by holding telegraph wire and pointing to the open wilderness. All the figures, including an American Indian, stand in a flag-draped boat carved with wooden eagles. Lightening and a kite — references to patriot Benjamin Franklin — join the American eagle in the sky. Right: Statue ofLiberty; Artist unknown; Argo's Corner, Delaware; Circa 1900; Carved wood, wrought iron, and paint; 181 / 2"x 6"; Collection of Peggy W. Lancaster. An inspired artist utilized the grain of the wood to emphasize the lines of the robe and upthrust arm of the Statue of Liberty in this primitive, but powerful gatepost finial. Unfortunately the torch is missing. 46
notes the country's most dearly held ideals. Yet the fact that she has been reproduced so widely by folk, as well as fine, artists all over the country, suggests that she is a monument of the people, a symbol that is both approachable and attainable. Indeed, it is fair to say that the Statue of Liberty, herself, has become a remarkable example of American folk art.
Nancy Jo Fox, ASID,ISCC,is a graduate student in the Museum of American Folk Art/NYU Master's and Ph.D. program in Folk Art Studies. An author and lecturer, she is on the faculty of the New York School of Interior Design. NOTES 1. E. McClung Fleming,The American Image as Indian Princess, 1765-1783, Winterthur Portfolio II, 1965, p. 67. 2. Ibid., pp. 65-68. 3. Ibid., pp. 73, 77. 4. Ibid., p. 71.
5. Ibid. 6. Louis C. Jones, Outward Signs of Inner Beliefs: Symbols of American Patriotism, Cooperstown, New York, New York State Historical Association, 1975, p. 5. 7. E. McClung Fleming, From Indian Princess to Greek Goddess, The American Image, 1783-1815, Winterthur Portfolio III, 1967, p. 59. 8. Ibid., pp. 56,60. 9. Marvin Trachtenberg, The Statue of Liberty, New York,The Viking Press, 1976,pp. 63-87.
Left: Statue ofLiberty Being Repaired; James Leonard; New Jersey; 1984; Copper with liver of sulfate markings; 37 x 273 / 4 x 10/ 3 4"; Collection of Kathy Willner. Well into the twentieth century, American artists continue to be as fascinated with the windtoy as they are with patriotic symbols. Renovations for the centennial celebrations inspired this Statue of Liberty whirligig. When the wheel spins, the workmen move back and forth, readying Liberty, originally called "Liberty Enlightening the World:'for her upcoming birthday party.
47
BRICK-END BARNS A FOLK ARCHITECTURAL FORM REDISCOVERED BY CARL PALUSCI
The "man on a mule" barn, located near Greencastle, Pennsylvania, is one ofthe earliest examples ofpictorial representations on brick-end barns. According to its present owner, it was built about 1793.
Dramatic effects are produced as lightfilters through the gaps ofthe brick-end wall on the "man on a mule" barn. -.5101011111APSX— likeraW111111011111111
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tually were found in Maryland as well. Their construction can be attributed to several factors: the migratory patterns of "high;' or Lutheran, Germans and the insular communities they established which perpetuated certain local traditions; the presence of itinerant English brickmakers; an area rich in clay from which bricks could be readily made; and the need of the Pennsylvania German farmer to flaunt his barn as a proud symbol of success in the New World.' Brick-end barns were an artistic development of traditional Pennsylvania German folk art. The German immigrants' love of color and decoration pervaded all phases of their daily lives, from painted and decorated utilitarian objects, such as pottery, furniture, chests and clocks, to fanciful illuminated writing, or fraktur. In addition, their need for decoration was expressed in the intricate designs on the walls of brick-end barns. The first barns built for the newly arrived German farmers in Pennsylvania were traditional Old World architecture — small thatched roof buildings made of squared logs or stone. In the hundreds of city-states of their native Rhineland, the farmers had shared small plots on communal farms; shacks were their only barns. As they ventured to the colonies and became free-men, they acquired sole ownership of large, expansive farms. Eventually settling in southern sectors of Pennsylvania, these proud, frugal and efficient farmers found in the fertile land opportunities for prosperity which they had never known. As farm output increased, the German farmers began to build larger, permanent homes, and even larger barns. Their success was reflected in the size of their structure, and in the case of brick-end barns, by the elaborateness of the designs. The most successful farmers might even request a third wall in brick — sometimes decorating this with patterns, as well.
The brick-end designs served a dual purpose: ventilating the inside of the barn to prevent spontaneous combustion, and aerating the barn to prevent rotting of the hay and straw. Perforations had been in use in rural English barns since medieval times, both for ventilation and as dovecots for birds. It was in brick-end barns, however, that function was integrated with aesthetic expression. There were other ingenious features to brick-end construction. The 16 inch walls kept rain from falling inside, while at the same time allowing daylight to illuminate the inside ofthe barn', The arrangement of gaps — designed to
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Eric Sloane the artist and historian wrote: "The early barn is the best example of American colonial architecture. Each old barn was born of American soil and fitted to an American landscape for specific American needs ... From the beginning the American barn was big, like the hopes and plans for life in the New World:" Pennsylvania barns are a most important part of this American legacy. The impact of their innovative designs can be seen in barn architecture well into the South and West. While much has been written about the painted and decorated "hex" sign barns of Berks County, an equally beautiful and perhaps, more significant form ofPennsylvania barns has been largely ignored by architectural historians. Called brickend barns, these were solid, well laidout structures into whose ends and occasionally sides were woven whimsical patterns of brick. Cleverly engineered, the barns were ventilated by a lacework of geometric forms incorporated into the walls, resulting in a remarkable integration of architectural design, function and artistic expression. Predating "hex" sign barns by as much as fifty years, brick-end barns are a uniquely American form of folk architecture. First built by itinerant English bricklayers for newly prosperous German farmers, they are a synthesis of two Old World cultural traditions — German decorative style and methodical English craftsmanship.' They were created by anonymous craftsmen who did not seek to express a personal identity but, instead, built utilitarian structures for a new community, adapted to a new environment, with simple tools and available construction materials. Built without preconceived ideas of style or design, brick-end barns were an improvisational and timeless development. They first appeared around 1800 in pockets of Southcentral Pennsylvania and even-
produce recognizable images — are most striking when viewed from the inside of the barn. The sunlight penetrating through the gaps produces an effect like that of a stained glass window. The most common brick-end designs were geometric patterns similar to those found in frakturs and other Pennsylvania German folk motifs, simplified by the nature of brick construction. The bricklayer was limited in the variety and form of designs which could be used without jeopardizing the strength
and stability of the construction. One mispositioned brick could produce a weak link in the network, bringing down a portion of the wall. The designs can be reduced to five main geometric patterns: the square or rectangle, the diamond, the triangle, the X design, and the vertical design. When arranged in various positions, they would yield different motifs. For example, a rectangle shape on top of a triangle shape, on an inverted triangle suggests a goblet. Other popular design patterns included Christmas trees, sheaves of
BRICKS AND BONDING Brick construction was introduced in the colonies soon after settlement. Even before plans had been completed for the city of Philadelphia, English bricklayers had arrived. By 1800 more than 25 brickyards had already been established in and around the city. Brick production was a four-step process. First the clay was extracted from the soil and prepared for production. The bricicmaker's skill was in determining the composition of the clay — mixing it with sand or water according to need. Next the clay was shaped with molds into blocks. Removed from the molds, the bricks were left to dry. Finally, they were baked in makeshift kilns to a durable state. According to author J. William Stair, the 19th century English briclunaker produced a superior quality brick to those made today. Though standard4 3 4x 3/ 3 sized bricks — those measuring 2/ x 8 inches — were in use during this period, brick-end barns were constructed of a larger brick that measured 4inches. The larger brick was 3 2x 4 x 9/ 1 2/ faster to make, but it was also more stable. Stability was insured, by the English bricklayers, through a method of positioning the bricks in rows — or "courses" — on the wall. The long side ofthe brick,
Common bond was the mostfrequently used technique in brick-end construction. In this example, a variation called "six-course headers" was used in which every sixth row was made up ofheaders. or "stretcher!' and the short end, or "header!' werejuxtaposed and then set in mortar to create different kinds of "bonding!' Flemish bond, for example, consisted of alternating rows of stretchers and headers, while common, or American, bond, was achieved by using only stretchers and centering them over the joints in the row below. Common bond was cheapest and quickest, and was thought to be the strongest. As a result it was the bonding most frequently used during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The unusual combination ofpatterns on the back wall of the reconstructed "man on a mule" barn in Lancaster is ofunknown origin. At top appears the image ofan angel.
