Folk Art (Summer 1993)

Page 1


FRANK J. MIELE gallery j. r.adkins•sylvia alberts•sandra anderson•hope angier•sandra berry •james alien bloomfield •sally cook • william r. davis•charles dieter •william fellini•richard gachot•dan gayder•didi goldmark•josephine graham • kathy jakobsen • alonzo jimenez • edwin a. johnson • e. b. judson•maureen kennedy•gustave klumpp•joan landis•price larson • lawrence lebduska • harry lieberman •jean lipman •justin mccarthy • lanier quilian meaders • mark casey milestone • barbara moment •jack moment•

SELF-TAUGHT AMERICAN ARTISTS •charles munro•

janet munro • mattie lou o'kelley • harold parkhill • paul w. patton • joseph pickett • susan powers • janis price • sophy p. regensburg • mark sabin • jack savitsky • andre schwob • antoinette schwob • leo sewell• mary shelley• helen smagorinsky•jes snyder•fannie lou spelce•brad stephens•dan stercu la•clarence stringfield•david stuart •maurice sullins•kris nelson tinker•immanuel trujillo•inez nathaniel walker • valerie young • david zeldis • malcah zeldis • larry zingale 1262 Madison Avenue New York, N.Y. 10128 (212) 876-5775


Carved wooden horse weathervane, circa 1850, 38"in length.

Ken & Ida Manko,Moody,Maine Aarne Anton, New York, New York Betty & Robert Marcus,Palm Beach, Florida Two Centuries ofAmerican Folk Art, Ritter Art Gallery, Figure #1, illustrated. American Primitive, Ricco-Maresca, page 106, illustrated. Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, West Palm Beach, Florida. "Weathervanes from the Collections of the Chase Manhattan Bank and Betty & Bob Marcus," Aspen Art Museum,Aspen,Colorado, November 1983 to February 1984. "Two Centuries of American Folk Art," Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida. An almost identical example by the same maker is in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Collection. See:Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, page 283,illustrated.

17 East 96th Street, New York, New York 10128 (212) 348-5219 Hours: 2:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. Tues. through Sat. & By Appointment


AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GALLERY 596 Broadway, Rm.205 Soho NY, NY 10012 212.966.1530

RAYMOND COINS One of the largest and finest coins figures we have owned

We are pleased to be participating in THE ARTS PROGRAM FOR THE HOMELESS with an exhibition of art work created in 5 of New York City's shelters. The program is organized by Artist's Workshop with the Dept. of Human Resources. The exhibition is scheduled for August 1993. Summer gallery hours: Mon-Fri 11-6


CAROL AND GENE RAPPAPORT 105 EAST CHARLOTTE STREET- MILLERSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 17551 -717-872-4359 ESTABLISHED 1959


ammitiont Mani", MOMS , MIMP . 'ARMA. ONION

_d• Y,Irdr-exes, 11,27.07Air 4 . 55%Yi9, 111111M....1 pmendi 11111011.1ft

Sunburst variation pieced and appliqué quilt with Picket Fence and Grape Vine and Leaf border. Made by Esther Brosserman. Dated 1884. 75 x 82 inches.

BLANCHE GREENSTEIN THOMAS K. WOODARD 799 Madison Avenue New York, N.Y. 10021 •(212) 988-2906•

We are always interested in purchasing exceptional quilts. Photographs returned promptly. Telephone responses welcome


FOLK ART VOLUME 18, NUMBER 2/ SUMMER 1993 (FORMERLY THE CLARION)

FEATURES

THE WATERCOLORS OF DURS RUDY: NEW DISCOVERIES IN FRAKTUR Gerard C. Wertkin

COVER:Detail of BIBLICAL TEXT; Lehigh County, Pennsylvania; c. 1830; ink and watercolor on paper; 7x 10"; private collection.

Folk Art is published four times a year by the Museum of American Folk Art, 61 West 62nd Street, NY, NY 10023, Tel. 212/977-7170,Fax 212/977-8134. Prior to Fall 1992, Volume 17, Number 3,Folk Art was published as The Clarion. Annual subscription rate for members is included in membership dues. Copies are mailed to all members. Single copy $6.00. Published and copyright 1993 by the Museum of American Folk Art,61 West 62nd Street, NY, NY 10023. The cover and contents of Folk Art 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. Folk Art assumes no responsibility for the loss or damage of such materials. Change of address:Please send both old and new addresses and allow five weeks for change. Advertising: Folk Art accepts advertisements only from advertisers whose reputation is recognized in the trade, but despite the care with which the advertising department screens photographs and texts submitted by its advertisers, it cannot guarantee the unquestionable authenticity of objects or quality of services advertised in its pages or offered for sale by its advertisers, nor can it accept responsibility for misunderstandings that may arise from the purchase or sale of objects or services advertised in its pages. The Museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation offolk art and feels it is a violation of its principles to be involved in or to appear to be involved in the sale of works of art. For this reason, the Museum will not knowingly accept advertisements for Folk Art which illustrate or describe objects that have been exhibited at the Museum within one year of placing an advertisement.

33

PHOTOGRAPHIC FOLK ART: NINETEENTH- AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY HAND-COLORED PHOTOGRAPHS Addison Thompson and Lesa Westerman

40

LOOKING BACK,LOOKING FORWARD: TEN YEARS OF FOLK ART STUDIES AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Marie Luise Proeller

50

DEPARTMENTS

EDITOR'S COLUMN

MINIATURES

10

DIRECTOR'S LETTER

17

BOOK REVIEWS

22

MUSEUM NEWS

58

TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS

59

TRUSTEES/DONORS

64

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

72

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 5


Parfleche Bags, late 19th Century.

Left: Southern Paiute, 14" x 29' Right: Klikitat, 13" x 281 !

JOEL AND KATE KOPP

AMERICA HURRAH 766 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK NY 10021 tel 212.535.1930 fax 212.249.9718

Tlingit Rattletop Baskets. Northwest Coast, late 19th Century.


JOEL AND KATE KOPP

AMERICA HURRAH 766 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK NY 10021 tel 212.535.1930 fax 212.249.9718

Pieced Mariner's Compass Quilt with appliqued roosters and bird border. Ohio, dated 1856, 88" x 86:' Summer Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 11 AM to 6 PM

Closed Saturdays in June, July and August


EDITOR'S

FOLK ART Rosemary Gabriel Editor and Publisher Johnson & Simpson Graphic Designers Mell Cohen Publications Associate Benjamin J. Boyington Copy Editor Marilyn Brechner Advertising Manager Hildegard 0. Vetter Production Manager Craftsmen Litho Printers Grid Typographic Services, Inc. Typography

COLUMN

ROSEMARY GABRIEL

othing is more exciting than to be able to report on newly discovered works of a known master. "The Watercolors of Durs Rudy: New Discoveries in Fraktur," by the Museum's Director, Gerard C. Wertkin, is our lead story In this provocative essay, Wertkin gives us some background on Pennsylvania-German fraktur and detailed information on three newly discovered exquisitely painted examples. In his discussion, he also points out that Durs Rudy and his son—and namesake—were both master fraktur artists. Determining which of the two to attribute particular works to is problematic, and should invite lively discussion among scholars and collectors for a long time to come, but the fact that we may never know for sure which Durs Rudy painted them in no way diminishes their beauty or value. I know you will enjoy this essay and its charming mystery as much as I did. Also in this issue, Addison Thompson and Lesa Westerman explore the relationship of American nineteenth-century hand-colored photography to folk art. In their essay "Photographic Folk Art: Nineteenth- and TwentiethCentury Hand-Colored Photographs," they state that "Early photographers who created hand-colored photographs were in competition with folk painters and miniaturists for customers; like folk painters, these artist-photographers executed their work for the satisfaction of a public clientele rather than according to an aesthetic dictated by pundits of fine art." This story is wonderfully illustrated with many fine examples of this unique art form. You will undoubtedly find yourself scrutinizing these images much more closely than you had ever SOLDIER IN CAMP thought you might. Artist unknown "Looking Back, Looking ForC. 1870 Oil on tintype ward," by Marie Proeller, gives us a 8/ 1 2 x 6/ 1 2" close-up look at ten of the sixty-five graduates of the NYU Master's Degree Courtesy of Ezra Mack, Program in Folk Art Studies. Started in New York. 1981 and administered in conjunction with the Museum of American Folk Art, the program has offered courses to hundreds of students, many of whom have gone on to hold key positions in museums and other art institutions. It has been just a little over four months since Sanford L. Smith & Associates produced the first Outsider Art Fair, and people are still talking about it. For those of you who missed it, there is a summary of the fair and the Museum's participation in it in this issue's Museum News. The summer exhibition season offers a wide range of wonderful shows and I hope our Miniatures pages will help you to plan your summer excursions to include some of them. If you are going to be in New York City, the Museum's current exhibition,"Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art," will be at the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery at Two Lincoln Square through September 12. I'm sure you will not want to miss it. Until next issue then,I hope your summer is filled with both exciting and relaxing days and new discoveries.

A7?.'af4ze/ II SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART Dr. Robert Bishop, Director 1977-1991 Administration Gerard C. Wertkin Director Karen S. Schuster Director ofMuseum Operations Joan Walsh Controller Mary Ziegler Administrative Assistant Mary Linda Zonana Coordinator; Human Resources Sylvia Sinckler Shop Accountant Jeffrey Grand Senior Accountant Brent Erdy Reception Darren McGill Manager, Mailroom and Maintenance Collections & Exhibitions Stacy C. Hollander Curator Ann-Marie Reilly Registrar Catherine Fukushima Director ofthe Eva and Morris Feld Gallery at Lincoln\Square Pam Cartmel Assistant Gallery Manager Glen St. Jean Weekend Gallery Manager Judith Gluck Steinberg Assistant Registrar! Coordinator; Traveling Exhibitions Gina Bianco Consulting Conservator Elizabeth V. Warren Consulting Curator Howard Lanser Consulting Exhibition Designer Kenneth R. Bing Security Departments Beth Bergin Membership Director Constance J. Collins Director ofDevelopment Marie S. DiManno Director ofMuseum Shops Susan Flamm Public Relations Director Alice J. Hoffman Director ofLicensing Jariey Fire Photographic Services Chris Cappiello Membership Associate Catherine Dunworth Associate Director ofDevelopment Maryann Warakomski Assistant Director ofLicensing Katie Cochran Coordinator, Special Events Edith C. Wise Consulting Librarian Eugene P Sheehy Museum Bibliographer Programs Barbara W. Cate Director, Folk Art Institute Lee Kogan Associate Director, Folk Art InstitutelSenior Research Fellow Phyllis A. Tepper Registrar, Folk Art InstitutelDirector, New York State Quilt Project Dr. Marilynn Karp Director, New York University Master's and Ph.D. Program in Folk Art Studies Dr. Judith Reiter Weissman Coordinator, New York University Program Cathy Rasmussen Director ofSpecial Projects Arlene Hochman Coordinator, Docent Programs Howard P. Fertig Chairman, Friends Committee Museum Shop Staff Managers: Dorothy Gargiulo, Caroline Hohenrath, Rita Pollitt; Mail Order: Beverly McCarthy; Coordinator:Diana Robertson; Volunteers: Marie Anderson, Claudia Andrade, Judy Baker, Marilyn Banks, Olive Bates, Catherine Barreto, Marsha Becker, Ben Bienvenido, Frances Burton, Ann Coppinger, Amy Donnelly, Sally Elfant, Millie Gladstone, Elli Gordon,Inge Graff, Dale Gregory, Lillian Grossman, Edith Gusoff, Bernice Hoffer, Elizabeth Howe, Annette Levande, Arleen Luden, Katie McAuliffe, Nancy Mayer, Theresa Naglack, Pat Pancer, Marie Peluso, Rowena Richardson, Frances Rojack, Phyllis Selnick, Myra Shaskan, Lola Silvergleid, Donna Skule, Maxine Spiegel, Mary Wamsley, Marian Whitley. Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shops 62 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10112-1507 212/247-5611 Two Lincoln Square(Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th) New York, NY 10023-6214 212/496-2966


Metal Masks on Wood by Jerry W. Coker from Arkansas From our inventory of outsider & untrained art carefully (o.k. o.k. I confess, obsessively) chosen for its visual appeal and exceptional quality.

Call for further information. We ship anywhere.

MAR!ON HARR!S WOODHAVEN,SIMSBURY, CONN.06070 Tr 203-658-9333 PHOTO CREDIT MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND

BLITZ Antique Native American Art Ltd.

19th Century Pueblo and Navaho cradle boards

P.O. Box 400 Crompond, New York 10517 (914) 739-9683

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 9


MINIATUR ES

COMPILED BY MELL COHEN

Earliest Named and Dated Coverlet "Woven History: Long Island Coverlets 1800-1860," a major loan exhibition of Long Island fancy woven coverlets organized by the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, opened on January 31, 1993, at The Gallery, located on Main Street and Shore Road in Cold Spring Harbor. This exhibit explores the fascinating history technology, and craftsmanship of a unique form of decorative art. The coverlets consist of two popular types: geometric-block patterns produced between 1810 and 1829 and figured coverlets woven between 1830 and 1860. Most important to an understanding of the island's coverlet tradition is the fact that Long Island weavers were the first in the nation to personalize their coverlets with their customers' names and significant dates. Exciting

research by guest curator and noted textile consultant and weaver Susan Rabbit Goody has revealed that the Double Weave Coverlet, a coverlet included in the exhibit and owned by the Museum of American Folk Art, is the earliest known signed and dated American coverlet. Published in conjunction with the exhibition is an 80-page catalog that explores the subject in greater detail and includes over 100 illustrations. An important feature of the catalog is an inventory listing all known named and dated Long Island coverlets. The exhibition will run through October 1993. For visitor information call 516/941-9444.

ANGEL GABRIEL WEATHERVANE Artist unknown Late eighteenth century Cut and carved wood 16 x 313/4" Courtesy of the MunsonWilliams-Proctor Institute Museum of Art

Utica Museum Showcases Rare American Folk Art The exhibition "Fancy That! American Folk Art" opened in Fountain Elms at the MunsonWilliams-Proctor Institute (MWPI)on April 17 and will run through September 19, 1993. Virtually all of the works in the show are from the MWPI Museum of Art's rarely exhibited collection of American folk art. Nineteen works in a variety of media are featured, including weathervanes, watercolor, and oil paintings by Horace Bundy,

Erastus Field, Noah North, Sheldon Peck, and others. Additionally, a recently discovered portrait by the Whitestown, New York, artist Calvin Balis, which is privately owned and on longterm loan to the MWPI, will be exhibited for the first time. For information contact the Communications Department at 315/797-0000.

Queries

•0„Ar. *e*

9S4e**11 oX

DOUBLE WEAVE COVERLET GEOMETRIC BLUE AND WHITE Weavers, Motts family Signed Ann Carli and dated March 31,1810 Westbury, New York Wool and cotton 93 x 79" Museum of American Folk Art Gift of Margot Paul Ernst In memory of Susan B. Ernst 1989.16.11

10 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

We are conducting research on the works of the portrait painter Ammi Phillips(1788-1865) in connection with an upcoming exhibition, "Revisiting Ammi Phillips: Fifty Years of American Portraiture." This exhibit is scheduled to open in January 1994 at the Museum of American Folk Art. Because we would like to assemble as complete a checklist of the artist's works as possible, any information as to the whereabouts of his paintings, particularly those in private collections, would be greatly appreciated. Howard P Fertig Research Curator The Museum of American Folk Art Administrative Offices 61 West 62nd Street New York, NY 10023


"OAK LEAF CLUSTER"

'WW/,\VW,6\ : p i0 v/ f: t <, 0 `x ;s 1 \

A,TAI

LAURA FISHER Gallery #84 New York City's largest, most excitS) ing selection of: , antique quilts, coverlets, hooked rugs, paisley shawls, indian blankets, linens, vintage decorative objects and American folk art! Hours: Mon—Sat 11 AM-6 PM

44 40( )0N 9 4 "deAf‘deisi*tx

"AVM AeN,"

Signature Wedding Quilt made for Mary Jane Dykes by Philadelphia German Quakers, c. 1845.

Tel: 212-838-2596

,J6 Ric

MANHATTAN ART & ANTIQUES CENTER The Nation's Largest and Finest Antiques Center. Over 100 galleries offering Period Furniture, Jewelry, Silver, Americana, Orientalia, Africana and other Objets d'Art. Open Daily 10:30-6, Sun. 12-6 Convenient Parking • Open to the Public 1050 SECOND AVENUE(AT 56TH ST.) NEW YORK, N.Y. Tel: 212-355-4400 • Fax: 212-355-4403

LYNNE INGRAM SOUTHERN FOLK ART

Clementine Hunter "Uncle Tom's Cabin" Oil on board, 18"x 24" c. 1969-1972

Contemporary art by the self-taught southern hand By appointment • 174 Rick Road • Milford, NJ 08848 • (908)996-4786 • Fax 908-996-4505 Photos available of works by other OUTSIDER/SELF-TAUGHT artists

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 11


MINIATURES

REV. JOHNNIE SWEARINGEN (1908-1993) International Festival of Masks Applications are now available for mask makers, mask artists, and mask vendors who are interested in participating in the 1993 International Festival of Masks. This annual event, presented by the Craft and Folk Art Museum, will take place on October 15 and 16, 1993, at Hancock Park in Los Angeles, California. Through the theme of the mask, the annual International Festival of Masks honors and celebrates the cultural contributions of over seventy-five communities of Los Angeles. Begun in 1975, the free weekend event spotlights masked dance and

theater, and features world music, exhibitions, vendors, international cuisine, and mask-making workshops for all age groups. To request an application, write to CAFAM,5800 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036, Attention: Festival of Masks, or call 213/937-5544. Deadline for applications is July 1, 1993.

