Folk Art (Winter 1993/1994)

Zil£IL ILZS

FRANK J. MIELE gallery

SCHEDULE OF WINTER EXHIBITIONS

Outsiders Featuring the work of Maurice Sullins, David Zeldis, and others January 4 - 30

Sculpture, Sculpture, Sculpture Pucho Odio. John Cross. Sandra Berry. James Allen Bloomfield.

February 1 - 27

A Woman's World A Celebration of Art By Women (to commemorate Women's History Month) March 1 - 27

The Gallery features the work of self-taught American artists of the 20th and 19th centuries.

Tues.-Fri. 11-6, Sat. 10-5, Sun. 12-5 1262 Madison Avenue New York, N.Y. 10128 (212) 876-5775

STEVE MILLER • AMERICAN FOLK ART •

, T‘mmiumoginmims‘ino

17 East 96th Street, New York, New York 10128(212)348-5219 Gallery hours are from 1:00 pm until 6:00 pm,Tuesday through Saturday.

Other hours are available by appointment.

Dwight Mackintosh. awn (X-ray car passing the Mission), 1984, pencil and tempera, 26"x 40"

A.G. Ilionoli. Mr. O.A. Deichmann's Mother: Symbolically Sketched. c./931. colored inks on paper, 60"x 30"

Donald Walker. C101, 1992, mixed media on paper, 11" x

Dwight Mackintosh A.G. Rizzoli Donald Walker

Exhibit ing at Sanford Smith's

Outsider Art Fair [self-taught, visionary, intuitive, outsider, art brut, folk]

THE

January 29th & 30th, Preview January 28th,

AMES

The Puck Building, New York, NY

GALLERY

and at

BAH. • San Francisco Annual American Art Exposition

2661 Cedar Street, Berkeley,

February 4th through 6th, Preview February 3rd

California 94708

Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA

510/845-4949

A

RICCOMARESCA

Red Horse with Silk Fringe Mane,20"x 21" x 51 found in Indiana circa 1870-80.

An American folk masterpiece, first exhibited at the landmark Brooklyn and L.A. County Museum show,"Folk Sculpture USA."

Masters of American Self-Taught and Outsider Art

152 WOOSTER STREET/NEW YORK, NY 10012/212.780-0071/FAX•212.780-0076

AMERICAN ANTIQUES & QUILTS

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Pieced quilt. "Variable Star" with "Sawtooth" border.

Mennonite. Pennsylvania, Circa 1885.

Approximately 10,600 pieces. 84 x 86 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 4/ WINTER 1993/94 (FORMERLY THE CLARION)

FEAT

Cover: Detail ofSMOOTH-GOING CATS AND THE HARD-HEADED GOAT; Thornton Dial; Alabama;1990; oil on canvas;60 X 78". James and Janet Cumming collection.

Photo: Gamma One Conversions

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 of folk art and feels it is a violation of its principles to be involved in or to appear to be involved in the sale of works of art.

For this reason, the Museum will not knowingly accept advertisements for Folk Art that illustrate or describe objects that have been exhibited at the Museum within one year of placing an advertisement.

UR

ES

STRATEGY OF THE TIGER: THE WORLD OF THORNTON DIAL Jenifer P.Borum

34

MICAH WILLIAMS: A RECURRING QUANDARY Nancy Tobin Dorer

41

JIMMY LEE SUDDUTH John Hood

47

SAVE YOUR OLD SILK STOCKINGS: THE HOOKED MATS OF THE GRENFELL MISSION Paula Laverty

52

DEPARTMENTS

EDITOR'S COLUMN

10

DIRECTOR'S LETTER

13

MINIATURES

18

MUSEUM HOLIDAY TREES EXHIBITION

26

TRUSTEES/DONORS

66

MUSEUM NEWS

76

TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS

79

MUSEUM REPRODUCTIONS PROGRAM

84

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

88

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 5

JOSEPH WHITING STOCK (1815-1855)

Girl With Her Cat (Joseph W.Stock, attrib.) —oil on canvas —c. 1840 Chicopee, Massachusetts-27"x 33" Illustrated: Folk Painters ofAmerica—Robert Bishop

JOEL AND KATE KOPP

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

THE CONSTITUTION QUILT

This unique appliqued, pieced, and embroidered quilt contains 111 pictorial blocks.

The largest and most prominent depicts the U.S.S. Constitution, the famed U.S. frigate whose victories in the War of 1812 earned her the nickname "Old Ironsides:' Portraits of Presidents Lincoln, Grant, and Garfield as well as blocks with flags, shields, and eagles give this piece a strong historical and patriotic flavor.

Biblical characters portrayed include The Creator, Adam, Eve, David, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Symbols offraternal orders such as the Masons and the Odd Fellows are also well represented. Scores of intricately embroidered images offlora and fauna and human figures are also included in this American needlework tour de force. c. 1880-66"x73" Illustrated: Wrapped in Glory: Figurative Quilts & Bedcovers-1700-1900—Sandi Fox Exhibited: Los Angeles County Museum of Art-1990-1991

JOEL AND KATE KOPP

AMERICA HURRAH 766 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK NY 10021

tel 212.535.1930 fax 212.249.9718

Lone Star Quilt surrounded by horses and deer.

New York State origin, circa 1870.