Brick-end barns first appeared in Southcentral Pennsylvania, as a result of German migration west along Route 30, into Franklin, York, and Cumberland Counties.
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wheat (or an hourglass) and the "unfolding lily."5 Pictorial representations which told a story, the farm owner's initials, or completion date of the barn were also used on occasion. The most remarkable example still stands outside Greencastle, depicting a man riding a horse. It's called the "man on a mule" barn, and the legend tells of a bricklayer hired to construct a representation of the farm owner's favorite riding horse. But because of a quibble between the farmer and the bricklayer, the peevish bricklayer designed, instead, a mule. No two barns were exactly alike, though many brick-end barns contained mirror-image designs on both ends. Brickmaking and bricklaying skills were introduced in the colonies by the English. English craftsmen produced the fashionable city houses of Philadelphia under the plans of William Penn, and created the elaborate brickwork in the homes of Salem and Burlington Counties, New Jersey.' As roads opened to the west, the English brought their skills into the countryside. Lancaster, where 20% of the craftsmen were in the building trades, became the largest inland city in the colonies. A hybrid of English and German cultures, Lancaster was the departure point to frontier towns such as York and Chambersburg, relatively accessible even before the turn of the nineteenth century on the Philadelphia Turnpike, now Route 30.7 The diaries and journals written by travelers and merchants passing through by coach shed light on the emergence of new brick construction in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt reported in London in 1797 the changes in the architectural landscape. Traveling west from Lancaster he "met with scarcely any but loghouses; every where we observed German farms, small houses, and large barns. On the Susquehanna frontier, 51
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Built in 1880, the Sollenberger barn, near Fayetteville, commemorates the Communion symbols: sheaf of wheat, wine and the finished bread product. It is still is use today byfourth generation Sollenbergers. 1.......c harissa mmimarawigift/41•11/11-__
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habitations are scarce and struggling:' By the mid 1830s Tyrone Power, Esq. reported quite a different scene while traveling west across the Susquehanna. "The country through which we rode was under excellent cultivation: the barns attached to the roadside were all large, brick-built, and in the neatest condition.' As brickmakers began to appear in the farmlands, a feasible means of making the bricks for farms had to be found. Because of prohibitive costs, it is unlikely that the bricks were made in brickyards near urban centers and brought to the farms. It has been suggested, instead, by author J. William Stair, one of the first to recognize the importance of brick-end barns, that the soil on many farms had sufficient clay to produce bricks right on the farms. The brickmaker could travel directly to the farm, make the bricks, and construct the brick-end barns, as well as the farmhouses, on the spot.' The itinerant English brickmaker was, thus, able to introduce new building techniques, eventually teaching the German farmer the skills necessary for constructing his own brick-end barns. The appearance of brick-end barns in Southcentral Pennsylvania is a reflection of the settlement patterns of different German religious sects. Arriving in three great migratory waves, between 1727 and 1775, the majority of Germans moved into regions north of Philadelphia, such as Berks and Lehigh Counties. As prosperity in these farm regions increased and farmlands became scarce, farmers continued to travel west, across the Susquehanna River, in search of arable land. The "high:' or Lutheran, Germans settled predominately in two areas of Pennsylvania. One was in and around Berks County, where their love of decoration and color showed itself in the painted "hex" sign barns that first appeared around 1830 to 1840, when paint became available and affordable.' The
other area was in Franklin, York, Adams, and Cumberland Counties, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. By contrast Lancaster Valley was settled by large numbers of Old Order Amish and Reformed sects (also referred to as Anabaptists). Precise lines of distinction between the different sects are difficult to distinguish. Their religious traditions were not the same as those of the Lutheran Germans. Many of these reformed sects had broken away from the ideology of Martin Luther. Seeking to escape religious persecution from both Catholics and Protestant, they welcomed William Penn's invitation to take part in the "Holy Experiment;' religious tolerance in Pennsylvania. They settled in selfsufficient clusters, holding on to their strict beliefs and successfully resisting outside ideas. Their religious beliefs demanded ascetic lives and forbade excessive decoration. Eschewing worldly pleasures, they were intolerant of new technology, refusing to use electricity even today. Because they did not practice infant baptism,they did not develop a fraktur expression. Not surprisingly, the barns of these reformed sects, remained plain and whitewashed throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, a reflection of their austere lifestyle. Though the external appearance of various Pennsylvania barns reflected religious differences and the local folk traditions, their interior layouts were basically the same. The prevailing style was the Swiss-bank barn, where the back wall was nestled into the side of a hill. Generally facing south for maximum sunlight in winter and shade in summer, they contained an upper and lower story. One feature characteristic of Pennsylvania barns is the overshoot, or forebay, the cantilevered, second story that extends from four to six feet beyond the first floor on the barnyard 53
side of the barn. It served to protect both the farmer and animals from inclement weather as well as the summer sun. In addition, it provided storage on the second floor. Also common were "Dutch doors;' a series of doors on the barnyard side, opening to the stalls of the livestock, and providing direct access into the barn for the farm animals. The second floor was entered from the hilltop-side, and if there was no hill to bank the barns against, a "hilltop" was created by constructing a ramp of dirt and stone along the side of the barn. Harvests and farm equipment could be driven by wagonload directly into the second floor. The ground floor was used exclusively for the animals. Each of the stables would usually have direct access to the barnyard, as well as access into the feeding entries between each stable. Along the back of the barn was a passageway for easy access into the stables from within. A wagon shed and corn crib were located on either side of the first floor. The second floor could be reached either by a stairway, or from double doors on the bank side through which a wagon could be driven directly into the barn. The second floor was basically one large enclosure with light streaming in from the brick ends. The center threshing floor was wide enough to house two wagons side-by-side and was referred to as a "double-barn floor." Flanking both sides of this center floor were the hay and wheat mows with grain bins located in both corners. Above the central floor area, referred to as an "overden;' straw was stored in the summer for winter use. Numerous trap doors on the floor of the second story were used to drop hay and straw into the animal pens directly below." The interior structure of the brickend barn was made of hand-hewn logs, generally oak. The strength and resistance of the oak provided the structural framework. The roof rafters were of unhewn logs and the floors were 54
wagons, built in this area were nearly twice the size of the Lancaster Conestoga, and could be driven up to the second-story granary door to permit loading of the grain directly onto and off the wagon.' Brick-end barns are an unprecedented development of post-Revolutionary American architecture. They appeared during what has been termed the flowering of Pennsylvania-German folk art, between 1775 and 1850.1 Scott
made of heavy boards supported by hand-hewn joists laid on a stone foundation. The sides of the barns were made of wood and the gabled roofs, of wooden shingles. Unlike the barns of Southeastern Pennsylvania, brick-end barns had two granaries on the bank side, flanking the sides of the barn doors,and extending onto the sod bank. An outside door on the brick-end side permitted loading and unloading of the grain. The "Pittsburgh" Conestoga ▪SINN 111111. OMEN11111111MMID MN 0111111,mom IMPnom MINK 1110 OMNI1.11111111111111 SIM
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The opposite gabled-end ofthe "man on a mule" barn shows the sloping of the bank style. The forebay is on the right side and the door to allow direct loading and unloading of grain is on the left.