Arts Program for the Homeless "Baptism" oil on masonite, 271/2x28", 1986

Leroy Almon, Sr. Felipe Archuleta Johnnie Banks Ned Cartledge "Rhinestone Cowboy" Patrick Davis "Uncle Pete" Drgac Estate Ezekiel Gibbs "Glassman" Navajo Folk artists Johnson Antonio, Mamie Deschillie and others Naomi Polk Justin McCarthy Ike Morgan Robert Roberg

Contemporary American Folk Art 225 East de Vargas St. Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 (505) 989-4620

12

M. N1MLR 1993

RI

Cosponsors Artists Workshop and New York City's Human Resources Administration/Special Services for Adults are pleased to announce the formation of a program to provide artists' materials to various city shelters for the homeless. An exhibition is scheduled to take place from August 3, 1993, through September 3, 1993, at the American Primitive Gallery at 596 Broadway and the Leslie

Howard Alternative Art Source Gallery at 3 Charles Street in New York City. All art works exhibited will be available for purchase by the public. For more information about contributions or assistance to the program, contact Tina White at 212/966-1634.

Quilt Competition The Museum of San Diego History is sponsoring an international,juried quilt exhibition, "Quilts: Layers of Excellence," to be held from July 2 through September 4, 1994. Entry deadline is

October 18, 1993. For entry forms send a LSASE to Quilt San Diego, 9747 Business Park Avenue #228, San Diego, CA 92131.


ANGELS OVER THE CITY Purvis Young

CLEMENTINE HUNTER (1887-1988)

1989 Acrylic on fabric and wood 57 x 45" Collection of New Orleans Museum of Art

New Orleans Exhibition and Symposium "Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present" opens at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA)on October 23, 1993. This regional exhibition focuses on 250 objects of high-quality works by Southern folk artists, chosen from 100 public and private collections throughout the United States. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully documented 350-page catalog. "Passionate Visions ofthe American South" is scheduled to travel to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the San Diego Museum of Art, and the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Concurrent with the exhibition, NOMA will host a major symposium on November 4 and 5. This symposium will feature a series of lectures and panel discussions with nationally recognized experts in the field. Because the month of November falls in the peak tourist season in New Orleans, please book rooms before August 1. Rooms are already scarce. For additional information, see page 63 or call NOMA at 504/488-2631.

CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN OUTSIDER/FOLK ART Representing

Folk Art Society New Orleans Excursion The Folk Art Society of America will hold its Sixth Annual Meeting on November 6, 1993, in New Orleans to coincide with the New Orleans Museum of Art's "Passionate Visions" exhibit and accompanying symposium. The Society will sponsor a full-day chartered bus excursion to visit the Gitter Collection, where a picnic lunch will be served. Members and guests will then visit the War-

"Clementine's Sister, Lily" oil on paper, c. 1943, s. 1985

ren and Sylvia Lowe Collection. There will be a folk art auction to benefit the Folk Art Society, followed by an authentic Cajun dinner and dancing before returning to New Orleans that evening. For more information about registration call 804/355-6709.

David Butler Rev. Howard Finster The Glassman Lee Godie 0.W."Pappy" Kitchens Sr. Gertrude Morgan Jimmie Lee Sudduth Willie White and many other important Outsider artists

GASPER! GALLERY 320 JULIA STREET • NEW ORLEANS, LA 70130 (504)524-9373

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 13


MINIATURES

With of Atlanta ESTABLISHED 1973

INVESTMENT (NAT)/ 1 9Th ANd 20Th CENTURy AMERICAN ART

J. B. MURRY "UNTITLED" PAINT ON PAPER

The San Francisco Craft & Folk Art Museum will have an exhibition, "From the Heart of Ogun: Steel Drum Sculptures of Haiti," on display from July 3 through August 29, 1993. Artists included in the exhibition are Gabriel BienAime, Murat Brierre, Serge Jolimeau, Georges Liataud, and Jonas Pascal. The exhibition explores the visual diversity of these artists' works, which represent images from Haitian daily life and the religious mythologies of voodoo and Christianity. For more information call the museum at 415/775-0990

SPIRIT OF THE SEA Jonas Pascal 1991 Forged Iron 26 x 16"

Reverend B.F. Perkins 1904-1993

WILlIE MAssEy

JESSE AARON LEROy ALMON, SR.

LANIER MEAdERS

RICJIARd BURNSidE

J. B. MURRy LOU

ARCLIIE ByRON

MATTIE

NEd CARilEdgE RAymoNd COINS UlyssEs DAvis WilliAm DAWSON BuNESS DulANEy

REV. B. F.

O'KELLEy

PERkiNs

DANIEL PRESSLEy PROpliET ROyAl RObERTSON

JUANiTA RINERS NELLIE MAE ROWE

0. L. SAmuEls

MINNIE EVANS REV. HOWARd FiNSTER

HERbERT SiNgLETON

REONE GiHART

RAlph GRIFFIN

ST. EOM Q. J. SiEpliENSON

BESSIE HARVEY

SON ThOMAS

LONNIE HOME

MOSE TOLLIVER

CLEMENTINE HUNTER

INEZ NATI1ANIEL WALkER

JAMES HAROld JENNINS

WILLIE WhiTE

CliARIEy

Sculpture From Recycled Oil Drums

KiNNEy

LUSTER Willis

5325 ROSWELL ROAD,N.E.• ATLANTA,GEORGIA 30342 (404)252-0485•FAX 252-0359

14 SUMMER 1993

FOLK ART

Benjamin Francis Perkins, a selftaught artist and fundamentalist Baptist minister from Bankston, Alabama, died on January 12, 1993, of heart failure at Fayette County Hospital, Fayette. He was 88 years old. Religion and patriotism informed most of Perkins' artworks, which were executed on boards, canvas, and gourds. He often featured the American Flag, the Statue of Liberty, his church, maps of ancient Israel, and eternal calendars as subject matter. His pictorial imagery was frequently accompanied by printed text, including biblical quotations. He

favored a bright palette consisting predominantly of red, white and blue. Born in Lamar County in 1904, Perkins stated that he served in the Marine Corps for several years and then continued his education with a course of study in Hebrew history at the University of Virginia. A preacher since 1929, he supported his family with a variety ofjobs,including taxi driver, fisherman, and safety inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration. In 1966, Perkins returned to Alabama and built an environment reflecting his interests; among the buildings was the Hartline Church Assembly of God. His artistic impulses were expressed through the decoration of his environment and the crea-


Ginger Young tion of replicas of sites of the from these exhibitions and in the Crucifixion and the "crypt" on Museum ofAmerican Folk Art his property. Perkins' warm perEncyclopedia of Twentiethsonality, friendliness, caring Century American Folk Art and manner, and accessibility encour- Artists, by Chuck and Jan aged many visitors from all over Rosenak, and his work is pictured the United States. in Animals in Folk Art, by Wendy His paintings were exhiLavitt. Perkins also participated in bited in "How the Eagle Flies: the Kentuck Festival of the Arts, Patriotic Images in Twentieth Northport, Alabama for six years. Century Folk Art," Meadow Farm Reverend B.E Perkins is Museum,Richmond, Virginia survived by two daughters, Mary (1989);"0 Appalachia: Artists Burrage, of Falmouth, Virginia, of the Southern Mountains," and Esther Schaeffer, of Sterling, Huntington Museum of Art, Virginia. Huntington, West Virginia (1989); —Lee Kogan "Outsider Artists in Alabama," Alabama Council for the Arts (1991); and "IN Outsiders From the American South," Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama (1992). Perkins is listed in catalogs

Detail of wall from Anderson Johnson's Faith Mission

Specializing in southern outsider art, pottery, and canes. By appointment 202-543-0273

More than four dozen artists represented including:

oPh\hlr.4%4Sr.

Ned Berry

Unit 1 1

ril I

Woodie Long

Minnie Black

R.A. Miller

Georgia Blizzard

Roy Minshew

Jerry Brown

B.F. Perkins

Tubby Brown

Frank Pickle

Richard Burnside

Sarah Rakes

Chuck Crosby

Marie Rogers

Howard Finster

Bernice Sims

Jack Floyd

Q.J. Stephenson

Bessie Harvey

Jimmie Lee Sudduth

Lonnie Holley

Mose Tolliver

James Harold Jennings

Fred Webster

For a complete price list send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Ginger Young PO Box 15417 Washington, DC 20003 Photos and videos of art lent on request.

(continued on page 24)

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 11


S

M

A

L

L

F

OL

K

COLWILL•McGEHEE ANTIQUE DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS 1106 North Charles Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21201 — 5506 •

Telephone (410)547— 8607

new paltz new york • 12561 • 914 • 2551132

16 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART


LETTER

FROM

THE

DIRECTOR

GERARD C. WERTKIN

t a time when Americans are apt to be concerned about industrial decline, a visit to the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, North Carolina, is a reassuring experience. Impressive for its sheer massiveness and the wonderful panache of its displays, the Market presents countless examples of American productivity, ingenuity, and excellence in design twice each year, in April and October. I was there last April with two of my colleagues, Alice Hoffman and Maryann Warakomski, and once again was impressed by the widespread use of American folk art as a resource for the design of furniture and accessories. For more than three decades, the Museum has fostered recognition offolk art as a significant element in American culture and history. I am delighted that this lesson has not been lost on the home furnishings industry. We were in High Point in connection with our own family of licensed products. To herald major additions to The America Collection, the award-winning line of furniture manufactured exclusively by The Lane Company for the Museum,two of the Museum's quilt exhibitions — "Discover America" and "Friends Sharing America" —were installed in Lane's showrooms, fresh from their national tour. The additions to The America Collection are outstanding, as are a series of new furniture finishes offered by Lane for the first time. I was especially taken by a wellexecuted reproduction of a 1792 Hudson River Valley blanket chest, the original of which was given to the Museum in 1983 by Howard and Jean Lipman in honor of Trustee Cyril!. Nelson. I invite you to see it and the other additions to The America Collection at the showrooms of a furniture retailer near your home. Also brand new at the Market was a splendid collection of redware dishes, bowls, pitchers, vases, and other items produced for the Museum by Rowe Pottery Works of Cambridge, Wisconsin. Featuring careful reproductions of rare eighteenth-century Pennsylvania-German ceramics from among the Museum's exclusive resources, the colorful collection has an exuberant quality that accounts for its charming and immediate appeal. For over twelve years, revenues generated from the sale of the Museum's licensed products have provided essential financial support for exhibitions and educational programming in addition to serving as a valuable tool for outreach. Your purchase of these products directly benefits the Museum and helps it realize its goals to serve the public. Thank you for your enthusiastic response to this vital program. Another significant effort at outreach is the Museum's Great American Quilt Festival. Although these comments are being written on the eve of the fourth Festival, which is to be presented from May 12 through May 16 here in New York, we already have been overwhelmed by the level of interest expressed by members of the quilt-making community. With a panorama of seven quilt exhibitions highlighting the vitality of continuing traditions as well as several provocative avenues of

A

ARACHNIDA Linda Negandhi Witney, England 1993 Silk 55 x 67 Grand prizewinner of the Quilt Connection invitational contest, The Quilt Connection All Stars," The Great American Quilt Festival 4

scholarly exploration, the Festival offers something for everyone. As usual, the Museum is presenting lectures, workshops, seminars, and tours at the Festival, which also features a colorful marketplace for quilts old and new, quilting supplies, and quilt-related items offered by more than one hundred vendors. It is with deep gratitude that I extend the appreciation of the entire Museum family to the sponsors of The Great American Quilt Festival 4. Our good friends at Fairfield Processing Corporation, maker of Poly-fil® brand batting and fiberfill, sponsored this Festival's contest and exhibition, "The Quilt Connection All-Stars." The winning quilts were chosen from among entries submitted by members of the Museum of American Folk Art Quilt Connection. Country Home magazine provided generous support for "Morning Star Quilts: Quilting Traditions of the Northern Plains Indians"; American Patchwork & Quilting, a new quarterly publication from Better Homes & Gardens, helped underwrite "Marie Webster Quilts: A Retrospective," an exhibition organized by Niloo Imami-Paydar and originally presented at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; Quilter's Newsletter Magazine provided funding for "The Creative Balance: Quilts from the Great American Quilt Festival 4 Teaching Staff'; and V.I.P Fabrics was the sponsor of "Star Coverage: Celebrities and Their Quilts," organized by Shelly Zegart. Because the

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 17


LETTER

°key John Canfield

BINGHAM and VANCE GALLERIES Presently Featuring the Works of: Carl Scharver Silvio P. Zoratti Okey John Canfield "Popeye" Reed Hugh "Gray Eagle" Issel Tim Karash David Segula Howard Finster

Mark Vance Sherrie Bingham Chicatelli 12801 Larchmere Boulevard Shaker Heights, Ohio 44120 216-721-1711 Outsider Art

18

SUMMER 1993

FOLK ART

Folk Art

FROM

THE

DIRECTOR

Festival is the result of the work of so many of my gifted associates, Lam unable to thank them all here; nevertheless, I wish to express my gratitude to Cathy Rasmussen, Director of the Festival; Paula Nadelstern and Judy Doenias, who coordinated the classes and lectures; and Sandy Smith and the staff at Sanford L. Smith & Associates, who produced the Festival in association with the Museum. The extraordinary efforts of these people and those of the entire Festival staff, have combined to ensure another outstanding event. This letter is being written soon after my return from an eventfilled week in Oslo, where I was a guest of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In late 1994, the Norwegian Folk Museum will commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of its founding, and a series of major events celebrating the world's first open-air museum is being planned. During my visit, Erik Rudeng, Director of the Norwegian Folk Museum, members of the Museum's staff, officials of the Foreign Ministry, and I discussed the organization of an exhibition of Norwegian and Norwegian-American folk art for presentation in the United States and Norway in 1995 and 1996. One of the most impressive aspects of my introduction to the culture of Norway was the widespread recognition in that country of the importance of folk art to the cultural history of the nation. Visual artists working in the academic tradition in Norway have regularly drawn on folk themes in their art, as have Norwegian composers, such as the great Edvard Grieg. One of the goals of the Museum of American Folk Art is to foster the same level of understanding and acceptance in the United States. Dates and other scheduling issues have not been finalized, but I promise that the Museum's partnership with its colleagues in Norway will result in a splendid exhibition. Among the most gratifying programs designed to support the Museum of American Folk Art's operations has been the Robert Bishop Memorial Fund, to which so many members and friends have generously contributed. On March 1, 1993, hundreds of special guests were present at the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery for the unveiling of a plaque acknowledging the thoughtfulness of donors to the Fund and the opening of "Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art." Ralph 0. Esmerian, the distinguished President of the Museum's Board of Trustees, and I had the honor of thanking those present and renaming the Museum's South Gallery for Robert Bishop. During my remarks, I invited the Museum's members and friends to join in what I believe will be the most exciting cultural endeavor of the 1990s: the launching of new facilities for the Museum's exhibitions and programs. I extend the same invitation to you. Join us as we grow—and watch how American folk art achieves even wider recognition as the national treasure it is.


SIGNIFICANT WOOD CARVINGS ...AN UNPRECEDENTED AUCTION 0. Verity Blue Bills

On June 26th & 27th, at the very beautiful Frick Estate in Roslyn Harbor, Long Island, New York,

Indians by Robb, Cromwell & Demuth

Guernsey's will be conducting a slightly extraordinary affair: the sale at auction of a massive variety of important wood carvings. Individual secCarousel Figures by Muller, Dentzel & the other greats

tions will be devoted to carousel figures, cigar store Indians, patriotic eagles, joyous folk art and bird and fish decoys. Collectively, the quality and quantity of the offerings are without precedent; and in an effort to assure the accuracy of the catalogue, leading experts in various fields of wood carvings including Linda and Gene Kangas have been enlisted. The Frick Estate, home to the fine Nassau County Museum of Art, is conveniently located, half an hour from New York City and its airports.

Important Folk Lion by Noah Weiss

The photographs to the right just begin to give a hint as to the wealth of legendary carvers represented. The 250 page catalogue (available by mail from Guernsey's for $28) details the lots, many of which will be sold

Albert Laing Sleeping Black Duck

without reserve. As a suggestion of the quantity of items being sold, the carousel section alone will be featuring over 150 fine figures. For auction times, directions, previewing and bidder information, kindly contact Guernsey's. Exceptional late consignments are always considered. Plan now for this wonderful June weekend; marvelous carvings in wood,set amidst gracious Gatsbyesque grounds.

GUERNSEY•S 108 EAST 73RD ST, NEW YORK, NY 10021 • 212-794-2280, FAX 212-744-3638

Black Carving, one of many

Oscar 81111Milhip Peterson Fish fully vetted

414M100*


Aviator: height 34", width 11", depth 9" Big Bob's Cheap Charters: wingspan 19" Fettucini Flying Circus: wingspan 32" Dick's Discount Charters: wingspan 21" Miss Liberty/Uncle Sam: wingspan 21"

Wood Carvings by Bill and Phyllis Duffy

THE LIBERTY TREE 104 Spring Street Newport, Rhode Island 02840

Lynn de la Valette 401-847-5925

/1 1/10 e E T -Rare Early Works Available ALSO... LEROY ALMON • L. W. CRAWFORD CHUCK CROSBY • HOWARD FINSTER LONNIE HOLLEY • CLEMENTINE HUNTER JAMES HAROLD JENNINGS • M. C. "SC" JONES CALVIN LIVINGSTON • WOODIE LONG ANNIE LUCAS • CHARLIE LUCAS • R. A. MILLER B. F. PERKINS • SARAH RAKES JUANITA ROGERS • BERNICE SIMS JIMMIE LEE SUDDUTH • ANNIE TOLLIVER CHARLES TOLLIVER • MOSE TOLLIVER BILL TRAYLOR • DEREK WEBSTER MYRTICE WEST • PAULINE WILLIS "ARTIST CHUCKIE" WILLIAMS MOSE TOLLIVER, 1980 Model Jeep Car, c. 1982. Enamel on board, 21" x 31".

MARCIA

WEBER/ART

OBJECTS, INC.

3218 LEXINGTON ROAD • MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36106 • 205/262.5349 Ongoing Exhibitions By Appointment

20 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART


avKA)4Aclik. folk artist

44"x27"x11" Kedwood • rine • Clay

for more information please contact: priscilla magers fine folk art 3111 university boulevard houston,texas 77005 (713)661-3896

THE

AMES GALLERY BONNIE GROSSMAN DIRECTOR

2661 Cedar Street Berkeley, California 94708 510/845-4949 • We specialize iii exceptional 19th and 20th Century handmade objects. Our extensive inventory includes quilts. carved canes, and tramp art.

Also naive, outsider, and visionary art. From our collection of whimsy bottles

Photo:Bea Blackwell

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 21


B OOK

t--40;47 1 3'

WILTON

OUTDOOR ANTIQUES

MARKETPLACE To Benefit The Wilton Family "Y'

June 26 & 27, Sat. & Sun. 10-5 Admission $6.00- with card/ad $5.00 Early Buying Sat. 8-10A.M. Adm.$15 "The Meadows"North of Wilton High School

Route 7- Wilton, Ct. A unique assemblage of200 exhibitors from across the country, offering AUTHENTIC ANTIQUES, under tents, in a meadow in Wilton-the place for Quality shows. Eclectic...country and period formal furniture, folk art, fine art, ceramics, American Arts and Crafts and 20th century design, silver,jewelry, textiles, toys...and much more. Special events, a festival ofgood food, a spirit of"community". There's never been an outdoor show like this -quality, variety, a broad range ofprices and attention to presentation..and some of America's finest dealers.

• Merritt Parkway: Exit 391E1 from the west Exit 41 from the east • 1-95: Exit 15, north 8 miles • 1-84: Rt. 7,south 12 miles • Metro North railroad to Cannondale Station

Managed By Marilyn Gould MCG Antiques Promotions, Inc. 10 Chicken St., Wilton, Ct. 06897 (203) 762-3525

22 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

REVIEWS

Conservation Concerns: A Guide for Collectors and Curators Edited by Konstanze Bachmann Published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., in association with Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design, Smithsonian Institution, New York, 1992 $12.95 paperback As a conservator, I am pleased to see the publication of Conservation Concerns: A Guidefor Collectors and Curators. In this book, the authors outline the basic issues of damage prevention. They help to establish a vocabulary to aid in understanding the deterioration caused by properties inherent to an object due to the way it is made and the materials used in its construction. The authors give the reader a basis for monitoring both object and collection problems, as well as an understanding of the value of a safe home. As a guide for curators and collectors, the book classifies objects by discipline of conservation, pointing out consistent danger signs and making clear issues of fragility. However, the authors caution that conservation treatment is not simple to understand and execute; the essays are instead designed to help the reader to prevent unnecessary deterioration, discern the need for conservation treatment, and distinguish between practical treatment and the need for calling on a professional conservator. One of the overriding components of long-term preventive conservation is safe storage. Storage needs are explained for each medium, including fabric, paper, wood, metal, paint, and com-

posite situations. In this volume, the unique relationship between humidity and temperature controls and the importance of acidity control through the use of acid-free material are discussed. Conservation Concerns is a user-friendly sourcebook for determining maladies and dangers before objects reach an emergency state, and common sense is balanced with technical explanations throughout. Important, useful chapters, such as Emergency Planning, Warning Signs: When Textiles Need Conservation, and When Is It Time to Call a Paintings Conservator?, help to neutralize the panic state often associated with the notion of fragility and move the reader from confusion to clarity with regard to preservation. As a conservator, I am often asked by collectors and curators about cleanliness—the necessity of it, its effectiveness, and the issues of safety that surround it. Conservation Concerns helps us to understand the important issue of aggressive cleaning treatment. This manual is an invaluable tool for collectors, because it helps them to monitor the state of their own collections, and for curators, because it helps them to come to a realistic understanding of the present condition of an object they are interested in exhibiting. It is a practical guide that aids in discussions between clients and private conservators like myself, and makes conservation concepts accessible to all. —Gina Bianco Gina Bianco has been a conservator in private practicefor over a decade as partner and chief conservator of one of thefounding private conservation studios, theformer Helen Von Rosenstiel, Inc. She continues in private practice and is currently the consulting conservator at the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art.


Robert Cargo FOLK ART GALLERY Contemporary Folk Art • Haitian Spirit Flags • Southern, Folk, and African-American Quilts

Sulton Rogers, Grotesque Couples. Painted wood,ca. 1989. Front row, h. of males:9 3/4", 103/4", 14 3/4". Back row, h. offemale 13". See Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists and Black Art. Ancestral Legacy. The African Impulse in African-American Art.

2314 Sixth Street, Downtown,Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401 • Home phone 205-758-8884 Open weekends only and by appointment•Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 2 to 5 p.m.


MINIATURES

Nina Fletcher Little 1903-1993 Nina Fletcher Little, author and lecturer on Historic New England architecture and American decorative and folk arts, died on March 3 at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston at the age of 90. Her passing marks the end of an era in American antiques and folk art; for over six decades she and her husband, Bertram Kimball Little, were the major New England collectors of and scholars on Americana. Few individuals contributed more to American decorative arts scholarship—in both quantity and quality—during the twentieth century than Nina Little. She was the quintessential antiquarian. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, Little was a former Trustee and Honorary Fellow for Research in the department of American Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Little organized and cataloged the Museum's 1976 Bicentennial exhibit of paintings by New England provincial artists. During the 1950s, she was the principal consultant in the establishment and cataloging of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection in Colonial Williamsburg. She was also a trustee of the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown, New York, where she lectured frequently on American culture. A longtime supporter of the Museum of American Folk Art, she remained active as a member throughout its thirtyyear history. Nina Fletcher Little was extraordinarily productive. Her articles on American decorative

24 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

arts and folk painters appeared in many periodicals, including Antiques, Art in America, Maine Antiques Digest, and the English weekly Country Life. In 1972, Cyril I. Nelson, a senior editor at E.P. Dutton, published an enlarged edition of Little's pioneering work American Decorative Wall Paintings, 1700-1850. He then edited three more of Little's major books, Country Arts in Early American Homes;Neat and Tidy, Boxes in Early American Households; and Little by Little, Six Decades ofCollecting American Decorative Arts, and became one of her most ardent and respectful admirers. In 1984, Nina Fletcher Little and Bertram Kimball Little, former Director of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, were the first recipients of Winterthur Museum's Henry Francis du Pont Award, which honored the couple's contribution to the study, preservation, and interpretation of American art. In 1964, they also received the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award from the National Trust for their achievements in historical preservation. Besides her husband, Nina Fletcher Little is survived by two sons, John B. of Brookline and Warren M. of Wellesley, a daughter, Selina E of Salem, and five grandchildren.

Reverend Johnnie Swearingen 1908-1993 Reverened Johnnie Swearingen, a preacher and a painter of religious subjects and rural Texas scenes, died on January 14 in the Trinity Medical Center in Huntsville, Texas. He had been in deteriorating health for the past several months. The artist's religious beliefs were initially shaped at the age of seven, when he experienced his first revelation, but there were periods of his life when he was not consistently devoted to spiritual concerns. Raised in a family of farm workers, Swearingen left Texas as a young man and traveled as far west as California. He was employed as a laborer "chopping" cotton and picking grapes, and he also worked as a longshoreman. On hearing of his father's illness in 1948, he returned to Texas and settled in Brenham, where he once again took up farming. At the same time, he became more seriously involved with painting, an interest he had had since he was twelve years old. Some of his early drawings were executed with shoe polish on cardboard, but his preferred medium was oil paint on Masonite.

Swearingen's paintings have been in many exhibitions, among them "The Eyes of Texas: An Exhibition of Living Texas Folk Artists," the University of Houston (1980);"I Make Pictures': Paintings by Reverend Johnnie Swearingen," The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio(1985);"Rambling on My Mind: Black Art of the Southwest," Museum of African American Life & Culture, Dallas (1987); "Black History/Black Vision," Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin (1989); and the forthcoming exhibitions "Texas Black Folk Art," Museum of African American Life & Culture, Dallas (1993), and "Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present," New Orleans Museum of Art (1993). The artist's paintings are included in The Menil Collection of Houston, the Chappell Hill Historical Society Museum in Chappell Hill, Texas, and many private collections. —Lee Kogan


SARAH RAKES at

Main Street Gallery June 26th through July 17th MAIN STREET GALLERY 706/782-2440 641 Main Street Clayton, Georgia 30525

Gallery Hours: 10:00 am.- 5:00 p.m. Sunday: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Sarah Rakes, "Lilies in a Big Vase"321/4 x 261/8

FOR THE FINEST SELECTION OF SOUTHERN FOLK & OUTSIDER ART

Leon Loard Gallery

"New Orleans" by Woodie Long

1(205)270-9010

acrylic on wood 20.5" X41"

2781 Zelda Road Montgomery, Alabama 36106 1(800)345-0538 in Alabama 1(800)235-6273 in USA Fax 1(205)270-0150

SUMMER 1993

FOLK ART

25


AMERICA THE AMERICAN COLLECTOR, LTD. TRADITIONAL AMERICAN FOLK ART Redware Salt Glaze Face Jugs Weavings Dolls Theorem Paintings Baskets Lighting Wood Carvings Folk Furniture Scherenschnitte

OUTSIDER ART FEATURING R.A. Miller

Tubby Brown

MINES! FOLK ART FROM AMERICA'S LEADING ARTISTS. We are private dealers for serious collectors and galleries; exclusive representative for a number of emerging artists. Our collection includes masterworks of well-known outsiders at "insiders" prices.

Call for a brochure. 1-800-FOLK-ART

* 1* 800*FOLK * IN THE HISTORIC VILLAGE OF SCHOHARIE, NEW YORK 12157 ROUTE 30 AND BRIDGE STREET

Homer Green

New England Primitive Paintings By Natalee Everett Goodman

AMIDST THE BEAUTIFUL GREEN MOUNTAINS OF VERMONT IN PICTURESQUE MANCHESTER VILLAGE

HISTORIC ROUTE 7A DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM THE EQUINOX HOTEL (802)362-1002

COUNTRY FOLK ART WEEKENDS FOLK ART TOURS OAXACA, MEXICO P.O. Box 608 (518) 295-7070

CLOSED TUESDAYS

26

SUMMER 1993

FOLK ART


EPSTEIN/POWELL

Jesse Aaron

22 Wooster St., New York, N.Y. 10013 By Appointment(212)226-7316

Rex Clawson

Mr. Eddy Antonio Esteves Roy Ferdinand Howard Finster Victor Joseph Gatto (Estate) Reverend Hunter

S.L. Jones

Lawrence Lebduska Justin McCarthy Peter Minchell Emma Lee Moss Inez Nathaniel Old Ironsides Pry Popeye Reed

Max Romain

Jack Savitsky Isaac Smith Clarence Stringfield Mose Tolliver Lonnie Holley

ink on paper, 14 x 20, 1993

Floretta Warfel

Chief Willey George Williams Luster Willis

and others

American Folk Art Sidney Gecker An unrecorded pair of Henry Walton portraits.

226 West 21st Street • New York, N. Y 10011 (212)929-8769

Jonas & Abigail Seely. Signed and dated 1836, New York State. In fine condition, and in original frames. 9 x 7 inches.

Price: $14,500. (subject to prior sale)

SUMMER 1993

FOLK ART 27


DOUBLE FkGALLERY III AMERICAN FOLK ART/VINTAGE DESIGN•

In the interest of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, we will be working by appointment only. STATUE OF LIBERTY by

HANS STUCK

Our new mailing address is: Post Office Box 41645 Los Angeles, CA 90041-0645 310/652-5990

We Specialize in Unusual American Folk Art c. 1900 Wood, Wax, Paint 32" H.

Nellie Mae Rowe (1900-1982)

170. ifftft:„` irmly411,11413 /l tr(14/1 11

"Blue Rooster" 1 2" 1 2" x 17/ 11 / Mixed Media Circa 1976

28 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

Collection includes: J.B. Murray, Howard Finster, David Butler, Sam Doyle, Clementine Hunter, Mary T. Smith, Jimmy Sudduth, James "Son" Thomas, Royal Robertson, James Harold Jennings, Mose Tolliver, Lonnie Holley, B.F. Perkins, Luster Willis, Raymond Coins, Charlie Lucas, Junior Lewis, William Dawson, LeRoy Almond, Sr., M.C. 5c Jones, "Artist Chuckie" Williams, Ike Morgan, Herbert Singleton, Burgess Dulaney, and others.

8750 Florida Blvd. Baton Rouge, LA 70815 (504) 922-9225


DOUBLE

GALLERY

•AMERICAN FOlK ART/VINTAGE DESIGN

Post Office Box 41645 Los Angeles, CA 90041-0645 310/652-5990

Drawing by

John A. Sowell

We Specialize in Unusual American Folk Art By Appointment Only

cfsQ

7rC7 1A

If4g

Photo: Susan Einstein

(Inventor) Scout • Dragon • Blazer

34, 4Ivy

/ (4,1

"DRAGON SCOUT TORPEDO PLANE" c. 1901 Pencil on Paper 28" x 22"

MARTHAJACKSON Specializing in 19th and Early 20th Century Quilts Exhibiting In: Wilton Outdoor Antiques Marketplace June 26 & 27, Rt. 7, Wilton, CT and Vermont Antique Dealer Show Aug. 13 - 15, Stratton Mountain Lodge, VT

Formerly of Riverside, CT and Main Street Cellar, New Canaan, CT Vermont in-house showroom By Appointment P.O. Box 430 Middlebury, Vermont 05753 (802)462-3152

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 2111


Galerie llopl)eur acyie)

Laurie Carmody &pee 1980

Iuterqatioual folk Art 9243 Clayton Road St. Louis, MO 63124 By Appointment(314)993-9851 F.B. Archuleta Lisca Ayde, Brazil Milton Bond Canute Caliste, Grenada Chuckie Joe Little Creek Mamie Deschillie Amos Ferguson, Bahamas Milton Fletcher Haitian Art & Masters Boscoe Holder, Trinidad Georges Liautaud, Haiti Justin McCarthy Mexican Artifacts Rafael Mona, Dominican Rep.

Antoine Oleyant, Haiti B.F. Perkins Frank Pickel Juanita Rogers Jack Savitsky Fernando da Silva, Brazil Jose Antonio da Silva, Brazil Jimmy Lee Sudduth Horacio Valdez Voodoo Flags & Bottles Fred Webster Malcah Zeldis Woodie Long Sybil Gibson (and, many others)

째IP

Felipe B. Archuleta "Rattlesnake" 1982

SOUTHERN FOLK EXPRESSIONS IV Three Shows In Rabun County, Georgia

July 24 - August 14, 1993 Featuring Work By Over 60 Artists MAIN STREET GALLERY 706/782-2440 641 Main Street Clayton, Georgia 30525

TIMPSON CREEK GALLERY 706/782-5164 Highway 76 West Clayton, Georgia 30525

THE HAMBIDGE CENTER 706/746-5718 Betty's Creek Road Rabun Gap, Georgia 30568 Gallery Hours: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sunday: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

30 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

Asheville TENNESSEE 1.5 Hour Chattanooga

3 Hours

19

NORTH CAROLINA

Highlands -

64

Rabun County 1.5 Hour Greenville

A 1 1-75 L 1 A l B , Atlanta A M A ,

1.5 Hou 1-985 1-85

GEORGIA

\

SOUTH CAROLINA


JIM LINDERMAN 20TH CENTURY SELF-TAUGHT ARTISTS FOLK AND OUTSIDER ART FEATURING WORKS BY JUSTIN MCCARTHY DILMUS HALL VICTOR JOSEPH GATTO S.L. JONES ANDERSON JOHNSON MAX ROMAIN CHUCKIE WILLIAMS LAVERN KELLEY WESLEY MERRITT SIMON SPARROW CHARLIE DIETER DWIGHT JOE BELL GEORGE WILLIAMS JIM SUDDUTH PROPHET ROYAL ROBERTSON MOSE TOLLIVER ANDY KANE JAMES HAROLD JENNINGS WILLIAM DAWSON MANY OTHERS 530 WEST 46 STREET NEW YORK, NEW YORK (212) 307-0914 BY APPOINTMENT

SOMETIMES ONE MUST SEEK OUT THE UNUSUAL Jrtist Exhibition of the Homeless August 1993

FAREGTON ANTIQUES WEEKEND June 12 & 13 and Sept.4 & 5 600 EXHIBITORS-many under tenting 10 am -5 pm •:, Admission:$5.00 A national antiques event with leading dealers offering folk art, china, quilts, baskets, glass, clocks, dolls, primitives, advertising,jewelry, silver, Americana,vintage clothing,paintings, Orientalia,lighting, tools, toys, books,a great variety ofreasonably priced countryand formal furniture, and 1000's of fine collectibles. Early Admission Saturday at 7:00 am — $20.00

Farmington(CT)Polo Grounds ABDILL 7obney Robinson" 10.5"X8.5" Bouts Pencil on Paper

"Among the homeless of N.Y. are individuals with talents to express themselves in the visual arts if given the opportunity" redeye a newsletter on our collection of American & International folk Art call or write 3 Charles St., NYC 10014(212)989-3801

Exit 39 off 1-84,9 miles west of Hartford ct. Lic. No. 30

PSMA,

Revival Promotions,Inc. P.O. Box 388,Grafton, MA 01519 +(508)839-9735

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 31


OIL AND WATER DO MIX. Especially in the hands of the Bard twins. These Oed brothers painted many of the important ships Launched during the heyday of the Hudson River, the "American Rhine", and its steamboats. The portrait shown here is just one example ofthe outstanding Americana included in Sotheby's upcoming sale.

IMPORTANT AMERICANA AUCTION IN NEW YORK: June 23 at 2 p.m. and June 24 at 10:15 a.m. and 2 p.m. EXHIBITION: OpensJune 18 INQUIRIES: Nancy Druckman at (212) 606-7225, Sotheby's, 1334 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021 Illustrated catalogues are available at our offices and galleries worldwide and through the mail. To order with a credit card, please call (800) 444-3709. James and John Bard, The Steam Engine Paddle Wheeler Thomas Powell: A Ship's Portrait, oil on canvas, 31 by 55 in. (78.7 by 139.7 an.). Auction estimate: $100,000-150,000

SOTHEBY'S FOUNDED 1744 THE WORLD'S LEADING FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE


The Watercolors of Durs Rudy New Discoveries in Fraktur GERARD C. WERTKIN

BIBLICAL TEXT Lehigh County, Pennsylvania c. 1830 Ink and watercolor on paper 7 x 10' Private collection As in the other recently discovered works by Durs Rudy, this depiction of Christ's Crucifixion

Atfarg fat ...,.si.teloigutig 24`a aVigi

idkatti at. ts Cap. 34 AP.