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T. Swank, Deputy Director for Interpretation at Winterthur, states: "By the 1830's, the Pennsylvania German culture had been maturing for nearly a century.... Architecturally there had been a century-long building boom with only temporary slowdowns, and this boom contrasted sharply with the relatively depressed building situation in Europe. The most startling fact is that the Pennsylvania Germans throughout the heartland were already replacing their
houses with English-inspired houses... Obviously, the need to create a built environment provided marvelous opportunities for the building trades:' It was not just a need to create structures that spurred on the German immigrant. It was, more specifically, a desire to flaunt his newfound, and to his mind still somewhat miraculous, prosperity. On hand, was the skilled English craftsman to help him out. In true melting pot fashion, two traditions
merged to create a distinctive form of American folk architecture. Together with other examples of vernacular construction — log cabins, New England "salt box" houses, and Southwestern pueblo architecture — brick-end barns symbolize the creativity and resourcefulness of the American settlers. More than one-hundred years later, in 1961 the Pennsylvania Folklife Society, in deserved recognition, was inspired to construct a replica of the "man on a mule" barn — their own tribute to brickend barns. Carl Palusci is a student in the Museum of American Folk Art/New York University Masters and Ph.D. program in Folk Art Studies. He is a graduate intern in the Department of American Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is conducting research and preparing an exhibition proposal for their nonacademic, reserve collection to be included in the Henry R. Luce Center for American Study scheduled to open in 1988. NOTES I. Eric Sloane, American Barns and Covered Bridges (New York: Wilfred Funk., 1954), p. 51. 2. Alan Gowans, Images of American Living, (New York: Harper & Row, 1976), p. 92. 3. J. William Stair, "Brick-End Barns:' The Dutchman, Fall 1954, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 4. Ibid. 5. Ibid. While Mr. Stair has reduced the designs to seven main types, I have further reduced them to five main geometric patterns from which all brick-end designs are derived. 6. Gowans, p. 92. 7. Scott T. Swank, Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans,(Wilmington: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983), p. 13. 8. Alfred L. Shoemaker, The Pennsylvania Barn, (Kutztown: Pennsylvania Folklife Society, 1959), p. 14. 9. Stair, "Brick-End Barns': 10. Alfred L. Shoemaker, Hex, No!,(Lancaster: The Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center, Inc., 1953), pp. 13-16. 11. Stair, "Brick-End Barns:' 12. Richard H.Shaner,"Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Greencastle, Pennsylvania7 American Folklife, Vol. II, no. 2, Oley, Pennsylvania, November 1973. 13. Swank, p. 4. 14. Ibid. p. 30. 55
The Problem of Martin Ramirez Folk Art Criticism as Cosmologies of Coercion By Michael D Hall
Untitled: Circa 1953;Pencil, ink and crayon on 1 4"; Collection of collaged blue paper; 32 x 19/ Jim Nun and Gladys Nillson. An iconographic and semiotic study ofthe artist's imagery would prove highly productive, says the author.
This article is adapted from a presentation given by Michael D. Hall at Moore College of Art,Philadelphia, at a symposium in conjunction with the exhibition "The Heart of Creation: The Art of Martin Ramirez:' presented by the college's Goldie Paley Gallery. The exhibition brings to the public for the first time a large body of the remarkable work of Mexican-born Martin Ramirez, a diagnosed schizophrenic and selftaught artist who lived most of his adult life in a northern California state institution. The exhibition has traveled to the Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan, where it will remain until January 26, 1986. It then moves to the Milwaukee Art Museum from February 20 to April 13, 1986 and to the Chicago Public Library Cultural Center from July 26 to August 30, 1986.
56
Twenty years ago, when I began collecting American folk art, study on the subject was still in its nascence. Material had been gathered and great collections had been formed; but criticism in the area was, at best, like the material itself — primitive. Criticism at that time could well be described as chauvinist and sentimental. I'm not attempting here to depreciate the work of some of the early researchers and enthusiasts, however, two camps historically dominated interpretations of the material called folk into the 1960s. The first of these camps embraced folk art as a ratification for modernism. This position was based in the Formalist theory of art appreciation and was constructed around a search for universals in art discernable in what was called "the language of form" — a sort of Esperanto of color, line and shape. We've all heard the stories about how Picasso was influenced by weathervanes. We're aware that Elie Nadelman drew inspiration from his collection of American folk carvings and styled his late works in an abstract way that aped the abstraction he saw in folk art. Modernism, in fact, had already been ratified in Europe so the American scenario simply fleshed out an argument already propped up by an array of tribal African and Oceanic and preColumbian artifacts which were thought to manifest the same raw "primitive power" and purity of formal expression that Modernists were seeking in their work. That Modernism is still floating on a raft of primitivism is no way better evidenced than by the success of the exhibition "Primitivism in 20th Century Art" presented by the Museum of Modern Art last year. The American folk art plank in this raft was added rather late and, indeed, formed merely a postscript to an argument that was already an apriori assumption by 1930. The other early advocacy for folk art was essentially political. Americans in the 1930s and 1940s were still trying to legitimize themselves in the world of art. Reflecting inward, Americans sought to elevate an indigenous art to an acceptable place in the collage of world art. Despite the fact that many of the first collectors, curators and dealers
(Nadelman, Cahill, Halpert et al) were thoroughly sophisticated and progressive in their understandings of art, they unwittingly set a plank of political reaction in the platform supporting folk art with their persistent reference to it as the art of the common man — wondrous and accessible because it was an unacademic art not aligned with established schools. The critical cosmology enveloping folk art after the 1920s began to confer on folk material the moral and aesthetic unassailability that the American myth reserves for Arcadians and noble savages. Ironically, the original informed celebration of the non-academic in folk art evolved into a subtle coercive argu-
ment favoring the anti-academic and the anti-intellectual. As this shift occurred, America's concern with folk art moved from the aesthetic arena into the arena of populist politics. Postwar enthusiasm for folk art became emotionally charged with nationalistic verve reflecting the heady mood of a nation emerging as a world power. Although planting Old Glory in the outstretched hand of some cigar store Indian seems fine to me, I generally find that aesthetic advocacies generated out of nationalism are myopic and far from rational; I still find that a conservative chauvinist sentiment runs strong in folk art circles today. I reiterate this mini-history only to
suggest that American folk art from the onset has been curiously abused and made to serve many masters. As the interest in non-academic art spreads, new claims for its importance are formed almost willy nilly to serve an array of new social motives. It is rather well-known that there was disagreement on the pertinence of the recent Black folk art exhibition which circulated in the United States with such success three years ago. At the extreme, supporters of this show felt that the exhibition was a major step forward in an appreciation of a relatively unknown and misunderstood category of ethnic expression. They interpreted the exhibition as a social/aesthetic step
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elevating Black folk art to its rightful place in the pantheon of artistic achievement in America. They also presumed to identify "qualities" in the work which would distinctly characterize it as being the product of something loosely called "the Black experience" The opposition maintained that the exhibition was essentially racist in character and was an exercise in social control shackling Black folk art with yet another link in a chain of stereotypes historically leveled at Blacks themselves. These critics pointed out that the catalogue essayists and the press fueled a popular concept which enormously oversimplified the problem of identifying and describing the diagnostic characteristics of Black art. They argued that there was no precedent in
any school of criticism for the contention that a work of art could be said to have issued from a Black hand because it generated from intense religious fervor, incorporated a simple(or childlike) narrative content or stylistically manifested some vague expressive power uniquely inherent in the manner in which Black artists manipulate colors and materials in their work. As social scientists and historians, they were academically contemptuous of an exhibition that characterized as Black anything that exhibited a natural sense of gaudy and hallelujah. I am persuaded through my participation with the Black folk art show that the opposition had a point. I quote from a letter on the subject that I wrote in 1983, after having been challenged on my views of the exhibition:
_1_1_1111111111111111
Unititled; Circa 1950's; Pencil, crayon and ink on paper; 26/ 1 4x 25/ 1 2"; Collection ofMr. and Mrs. Robert Fleisher. The proscenium and frontal format in Ramirez' work alludes to the symmetrical altarsfound in Mexican churches and California missions.