D

is a complex work. This recently found fraktur is rich in architectural details.

he great Pennsylvania antiquarian Henry C. Mercer recalled being "astonished and delighted" in August 1897, when he saw a collection of frakturs for the first time, as preserved in a Mennonite community in central Bucks County.' A month earlier, Edwin Atlee Barber had acquired an 1804 Vorschrift for the Philadelphia Museum of Art because of the striking similarity of its decorative motifs to those on examples ofPennsylvania pottery that he had collected for the Museum.2 Before long, several pioneering collections of Pennsylvania German folk art, a number of which

T

were notable for the illuminated or decorated texts that Mercer called fraktur,3 were formed. Today, newsworthy discoveries in the field of American folk art, particularly in eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury materials, are increasingly rare. This is especially true of those areas identified and collected early in the history of the field. Interest in the folk arts of the Pennsylvania Germans dates back at least one hundred years; while previously undocumented works of significance emerge from obscurity from time to time, highly important discoveries seldom occur, as they did when Mercer and Barber first encountered examples of fraktur.

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 33


For these reasons, the discovery of three exceptionally well-preserved but unrecorded frakturs attributed to the gifted artist Durs Rudy recently captured the imagination of scholars and collectors alike. Apparently tucked away for years among the papers of an old Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, family, Rudy's illuminated biblical texts were discovered just prior to an estate auction to which the family's property had been consigned.4 One of the new discoveries depicts Christ's Crucifixion (Mark 15:34), another, a baptism(MatThey are colorful, spirited, and immensely appealing works of art. thew 28:19), and the third, the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 12-15). Each watercolor bears Rudy's initials and one is dated 1830. Their appearance is especially noteworthy because they provide additional insights into the work of an artist who has intrigued students ofthe field for many years, but about whom there remains considerable uncertainty. Although the term "fraktur" gained currency in the field of American folk art following its adoption by Henry Mercer in 1897, its use is recorded in Pennsylvania much earlier.5 Originally a reference to a style of ornate "broken" lettering, the term today encompasses a wonderful variety of illuminated texts, including writing samplers (Vorschriften), decorated baptismal certificates (Tauf scheine), and a host of other forms both sacred and secular, from bookplates to house blessings.6 Frequently rendered in brilliant watercolors and sharing a traditional corpus of folk motifs, frakturs provide a colorful record of Pennsylvania life, faith, and art from the mid-eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries. Durs Rudy was first identified in print as a creator of fraktur by Donald Shelley in 1961.7 However, since the name was borne both by a father and his son, some uncertainty exists as to which Durs Rudy is to be associated with the fraktur attributed to this hand. The Rudy family arrived in America aboard The Commerce in 1803, disembarking at the port of Philadelphia.8

34 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

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BIBLICAL TEXT Lehigh County, Pennsylvania 1830 Ink and watercolor on paper 7 x 10" Private collection One of three newly discovered frakturs by Rudy, this work illuminates the story of the Prodigal Son, which is found in Luke, Chapter 15. It reads clockwise from the bottom right. Durs Rudy has initialed and dated this work.

Durs Rudy, Sr.(1766-1843), was Swiss in origin; his son(1789-1850)was born in Baden.째 According to longstanding family tradition, Durs Rudy, Jr., was an artist "who sketched and painted [the] local countryside."I째 Although it is to the younger Rudy, tavern owner, shopkeeper, and organist at Neff's Church, N.Whitehall Township in Lehigh County, that the most ambitious of these frakturs have been attributed, Frederick S. Weiser warns that we must be careful not to assume that the son created them all." Indeed, according to Weiser, Durs Rudy, Sr., was the more skilled artist and penman of the two.I2 Most recorded frakturs attributed to Durs Rudy fall into one of two main categories. In the first, consisting of Taufscheine, bookplates, and a house blessing, the text clearly dominates the composition. Rendered expertly in a distinctive German cursive hand with splendid initial letters, these frakturs are rather formal certificates, reminiscent of European examples. Framing the text of each Taufschein, the house blessing, and at least one of the recorded bookplates is a distinguishing pair of columns with transom, decorated in a restrained fashion with small flowers and, occasionally, other elements. Of these, the birth and baptismal certificate of William Deibert (c. 1815), formerly in the noted collection of Henry S. Borneman and now at The Free Library of Philadelphia, is the most exuberantly drawn and includes a floral garland and the initial "W" richly bedecked with flowers.I3 However, an unrecorded Taufschein made for Michael Finck and now in a private collection lacks Rudy's characteristic columns. The three newly discovered frakturs by Durs Rudy fall into the sec-

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 35


BIBLICAL TEXT Lehigh county, Pennsylvania c. 1830 Ink and watercolor on paper 7 x 10'

itc-i.Vg/cfitS )e 'Pet fe rift -t-ta fit d5"Offes be, T•iffet4 offit$ itub `De$ 03eitiseit, ei es. BATHE 26 59. (3\Nos 057,\<_9Y AN¹Y \5--t3

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Private collection In this newly found illumination of Matthew 28:19, Rudy returns to a favorite theme. A

ifa icgtitleitt

similar depiction of a baptism by Rudy may be found in a fraktur now in the museum of Fine Arts, Boston, but without the architectural detail

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shown here.

t

ond category of this work. Unlike the Taufscheine, these drawings are fully developed compositions based on biblical narrative and presented either separately, in series, or, in several known examples, as a metamorphosis.14 In these, it is the imagery, rather than the text, that is emphasized. They are colorful, spirited, and immensely appealing works of art. ...most fraktur artists preferred to address religious doctrine Symbolically rather than directly. Durs Rudy is not typical in this regard. In seeking to distinguish between the two artists, it is tempting to assign one format to the father and the other to the son. All ofthe documented Taufscheine and bookplates were created between 1806 and c. 1821. The dated drawings, on the other hand, are from 1830 to 1842. At first blush, it would appear that these are two sepa-

36 SUMMER 1993

FOLK ART

Et1c

wit

.')V i Ulm ( )3

rate bodies of work, each executed within circumscribed periods of time. A further consideration of the content of these frakturs, however, undermines this assumption. The use of the distinguishing columns and crosspiece to frame the textual portions of the Taufscheine is a common feature of several of the biblical drawings as well. Indeed, it is the use ofthis almost identical device in both categories of composition that clearly binds the two formats together. Other stylistic similarities are present as well, including the use of a closely related group of delightful architectural elements in some examples of both categories of Rudy's watercolors. While several of the Taufscheine contain somewhat more refined and carefully drawn calligraphy than the frakturs of the later group, the style of writing is remarkably consistent throughout Rudy's work. Although it may be possible that father and son worked closely together or even collaborated on some frakturs, I believe that it is difficult to sustain a clear and convincing case for two artists. Until a dated example is found which places that object clearly outside the possible working life ofeither Durs

59. D

Rudy, Jr., or Durs Rudy, Sr., or some other form of documentation appears, it will be difficult to make a positive identification. Notwithstanding this uncertainty, Rudy family tradition and the weight of scholarly opinion hold that Durs Jr. created the extraordinary biblical drawings that are the emphasis of this essay. Among the various categories of Pennsylvania German frakturs, detailed renderings drawn from biblical narrative are among the most rare. Although illustrated Bibles and printed religious tracts were commonly available during the period that frakturs flourished in Pennsylvania, handdrawn depictions of sacred history are very infrequently encountered. To be sure, occasional examples of this kind of material may be found in the great manuscript illuminations of the Ephrata Cloister and from the hand of such fraktur artists as Friedrich Krebs and Arnold Puwelle, as well as Ludwig Denig, whose hand-drawn illustrated Bible was recently published by the Museum of American Folk Art and the Pennsylvania German Society in association with Hudson Hills Press.15 The familiar imagery of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is also not un-


BIBLICAL TEXT Probably Lehigh County, Pennsylvania c. 1810 Ink and watercolor on paper 8/ 1 4 x 6/ 1 4 The Free Library of Philadelphia

t ti.51110uletneq Attzt ust V..tuar e.4 VeCciitt ' Wtv ' ett aq,46it jut Zgeor.

it 4sittit. ICflLflC1 ta , geipcut stigtto tit tut) ,44eitla;tted,5e. tvAtircieNgteV I vets- )8 -

•

raa9

An illumination of one of Rudy's favorite biblical texts (Matthew 28:18-19), in which Christ sends his disciples forth to preach the Gospel.

_

TAUFSCHEIN FOR WILLIAM DEIBERT Lehigh County, Pennsylvania C. 1815 Watercolor and ink on paper 7/ 1 4 x 13 The Free Library of OAN BRODERICK

Philadelphia Despite the formality of this certificate, which records the infant's birth and baptism in 1814, it exemplifies Durs Rudy's colorfully exuberant style,

TAUFSCHEIN FOR MICHAEL FINCK Probably Lehigh County, Pennsylvania c. 1815-25 Ink and watercolor on paper 8Yox 12/ 1 4" Private collection Taufscheine were occasionally commissioned well after the birth and baptism of the child. This Taulschein includes architectural elements typical of Rudy's work.

+if/tuft ill ,t3Stircit ot4i. t•mitVr inifitart) $itittiCktP1 L.,

nsirr

commonly seen. These, however, are exceptions to the rule. Perhaps adhering to Protestant scruples against idolatry, most fraktur artists preferred to address religious doctrine symbolically rather than directly. Durs Rudy is not typical in this regard. He turned regularly to the principal events of the New Testament and to the promulgation of religious doctrine. The use offraktur by Durs Rudy to promulgate the Christian faith may be seen in the texts he chose to illuminate. These include Chapter 28 of the gospel of St. Matthew, in which Christ sends his disciples forth to preach the gospel, one example of which was formerly in the Borneman collection and is now at The Free Library of Philadelphia; a representation of Adam and Eve formerly in the Unger collection and now at Winterthur; and a depiction of a baptism originally in the collection of Elie Nadelman and Maxim Karolik and now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. To these important examples must now be added the three wonderful watercolors discovered last year. As is common in other frakturs of the era, Durs Rudy's figures are presented anachronistically in the dress of the late eighteenth century rather than in that of the period described. Generally drawn in profile, Rudy's figures each have characteristically large, square jaws and large eyes. His is a colorful world. The three newly found frakturs are especially interesting for their architectural features as well. Each of the three recently discovered frakturs shown here illustrate a different theme from one of the three Synoptic Gospels, themes to which the artist regularly returned. The Crucifixion, for example, is closely reminiscent of a panel in a Lehigh County Historical Society metamorphosis by Rudy; the baptism recalls the Rudy fraktur in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the Prodigal Son theme mirrors another Rudy metamorphosis. Despite the similarities, these images are more complex and more fully developed than those of the previously recorded frakturs. When Donald Shelley first documented the work of Durs Rudy he referred to the artist as "mysterious," perhaps because his work is so different from that of other fraktur artists.

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 37


1 Henry C. Mercer,"The Survival of the Mediaeval Art of Illuminative Writing among the Pennsylvania Germans," American Philosophical Society Proceedings 36 (September 17, 1897), p. 425.(Also issued by the Bucks County Historical Society as No. 2 in its "Contributions to American History" series.) 2 Barber Correspondence file, Letter to John T. Morris, July 8, 1897. Research Archives, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Quoted in Jack L. Lindsey, "Selected Works by African-American Folk Artists: A Recent Installation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art," Folk Art, vol. 17(Winter 1992/93), p. 63. 3 Mercer, op. cit., p. 424. Mercer and other early scholars used the spelling "fractur." 4 See Dick Cowen, "Folk artist's tracts bring $156,000 bid," The (Allentown) Morning Call(February 8, 1992), pp. B3, B17; Dick Cowen,"High bid attributed to frakturs' content," The Morning Call(February 19, 1992), p. B4;Lita Solis-Cohen, "A Folk Art Find," Maine Antiques Digest (April, 1992), p. 36-B. The auction took place at Zettlemoyer's Auction Center in Fogelsville, Pa. on February 6, 1992. The sellers chose not to be identified. 5 See William M. Fahnestock,"An Historical Sketch of Ephrata; together with a Concise Account of The Seventh Day Baptist Society of Pennsylvania," in Felix Reichmann and Eugene E. Doll, Ephrata As Seen by Contemporaries(Allentown, Pa.: The Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, 1953), p. 168. Originally published in 1835, the article refers to the Fractur schrifften at Ephrata Cloister: "large sheets of elegant penmanship, or inkpaintings,— many of which are texts from the scriptures, done in very handsome manner,in ornamented gothic letters..." 6 For a discussion of the origin and use of the term "fraktur," see Donald A. Shelley, The Fraktur-Writings or Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans

METAMORPHOSES Lehigh County, Pennsylvania c. 1832 Ink and watercolor on paper In four parts, each 4x 6/ 1 4" Opens to 4 x 12/ 1 2" Lehigh County Historical Society

and lessons in Christian moral• ity, the metamorphosis allowed the reader to turn its half pages up or down to view a progression of changing images.

Jr I

DURS RUDY'S CHORAL BOON Lehigh County, Pennsylvania 1814

'

Ink on paper, leather bound 6 x 11"

I

7.c

isau.

Lehigh County Historical Society

-Z5'7„1inr1rm

nrr6 . 1-a)inivtion

rrrnicnn tz. flirt n

tuihrrt

16.

38 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

n,ct

rIf 4.4,3

irinm nowt, t41.7rf rinnt Tut,/ 14— 'lune (tfenuili a8111

.....,

One of two hand-written music books by Rudy in the collection of The Lehigh County Historical Society. Rudy, a Lutheran, served as organist of a church in N. Whitehall Township, Pa.

I.,IvA I.

tnt',„ft;,ntr -., 1 ..._. -III

n.1.:o:1444,fr m

Title page

1111

,

Providing religious instruction

Top half page opened

NOTES

(Allentown, Pa.: The Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, 1961) pp. 22-23. There is no general agreement among American scholars as to proper usage for the term or how completely it is to be anglicized. It often appears with an uppercase "F," as it would appear in German. In its plural form, it appears with and without the final "s." In addition to Pennsylvania, the art of fraktur flourished in other places where Pennsylvania Germans settled, including Virginia and Ontario. 7 Shelley, op cit., p. 121. Recognition in print of Rudy as an artist, although not with specific reference to fraktur, occurred much earlier; see Charles Rhoads Roberts and others, History ofLehigh County, Pennsylvania (Allentown, Pa.: Lehigh Valley Publishing Company, 1914), vol. 2, p. 467. 8 Ralph Beaver Strassburger, Pennsylvania German Pioneers(Morristown, Pa.: The Pennsylvania German Society, 1934), vol. 3, pp. 132-133. 9 Beatrice B. Garvan, The Pennsylvania German Collection (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982), p. 367. 10 Ibid. 11 Scott T Swank and others, Arts ofthe Pennsylvania Germans(New York: W.W. Norton & Company for the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1983), note to Plate 34. 12 Corinne P Earnest and Russell D. Earnest, Papersfor Birth Dayes: Guide to the Fraktur Artists and Scriviners(Albuquerque: Russell D. Earnest Associates, 1989), p. 344. 13 Frederick S. Weiser and Howell J. Heaney, The Pennsylvania German Fraktur of The Free Library ofPhiladelphia (Breinigsville, Pa.: The Pennsylvania German Society and The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1976), vol. 1, pl. 57. 14 Beatrice B. Garvan and Charles E Hummel, The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of Their Arts 1683-1850 (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982), p. 163, pl. 120, p. 171. Only one documented drawing by Rudy does not have a religious theme. It is a charming portrait of General Washington, now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 15 Don Yoder, ed., The Picture Bible of Ludwig Denig: A Pennsylvania German Emblem Book,(New York: Hudson Hills Press in Association with the Museum of American Folk Art and the Pennsylvania German Society, 1990).

I

Both half pages opened

Since 1961, when Shelley made this observation, however, we have come to know Rudy better, from the richness of the legacy he has left. The three frakturs recently discovered serve to confirm the conclusion that he was a richly gifted artist who was committed to church and community.*

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SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 33


PHOTOGRAPHIC FOLK ART Nineteenthand TwentiethCentury Hand-Colored Photographs ADDISON THON4PSON AND LESA WESTERMAN WOMAN WITH FOLDED HANDS Artist unknown c. 1880 Oil and watercolor on albumen print, mounted on canvas 9/ 3 4x 73/4' Courtesy of Ezra Mack, New York.

40 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART


MAN LEANING ON CHAIR Artist unknown C. 1880 Oil and watercolor on albumen print, mounted on canvas 9/ 3 4x7", Courtesy of Ezra Mack, New York.

VV hen photography was invented in the late 1830s, it provided the capacity for recording images of the finest detail. Because photography did not require the hand-eye coordination demanded by the traditional fine arts, many people began to explore and successfully engage in this new art form. To capture a particular image, a photographer would expose the photographic plate inside his camera to light by opening the shutter for a specified amount of time. This would cause a latent image to form in the chemical composition of the plate. Subsequent development of this latent image produced a seamless copy of the subject. The written history of photography is generally concerned with significant advances in technique and the formulation of a singular aesthetic. Its primary concern is how photography began to differentiate itself from the other arts after the turn of the century. As a result, the relationship of photography to the fine arts and to folk art is obscured. By 1840, with photography barely a year old, certain photographers could not resist using the new medium as an adjunct to painting. Liberated from the need for the technical skills involved with drawing, these artists drew over and painted directly on their photographs, which resulted in the synthesis of the mediums of painting and photography. It seemed natural to use the photographs as an accurate outline or sketch to be embellished with paint. Many artists and photographers did not believe that the two mediums had to exist separately and forged fearlessly ahead in this hybrid medium to attain new and better effects for their picture-making purposes. Some traditional painters used

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 41


ADDISON THOMPSON

NANCY MEDORA YOUNG as a graduate in front of The Ohio Female College Signed H. W. March 1865" Cincinnati, Ohio 1865 Oil on albumen print 11%x9 Collection of Addison Thompson and Less Westerman.

42 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART


c. 1870 Oil on tintype 10x7 Courtesy of Ezra Mack, New York.

ACROBAT WITH LANDSCAPE BACKGROUND Artist unknown c. 1880 Charcoal on silver print 20/ 3 4 x 13Y2" Collection of Addison Thompson and Lesa Westerman.

SOLDIER WITH CANNON AND FLAG Attributed to F. A. Wenderoth c. 1860-1865 Ivorytype 22 x lea Courtesy of Ezra Mack, New York.

photographs in the formulation of their paintings and in certain instances painted directly upon photographs; this fact was never widely promoted because it would have been viewed, by the public and by critics, as cheating. This situation generally frustrated artists interested in the mixing of artistic mediums. The work of artist Andy Warhol best demonstrated that this sort of mixing was rich with potential. Graphic artists, who exist outside the realm of the fine arts, have historically had much greater freedom to experiment. Because photography remained outside the academic structure of the established arts, the technique of painting on photographs quickly became a staple for commercial photographers keen to offer an alternative to standard photography and to stand out among the overabundance of practitioners. Photography has always struggled to achieve prominence equal to that given to the academic fine arts. However, nineteenth-century handcolored photographs were very rarely created for fine art purposes. Their aesthetic value arises from their comparison to folk art forms of painting; because of this, hand-colored photographs have remained a curiosity in the history of photography. While certain individuals and institutions have appreciated this mixture of painting and photography, it is only in recent years, and in comparison to contemporary artistic experimentation, that a general awareness of the significance of this work has developed. The quality that distinguishes the nineteenth-century American vernacular of this international phenomena is the general simplicity and the naive and raw execution of the individual works. Unencumbered by European influences, nineteenth-century American selftaught artist-photographers were free to invent an art form that was uniquely their own. Early photographers who created hand-colored photographs were in competition with folk painters and miniaturists for customers; like folk painters, these artist-photographers executed their work for the satisfaction of a public clientele rather than according to an aesthetic dictated by pundits of fine art. Most of the work was portraiture depicting the common people,

dressed in their Sunday best and portrayed in the way they chose to see themselves. Within the portrait genre, examples of environmental and occupational subjects are of special interest, but there are also other subjects that are noteworthy. Exterior farm and home environments, many with family groups, may be found; views of individuals or groups in richly appointed parlors, court rooms, and other formal interior spaces served to contextualize the prominence of their subjects; domestic animals, especially favorite dogs, horses, and prize farm animals, were depicted with and without their proud owners; and because premature death was a frequent occurrence in nineteenth-century America, hand-colored photographs were sometimes created to serve as memorials to the departed. The first photographic process was the daguerreotype. Tinted and painted daguerreotypes were the first American hand-colored photographs. The Ambrotype, another photographic process, used an underexposed glass negative, the back of which was painted black. This served to reverse the tones and thus present a positive (rather than a negative, the transition step that is common to photography today). Ambrotypes were colored before their back was painted. This essay is devoted to hand-colored photographs on paper and tintype. The collection of daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes, even colored varieties, tends to occupy a separate, although closely connected, realm of photography. The first paper-based photographic process was the Calotype, invented in England by Henry Fox Talbot in 1839. This process employed silver salts that were absorbed directly into the surface of the paper. The resulting uncoated paper surface was ideal for coloring. Paper surfaces ofthe subsequent albumen and silver gelatin prints were covered with a glossy emulsion. This was also the case with the tintype, a silver gelatin emulsion on a plate of lacquered tin. While a glossy surface was excellent for achieving detail in the photographic image, it presented problems for the application of drawing or painting materials. Various techniques were developed for conditioning the surface prior to the employment of color. The platinum

ADDISON I

Artist unknown

EDIE BRESLER

MAN IN DERBY HAT

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 43


print, developed in the 1880s, was similar to the salt print (Calotype) in its possession of an uncoated paper surface. In addition, there existed a plethora of unusual photographic techniques specially developed as an adjunct to the elaboration of the photograph. The majority of these were variants of the Ivorytype, a picture printed on artificial ivory or colored and sealed on a glass plate.1 The aspect of scale that was, and remains, so important to portrait painting was a stumbling block for early photographers because the size of their photographs was limited by the size of their cameras and of the photographic plates used to create images. Because early sepia print enlargements were faint and coarse and effective enlargers didn't become available until well into the 1860s,2 photographers employed the traditional artist's methods of drawing, shading, and highlighting, usually with charcoal and pastels, to refine these enlargements, masking their coarseness and thus enhancing the likeness. These techniques provided the photographer with the ability to produce an acceptable life-size portrait. Coloring photographs led to the possibility of creating a fictional background for any subject. For example, a photograph of two children with musical instruments taken in a studio could be transformed into a colored portrait of the children in an elaborate parlor. (This transformation was accomplished by drawing in the parlor on the enlarged print and then painting over both to blend the two together.) Evidence of this technique can be seen in some extant examples where the image at the perimeter, in this case, the parlor, is considerably cruder than the image in the center. Painted backdrops were also used to alter the context of a conventional photograph taken in a studio environment, allowing the subject to be seen standing by a river or in some other landscape. The artistic techniques employed in hand-coloring made the backdrop look more natural and created a seamless joining of disparate images that would have appeared glaringly obvious in an unretouched photograph. Another common practice was to bring together family members who otherwise could not have

44 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART


BOY WITH VIOLIN AND GIRL AT PIANO IN PARLOR Artist unknown C. 1850

4

Watercolor on salt print

.., 115/a x 133/a Collection of Addison Thompson and Lesa Westerman.

4311. .XM •

T,Vt

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 45


WOMAN AT TABLE Artist unknown c. 1870 Oil on tintype 8% x 6% Courtesy of Ezra Mack, New York.

YOUNG CHILD IN CHAIR WITH PILLOW Artist unknown c. 1850 Oil on salt print 8% x 6%' Collection of Addison Thompson and Lesa

‘9`4'

appeared in the same photograph, for example, a daughter with her deceased mother or grandmother. Again, handcoloring could be employed to soften the discrepancies between the images. Also, and sometimes most importantly, if a sitter was unhappy with wrinkles or an ugly facial feature, such flaws could be easily corrected with handcoloring. Starting in the 1850s, there began to appear many articles, pamphlets, and books designed as instruction for the application of color to the photograph. These texts were emphatic in stressing the importance of training and critical of the production of work of inferior quality. While the inherent monochromatic tones of the photograph provided an excellent guide for coloring, the simple overpainting of an image with a single tone did not supply a substantial rendering of the subject. To enable the practitioner to produce a more painterly effect, information on basic color theory and practical hints regarding the mixing of available colors was provided. Stippling and hatching, two techniques developed for painting, were suggested for the application of color.3 The exercise of these procedures provided for the incorpora-

44 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

tion of gradation within the overall tones. Practical color theory was expressed in lists of examples of appropriate color usage and hints on the addition of color to enhance gray tones and to create shadows. Basically, two techniques existed for painting photographs. The first method utilized the predominantly transparent painting mediums of watercolor and aniline dyes to tint the picture. This allowed the photographic image to predominate in the finished work. Watercolors were applied with a brush and the aniline dyes were applied by intentionally dipping certain areas of the print and carefully rinsing the wet dye from areas not intended to receive the color. The second method used an opaque medium, such as oil paint or gouache, and the photograph served merely as a guide. In this method the photographic image was mostly obscured in the finished piece. Certain artists incorporated both opaque and transparent paint application into the same work. Thus, areas such as the hands and face that were typically difficult from a painterly standpoint would receive a transparent application. Charcoal and pastel were also

ADDISON THOMPSON

Westerman.

used to color photographs. As mentioned earlier, these mediums were ideal for the definition of the early, crude enlargements. Another technique was to "airbrush" with charcoal dust blown through a straw. Lace was used as a stencil to provide the illusion of hand-crafted detail. Examples of modern airbrush and stencil work began to appear in hand-colored photographs in the 1930s. The majority of hand-colored photographs were created in the nineteenth century. While there is a profusion of work from the twentieth century, much of the demand diminished as the public gradually accepted the growing predominance of the photographic image. A process for direct color photography was fully developed by the 1930s and was followed by the realization of amateur color photography in the 1950s. Presently, hand-colored photographs are chiefly the province of illustrators and artist-photographers. To this day, it is most prestigious to have one's portrait drawn or painted. While the wealthy of the nineteenth century might have had the time and money to sit, in the traditional European manner, and have their portrait


Hand-Colored Photographs and the Museum n 1978, The Clarion published

I

Roderic H. Blackburn's study

"Flashes ofthe Soul: Photography vs. Painting." In this essay, Blackburn

"Photographic Folk Art: Nineteenth-

explored the connection between a

and Twentieth-Century Hand-Colored

group ofportrait paintings and photo-

Photographs."

EDIE BRESLER

graphs ofthe mid-nineteenth century

WOMAN IN PROFILE Image signed "Brady" Mat stamped "Brady July 4 & 11 1854" c. 1855 Watercolor on salt print in daguerrian mat and preserve. 1 4" 5/ 1 2x 4/ Courtesy of Ezra Mack, New York.

painted by a trained artist, the advent of photography made it possible for almost everyone to possess his or her own portrait, albeit a photographic one, and to give copies to family and friends. By the 1860s, photography began to replace painting as the chief means of portraiture and as a more efficient way to record history. The popularity of photographic portraits was a phenomenon generated by their affordability and their ease of procurement. However, while it was quicker and less expensive to be photographed than to sit for a portrait, not everyone was happy with their likeness as created through the harsh mirror reflection of the daguerreotype; the British Calotype, employing a paper negative to a paper positive, was better suited to softening the features in a portrait. The brown and white approximation of reality presented by early photographs required a visual translation that must have limited their accessibility. Significantly, early photographs lacked the natural colors of the visible spectrum. Paint application supplied additional colors to the normally monochromatic images. By embellishing photographs with paint, photographers (or artistphotographers) ensured buyers that

The Museum has pioneered the

and considered the surprising sim-

collection and study ofphotography as

ilarities in the aestheticframework of

afolk expression and is grateful to

the two media. In 1986, The Clarion

have been the recipient ofscores of

published "Daguerreotypes as Folk

early photographs through the gener-

Art," by Julian Wolfe, in which it was

osity ofDr. Stanley B. Burns and Gail

argued that the daguenrotypist and

Gomberg Propp, among others. These

the itinerant painter existed side by

images clearly demonstrate the close

side and that the interplay betweenfolk

relationship between early photogra-

painting and daguerreotyping was

phy and otherfolk artforms.

extensive. Wolfe also stated that

The growing interest in thisfield

although not all early daguerreotypes

may be evidenced by the recent exhibi-

can automatically be described asfolk

tion "Forgotten Marriage: The Painted

art, there is a significant body ofthese

Tintype & the Decorative Frame,"

early photographic images that does

which was presented at The National

reflect a definitefolk aesthetic.

Arts Club in New York City in Decem-

Through its publications and

ber of1992. This exhibition,featuring

programs, the Museum ofAmerican

objectsfrom the Stanley B. Burns,

Folk Art has explored the connection of

M.D. Collection, presented a compre-

photography, as a medium, to other

hensive overview ofpainted tintype

folk expressions and is pleased to

photographs as well as their display in

continue the consideration ofthis

various styles ofdecorativeframes

fascinating subject with Addison

from the last halfofthe nineteenth

Thompson and Lesa Westerman's

century.

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 47



SOLDIER IN CAMP Artist unknown c.1870 Oil on tintype 2 81/2 x 61/' Courtesy of Ezra Mack, New York.

they were purchasing works of art. In her informative study Early Illinois Photographers and Their Practice, Marie Czach explored the various

Illinois directories, newspapers, histories, and gazettes from the inception of photography to the turn of the century. Each photographers' name was listed alphabetically, and the accumulation of information gives a general picture of each individual and his or her relationship to the profession. Czach discovered that the earliest photographers were itinerant, that many women took up the profession (often apparently as widows), and that few photographers managed to stay in business for a great length of time. Those that remained in business the longest did so by advertising the most, by offering the greatest array of "types" (meaning alternatives to the plain photograph), and by maintaining luxurious studios. Handcolored photographs were the most expensive item on the price list.4 Each hand-colored photograph is unique because it was the production of a photographer attempting to create a special picture for his client; the exceptional care and attention given to these works are obvious. While it was common for "cabinet cards" and "cartes de visite," small photographic paper prints adhered to cardboard and designed to be given as keepsakes or used as calling cards, to be identified with a label bearing the photographer's name for selfpromotional purposes, it is not often that one finds hand-colored photographs that are signed. Notations regarding guidelines for the coloring of eyes, hair, garments, or special details are often found on the reverse of the mount board. This information may be accompanied by the client's name and even the price. In the unusual case that the artist did sign his or her work, there may appear two signatures: the photographer's and that of a colorist. Most practitioners considered themselves artists.5 Some available selfportraits show photographers in their studios, camera on tripod, standing next to easel with paintbrush in hand.6 Many such photographers were simply posing as artists, which explains why the quality of hand-colored photographs runs the gamut from crudely executed works to pieces that rival the best paintings of the period.

The identification of handcolored photographs can be problematic; frequently, they are thought to be paintings. Many photographers who made hand-colored photographs intentionally printed a faint image to ensure that the photographic aspect of their work would be well disguised. This, coupled with a thorough overpainting, could totally obscure the photographic component of a particular work. Because photographic processing required that the paper be immersed in a series of chemicals and washed in water and because wetting caused the paper to distort and curl, these photographs were mounted on thin to medium cardstock or a stretched canvas prior to coloring. Hand-colored photographs were often mounted in mass-produced multimolding frames, grained or embellished with decorative plaster, and unfortunately, were often destroyed for the sake of their elaborate frames. Because of the visual and historical kinship of hand-colored photographs with naive or folk painting, "folk art" seems the most appropriate classification for them. Hand-colored photographs, like the best examples of folk art, are free from artistic pretensions. In contrast, works of academic art may be crippled by their adherence to an established genre or historical style. While honest intentions cannot guarantee the integrity of a work of art, fine hand-colored photographs offer a unique aesthetic experience. Viewed in retrospect, these works feel modern in their simplicity. Handcolored photographs are an important part of our social and cultural history, and it is time that this work is recognized and valued as photographic folk art.* Acknowledgment: The authors would like to thank Ezra Mackfor his invaluable input in preparing this essay andfor allowing them to use imagesfrom his personal collection of hand-colored photographs. Ezra Mack has been a private dealer in nineteenth- and twentieth-century photographic masterworks since 1988. Objectsfrom his inventory have been borrowedfor many notable exhibitions, including a series of photographs by Gustave Le Gray that are included in the exhibition 'Au Louvre, d'apres les maitres," which is now on view at the Louvre in Paris. Mack lives and works in New York City.

Lesa Westerman studied photography as an undergraduate at Illinois State University. She received her Master ofScience in Learning Disabilitiesfrom Hunter College in New York and now works as a special education teacher. Westerman has exhibited her own hand-colored portrait photographs in Philadelphia and New York City, and is currently working on a new series. Addison Thompson studied photography at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and received his Master ofFine Artsfrom Rochester Institute of Technology. He was Photography Specialist at Phillips Auction in New York and presently works as an architectural photographer and private fine artphotography dealer. This year he received a Graham Foundation grant to photograph Art Deco architecture in the Bronx. He is currently working on a photographic documentary survey ofsites and locations associated with the Underground Railroad. He and Lesa live with their daughter, Hannah, in the Joseph Furey Folk Art Environment in Brooklyn, New York. NOTES 1 M.A. Root, The Camera and The Pencil, or the Heliographic Art, (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1864), p. 303. 2 John Szarkowski, Photography Until Now(Museum of Modern Art, New York: 1989), p. 47. 3 M.A. Root, op. cit., pp. 284-285. 4 Brian Coe, Colour Photography: The First Hundred Years, 1840-1940(London: Ash & Grant, 1972), p. 12. 5 Marie Czach, Early Illinois Photographers and Their Practice (Western Illinois University, 1977), unpaged. 6 Van Deren Coke, The Painter and the Photograph (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1964), pp. 237, 475. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Galassi, Peter. &fore Photography. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1981. Jones, Bernard E., ed. Encyclopedia of Photography. New York: Arno Press, 1977. Rinhart, Floyd, and Marion Rinhart. American Daguerreian Art. New York: Clarkson N. Potter Publishers, 1972. Stenger, Dr. Eric. The March of Photography. London and New York: Focal Press, 1958. Szarkowski, John. Photography Until Now. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1989. Wall, Alfred. A Manual ofArtistic Coloring, as Applied to Photographs. London: T Piper, Photographic News Office, 1861.

SUMMER 1993

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Ten Years of Folk Art Studies at New York University n June 4,1981, a short article that changed the lives of a significant number of people appeared in the Home section of The New York Times. The article, squeezed between advertisements and not credited to any author, announced the creation of the nation's first, and only, master's program in Folk Art Studies. The result of a collaboration between New York University(NYU)and the Museum of American Folk Art, the Folk Art Studies program was the brainchild of Dr. Robert Bishop, the Museum's Director from 1977 until his death in 1991. Bishop recognized the need for increased scholarship in American folk art, a field in which relatively little academic inquiry had yet been made in a systematic way. With the approval of Dr. John Sawhill, then President of NYU, Bishop joined forces with Dr. Marilynn Karp, NYU professor of art, to develop a wide-ranging curriculum for the master's program that would broaden not only the understanding of the art itself, but also the context in which it was made. Courses such as American Folk Painting, Artistic Creativity in the Communal Society, Living Traditions in Art, and The Folk Art Market were planned and organized by Bishop, Karp, and Gerard C. Wertkin, the current Director of the Museum of American Folk Art. When the first class met, there was electricity in the air. Program graduate Hunter Demos remembers the room being very quiet; she also recalls that no one knew anyone else, a situation that soon changed. Robert Bishop's enthusiasm soon enveloped the students and there was hardly a quiet moment again. Graduate Michael McManus agrees: "It was exciting to be part of something that was brand new." In the twelve years since its inception, the NYU Folk Art Studies master's program has offered courses to hundreds of students and there have been over sixty-five graduates. In January 1983 Judith R. Weissman signed on as the program's director. Today she continues to interview and advise all students as well as teach classes, such as Art, Culture and Society and A Seminar in Material Culture. This article is intended to show the diverse backgrounds of some of the graduates and to document some of their accomplishments. It is impossible in this limited space to list all of the talented people who have successfully completed the program, including several who now hold key positions at the Museum of American Folk Art. The NYU Folk Art Studies program is an exciting academic environment. Classes are taught by leading authorities in the field. Internship requirements allow students the opportunity to work with important curators, dealers, and collectors. Most of all, New York City's rich cultural resources offer students access to some of the greatest museums, galleries, and private collections of art in the world. As a result, in the decade since the program began, its graduates have gone on to become leading curators, authors, and scholars in the field of American folk art.