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am asking for a comprehensive explanation of what it might be that would make a work of folk art 'black'. I remain skeptical that some artistic property which could be called 'blackness' can be located in a painting or carving.., by a process that is largely intuited or simply 'felt'. I
I believe that social rather than scholarly concerns continue to shape the dialogue surrounding folk art and the one emerging around that which has become known as outsider art. No one is arguing anymore whether Martin Ramirez was an artist or not; no one is arguing whether so-called isolate art is interesting but the advocacy for Ramirez and his work seems to me still very much couched in the needs of a constituency attracted more to fantasy than to fact. Outsider art buffs, like folk art buffs, seem to build cosmologies of coercion to support their claims and to protect their own interests and egos. Ramirez, the outsider, is just a victim. Something innocently pernicious has, in my opinion, blocked serious scrutiny of the Ramirez legacy. In the introduction to the exhibition catalogue Outsiders: An Art Without Precedent or Tradition, Roger Cardinal propounds a tidy little metaphor in which civilization is seen in the model of a city with a dense center, a sprawling suburban periphery ringed by a barren wasteland. Art in Cardinal's analogy radiates from the center, presumably diminishing in its luminosity as it ripples and spreads — flickering only sporadically in the desolate outback. In a sociological sense, this model is perhaps not inaccurate. It certainly could be argued that folk art exists at the periphery of high culture. Demonstrably the acceptance of this model accounts for the enormous neglect that has been heaped on folk art over the years by serious art scholars and connoisseurs. For them, that which goes on in the competitive dense center is of interest and of quality and that which survives in the wasteland is to be distrusted and avoided at all costs. The outsider advocacy, however, inverts the interpretation of this model following Cardinal to the conclusion that those flames in the darkness,
ignited by the "private Promethean vision" of the so-called "outsider" are indeed closer to being an authentic art than that which is diluted and confused in the center. The outsider argument offers that flames ignited by a friction bow are somehow hotter than flames ignited by a gas pilot light. This argument assumes that art is generated solely within the artist — that art touches to that which is most basic in human nature and, therefore, that those who would be the most in touch with themselves and have the most to say to humanity would be those most cut-off from the contamination of history, competition, professionalism and urban sophistication. This prejudice fixates on the work of prisoners, children, the insane, mystics and rustics. I believe that philosophically this position harbors a solipsism that insults both the isolate and the sophisticate. Modern critical jargon currently interposes the term "gutsy"in discussions where the words passionate or humane might previously have been effectively utilized. The celebration of the viscera implicit in this term signals a cultural value fixated on the raw, the untamed and the explosive. The psychotic artist, thus, presumably pouring unrestrained visceral impulses into a drawing or a carving, becomes a cultural hero and the advocates of outsider art coerce the art world with a one-dimensional cant in which only an artist who is nuts can produce work with guts. I have some problems with this interpretation of Ramirez. I believe that it is in its cultural connectedness that art is compelling. I am distressed to say that I don't find in Ramirez scholarship to date enough structured research on which to base a real interpretation of his drawing and collages. Undeniably, Ramirez' work is visually arresting and can be discussed formally as Roberta Smith does in the exhibition catalogue The Heart of Creation: The Art of Martin Ramirez. Ramirez' draftsmanship is facile and inventive. The space in his pictures is often complex and contradictory. His use of line is intelligent and emphatic. However, as we look at the images and as we search for a content in the work, we are forced to confront questions that formalist
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ill
I U1111 111 t i -eV) -
Untitled; Circa 1950's; Pencil and crayon on paper;60 x 24"; Courtesy Phyllis Kind Gallery, NY, NY. An exploration into the artist's imagery would most likely expose vestiges of Mexican Indian art.
dogma won't adequately answer. What is this work really about? What does it mean? What did it mean to the artist and what can it potentially mean to its audience? Challenging the formalist interpretation, I would offer that art cannot be understood absolutely from its form. Color, line, shape, space, texture can convey meaning but they are not in and of themselves meaning. If it were indeed only a game of inventing and chasing shapes, art making and art interpretation would really rank among the most listless of human activities. I believe that an iconographic and semiotic study of the imagery in the drawings would be highly productive. Given what we know ofthe artist, might we not reasonably find a heavy Catholic content in his work? Might we not also find other aspects of a Hispanic tradition residing there? Might not vestiges of the Mexican Indian art heritage outcrop also? And most significantly, might we not absolutely expect to discover threads of autobiography throughout the drawings? I think yes. We cannot adopt the man but reject or ignore his roots — smugly designating his utterances as garble because they are not in our tongue. I am pleased to find writers now discovering in Ramirez that which derives from the Spanish baroque. The frontality in the work and the stage format that we see over and over harkens to the stepped and symmetrical altars of most Mexican churches and those in most of the California missions. This recognition puts a history into the art and makes the artist a citizen in our world. Looking at other of the Ramirez pictures, we find Madonna figures, snakes, globes, and an array of animals — all of which can be linked to various traditional iconographies and to images in popular culture available to the artists. We don't have to speculate in the areas of the unconscious or the subconscious to discover that the train motif which occurs so often in Ramirez' work could easily have grown from his own personal experience working on the railroad. The so-called cowboys with their bandoliers recall Pancho Villa and the Revolution and we might well assume that there is a 59
political as well as a religious statement in this work. Ramirez would have been 24 years old and living in Mexico at the time of the Revolution. If he had been living in the north, Zapata and Villa would most assuredly been his heroes. He could have even served. In this case, the soldiers populating his drawings would be as understandable as the ones that inhabit Horace Pippin's war pictures. Going even further,I believe it would be worthwhile to identify more of the motifs in Ramirez' work and to have a numerical breakdown on the frequency of occurrence of certain motifs as they can be found in the corpus. I would like to know how many train pictures there are. I would like to know how many cowboy pictures there are. I would like to know how many Madonnas there are and I would like to see this statistical data correlated and interpreted. So too, I think, we might probe further into the stylistic evolution of Ramirez' art. Too frequently it is believed that folk art and isolate art leap full blown from the head of Zeus and that there is no such thing as a development in the output of the non-academic artist. My experience leads me to believe this is entirely erroneous. I watched Inez Nathaniel's drawings grow and change over four or five years. I saw themes become interesting to her and then lose their appeal and fade from the work to be replaced by other concerns. More can be deduced from the sketchy chronology that we have on Ramirez' drawings. More also remains to be discovered about the conditions that existed and changed around the artist in the several periods of his work. Only after the broadest inquiry has challenged the prevailing cosmologies of coercion and convenience can we legitimately establish a parity between Ramirez and the other fine artists — (Van Gogh, for example) — with whom his name is so frequently linked. My own speculation on the criticism of non-academic art and on the persistence of interest in folk and isolate art in our time has to do with the broader issue of twentieth-century man and his grapplings with modernism in the largest sense. If indeed technology 60
Untitled; Circa 1952;Crayon,penciland collage on brown paper;51 x 18";Courtesy ofthe Phyllis Kind Gallery, NY, NY. Examination of images and contentforces confrontation with questions thatformalist dogma won't answer.
and urbanization has alienated modern man, it is predictable that he would have discovered in things primitive, non-urban or non-technological something to be recovered and set against the anxieties presumably precipitated by change. In the first two decades of the century, we saw artists collecting and emulating the look and feel of various objects of tribal art. They responded to the sense of pattern and symmetry found in primitive masks and they sought to appropriate some of the ritual power they felt in fetish objects and talismans of various sorts. The same period saw artists becoming fascinated with the work of children — once again a nod to the primal or the unspoiled in human nature. We also saw artists experimenting with hallucenogens, games of chance, the Tarot, dream interpretation and automatism. They found in the person and in the paintings of Henri Rousseau a paradigm. His jungle scenes, Eve figures, dreaming nubians and simple peasants all spoke to the early moderns and tugged on the essentially anti-modernist heart strings of their own dispositions. For the artists and their associates, folk art and the art of the insane also gratified yearnings for a belief system that would maintain the myth of the artist as a feeling person outside of society fighting a very individualistic battle against the ravages of conformity and anonymity. It is not necessarily clear who sold all of this initially but it is very clear that it was bought effectively throughout the first half of the 20th-century and remains a viable commodity into our own time. Americans especially are disposed to embracing the primitive myth of modernism. It may have something to do with our own competitive sense of cultural insufficiency as well as something to do with our own frontier identity. We need to believe that the Lone Ranger exists. We need to believe that he possesses dignity, cunning natural instincts and an indominable will to prevail. We need him to be an outsider. We need him to be a man behind a mask. But do we need Martin Ramirez to be the Lone Ranger of art — masked behind his psychosis? Nobody, it
rience — whatever it may be — is tied to understanding and perception. Art allows us to see ourselves in a cultural context. The more we know, the more we can see. The more clarified the mirror, the better the reflection. What I'm really asking for is the stripping of the peculiar handicap that seems inadvertently to hamper the full appreciation of the work of the isolates and folk artists. Five stroke handicaps for illiterate Appalachian wood-carvers and ten stroke handicaps for psychotics don't seem to flatter the real creative spirit of the artists among us. I would conclude today by suggesting that the isolation in Ramirez is not necessarily the isolation of the artist but the isolation of the constituency that first framed the context within which
his work was evaluated. I'm scattershooting here at collectors, museum folk and a whole array of afficionados who for one reason or another are coddling this work to death. As a partisan,I'm hoping that events like the Ramirez exhibition which purport to reveal the work and to celebrate its maker, don't end up as extended sentences for inmates who never needed to be interred in the first place. As an artist, I'm asking the court of critical revision to parole my brother, Martin, now. Michael D. Hall is Resident Sculptor at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He is a longtime collector of folk and isolate art and he has written and spoken extensively on American folk art since 1970.