O

50 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

Gretchen Freeman'83 Gretchen Freeman credits her childhood in Arkansas for her lifelong interest in folk art. "In the South, folk art is so prevalent in everyday life," she explains. Her undergraduate degree was in social psychology, and Freeman has found a way to merge this interest with folk art. Working in New York City in 1981, Freeman applied to the Folk Art Studies program and found a new direction in her life. While enrolled in the program, Freeman interned in the American Furniture Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and with Nancy Druckman in the Americana Department of Sotheby's. Upon graduation, she was employed at the Chase Manhattan Bank Art Collection as Program Assistant and then as Registrar. She served as a consultant to several corporate collections before moving to Phoenix in 1986. In 1987 Freeman was named as the first administrator of the Public Art Program under the Phoenix Arts Commission. She administers commissions for works of art, often bringing art to people in communities that

have been underserved in art programs. In this way she has found the common thread between her interests in art and psychology. Drawing on the wealth of folk art in the Southwest, Freeman is planning a permanent collection of Mexican folk art to be housed in a branch of the Phoenix Public Library; this collection will be the first of its kind in the state of Arizona.

Michael McManus'83 A documentary filmmaker for 20120 and Bill Moyer's Journal, Michael McManus was inspired by the announcement of the Folk Art Studies program in The New York Times. Since folk art had always been one of his interests, he called Robert Bishop at the Museum. "I had never met Bishop but I went over and spoke with him about the program that day," McManus says, "and became part of the first class." McManus interned at the Museum of American Folk Art and the George Schoelkopf Gallery in New York City. He


Looking Forward MARIE LUISE PROELLER

coauthored A Collector's Guide to American Folk Art(Knopf) with Robert Bishop, Henry Niemann, and Judith R. Weissman the year he graduated. As the Museum's Director of Exhibitions from 1985 through 1990, McManus was a driving force behind the Museum's traveling exhibitions, emphasizing their ability to introduce a large number of people to American folk art. He recalls the opening of one quilt exhibition in Minneapolis when the local quilters were amazed to see quilts handled and appreciated as works of art. Since leaving the Museum in 1990, McManus has remained deeply committed to the field of American folk art. He received a grant from the Early American Industries Association to study tools made of scrimshaw, he was a visiting scholar at The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, and beginning in the fall of 1993, he will teach a course in American folk art at the University of Miami,the first class in folk art taught at that institution. The people he came into contact with during his years in the Folk Art Studies program made a lasting impression on McManus, and their influence on his life has been "immeasurable."

Hunter Demos'83 Like McManus, Hunter Demos also became aware of the Folk Art Studies program through The New York Times article. She had recently returned to the United States after living in London for five years and was looking for a way to reenter the job market. Folk art seemed a perfect way to merge her interests in art, history, and research. During her years in the program, Demos interned in the Museum and, because of her superior research skills, soon acquired the reputation of "being able to find anything." Research had always been what Demos loved most, and it would be what she pursued in her career. After finishing the program, Demos served as the Museum of American Folk Art's Associate Curator for two years. She then moved on to serve as the Curator of Exhibitions for the New Jersey Historical Society and the Brooklyn Historical Society. This year, Demos found what she calls her perfect job: working as a freelance artifact and picture researcher for Albert Woods Design Associates, an exhibition design firm in New York City. In this position, Demos works with curatorial teams, researching themes and scouring archives— making sure every detail of an exhibition works. "It's so much fun, but it's really a culmination," she says,"a success story of everything fitting together in a career you really like."

Charlotte Emans Moore'84 After Charlotte Emans Moore received her undergraduate degree in art history from The College of William and Mary, she began an internship at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center in Colonial Williamsburg. There she noticed a flyer announcing NYU's Master's Degree Program in Folk Art Studies and applied immediately. While enrolled in the program, Moore worked in several departments in the Museum of American Folk Art, which gave her an opportunity to absorb an extraordinary amount of information and knowledge about early

American paintings, a strong personal interest. Because of her reputation, she was asked by Paul D'Ambrosio, Associate Curator of the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown, New York, to coauthor Folk Art's Many Faces:Portraitsfrom the New York State Historical Association; this project was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the book was published in 1987. Moore says this was one of the most enjoyable projects she ever worked on. Today, as a doctoral candidate in the American and New

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 51


ALUMNI ASSOCIATION DINNER

he first meeting of the NYU Folk Art Alumni Association was

T

held on Wednesday, March 31, 1993, at La Spaghetteria in New

York City to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first gradua-

tion of students of the NYU Folk Art Studies program. Attending were more than twenty-five alumni, faculty members, and current students, remembering old times and sharing new experiences. "It was wonderful," says Judith R. Weissman, associate professor of art at NYU and the program's director. "Some people hadn't seen each other in almost ten years." At the reunion dinner,Laura Israel brought a very special memento of her years in the program. One summer she had invited her entire class to her home and brought out a basket of fabrics. She suggested that each person make a block for a quilt, an appropriate task for students in a folk art program. Israel gathered the blocks her friends had made, including one made by Gerard C. Wertkin, the present Director of the Museum of American Folk Art, and assembled them into a modern-day friendship quilt, complete with everyone's names, the name of the program, and the

England Studies program at Boston University, Moore's dedication to the study of early American painting continues. Evidence of her dedication can also be seen in her job as research consultant at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where she has spent the past five years cataloging over two thousand early American paintings in that museum's collection.

program. When she graduated in 1984, she became the Museum's Curator, a position she held for six years. In 1989, she curated "Expressions of a New Spirit," which marked the opening of the Museum's new gallery space, the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery at Lincoln Square. Since the birth of her son in 1990, Warren has become Con-

Elizabeth Warren'84 People often have a longtime affinity for folk art forms without ever knowing there is a name for what they like. Elizabeth Warren had written the Art & Antiques column in House Beautiful for many years, covering everything from weathervanes to Amish quilts. One day a press release crossed her desk as so many others had done in the past. This one, however, was from the Museum of American Folk Art and, after reading it, she recalls, "I realized there was a name for these things I loved." Warren was among the first applicants to the Folk Art Studies

suiting Curator for the Museum; she also does independent consulting in the field. She wrote on the collection of Helaine and Burton Fendelman in the November 1992 issue of The Magazine Antiques. She is currently cowriting a book on the Museum's quilt collection as well as teaching a course, Quilts in Context, for the Folk Art Studies program, both with fellow graduate Sharon Eisenstat. In addition to her many projects, Warren has been a

date. Because violet is NYU's school color, Israel also incorporated some violet fabric. Many of the alumni had never seen the finished product and were thrilled to be able to view it. The group is looking forward to more gatherings of this kind as a way of strengthening the alumni network of both current and future graduates.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

The Master's Degree Program in Folk Art Studies at New York University is offered in collaboration with the Museum of American Folk Art; courses are given both at the Washington Square campus of NYU and at the Museum. For information or an application, write to Professor Judith R. Weissman, NYU Folk Art Studies Program, 34 Stuyvesant Street, New York, NY 10003, or call 212/998-5700. Left to right: Ann-Marie Reilly '86, Registrar of the Museum of American Folk Art; Stacy C. Hollander '87, Curator of the Museum of American Folk Art; Judith R. Weissman, Associate Professor of Art at NYU and Director of the Folk Art Studies Program.

Left to right: Elizabeth Warren '84, Consulting Curator of the Museum of American Folk Art; Gerard C. Wertkin, Director of the Museum of American Folk Art; Jill Keefe, current master's it candidate in the program; Lee Kogan '91, Associate Director of the Folk Art Institute and Senior Research Fellow of the Museum of American Folk Art.

52 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART


strong force behind the creation of the NYU Folk Art Alumni Association. "The reunion dinner in March [1993] was a special opportunity for old friends to reconnect and catch up," she says. Warren would like the Association to serve as a networking base between alumni in much the same way that the Cooperstown and Winterthur alumni groups do.

paralleled the recognition of this artist in the late 1980s, when the Museum of American Folk Art held a one-woman show of her work. Niemann's dissertation remains the most extensive study of her life and art. Dr. Niemann taught his last class in the Folk Art Studies program in Spring 1992; he has since moved from New York to Florida. He recently auditioned at and has been accepted into the Miami Henry Niemann, M.A.'84, Ph.D.'91 Opera Company. Niemann makes sure to keep in close touch with Graduates in Folk Art Studies his colleagues in the folk art come from all walks of life. Henry world. Niemann, for instance, brought an unusual background and experience to the program. He had studied music at Hofstra University and had sung for many years with the New York City Opera. When he met Robert Bishop in the late 1970s, his attention turned to folk art. "After viewing the Bishop Collection, I wanted to learn as much as I could about it," Niemann says. So he applied to the Folk Art Studies program. After receiving his master's Ann-Marie Reilly'86 degree, Niemann began teaching Ann-Marie Reilly was already in the program while continuing to considering a career change when study for his Ph.D., which was she saw the article in The New awarded to him by NYU in 1991. York Times announcing the exisHe took a great interest in his stutence of the Folk Art Studies dents, and today speaks of them as program. Having worked in medihis colleagues and as "future cal research for years, the idea of a mentors" in the field. He encourfinal project on quilts or whirligigs aged them to publish their sounded refreshing. research findings, and has himself While a student in the written frequently for folk art pubprogram, Reilly interned with lications around the country. the Registrar at the Museum of Niemann's doctoral disserAmerican Folk Art, during the tation on the twentieth-century installation of several important self-taught artist Malcah Zeldis exhibitions, including an exhibition of pieces from the Garbisch Collection. The responsibilities involved in the movement,

installation, and lending of the Museum's works came naturally to Reilly and provided her with the opportunity to combine her organizational skills with her love for the material. Reilly continued to work in the department after her graduation and today is the Registrar of the Museum of American Folk Art, where she is strongly committed to the Museum's traveling exhibitions. Reilly frequently spends untold hours at airports and at Customs, and recently accompanied the works included in the exhibition "Continuing Traditions in American Folk Art" on a cargo flight to Caracas, Venezuela. This city was the first stop on the show's nine-venue tour of South America, which ended in January 1993 in Mexico City. Reilly has been active in the planning of the Museum's "Visiones del Pueblo" six-city tour of the United States, with engagements in San Antonio, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Miami.

Merrilee Possner'87 For Merrilee Possner, as for others, the Folk Art Studies program meant a complete change in the course of her life. In 1981, Possner was a social worker who was searching for something else. Scanning The New York Times one day, she noticed the article announcing the program. This

course of study connected very neatly with her longtime interest in quilts and other textile arts. Her search had ended. Possner entered the program in 1983. For her thesis, she worked closely with the curator of the General Foods Corporate Collection in Ryebroolc, New York, gathering objects such as antique cooking utensils and quilts with appliquĂŠd fruit for an exhibit entitled "Food and Folk Art: The Beauty and the Bounty." After graduating, Possner went to work at Christie's Fine Art Auctioneers. In 1989 she was promoted to head of the Americana Department at Christie's East, a position she held for two years until moving to New Hampshire in 1991. Her auction house experience transferred easily to her new environment. She now works for Ronald Bourgeault at North East Auctions, located in Manchester, New Hampshire. As part of a smaller operation, Possner has a hand in all aspects of the business at North East Auctions from cataloging to condition reports to customer relations. It's hard work, but work that she loves.

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 53


Ben Apfelbaum '87

Ben Apfelbaum began collecting folk art when he was fifteen years old, and a passion soon developed. This deep-rooted passion has continued throughout his long career in the field of American folk art. A collector and dealer who was living in Quebec at the time, Apfelbaum was intrigued by the article in The New York Times. The inception of the Folk Art Studies program coincided with his desire to change the direction of his life. It seemed a good time to go back to school, and the program was good reason to return to New York. Starting the program in 1986, Apfelbaum threw himself into his studies, finishing the program in a year; since graduating, Apfelbaum has been an active and visible part of the folk art field, dealing, consulting, curating, and writing. From 1988 to 1991 he was the Folk Art Buyer for Polo Ralph Lauren. Apfelbaum stresses that in addition to academic study, one must take an active role in order to understand and appreciate folk art more fully. He is deeply committed to the discovery and recognition of twentieth-century folk and popular artists and spends a large portion of the year traveling "from Maine to Mississippi," visiting both wellknown and unknown artists. He counts the noted twentiethcentury artists Thornton Dial, Sr., and the Reverend Howard Finster as his friends. Typical of his vigilant efforts to unearth folk art,

54 SUMMER 1993

FOLK ART

Apfelbaum, while on a recent search in New England, asked a fish merchant to pull his pickup truck over to the side of the road so he could photograph the decoratively painted panels the man had attached to the sides of the truck. Through his efforts, Apfelbaum hopes to ensure a lasting respect for both the art and the artists.

Brooke Anderson'90

Brooke Anderson had known she wanted to work in art administration since her undergraduate days at Bennington College. To gain more expertise in the history of art, she applied to NYU's Institute of Fine Arts. During their discussion, her interviewer recognized Anderson's many interests and suggested that she might want to look into the still-new Folk Art Studies program. "I had always loved folk art:' Anderson says, "and I was intrigued by a program supported by Robert Bishop and the Museum of American Folk Art." She hopped into a cab, went and interviewed with the program's coordinator, Judith R. Weissman, and applied that very day. The Folk Art Studies program provided Anderson with the

perfect environment for independent research in the field. Its flexibility allowed her to do an independent study with the CavinMorris Gallery in New York City, researching twentieth-century self-taught artists, and spend a summer at the Museum of International Folk Art, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, working with the state folklorist at that time, Dana Everts, gathering stories and documenting works of art. Today Anderson is an assistant professor of art at WinstonSalem State University, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and is the Director of its Diggs Gallery. Anderson's goal is to bring a wide variety of art to the mostly rural student body, who may never before have been

exposed to the art world. Her efforts have led to shows featuring Mark Rothko, African-American quilts, and Haitian art. In February 1993, Anderson organized an exhibition and symposium on twentieth-century AfricanAmerican visionary artists. Speakers included Dr. Robert Farris Thompson, professor of African and Afro-American Art at Yale University, and exhibiting artists Bessie Harvey, Lonnie Holley, and Charlie Lucas. While running a gallery and teaching two classes leaves little room for anything else, Anderson somehow manages to find time for another project, trying to fund a documentary on Polish folk art and artists, a subject she became interested in while traveling in Poland after graduating from the Folk Art Studies program.

The ten years since the Folk Art Studies program graduated its first students have seen an incredible surge of interest in the field of American folk art. Increased scholarship in the field not only has confirmed folk art history as an important area of scholarly inquiry, but has also brought the art itself to a far wider audience in the form of exhibitions, books, and articles. Today the field of American folk art is broad enough to encompass some of the most exciting, and controversial, trends, such as "outsider art," while remaining committed to earlier works with historical significance. Gerard C. Wertkin points out that while the advancements are great, the folk art field now faces its greatest challenge, as it grows and expands. Wertkin recognizes a need, greater now than ever before, for people trained and knowledgeable not only in the descriptive aspects offolk art studies, but in conceptual and analytic disciplines as well. He observes that "the holistic integration offolk art into the larger world of art history and related areas of scholarly inquiry must be pursued." The NYU Folk Art Studies program will continue to play a key role in this process as its graduates fill important positions in museums and other institutions around the country.* Marie Luise Proeller received her master's degreefrom the NYU Folk Art Studies program in May 1993. Her internships included assignments at the American Primitive Gallery, RiccolMaresca gallery, and the American Folk Art Department ofSotheby's. She is an associate editor at AKL Studio, whose projects deal mainly with nineteenth-century social history and decorative arts.


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COMPILED BY MELL COHEN

he invitational contest and exhibition for the Great American Quilt Festival 4, which took place in May and was sponsored by Fairfield Processing Corporation, maker of Poly-fil® brand fiberfill, was entitled "The Quilt Connection All-Stars." Twenty-five quiltmakers from the international membership of the Museum's Quilt Connection were chosen from slides submitted of their previous work to make a unique quilt expressly for display in this exhibition. With an emphasis on technique and innovative design,"The Quilt Connection All-Stars" surveyed the range of contemporary quiltmaking,from classic patterns to quilted abstract and representational pieces. The grand prize went to Linda Negandhi of Witney, England,for her stunning quilt Arachnida, a tour de force in silk. Three Judge's Choice prizes were also awarded. These went to Jeanne Lyons Butler of Huntington, New York, for Dance of Joy, a rhythmically powerful piece displaying swirling appliqués; Jane Burch Cochran of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, for her mixed-media medley Pot Luck, which employs a variety offabrics, buttons, ribbon, beads, and paint, and looks good enough to eat; and Joy Saville of Princeton, New Jersey, for Late October, a painterly piece mounted on a frame. This moving masterwork of color evokes falling leaves in a dense wood. Two Honorable Mentions were also awarded. These went to Caryl Bryer Fallert of Oswego, Illinois, for Inner Light #4, a smashing black and crayon box— colored quilt composed of intri-

HOEBERMANN STUDIO

The Stars ofthe All-Stars

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5111 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

ROSA Helena Neesemann Brooklyn, New York 1993 Cotton 56 x 57"

cately pleated tucks worked into the background fabrics, and Helena Neesemann of Brooklyn, New York, for Rosa, a delightful appliquéd piece featuring fruit and flowered fabrics and depicting Rosa in her tropical dayroom inviting us to join her and her parrot. We at the Museum would like to extend our sincere thanks and heartfelt congratulations to the above winners and to all of the participants. The Quilt Connection AllStars catalog, which shows all twenty-five quilts in full color, is available at the Museum shops for $10.95. For mail orders, send $10.95 plus $3.00 postage and handling to Catalog, Museum of American Folk Art, 61 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023.