Photo: Jeff Rosenbaum
seems, really wants to know who he was. They simply seem determined to cast him as the Natty Bumpo of finger painting. His supporters want him to ride into town, guns blazing like those of his own soldados, laying waste to the archfiends of Minimalism and Postminimalism. Seen as a hired gun, he is also useful as a rallying figure for the hordes of Neo-expressionists exploiting the new cult of the obsessive compulsive. This all may sound a little harsh but I think it's time at least to posit some argument which chips away at the condescension characterizing the discussion of non-academic art. I am, at this point in my life as an artist and as a collector, honestly persuaded that art's real value is social. The aesthetic expe-
4"; Courtesy ofthe Phyllis Kind Gallery, 1 Untitled; Circa 1950s;Pencil and crayon on paper; 17 Y8 x 23-/ NY, NY. Ramirez would have been 24 years old and living in Mexico at the time of the Mexican Revolution; these figures on horseback may recall Pancho Villa and his men.
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FOLK ART GALLERY
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An early 20th C.polychrome painted articulated mill (26"x16"x151
Leroy Almon Andrew Block Bruce Brice David Butler Henry Darger Rev. Howard Finster O.W. "Poppy" Kitchens Sr. Gertrude Morgan Popeye Reed Nellie Mae Rowe James "Son Ford" Thomas
CLEMENTINE HUNTER (1887-
Mose Tolliver Bill Traylor Fred Webster Chief Willey Estate of Charles Hutson and others
"NEW BABY," oil on window shade, c. 1942
GASPER! FOLK ART GALLERY 831 St, Peter Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70116 (504) 524-9373
Ames Gallery features American folk art & artifacts. Concurrent with the changing exhibits, our extensive collection of tramp art, cookware, quilts, contemporary folk painting, and sculpture are always on view. For current exhibit information, hours, or for an appointment, phone us or write to: Ames Gallery 2661 Cedar Street Berkeley, CA 94708 415 845-4949
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A
Museum News
LIBERTIES WITH LIBERTY POSTER EXHIBITION The Museum of American Folk Art is offering a unique opportunity for people all over the country, and abroad, to enjoy highlights ofa Museum exhibition and share the centennial celebration of the Statue of Liberty. Through the generosity of The Xerox Foundation, the Museum has produced a handsomely photographed fourcolor poster exhibit of objects from our upcoming exhibition "Liberties with Liberty!'Included are three centuries of American folk art in a range of media — paintings, sculpture, and textiles. The twenty-piece set of 24" x 36" posters tracing the changes in the personification of America from an Indian maiden to the Statue of Liberty, will be made available through the governor's offices of all fifty states for circulation to university museums, historical societies, libraries and shopping malls. Additional sets will be distributed abroad through U.S.I.A. Washington, D.C. The individual posters are mounted on heavy cardboard and are ready for display. For information about borrowing a set of the Liberties with Liberty Poster Exhibition for your community or business contact the governor's office of your state, or call the Exhibitions Office of the Museum at 212/977-4423.
Above:Director Robert Bishop and Benefit Committee Co-Chairman Cynthia V.A. Schaffner pause to hear thefiddler's tunes. The old wooden windmill was part ofMadderlake's displayfor the exhibition of windmill weights.
There was plenty of looking, left, as well as buying at the Fall Antiques Show's opening night. Below, Randall Morris with two contented-looking customers at Frank Maresca's booth.
FALL ANTIQUES SHOW SUCCESS Once again this year the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier opened with a smashing gala evening to benefit the Museum. Two thousand people attended the event, which was sponsored by THE AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY on behalf of American Express Travel Related Services Company Inc., American Express Bank, Ltd., Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc., IDS Financial Services Inc., and Fireman's Fund Insurance Companies,enjoying the fine food of David Ziff Cooking, Inc., the beverages supplied by Whitbread North America — wine courtesy of Richard J. Newman — and the spectacular decor by Madderlake. The setting, as well as the cuisine reflected the event's theme "In Celebration: The American Frontier:' 64
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Right: Barbra Streisand in black sneakers and beret turned more than afew heads. According to reports, she bought heartily.
the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. In addition, four of the Museum's brochures won recognition in the American Association of Museum's 1985 Museum Publications Competition. An Award of Distinction was given to the "Winning Moves: Painted Gameboards of North America" exhibition kit and Awards of Merit were won by "Continuity and Change" exhibition checklist and the programs for "The Academy: Part One" and "The Academy: Part Two:' Congratulations to all those involved in producing these prize-winning publications.
Below: Director Robert Bishop with Trustees Barbara Johnson and Karen Cohen, and Peter Cohen, Chairman and CEO ofShearson Lehman Brothers Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Cohen were Honorary Chairmen ofthe Benefit.
MARIAN WILLARD JOHNSON 1904-1985
The Museum wishes to thank those who made the evening such a success, particularly Honorary Chairmen Mr. and Mrs. Peter Cohen and Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Faulkner; Benefit Committee Chairmen Cynthia V.A. Schaffner and Karen S. Schuster; Exhibition Curator Milt Simpson; and Walking Tour Guides Davida Deutsch and Helaine Fendelman. For filling the bags supplied by Art and Auction Magazine, we thank Kron Chocolatier Inc.; Laurent-Perrier U.S., Inc.; Ralph Lauren; Crabtree & Evelyn; and Perugino Chocolates. We offer our appreciation to Craftsmen Litho of Waterbury, Connecticut for donating the printing ofthe invitations, and to Sanford L.Smith, producer of the Fall Antiques Show. Special thanks, also, to Myra Shaskan for her hours of ticketing; to Hunter
Thomas and Lucy Fagot for their work at the bookshop; and to members of the Friends Committee Phyllis Tepper, Irene Goodkind, Jackie Helder, Helaine Fendelman,Sheila Steinberg, Hildegard Vetter, Tom Cuff, Sandy Nolan, and Daryl Farber.
PUBLISHING PRIZES The Museum of American Folk Art is proud of its printing and publishing program, so it's particularly pleasing to be recognized by the Museum community for our work in these areas. The Museum's catalogue The Jewish Heritage in American Folk Art is the winner of an honorable mention for a catalogue of distinction in the arts, in the 1985 Henry Allen Moe Prize, awarded by
The Museum of American Folk Art was saddened to learn of the death of Marian Willard Johnson on November 3, 1985, at her home in Patterson, New York, at the age of 81. Johnson was a Founding Trustee ofthe Museum and a member of its Board of Trustees from 1961, when the Museum was granted a Provisional Charter, until 1971, when she became a Trustee Emeritus. She served as Vice President from 1961 to 1969. Marian Willard Johnson was founder and director of the Willard Gallery in New York City for more than 30 years. Highly respected in the art world, she was known for her gifted eye, quiet dignity, and resistance to art world trends and fashions. Indeed,she was one of the first to recognize the place of folk art in American art history and to present folk art as art rather than antiques. Born in New York in 1904, Johnson was graduated in 1922 from the Chapin School. While visiting Switzerland to attend lectures by C.G. Jung, she became familiar with the work of Paul Klee. After returning to New York, she opened her first gallery in 1936 as an outgrowth of her interest in the artist's creative process. Johnson introduced the works of Lyonel Feininger, Morris Graves, Mark Tobey and Richard Lippold, among others. In 1974, Johnson passed the gallery's directorship to her daughter Miani Johnson Wirtz, of New York City. In addition to Wirtz, she is survived by her husband Dan Rhodes Johnson, another daughter Danna Rhodes Dunning, of Patterson, and two grandchildren. 65