Raffle Quilt Donated he Museum of American Folk Art is extremely appreciative of the generous offer by the Long Island Quilter's Society, Inc. to create a quilt for raffle to our membership. Proceeds from the raffle will go to the Museum's educational and operational funds. Look for a mailer this summer. The Long Island Quilter's Society, Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering the

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interest in quilting, encouraging the preservation of our quilt heritage, and offering year-round instructional opportunities for its members. The Society provides a meeting place where Long Island quiltmakers can come to know one another and give mutual support to each other's growth and development. They have donated fund-raising quilts to many organizations, including Queens College, the Ronald McDonald House Interfaith Nutrition Network, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the Better Homes Society.


"UNCONVENTIONAL OBJECTS AFTER 1992" LIFESIZE, SHEET METAL, IRON FIREMAN, FURNACE COMPANY TRADE FIGURE C. 1910

IN MY STORE I FEATURE AMERICAN FOLK ART, TRADE SYMBOLS, VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURAL EMBELLISHING. 1333 Abbot Kinney Blvd. • Venice, CA

MUSEUM

MARKETPLACE

NEWS

TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS Mark your calendars for the following Museum of American Folk Art exhibitions when they travel to your area during the coming months: January 25, 1993—August 23, 1993 Patterns of Prestige: The Development and Influence of the Saltillo Serape The Textile Museum Washington, District of Columbia 202/667-0441

June 21, 1993—August 16, 1993 Santos de Palo:The Household Saints of Puerto Rico Museo de Arte de Ponce Ponce, Puerto Rico 809/840-1510

April 19, 1993—June 14, 1993 Access to Art: All Creatures Great and Small Krasl Art Center St. Joseph, Michigan 616/983-0271

June 21, 1993—August 22, 1993 Stencil and Paint: The Decorative Impulse in American Folk Art Midland County Historical Society Midland, Michigan 517/835-7401

May 19, 1993—July 27, 1993 Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America The Mexican Museum San Francisco, California 415/441-0445

90291 • (310) 452-3909

August 14—October 10, 1993 Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America The Corcoran Gallery of Art Washington, District of Columbia 202/638-3211

Outsider Art for Sale—Private collector selling top-quality "outsider" pieces from his collection. Artists include Finster, Sudduth, Dulaney, Tolliver, Zwirz, West, and more. For photos and price list, send $10.00(includes return postage) to R. Riggs, P.O. Box 3004, Memphis, TN 38173.

Clarion and Folk Art Back I All issues from 1988, 1989, and 1990 are available at $10.00 per copy. Those from 1991 to the present are available at $6.00 per copy. Select back issues from 1979 to 1987 are available at $10.00 per copy. Send inquiries to Museum of American Folk Art. Postage and handling additional.

Folk Art of Oaxaca, Mexico-The Day of the Dead—Explore the craft villages of Oaxaca during El Dia de los Muertos, October 23 through November 4, 1993. For information, write to Linda Craighead, 416 Laurent Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, or call 408/458-3147.

Basesfor Art and Antiques — Custom mounting of sculpture in metal, wood, and Plexiglas. Collectiondisplay consulting. Folk art a specialty for over 15 years. American Primitive Art and Bases Inc., 596 Broadway #205, New York, NY 10012, 212/966-1530, Aarne Anton.

Faux & Folk Finishes—Painting, graining, marbleizing, and murals. Custom work furniture and architectural designs. Free estimates. Call Rubens Teles at 914/365-2917.

Marie Miller Antique Quilts— Outstanding selection of over 200 antique American quilts in pristine condition. All price ranges and sizes. Photos available on request. Member: Vermont Antiques Dealers Association. Mail-order and open shop. Rte. 30, Dorset, VT 05251, 802/867-5969.

For further information contact Judith Gluck Steinberg, Coordinator of Traveling Exhibitions, Museum of American Folk Art, Administrative Offices, 61 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023, 212/977-7170

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 59


MUSEUM

NEWS

another in the booths and in the aisles. The variety of work shown was stunning and it took several passes up and down the floor to get a handle on what was being offered where. Works by Martin Ramirez and Adolf WOlfli sold for around $60,000 each, a sculpture by William Edmondson sold for $45,000, and works by Bill Traylor sold for between $15,000 and

to enter this field. There was something available for every taste and pocketbook. Our Museum's book shop booth carried seventythree titles on self-taught artists and sold more than one thousand books and catalogs during the Fair, with all proceeds going to the Museum. A symposium, sponsored by the Museum, added to the

$25,000 each. Eddie Arning's oil pastels on paper were offered at $3,000 to $4,000, and small, postcard-size works by British artist Madge Gill could be had for as little as $100 each. Many pieces were available for under $1,000, certainly a good inducement for the young, new, or timid collector

understanding of this largely uncharted area and provided a scholarly component to the event. "Uncommon Artists: A Series of Cameo Talks," coordinated by Lee Kogan, Associate Director of the Museum's Folk Art Institute, took place through the generosity of Phyllis Kind on Saturday, January 30, at the Phyllis Kind Gallery, just blocks from the Puck Building. Speakers included Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., a founder of the Museum and a noted folk art

Outsider Art Fair Unqualified Success he first Outsider Art Fair, held at the Puck Building in New York City, previewed on Friday night, January 29, 1993, to crowds of ebullient art lovers, far exceeding the expectations of the show's producers, Sanford L. Smith & Associates, Ltd. The attendance for this three-day landmark event was estimated at 4,500. The Fair Directors, Caroline Kerrigan and Colin Smith, were astounded at the turnout. Sanford Smith said that "we had sold 310 preview tickets by the Monday before the opening and the count was up to 1,000 before the published closing time of8 P.M., when we had to start asking peo-

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60 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

ple to leave. We were not able to close the doors until after 9:15." Thirty-three dealers from nineteen U.S. cities, as well as dealers from London, Paris, and Sydney, Australia, filled the large three-gallery space. Art enthusiasts and curiosity seekers came to see what exactly was being called self-taught, naive, visionary, intuitive, art brut, and outsider art. But many astute collectors, who have been steadily seeking out this work, came to buy—and buy they did. Dealers happily reported that sales were very good and that they were glad they had brought additional pieces to replace those that were walking out the door. "It was the most exciting show we've done in eight years," said a beaming Sandy Smith. The show had a conventionlike atmosphere, with browsers, buyers, and dealers talking to one

PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD CUMMINGS


collector; Russell Bowman, Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum;Phyllis Kind, Director of the Phyllis Kind Gallery; John MaizeIs, Editor of Raw Vision; Didi Barrett, former editor of The Clarion; collector Glen Smith; Dana Simionescu, Director of La Tinaia(an artists' house for institutionalized persons)in Florence, Italy; and Lee Kogan. Their slide presentations and commentary shed new light on the works of Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Martin Ramirez, J.B. Murry, Rosemary Koczy, Jon Serl, Ellis Ruley, and Mose Tolliver. The images brought by John MaizeIs offered a rare opportunity to view visionary environments created outside the United States. Since these works can never be seen in galleries, the audience was understandably riveted. Afterward, Lee Kogan said that "the Museum had expected to sell fifty to seventy-five tickets, but turned away at least one hundred fifty advance sales, days before the event." The gallery was filled with almost two hundred participants. In conjunction with the Outsider Art Fair, the Museum's Folk Art Explorers' Club conducted a day trip on Friday, January 29, which was also completely sold out. Members from many parts of the United States and two foreign countries headed north to Westchester County to visit the home and workplace of artist Ralph Fasanella. They were then graciously welcomed into the home of Gael Mendelsohn to view her collection of contemporary

folk art, which includes works by William Hawkins, Bill Traylor, and Howard Finster. After lunch, the group returned to New York City to talk with collector-dealer Frank Maresca in his Manhattan apartment. The last stop on the tour was the Sidney Mishkin Gallery at Baruch College to see the exhibition "Black History and Artistry: Work by Self-Taught Painters and Sculptors From the Blanchard-Hill Collection." Most of the tour members appropriately ended a day devoted to contemporary self-taught art by attending the opening reception of the Outsider Art Fair. Plans are already underway for next year's Outsider Art Fair, which will probably also take place at the end of January in the Puck Building. "This site is a perfect choice," said Colin Smith, "because it sits in the heart of the contemporary art market in New York's Soho district." Larger accommodations for the symposium are also being sought. Sandy Smith hopes to "tighten the parameters for next year's show and do some weeding out." He will encourage dealers to show only "valid art works that hold up to art criticism and not just the work of people who have interesting life stories that might dub them as outsider artists." Sandy also plans to entice more foreign dealers, expand the show by three or four booths, and extend the show hours."We didn't quite know what to expect this first time out"he says, "but we have a better idea what we're after for the next one." The consensus is that this was a watershed event—Richard Gasperi of the Gasperi Gallery likened it to New York's SixtyNinth Regiment Armory show in

1913, an event that turned the art world on its ear and introduced the public to modern art overnight. The Outsider Art Fair of 1993 may not have turned the art world on its ear, but it certainly wobbled it. It created agroundswell of interest in this material and introduced an enthusiastic new crop of potential collectors to self-taught art.

This area of expression has been under the Museum of American Folk Art's umbrella, along with traditional folk art, since the Museum's beginning. The Museum has championed the work ofcontemporary self-taught artists through acquisitions for its permanent collection, classes and lecture programs, essays in its publications, and exhibitions in its galleries. —Rosemary Gabriel (continued on page 70)

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 61


••••••••••••••••••••••• • JACK SAVITT • • • • + GALLERY + + 2015 Route 100 • Macungie,PA 18062

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(between Macungie and Trexlertown)

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Jack Savitt, Representing

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JACK SAVITSKY

4 +

20th Century American Folk Artist • Acrylics • Drawings • Oils

4 +

+ +

For Appointment Call

+ +

• •

Peaceable Kingdom

+

(215)398-0075 + + 44++4++44+44+44+44++4+4

Untitled, 1992, car paint on plywood, 38 x 44 1/2"

JOHN C. HILL ANTIQUE INDIAN ART

July 10 • August 7, 1993

(i990 E. MAIN STREET,SECOND F1.001:,SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85251

(602)946-2910 O'Odam (l'apago) ila,,ketry figures, pre WWII II 1 /2" and 14 1 /2"

Oscar MacKay is a Central American who lives in Houston. His paintings were only recently discovered adorning the exterior of his auto repair shop. He depicts personal comments on religion, politics, and individual experience. He is exclusively represented by RM Gallery.

2707 Colquift • Houston, Texas 77098 • 713-526-6450

62 SUMMER 1993

FOLK ART


NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART SYMPOSIUM

Pazaiotetate el)idioleta

oe Me A mtan Saut4

Self-taught Artists from 1940 to the Present NOVEMBER 4-5, 1993

Featuring A series oflectures and panel discussions with nationally recognized experts Symposium Co-chairs: Alice Rae Yelen and Dr. Kurt A. Gitter John Beardsley, independent curator and author Russell Bowman, Milwaukee Art Museum Roger Cardinal, University of Kent at Canterbury Dr. William Ferris, University of Mississippi Dr. Susan Larsen, University of Southern California Jane Livingston, independent curator and author

Roger Manley, freelance writer and photographer Dr. Gary Schwindler, Ohio University Lowery Sims, Metropolitan Museum of Art Gerard Wertkin, Museum of American Folk Art Alice Rae Yelen, New Orleans Museum of Art

A special viewing of the Exhibition followed by a reception Open houses ofprivate New Orleans 20th-century folk art collections

Tentative topics and moderators Self-taught Art - Past, Present and Future, Jane Livingston Contemporary Mainstream Art and Self-taught Art, Dr. Susan Larsen and Lowery Sims Collectors and Dealers ofSelf-taught Art, Dr. Kurt A. Gitter

Accommodations A limited block of rooms has been reserved at the Meridien Hotel, 614 Canal Street, at the special rate of MO/single and $125/double. To secure a room, please call reservations at (504) 525-6500 or 1-800-543-4300 and mention the New Orleans Museum of Art to receive the special rate. November is peak tourist season in New Orleans, and rooms are already scarce. Please book rooms at your earliest convenience. Deposits are refundable until 24 hours before check-in.

Optional Excursion The Folk Art Society of America's annual meeting will coincide with the Passionate Visions Symposium. The Society will sponsor a full-day excursion by chartered bus to tour the Gitter Collection in Covington, Louisiana, and the Lowe Collection in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Saturday. November 6. For more information on the Louisiana excursion, contact the Folk Art Society of America, Box 17041, Richmond, Virginia 23226.

Registration Form Prior to August 1, 1993, $75; after August 1, 1993, $100. Payable to NOMA Symposium, Box 19123, City Park, New Orleans, Louisiana 70179-0123.

Name: Address: Zip:

City/State: Phone:(

)

The Exhibition and Symposium are supported by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc.


MUSEUM

TRUSTEES/DONORS

OF

AMERICAN

FOLK

ART

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Executive Committee Ralph Esmerian President Frances Sirota Martinson, Esq. Executive Vice President and Chairman, Executive Committee Lucy C. Danziger Executive Vice President Bonnie Strauss Vice President Peter M. Ciccone Treasurer Mrs. Dixon Wecter Secretary Judith A. Jedlicka Joan M. Johnson Theodore L. Kesselman Susan Klein

CURRENT

MAJOR

Cynthia V. A. Schaffner George F. Shaskan, Jr.

Honorary Trustee Eva Feld

Members Florence Brody Joyce Cowin David L. Davies Raymond C. Egan Barbara Johnson, Esq. George H. Meyer, Esq. Cyril!. Nelson Maureen Taylor Robert N. Wilson

Trustees Emeriti Adele Earnest Cordelia Hamilton Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr. Margery G. Kahn Alice M. Kaplan Jean Lipman

DONORS

CURRENT MAJOR DONORS The Museum of American Folk Art greatly appreciates the generous support of the following friends:

Mrs. Louise A. Simone* Barbara and Thomas W. Strauss Fund Robert N. & Anne Wright Wilson*

$100,000 and above Ben & Jerry's Homemade,Inc.* Estate of Thomas M. Conway* Estate of Daniel Cowin Ford Motor Company Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Joseph Martinson Memorial Fund* Two Lincoln Square Associates*

$4,000-$9,999 American Patchwork & Quilting Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Joan Bull The David and Dorothy Carpenter Foundation* Tracy & Barbara Cate* Country Home Country Living Daniel & Joyce Cowin* Mr. & Mrs. Edgar M.Cullman Department of Cultural Affairs, City of New York Zipporah S. Fleisher Jacqueline Fowler* Evelyn Frank in honor of Myra and George E Shaskan, Jr. IBM Corporation Mr.& Mrs. Robert Klein* George H. Meyer National Endowment for the Arts New York State Council on the Arts The New York Times Company Foundation, Inc. Quilter's Newsletter Magazine Ramac Corporation The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation,Inc. Sotheby's Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Tananbaum* Time Warner Inc. V.I.P Fabrics Mrs. Dixon Wecter*

$50,000-$99,999 Asahi Shimbun* The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. $20,000-$49,999 Marilyn & Milton Brechner* Chinon, Ltd.* Mr.& Mrs. Frederick M. Danziger Mrs. Eva Feld* Estate of Morris Feld* Foundation Krikor William Randolph Hearst Foundation* Kodansha,Ltd.* Jean & Howard Lipman* Philip Morris Companies Inc. Restaurant Associates Industries, Inc. $10,000-$19,999 Amicus Foundation* Bear, Stearns & Co.,Inc. Mr.& Mrs. Martin Brody* Lily Cates* David L. Davies* and Jack Weeden Mr.& Mrs. Alvin Deutsch Estate of Mary Allis* Fairfield Processing Corporation/Poly-fir Daniel & Jessie Lie Farber* Walter and Josephine Ford Fund* Taiji Harada* Joan & Victor L. Johnson* Shirley & Theodore L. Kesselman* Masco Corporation* Kathleen S. Nester* New York Telephone* Dorothy & Leo Rabkin* Schlumberger Foundation Samuel Schwartz* The William P. and Gertrude Schweitzer Foundation,Inc.* Mr. & Mrs. George F. Shaskan, Jr.*

84 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

$2,000-$3,999 American Folk Art Society* Estate of Abraham P. Bersohn* The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Edwin M. Braman* Mr. & Mrs. Edward J. Brown* Capital Cities/ABC Mr.& Mrs. Peter Cohen Mr.& Mrs. Joseph E Cullman III Gary Davenport Mr. & Mrs. Donald DeWitt* Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Einbender* Margot & John Ernst Richard C. and Susan B. Ernst Foundation First Nationwide Bank Colonel Alexander W. Gentleman Cordelia Hamilton*

Justus Heijmans Foundation IBM Corporation Wendy & Mel Lavitt* Marsh & McLennan Companies Christopher & Linda Mayer* Morgan Stanley & Co.,Incorporated PaineWebber Group Inc. Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation Rockefeller Group,Inc. Betsey Schaeffer* Robert T. & Cynthia V. A. Schaffner Mr. & Mrs. Derek V. Schuster Mr.& Mrs. Ronald K. Shelp* Randy Siegel Joel & Susan Simon* L. J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation Robert C. & Patricia A. Stempel Mr. & Mrs. Austin Super* William S. Taubman Mr.& Mrs. Richard T. Taylor Tiffany & Co. Gerard C. Wertkin* Alice Yelen & Kurt A. Gitter $1,00041,999 Herbert A. Allen American Savings Bank William Arnett* The Bachmann Foundation Didi & David Barrett* Michael Belknap Adele Bishop Dr. Robert Bishop* Edward Vermont Blanchard & M. Anne Hill* Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Block Bloomingdale's Dr. & Mrs. Robert Booth David S. Boyd Mabel H. Brandon Sandra Breakstone Ian G. M.& Marian M. Brownlie Morris B. and Edith S. Cartin Family Foundation* Edward Lee Cave* Chase Manhattan Bank, N. A. Christie's Liz Claiborne Foundation Coach Dairy Goat Farm Joseph Cohen Conde Nast Publications Inc. Consolidated Edison Company of New York Consulate General of Mexico Judy Angelo Cowen Joyce Cowin


Monkeys, painted wood by Edd Lambdin, kY

ESQUELETO contemporary

folk

call or write for information, photos or list of available artists.

art

22 Carpenter Court; Oberlin, OH 44074 (216) 775-2238

Mon.-Sat. 1-5 pm, or by appointment

Mr."B" FOLK ART Mr."B" depicts:

Rural People • Animals Quilts • Dreams Simple Life

Medium: Dimensional Paints and Latex Paints

Mr."B"- "HoBo's"

16"x 26"

Mr. "B" Folk Art can be seen at the Don Scott's Expo Antique Show the second weekend of every month in Atlanta, Georgia at Wanda's Quilt Booth. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: S. Meadow View Circle •Tampa, FL 33625•(813) 920-5972 8023 • "B" Mr.