Our Increased Membership Contributions May-October, 1985
We wish to thank the following members for their increased membership contributions and for their expression of confidence in the Museum:
Morris J. Alhadeff, Renton, WA Mr. & Mrs. Lewis Allen, New York, NY Jeanne Applebaugh, Allentown, NJ ME & Mrs. Carlton R. Asher, Jr., New York, NY Karen Berkenfeld, New York, NY Marilyn & Milton Brechner, Sands Point, NY Constance W. Compton, Menands, NY Betty Cooke, Baltimore, MD Jack D. Crutchfield, New York, NY Allan L. Daniel, New York, NY Deborah A. Dodge, Alexandria, VA
Mary Jaene Edmonds,Long Beach, CA Mrs. Lester Eisner, Jr,New York, NY
Mrs. Erwin Maddrey, Greenville, SC Paula Marks, Darien,CT Mr. & Mrs. Robert Merritt, Kingston, NJ
Diana Flatto, New York, NY Edson L. Foster, Wilton, CT Betty Lucas Friedman, Chappaqua, NY
Ann Lawrence Nahigian, Atlanta, GA Marjorie Nezin, Freeport, NY
James T. Gleeson, Stone Mountain, GA Howard Gordon, Wantagh, NY
Robert B. Phelps, New Orleans, LA Mr. & Mrs. William Potter, New York, NY
Phyllis Haders, Stonington, CT George Delancey Harris, New York, NY Robert Herman, New York, NY
Mr. & Mrs. Leo Rabkin, New York, NY Sudee Sanders, Haddonfield, NJ Ken Shapiro, Sherman Oaks,CA
Earl Jamison, Lahaska, PA Anne Baxter Klee, Easton, CT John Landis, Los Angeles, CA Laurie Lederman, New York, NY Peter A. Levy, New York, NY
Kathleen S. Traynor, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. T. Arnold 'Winer, Jr , Jackson, MS Mr. & Mrs. R. A. Wagner, Milwaukee, WI Elaine & Donald Weill, Westfield, NJ Patricia Weiner, Sands Point, NY Lisa Wolfson, New York, NY
Our Growing Membership May-October 1985
The Museum trustees and staff extend a special welcome to these new members:
Sandy Atkinson, Jackson, MS Mrs. Aline B. Auerbach, New York, NY Lillian August, Louisville, KY
Chester W. Adams, New York, NY Carole Wilson Adelman, Oxford,OH Barbara J. Adinolfi, Brooklyn, NY Sharon Albert, E. Lansing, MI Gary Albrect, Madison, WI Eugenie Allen, New York, NY Lyn Allen, Edison, NJ Mary Amoroso, Oradell, NJ June Anderson, San Francisco, CA Lynne C. Anderson, Wilmington, MA Mrs. R. P. Anderson, Miami, FL Tom & Gina Anderson, Brooklyn, NY Marguerite P. Archer, San Francisco, CA Susan M. Arnold, Albany, CA Jan Arnow, Louisville, KY Mrs. R. G. Ashbaugh, Jr., Edwardsburg, MI Connan O'Brien Ashfortn, Westport, CT Bruce Atkinson, Jackson, MS
Mrs. Nathaniel Bacon, Edgartown, MA Mrs. Walter Bacon, North Haven, CT Lynne Bailey, Troy, MI Marion A. Baker, Los Angeles, CA Darby & Mya Bannard, Princeton, NJ Richard A. Barnes, Roswell, GA Mary S. Bartlett, New Canaan, CT Betty B. Beaney, Churchville, NY Chris Bechtel, Green Bay, WI Jane D. Begos, Pound Ridge, NY Kelly Behan, Armonk, NY Gail Peters Beitz, New York, NY Jack N. Berkman, New York, NY Robert Bernstein, New York, NY Jonathan Birge, Indianapolis,IN Nancy Blake, Dumont, NJ Gary & Janice Blumenthal, Beverly Hills, CA Sheldon M. Bonovitz, Philadelphia, PA
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Mrs. N. Bomer, Merrick, NY Doris M. Bowman, Alexandria, VA Jody Van Dam Boyajian, South Natick, MA Richard & Louise Bradley, St. Louis, MO Cynthia Brintnall, West Palm Beach,FL R. A. Brodie, Los Angeles, CA Phyllis Bronseaux, Ozone Park, NY Kathy Brown, Barberton, OH Thomas Brown, McMurray,PA Mary Bruno, Amherst, NH Gordon Bryars, San Francisco, CA Jean Dieter Buhr, Highland Park, NJ Judith Varney Burch, Richmond, VA Eileen Burke, New York, NY
Shirley Cain, Titusville, FL Dorothy T. Cameron, New York, NY Patricia Carberry, New York, NY Mrs. Margaret E. Carlaw, Mt. Kisco, NY Greta Carlstrom, Marblehead, MA Bruce Can, New York, NY Deborah & Stephen Chapin, Larchmont, NY
Our Growing Membership
Miriam L. Chesslin, Chevy Chase, MD Lucylee Chiles, United Arab Emirates Ruth G. Chittick, Ossipee, NH Mrs. Robert H. Clark, Jr, Greenwich, CT Kathryn W. Clarke, New York, NY Jean R. Cleland, Wilmette, IL Susan Chase Cohen, Amherst, MA Mrs. Sandra Collins, London, WI Cathy Y. Comins, Upper Montclair, NJ Susan Connell-Magee, Dubuque,IA Muriel Connery, New York, NY Kenneth Cooke, Kokomo,IN Terry Cooper, New Rochelle, NY Jacki Crawford, New York, NY Mrs. Joseph Crawford, Los Angeles, CA June L. Critchley, Oradell, NJ Thomas P. Cuff, New York, NY
Jaime Davidovich, New York, NY Roy De Forest, Port Costa, CA Jane S. Dean, Marietta, GA John C. Debrulye, Oakland, NJ Peg Deguire, Syracuse, NY Teresa Demchalc, San Francisco, CA Linda Dewitt, Los Angeles, CA Susan Digiovanna, New York, NY Jean H. Dingman, New York, NY Susan D. Diyanni, Morrisville, PA Mrs. Ray Dolby, San Francisco, CA Merrill B. Dornas, New Orleans, LA Patricia Dombal, Fair Lawn, NJ Luella Doss, Grafton, WI Judith A. Drake, New York, NY Robert A. Drew, Los Angeles, CA Judith Duchan, Buffalo, NY Theresa B. Duenzl, N. Bellmore, NY Mrs. Joan A. Dumont, New York, NY Candace E. Dunlap, Charlottesville, VA Mrs. J. August Duval, Jaffrey, NH
Mrs. John Early, Wilton, CT Francoise N. Edwards, New York, NY Margaret A. M. Elliott, Oakdale, NY Idie Meg Emery, Irvine, CA Anita Epstein, Hasbrouck Hts., NJ
Toshimi Fujita, Forest Hills, NY Carolyn L. Funk, Brooklyn, NY
Flavia M. Gale, New York, NY Lee Garrett, Columbus, OH Francis Gibbons, Los Angeles, CA Jeffrey Gold, Los Angeles, CA Elana Daniels Goldberg, New York, NY Jane Goldman, Bronxville, NY Amy Goodhart, Miami, FL Karen B. Gordon, Anchorage, AK Mel Gordon, New York, NY N. H. Grace, Fairfield, CT Emmy-Lou Grady, Laguna Beach, CA Thomas E. Graves, M.D., Minersville, PA Patricia L. Gray, Wytheville, VA Mary Greenebaum, New York, NY Judy Grollmus, Spokane, WA Helene Grubair, Miami,FL
Charlotte R. Haines, N. Plainfield, NJ Tish Hamblin, Center Sandwich, NH Ridgely Ann Hamilton, Cedar Park, TX Lucy D. Hansen, Tenafly, NJ Diane T. Harder, Arvada, CO Harris Brown Gallery, Boston, MA Jennifer Hartz, St. Louis, MO Anne C. Haskel, New York, NY Lavita & Saul Haskel, New Rochelle, NY Hawaii State Library, Honolulu, HI Mrs. Phillip Heffernan, Pt. Harbor, NC Linda L. Hendryx, Shingle Spgs., CA Mrs. John Herold, New York, NY M. Anne Hill, New York, NY Miriam D. Hinnant, Upper Saddle River, NJ Susann C. Hochstein, Darien, CT Sharon C. Hoffmann, Hempstead, NY Marie M. Hoffmeister, New York, NY Felicia Holtzinger, Yakima, WA Pearle Howell, Myersville, MD Sara G. Howell, Kailua, HI Terry A. Hummel, Greenville, SC Hutchinson PTA,Pelham, NY
Roger Isaacs, Glencoe, IL Evelyn D. Farland, New York, NY Brad Farnsworth, New Haven,CT Marion Fatica, Yonkers, NY Donna M. Favreau, Bethel, CT Elizabeth P. Feingold, New Rochelle, NY Debra Feldman, New York, NY Louise Dunn Fiedler, Atherton, CA Mrs. Gathe A. Findlay, New Canaan, CT Sigrid Focke, New York, NY Evelyn W. Frank, Los Alamos, NM Charles Fredericks, Weston, CT Elsie T. Freeman, Washington, DC Irene Friedrichs, Dumont, NJ
Polly F. Jackson, Lincoln, MA Barbara Johnson, Princeton, NJ Jeniah Johnson, Princeton, NJ Russell S. Johnson, Norwalk, CT
Linda Kacmarcik, Norman, OK Mr. & Mrs. Burton Kaplan, New York, NY Eileen Katchen, Woodstock, VT Elizabeth M. Kavanagh, Long Island City, NY Katherine Kaye, New York, NY Peter J. Keebler, New York, NY
Lea Ann King, Rolling Hills, CA John D. King M.D.,Inc., Tarzana, CA Mr. & Mrs. Edward Kittredge, New York, NY Carol Z. Klaben, Syracuse, NY Ronald Klagsbrun, Larctunont, NY Carolyn C. Klemeyer, San Francisco, CA Pauline C. Knoll, Milford,CT Juliana Koenig, Sunnyside, NY Miriam Kogan, New York, NY Maryann T. Kotcho, Glen Ridge, NJ Lynn Kranz, Bay Village, OH Mrs. Florence F. Kriendler, New York, NY Mrs. George Krug,Piedmont, CA
Bert C. Lafford, Montreal, Canada Lorren K. Lambert, Parsons, WV Gary L. Lampley, East Orange, NJ Linda R. Larson, Napa, CA Leslie Lawing, Ogden, UT Beverly Leffers, Brooklyn, NY Mr. & Mrs. Burton Lehman, New York, NY Christina Willebeek Lemair, Great Barrington, MA Julie Leshin, Ft. Lauderdale, FL Les Leveque, New York, NY Naomi Levinson, Forest Hills, NY Mrs. Janet W. Levy, New York, NY Deborah M.Fairbanks, Washington, DC Debra Linde, New York, NY Lois L. Linn, Rochester, MN Marion I. Lipshutz, Brooklyn, NY Madalyn Loe, Minnetonka, MN
Cecilia Macheslci, Hudson, NY Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Magnin, Beverly Hills, CA Patricia Phillips Marco, New York, NY John E. Martich, Long Island City, NY Judith P. Martin, Boerne,TX Edgar M. Masinter, White Plains, NY Milton Mazo, M.D., Atlanta, GA Joan McDermott, Bayside, NY Mrs. Gwynne G. McDevitt, Newtown Sq.,PA Karen A. Meer, Milwaukee, WI Peggy L. Meier, Paterson, NJ Connie Melashenko, Loma Linda, CA Mr. & Mrs. Michael Mennello, Winter Park, FL Christina Metivier, Rye, NH Steven Micha.en, Pound Ridge, NY Mrs. Lillian D. Miller, Los Angeles, CA Pamela Miller, Greenwich,CT Donald Minerick, Stony Pt., NY Naomi Mirsky, Hewlett, NY Connie P. Mitchell, Brooklyn, NY Julia S. Moed,Chevy Chase, MD Joan M. Molloy, Crestwood, NY Mrs. Heidi Monza, Redondo Beach, CA Adelia Moore, Pittsburgh, PA A. C. Morgan,III, New York, NY Robert C. Moss, New York, NY Christine Motl, Oconomowoc, WI 67
riFA
Our Growing Membership
Patricia C. Mott, New City, NY Lawrence R. Myers, Washington, DC N.Y.S. Historical Association Library, Cooperstown, NY Stella Nadel, Syosset, NY Patricia Narciso, Hoboken, NJ Nancy A. Nelson, Minneapolis, MN Lucia W. Nemer, New Britain, PA Judith Neville, N. Dighton, MA New York Academy of Sciences, New York, NY Arlene & Jeffrey Nichols, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Ronald D. Niven, Paradise Vly., AZ Jan Norton, Chicago, IL Mr. & Mrs. Bernard Nusinow, Chicago, IL
Margaret O'Brien, New York, NY Marion Oettinger, M.D., San Antonio, TX Mrs. John Ogden, Milwaukee, WI Mr. & Mrs. Donald C. Opatrny, Brooklyn, NY
Stuart Paley, New York, NY Cheryl V. Parks, Atlanta, GA Augusta Petroff, Great Neck, NY Carol Pilcher, Scottsdale, AZ John C. Pile, Babylon, NY Frances W. Poli, Ridgewood, NJ Bette Pounders, Cambridge, MA Mrs. Grace Prescott, Locust Valley, NY
Bonnie Rand, Hammonton, NJ Mrs. Albert Rayle, Atlanta, GA Richard Reens, Dallas, TX Rosemary Rehus, Glen Ridge, NJ Alexandra B. Reynolds, Lebanon, OH Margaretta Richardi, Philadelphia, PA John W. Rindlaub, Riverside, CT Martha Robertshaw, New York, NY Emily Roet, Washington, DC Jesse W. Rogers, Wichita Falls, TX Jacquelyn Ronan, Sausalito, CA Mr. William D. Rondina, New York, NY Alois Rosat, Switzerland Gerald M. Rosenthal, Los Gatos, CA Rhoda Rossmoore, Stamford, CT Mrs. B. Rothenberg, N. Miami Beach, FL Dalita L. Rubinstein, M.D., New York, NY Alexandra Rudenko, New York, NY M. Sue & Robert Russell, Detroit, MI Sara Ryan, Seattle, WA
Andrew Sabin, New York, NY Naomi & David Sacks, Larchmont, NY Yoko Saito, Jackson Hts., NY Paul W. Saltzman, M.D., Chicago, IL San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA Jillian S. Sandrock, Oakland, CA Katherine Sandweiss, New Haven,CT Susan Santora, Park Forest, IL 68
Mrs. Frederic Sapirstein, New York, NY Geoffrey Satter, Oklahoma City, OK Lisa Schaeffer, Paramus, NJ SiIke Schalk, New York, NY Claire Schoeppler, Maywood, NJ David Schorsch, South Salem, NY Madeleine Schulhoff, Madison, NJ Susan C. Schultz, Oxford, MI Thomas S. Schultz, M.D. P.C., Jamaica Plain, MA Lynne A. Schuman, Yardley, PA Alice Schwartzman, N. Massapequa, NY Arthur Schwartz, New York, NY Ivlyn Scott, New Canaan, CT Donna Segal, Katonah, NY Joan H. Selfe, Knoxville, TN Cher Shaffer, Parkersburg, WV Mead Shaffer, Boothwyn,PA Jayne M. Shannon, New York, NY Mrs. Daniel Shapiro, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Rose F. Shapiro, New York, NY Mrs. Arden Shaw, Greenwich, CT Mrs. Richard N. Sheble, Old Lyme,CT Laura Shprentz, Irvington, NY Allan L. Shriver, McMinnville, OR Nancy Lee Siegel, Scarsdale, NY Mr. & Mrs. William Silver, New York, NY Gregory L. Sippel, Indianapolis, IN William Sloan, New York, NY Ruth B. Smalley, Houston,TX Diane L. Smedira, Forest Hills, NY Carolyn E. Smith, Throggs Neck, NY Julie Russell Smith, Detroit, MI Michael C. Smith, New York, NY Peter G. M. Smith, Stonybrook, NY Mr. & Mrs. Wallace W. Smith, Jr., Pittsburgh, PA Catherine M. Spencer, Jamesburg, NJ State Library of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg,PA George S. Stenger, Brookfield, WI Kimball McGee Sterling, Jonesborogh, TN Micki Stiller, Deatsville, AL Martin Stone, Mt. Kisco, NY Bruce Strausberg, Bethlehem, CT Dalia Sudavicius, Omaha, NE Mr. & Mrs. A. E. Summerfield, Jr., Flint, MI Pamela A. Swanson, Richmond Hts., OH Nancy Swiezy, New York, NY Morton Swinsky, New York, NY Rosemarie Szostak, Cumming, GA
Betsy M. Taylor, Savannah, GA Marcia Teichner, South Miami,FL J. Temime, Israel Kathryn M. Thomas, Westport, CT Patricia Thomas, Brooklyn, NY Angela C. Thompson, New York, NY Claudia Tindall, New York, NY Mrs. James E. Tobin, Birmingham, MI Susan Erwin Tremblay, Hampton, NH Jeffrey 'nicker, Houston, TX
Wendy litrnbull, Berkeley, CA Blanche Turner, Abington, PA Kay 'Rimer, Austin, TX Alta litroff, Westhampton, NY Elise R.'Pave, Marblehead, MA Miss livorkowski, New York, NY Scott Tyson, Goodville, PA
Mary B. Ulbrich, Cheshire, CT
Mrs. Peter Van Brunt, New York, NY Marion Van Dam, Washington liNsp., NJ Ellen Van Howling, Hillsdale, NJ Caroline Vetterling, Houston,TX Joan Vibert, Leawood, KS Joanne Virone, Sacramento, CA Susan Vita, Chevy Chase, MD Lynn Vitters, Northport, NY Mt & Mrs. Foster Vogel, Lido Beach, NY Sra Jutto Von Seht, Spain
Maria Wagner, Sicklerville, NJ Susan Wallingford, Anchorage, AK Carolyn Walsh, Nantucket, MA Mrs. Paul Ward, Kansas City, MO Selene Weaver, New York, NY Anne R. Weinberger, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Weingarten, New York, NY Nancy Billik Weinrib, New York, NY Meryl Weiss, Hillsborough, NC Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Weiss, New York, NY Kathryn Welds, Santa Monica,CA Charles Wells, Clarence, NY Jeffrey R. White, Lebanon, PA Mrs. M. Whiteside, Australia Jan Whitlock, Spring Valley, NY Wichita Public Library, Wichita, KS Mrs. Cam G. Williams, Wayland, MA Mr. & Mrs. Lloyd P. Williams, New York, NY Beverly M. Wilson, England Elaine Wilson, England Mrs. Robert E. Winston, Harwich, MA Burt Wolf, New York, NY John S. Woods, Detroit, MI Jane Wulf, New York, NY Katharine F. Wyant, Potsdam, NY Mrs. T. Evans Wyckoff, Seattle, WA
Mrs. Gertrud Yeager, Ridgefield, CT Elaine Young, Seattle, WA Michal A. Youngflesh, Lancaster, OH
Diana Zanganas, New York, NY Eleanor Zimmerman, Salt Lake City, UT Gail Enid Zimmer, Fair Lawn, NJ Mary Linda & Victor Zonana, New York, NY Emily Zook, Pelham, NY
ANTIQUES AND ACCESSORIES FOR THE KITCHEN AND KEEPING ROOM from America, England and the Continent
CABINET MAKER
ft!