SUMMER 1993

FOLK ART 65


CURRENT

MAJOR

The Cowles Charitable Trust Crane Co. Cullman & Kravis Susan Cullman Mr.& Mrs. Richard Danziger Mr.& Mrs. Richard DeScherer Gerald & Marie DiManno* The Marion and Ben Duffy Foundation* Mr.& Mrs. Arnold Dunn Echo Foundation Mr.& Mrs. Lewis M.Eisenberg Bruce Engel Ellin F. Ente* Virginia S. Esmerian Mr.& Mrs. Anthony Evnin Helaine & Burton M Fendelman Mr.& Mrs. Thomas Ferguson Janey Fire & John Kalymnios* First Financial Carribean Corporation Louis R. and Nettie Fisher Foundation M. Anthony Fisher Susan & Eugene Flamm* Evelyn W. Frank Mr. & Mrs. Richard Fuld, Jr. Ronald J. Gard Emanuel Gerard The Howard Gilman Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Eric Jay Gleacher Selma & Sam Goldwitz* Mr. & Mrs. Baron Gordon* Renee Graubart Doris Stack Greene* Carol Griffis Richard H. Haas Terry & Simca Heled* Mr. & Mrs. Rodger Hess Stephen Hill Alice & Ronald Hoffman* Mr. & Mrs. David S. Howe* Frederick W. Hughes Mr.& Mrs. Robert J. Hurst Robert G.James Mr. & Mrs. Yee Roy Jear* Judith A. Jedlicks Dr. & Mrs. J. E. Jelinek Barbara Johnson,Esq.* Isobel & Harvey Kahn* Kallir,Philips, Ross, Inc. Lore Kann Foundation Mr.& Mrs. Leslie Kaplan Mary Kettaneh Lee & Ed Kogan* The Lane Company,Inc. Mr.& Mrs. Stephen Lash Mr.& Mrs. Ronald Lauder Jerry & Susan Lauren Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation Ralph Lauren Estate of Mary B. Ledwith William & Susan Leffler Barbara & Morris L. Levinson Dorothy & John Levy Nadine & Peter Levy James & Frances Lieu* Dan W. Lufkin Robert & Betty Marcus Foundation,Inc.* Marstrand Foundation C. E Martin IV* Peter May Helen R. Mayer and Harold C. Mayer Foundation Mrs. Myron L. Mayer Marjorie W. McConnell* Meryl & Robert Meltzer

SI SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

DONORS

Brian & Pam McIver Michael & Marilyn Menne11o* The Mitsui USA Foundation Benson Motechin* Cyril!. Nelson Paul Oppenheimer* Dr. Burton W.Pearl Dr.& Mrs. R. L. Polak Helen Popkin David Pottinger Kelli & Allen Questrom Quilt House YAMA Random House, Inc. Cathy Rasmussen* Ann-Marie Reilly* Paige Rense Marguerite Riordan Dorothy H. Roberts Daniel & Joanna S. Rose Willa & Joseph Rosenberg* Mr.& Mrs. Jon Rotenstreich Louise Sagalyn The Salomon Foundation Inc. Mr.& Mrs. Oscar S. Schafer Mr.& Mrs. William Schneck Mr.& Mrs. Richard Sears* Rev. & Mrs. Alfred R. Shands III Mrs. Vera W.Simmons Philip & Mildred Simon Mr.& Mrs. Sanford L. Smith* Sandford L. Smith & Associates Mr.& Mrs. Richard L. Solar* Peter and Linda Soloman Foundation Mr.& Mrs. Elie Soussa Jerry I. Speyer Kathryn Steinberg Mr.& Mrs. Michael Steinhardt Sterling Winthrop Inc. Swiss National Tourist Office SwissAir Takashimaya Co., Ltd. Phyllis & Irving Tepper* Mr.& Mrs. Raymond S. Troubh Mrs. Anne Utescher* H. van Ameringen Foundation Tony & Anne Vanderwarker Elizabeth & Irwin Warren* Weil, Gotshal & Manges Foundation Frank & Barbara Wendt Wertheim Schroder & Co. G. Marc Whitehead Mr. & Mrs. S.M. Wrenn Mr. & Mrs. John H. Winkler* $5004999 A&P Alconda-Owsley Foundation Michael G. Allen Helen & Paul Anbinder Nathan S. Ancell Marna Anderson Anthony Annese Antiques and the Arts Weekly Lois S. Avigad Louis Bachman Dr. and Mrs. George K. Baer Billie Bailkin Arthur & Mary Barrett* Mr.& Mrs. Frank Barsalona David C. Batten Robert Baum Helen & John Bender Roger S. Berlind

Mrs. Anthony Berns Mr.& Mrs. Peter Bienstock Peter & Helen Bing Mr.& Mrs. Leonard Block Tina & Jeffrey Bolton Mr. & Mrs. J. H. Brandi Michael 0. Braun Mr.& Mrs. Lawrence Buttenwieser Michael J. Bzdak Iris Carmel* John Mack Carter Tetsuya Chikushi Classic Coffee Systems Limited Stephen H.Cooper Edward & Nancy Coplon Mrs. Arthur Cowen Craftsmen Litho Edgar M. Cullman,Jr. Mr.& Mrs. Lewis Cullman D'Agostino's Allan L. Daniel The Dammann Fund,Inc. Days Inn-New York City Andre & Sarah de Coizart Mr.& Mrs. James DeSilva, Jr. Charlotte Dinger Nancy Druckman Mr. & Mrs. James A. Edmonds, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Ray Egan Mr. and Mrs. Theodore E. Eisenstat Eng & Yee Designs, Inc. Ross N. & Glady A. Faires* Howard & Florence Fertig Mr.& Mrs. R. Fischbein Mr.& Mrs. Alexander Fisher Richard L. Fisher John Fletcher Timothy C. Forbes Honorable & Mrs. Arnold G. Fraiman Mr.& Mrs. Norman Freedman Estelle E. Friedman Mr. & Mrs. Ken Fritz Frieda & Roy Furman The Galerie St. Etienne, Inc. Daniel M. Gantt Mr.& Mrs. Bruce Geismar General Foods Barbara & Edmond Genest Mr.& Mrs. William L. Gladstone Irene & Bob Goodkind* Elizabeth & Robert Gray III Great Performances Caterers Dr. & Mrs. Stanley Greenberg Grey Advertising, Inc. Connie Guglielmo Deborah Harding The Charles U. Harris Living Trust Denison H. Hatch George B.& Carol Henry Mr.& Mrs. Richard Herbst Historical Society of Early American Decoration,Inc. Arlene Hochman Mr. and Mrs. John C. Hoode Roberta Mashuta Horton Mr. & Mrs. Albert L. Hunecke,Jr.* Mr. and Mrs. Theodore J. Israel, Jr. Mr.& Mrs. Thomas C. Israel A. Everette James, Jr. Guy Johnson Ed Jorgensen Cathy M. Kaplan Louise & George Kaminow*


Gerald P. Kaminsky Edward Keating Mr.& Mrs. Jeff Kenner Barbara Klinger Barbara & David Krashes Janet Langlois Estee Lauder Naomi Leff Mr. & Mrs. Richard LeFrak Peter M. Lehrer Mr. & Mrs. John A. Levin Mr. & Mrs. Richard M. Livingston Adrian B. & Marcie Lopez Lynn M. Lorwin Mr.& Mrs. Robert Luchars, Jr. R. H. Macy & Co.,Inc. Mrs. Erwin Maddrey Kathleen Mahoney Franklin Maisano Hermine Mariaux Hermine Mariaux,Inc. Alastair B. Martin Michael T. Martin Robin & William Mayer Mr. & Mrs. Robert McCabe Mr. & Mrs. D. Eric McKechnie Dr. Dillon McLaughlin Grete Meilman Gertrude Meister Gael Mendelsohn Ronay & Richard Menschel A.Forsythe Merrick Mrs. Ralph Merrill Jean Mitchell Pierson K. Miller

Nellie Mae Rowe Minnie Evans J. B. Murry Willie Massey Jesse Howard Thornton Dial, Sr. Dilmus Hall Charlie Kinney Royal Robertson James Harold Jennings Jimmy Lee Sudduth Mose Tolliver Mary T. Smith Eugene Coleman Ike Morgan Lanier Meaders Inez Walker Son Ford Thomas William Hawkins Howard Finster R. A. Miller

Mr.& Mrs. Jeremy N. Murphy Johleen Nester* Helen Neufeld The New York Hilton Mr.& Mrs. Arthur O'Day Kenneth R.Page Mr. & Mrs. Samuel M.Palley Geraldine M.Parker Dr. Burton W.Pearl Mr.& Mrs. Laurence B. Pike J. Randall Plummer Richard Ravitch Mr. & Mrs. Stanley M. Riker Betty Ring Mr.& Mrs. David Ritter Trevor C. Roberts Richard & Carmen Rogers Toni Ross Richard Sabino Toni Ross & Jeffrey Salaway Mary Frances Saunders Schlaifer Nance Foundation Harrie & Tom Schloss Mary & Aaron Schwartz Mr.& Mrs. Richard Schwartz H. Marshall Schwarz Larry A. Shar Jean S. & Frederic A. Sharf Francisco E Sierra Skidmore Owings & Merrill Kay Sloman Smith Gallery Mr. and Mrs. Scudder Smith Smithwick Dillon Karen Sobotka

Berman Gallery

Mr.& Mrs. Richard Solomon Amy Sommer David E Stein Mr.& Mrs. Jeff Tarr Nancy E Karlins Thoman Edward I. Tishelman Peter Tishman Mr.& Mrs. Thomas Tuft Susan Unterberg Mr.& Mrs. Royall Victor David & Jane Walentas Clune J. Walsh Jr. Joan Walsh Marco P. Walker Maryann & Ray Warakomski Washburn Gallery Yuko Watanabe Mr. & Mrs. Roger J. Weiss Anne G. Wesson L. John Wilkerson Mr. & Mrs. John R. Young Shelly Zegart Marcia & John Zweig *Contributor to Lincoln Square Endowment Fund The Museum is grateful to the Cochairmen of its Special Events Committee for the significant support received through the Museum's major fund raising events. Lucy C. Danziger Cynthia V. A. Schaffner

frflo2E

3261 Roswell Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA 3030514041261-3858

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 67


((ghe Beaver" "I'm an Elephant - I may be GONE so please love me"

"My name is Dumbo the Elephant the creature from the BEAVER - WOW" HOUSE PAINT ON PLYWOOD

WANDA'S QUILTS P.O. BOX 1764 • OLDSMAR,FLORIDA 34677 (813)855-1521 WORKS BY "THE BEAVER" CAN BE SEEN AT THE DON SCOTTS ANTIQUE SHOW SECOND WEEKEND OF EVERY MONTH IN ATLANTA.


BARBARA OLSEN This painting was inspired by the appliqued figures in the Phoebe Cook Quilt (circa 1872) and from the excitement I feel when the circus comes to town. The Circus is Coming • acrylic • 18"x 24"

NEW LOCATION BARBARA OLSEN STUDIO 18781 Chillicothe Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44023 (216) 861-3549 FAX (216) 861-0667 Callfor gallery referral or studio appointment

Eldred Wheeler Gallery 3941 San Felipe

Houston,Texas 77027

(713)622-6225

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 69


MUSEUM

NEWS

Dedication of Robert Bishop Gallery ob Bishop's spirit was very much alive at the members' reception and dedication held on March 1, 1993, at the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery at Two Lincoln Square. Museum Director Gerard Wertkin welcomed members and friends to "Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art" and thanked exhibition sponsors and lenders for their generous support. He spoke of Bob's extraordinary legacy and extended congratulations to guest curator and Museum Trustee Cyril I. Nelson for his provocative concept and selections. Ralph Esmerian, President of the Board of Trustees, also praised Dr. Bishop's past leadership and vision. During the opening reception the Museum proudly displayed a new plaque listing donors of $500 or more to the Robert Bishop Memorial Fund. Hundreds of individuals, corporations, and foundations contributed to the fund. The plaque serves as another poignant reminder of the great impact Bob Bishop had on the lives of so many people. All donors to the Bishop Fund are listed in a memorial book that will be permanently placed at the information desk in the gallery. "Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art" has been made possible in part through the generous support of Asahi Shimbun, The Cowles Charitable Trust, and Talcashimaya Co., Ltd. Additional support has been provided by Gary Davenport, Louise M. Simone, and other Museum friends. The exhibition will remain on view through September 12, 1993.

Folk Art Explorers' Club Returns to Santa Fe

B

70 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

hirty-seven members from around the country participated in the third Folk Art Explorers' Club tour to Santa Fe, which took place from April 13 through 18. The group visited six outstanding private collections in the Santa Fe area, including the home of Chuck and Jan Rosenak, authors of The Museum ofAmerican Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists. The itinerary included guided tours at the Museum of International Folk Art, The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, and the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos. Local artists Leroy Archuleta, Marcia Muth, and Carolyn Mae Lassiter welcomed us into their homes and workplaces. The group was also hosted at several galleries and enjoyed some wonderful Santa Fe meals. The Museum would like to thank all those who helped to make this tour such a success: Richard and Helena Trump,Ed and Barbara Okun, Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Leroy Archuleta, Davis and Christine Mather, Charlene

T Left to right: Hirofumi Nakajima, General Manager, Takashimaya Co., Ltd.; Yoriyoshi Naito, President Asahi Shimbun America, Inc.; Museum Director Gerard C. Wertkin; and Mrs. Atsunori (Elizabeth) Andoh.

Left to right: John Ka!lir, Trustee Robert N. Wilson, Joyce Ka!lir, and Ann Wright Wilson.

Left to right: Guest Curator Cyril I, Nelson, Gary Davenport, Gerard Wertkin, and Museum Curator Stacy Hollander.


Cerny and the staff of the Museum of International Folk Art, Marcia Muth, Carolyn Mae Lassiter, Ford Ruthling and Robert Mason, and Martha Egan. Special thanks to Leslie and Henri Muth for graciously hosting a delightful dinner at the Leslie Muth Gallery on our last night. Folk Art Explorers' Club tours are open to all Museum members and their guests. Members will soon be receiving registration information on upcoming trips to Alabama(October 13-17, 1993) and England (June 1994). For more information, call Beth Bergin or Chris Cappiello at 212/977-7170.

Folk Art Explorers' Club dinner held the last night of the tour at the Leslie Muth Gallery in Santa Fe. Seated, left to right: Leslie and Henri Muth, Bar. bare Berenson, Toni Schulman, and Dwayne Thompson.

AND OTI-1E12 MEA6111Z5 Folk Art Explorers leaving the San Francisco de Assisi chapel

&Ince 1978

in Taos.

JOHN 8At1L8' ANTIQUE 310 W. Q1161( TYLEQ,TEXA8 75701 903-593-4668 Open by Appointment. or chance

SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 71


Vt1ide-iti AMERICAN FOLK AND OUTSIDER ART HOURS. TUES - SAT . 11 - 6

6909 MELROSE AVENUE LOS ANGELES CA 90038 213 . 933 . 4096

,

@,-) ALBERT COTEG. UNTITLED. ACRYLIC ON ARTIST'S BOARD. 18"x17"

INDEX

TO

ADVERTISERS

America Hurrah America Oh, Yes The American Collector, Ltd. American Primitive Gallery Ames Gallery Mama Anderson Mr."B" Berman Gallery Bingham and Vance Galleries Blitz Native American Arts Ltd. Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery Colwill-McGehee Country Folk Art Show & Sale Double K Gallery Epstein/Powell Esqueleto Contemporary Folk Art Fine Folk Art Laura Fisher Antiques Galerie Bonheur Gasperi Gallery

72 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART

6,7 26 26 2 21 16 65 67 18 9 23 16 56 28,29 27 65 21 11 30 13

27 Sidney Gecker American Folk Art Back Cover Giampietro 28 Gilley's Gallery Guernsey's 19 Anton Haardt Gallery 57 Marion Harris 9 John C. Hill American Indian Art 62 Leslie Howard/Alternative Art Source 31 Lynne Ingram Southern Folk Art 11 Martha Jackson 29 Stephen Johnson/Post-Columbian Antiques 59 14 Knoke Galleries Richard E. Kramer & Associates 55 The Liberty Tree 20 Jim Linderman 31 25 Leon Loard Gallery MCG Antiques Promotions, Inc. 22 Main Street Antiques 55 Main Street Gallery 25,30 Marketplace 59

Frank J. Miele Gallery Inside Front Cover Steve Miller 1 Leslie Muth Gallery 12 New Orleans Museum of Art 63 Barbara Olsen 69 Outside-in Gallery 72 R M Gallery 62 Carol and Gene Rappaport 3 Revival Promotions, Inc. 31 Rosehips Gallery 57 Rowe Pottery Works Inside Back Cover John Sauls' Antiques 71 Jack Savitt Gallery 62 Selective Eye Gallery 26 Sotheby's 32 Wanda's Quilts 68 Marcia Weber 20 Eldred Wheeler of Houston 69 Thos. K. Woodard 4 Ginger Young 15


MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART COLLECTION

From the Past for Today. Now you can bring America's rich folk art heritage into your home with the Museum of American Folk Art Col1ection21"With each authentic adaptation, the Museum and Rowe Pottery Works have recaptured the decorative style of early Pennsylvanian redware.

ROWE POTTERY WORKS® TM American Lifestyle Collections 404 England Street• Cambridge, WI 53523 Catalog available, call 1-800-356-5003. NF6F3


AV _TRO

...10110111%*.

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Masterpiece carved wooden horse weathervane from Winooski. Vermont. Circa 1870.

Fred & Kathryn Giampietro • 203-787-3851 • 1531/2 Bradley St., New Haven, CT 06511


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