PAT GUTHMAN 342 PEQUOT ROAD ANTIQUES cf--SOUTHPORT • CT • 06490
TEL • 203-259-5743 TUESDAY—SATURDAY:10 AM -5 PM or by appointment
Robert Cargo
FOLK ART GALLERY Southern, Folk, and Afro-American
QUILTS FOLK ART and ANTIQUES Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401 2314 Sixth Street Telephone (205) 758-8884
We accurately reproduce decorated furniture in the folk art tradition, such as this small MASSACHUSETTS CHEST OVER DRAWERS, the great PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN CLOCK, and the NEW HAMPSHIRE PAINTED DESK with its fanciful skirt. We would be pleased to quote on other clocks or furniture in the same tradition, such as Spitler, Johnstown, or sponge-decorated clocks and furniture of all kinds. Catalog of furniture and clock reproductions $3. WILLIAM A. PEASE CABINETMAKER 17 Fresh Meadow Drive Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603
MI
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Vivian Harnett
.••••••
Antique Country Furniture and Accessories 456 Main Street Piermont, New York Shop hrs. 12:00 — 4:30 Wednesday thru Sunday — anytime by appointment — (10 minutes south of Tappan Zee Bridge)
(914)365-0333
11ARTA,
CA
rmalional known skowylace*offone the 10I05i erlenstie colleclions Yfine kandsonee **esinXweffiland 18thCaikoy kouses andeZeIlleSIFIeon tairt 25 rooms at7vkith so eminent dealers 1914CeniwAcowthy, dIp1az, 18ikand wd]ne1rniure. yal art, eenzmu'es, baskets,yaintings, tree* metals, the rare and the 6eari4ifil are farige the suyer6 vanity getattafues or the serious dealer and collecior fcouniry and AnerthanA,_f
BARBARA E.MILLS, PROPRIETRESS NANCY W DWAINE,ASST MANAGER ROUTE 5 HARTLAND, VERMONT 05048 802.-436-2441 OPEN DAILY 9T06 — MAY1 To oc1C 31 1 :oiro4-NOV ITO APRIL30... •\ wED.Mamma 57.
folti
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since March, 1980
THE HIGH TOUCH NEWSLETTER of contemporary folk art
,Sturbridge 5intique ,Shops 75 Dealers Offering one of New England's finest selections of antiques & collectibles
Personal vignettes of folk artists, topical news, calendar, commentary, new finds and new directions in 20th century folk art. Amply illustrated. Five issues per year.
Standing Mustached Man, John Vivolo, 1976. Painted wood, height 29/ 2". 1
70
Send $9 to Folk Art Finder, 117 North Main, Essex, CT. 06426, Phone 203-767-0313
Sturbridge, Mass. Route 20—q mile East of the Mass. Pike & 1-84 2 miles East of Old Sturbridge Village Tel. 1-617-347-2744 Open daily 9-5
Sat. & Sun. 10-5
ANTIQUE SAMPLERS (English 6 American) SAMPLER REPRODUCTIONS COUNTED-THREAD SAMPLER KITS FINE NEEDLEWORK ACCESSORIES 6 BOOKS CUSTOM-MADE BIRDSEYE MAPLE FRAMES
THE SCARLET LETTER 20215 West Coffee Road New Berlin, WI 53151 FULLY DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE $1.50
'EY FAIVELICAUCAISTEL 01-1
Cap Sanval n4ams Magachnfetts. Aug.Mh.17%0_111rebir arc Sem4..v.6.i corn* itowirx mar EALOW7111 1., ." C4 4r4.a Attan AITZPOr2i.t.11 ' M ' %ens m 3./.110,
Handmade Salt Glaze Stoneware
Fell. OCR!, V7,5 OM,
O4atel.. " -4t;a.c --1,1
n : Yber bitd4;ns fan20.h.MLM ...1.7122.W.17115
Museum Quality Reproductions
;Jan
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San 2.th 1770—: Sept. flaw .1rt 7 This To.&tartlet*
ROWE POTTERY WORKS 404 England Street, Dept. VW5 Cambridge, Wisconsin 53523 • 1-800-356-5510 Send $1.00 for color catalogue
all
Reproduction of a sampler worked by Betsey Adams of Jaffrey, NH,now in the collection of the Quincy (MA) Historical Society. The finished reproduction measures approximately 17"x181/1", worked in counted-thread embroidery on hand-dyed 35-count linen. KIT $30.00(P6H $1.75)
Custom Made Stretchers for displaying Quilts & Hooked Rugs Rag Carpets sewn together for Area Rugs
Pie Galinat 230 w.10th St., n.y. , n.y. 10014 (212) 741 - 3259
71
December by Janis Price,1984 Oil on canvas 18"x 24"
JOHNSON JAY America's Folk Heritage Gallery 1044 Madison Avenue, New York, NY. 10021 Daily, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.(212)628-7280
Index to Advertisers
America Hurrah American Primitive Gallery Ames Gallery Antiques Center at Hartland Beneduce & Black Bonner's Barn Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery Cavin-Morris Gallery Leslie Eisenberg Folk Art Gallery Epstein/Powell Folk Art Finder Janet Fleisher Gallery Pie Galinat Gasperi Folk Art Gallery 72
10 9 63 70 14 21 69 14 62 8 70 3 71 63
15 Sidney Gecker — American Folk Art 13 The Grass Roots Gallery 69 Pat Guthman Antiques 70 Vivian Harnett 72 Jay Johnson Kelter-Malce Antiques Inside Front Cover 4 Deanne Levison Back Cover Liberty Tree 5 R.H. Love Galleries 62 Main Street Antiques and Art 11 Maresca/Ricco 1 Steve Miller 8 Robert F. Nichols 69 William Pease Cabinetmaker
12 E.G.H. Peter 12 Sheila & Edwin Rideout 71 Rowe Pottery Works John Keith Russell Inside Back Cover Antiques 71 The Scarlet Letter 16 David A. Schorsch 20 Jacqueline Sideli Antique Shows 2 Sotheby's 70 Sturbridge Antiques Shops 10 Whistler Gallery 6 Thos. K. Woodard 21 Shelly Zegart
JOILX k,EITH ITSSELL AVIWES,INC.
SPRING STREET, SOUTH SALEM,N,Y. 10590 • (914)763-8144 TlUESDAY-SUNDAY 10:00-5:30
THE
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TREECONTEMPORARY 128 Spring Street
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