STELLA RUBIN

Fine Antique Quilts and Decorative Arts

12300 Glen Road Potomac, MD 20854 (Near Washington, D.C.)

By appointment

(301) 948-4187

JOEL AND KATE KOPP

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

1 2"x 37" Navajo Pictorial Rug —handspun wool — c. 1920s-40/ Seven houses looking vaguely like Yei masks are set against a plain background without the inclusion of any other geometric or figurative elements. This subject and its simple rendering are very unusual in Navajo rugs, but are very common in hooked rugs of houses made by Anglo women in New England during the same period.

Illustrated: Navajo Pictorial Weaving 1880-1950(Campbell and Kopp)

FROM OUR EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN ART

EDI

TOR 'S

A

COLUMN

ROSEMARY GABRIEL

s we come to the close of our 1993 publication year, I would like to express my thanks to our members and advertisers. A very special thanks also goes to those who have contributed funds to add color to our pages; these contributors have made an important difference in the look and quality of the magazine.

Our cover story by Jenifer P. Borum celebrates the work of Thornton Dial, Sr., an exceptional self-taught artist living in Bessemer, Alabama, and coincides with the exhibition "Thornton Dial: Image of the Tiger,"jointly presented at the Museum of American Folk Art and The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. In her article, Borum captures the essence of Dial's work and its relevance to both the folk art and contemporary art worlds.

Were they by Micah Williams, James Van Dyck,or someone else? There is considerable confusion over a number of portraits thought to be painted by Micah Williams in New Jersey during the nineteenth century. It has been nearly twenty years since serious inquiry has been made about this art. In her essay "Micah Williams: A Recurring Quandary," Nancy Tobin Dorer explores the many subtleties involved in attributing these works to Williams and gives us an introduction to her painstaking and ongoing research.

He paints with mud and clay, taking the natural hues from the soil of his home town in Fayette, Alabama, to create pictures that are, at once, as raw and natural as the earth from which they came and as sensitive and full of life as the artist who made them. "Jimmy Lee Sudduth," by John Hood, is a tribute to the work of this self-taught African-American artist.

One needs to look at an atlas to fully comprehend how very far Miss Jessie Luther traveled to go from Massachusetts to St. Anthony, a tiny settlement on the very northeastern tip of Newfoundland that was the headquarters of the medical mission started by Dr. Wilfred Grenfell. Here, because of Luther's unflagging energy, a cottage industry was founded in 1907 to help the people of the Labrador augment their meager livelihoods by selling their handicrafts.

And here is where the well-known Grenfell hooked mat industry was established.

Paula Laverty guides us through the trials, failures, and successes of a hearty people in her intriguing essay "Save Your Old Silk Stockings: The Hooked Mats of the Grenfell Mission." It is good reading, I promise—and great preparation for the exhibition "Northern Scenes: Hooked Art of the Grenfell Mission," curated by Paula Laverty, on view at the Museum from February 5 through April 17,1994.

I hope you will have an opportunity to visit the Museum during the holiday season not only to view the Thornton Dial exhibition and the new Daniel Cowin Permanent Collection Gallery, but also to see the beautifully decorated holiday trees, festooned with handmade ornaments donated by the Pioneer Chapter of The Historical Society of Early American Decoration. Each ornament is a miniature example of the traditional techniques that are the hallmark of the larger works produced by the Society's members. For a preview ofjust a few of these charming works, see "Deck the Halls & Trim the Trees." And so with this lovely gesture, the Historical Society of Early American Decoration joins the Folk Art staff and the entire Museum to wish you a joyous holiday season and a happy New Year!

FOLK ART Rosemary Gabriel Editor and Publisher Johnson & Simpson Design and Typography Tanya Heinrich Production Editor Benjamin J. Boyington Copy Editor Marilyn Brechner Advertising Manager Craftsmen Litho Printers MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART Dr. Robert Bishop, Director 1977-1991 Administration Gerard C. Wertkin Director Karen S. Schuster Director ofMuseum Operations Joan M. Walsh Controller Mary Ziegler Administrative Assistant Sylvia Sinckler Shop Accountant Jeffrey Grand Senior Accountant Gregory 0. Williams 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 Judith Gluck Steinberg Assistant Registrar/Coordinator, Traveling Exhibitions Margaret Alison Eisendrath Weekend Gallery Manager Gina Bianco Consulting Conservator Elizabeth V. Warren Consulting Curator Howard Lanser Consulting Exhibition Designer Kenneth R. Bing Security Departments Beth Bergin Membership Director Marie S. DiManno Director ofMuseum Shops Susan Flamm Public Relations Director Alice J. Hoffman Director ofLicensing Ellen Macdonald Director ofDevelopment Janey Fire Photographic Services Chris Cappiello Membership Associate Katie Cochran Development Associate Jennifer A. Waters Development Associate Maryann Warakomski Assistant Director ofLicensing Edith C. Wise Consulting Librarian Eugene P. Sheehy Museum Bibliographer Programs Barbara W.Cate Director, Folk Art Institute Lee Kogan Associate Director,Folk Art Institute/ Senior Research Fellow Phyllis A. Tepper Registrar, Folk Art Institute/Director, 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; Security: Bienvenido Medina; Volunteers: Marie Anderson, Claudia Andrade, Judy Baker, Marilyn Banks, Olive Bates, Catherine Barreto, Marsha Becker, Ann Coppinger, Sally Elfant, Millie Gladstone, Eli 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, Frances Rojack, Phyllis Selnicic, Myra Shaskan, Lola Silvergleid, Maxine Spiegel, Mary Wamsley, Marion 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

10 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

"FLASH" Tino (Rosie) Camanga Untitled (Six Women)1993 Ink on paper 11X131/2inches

An exhibition of Tattoo Flash Drawings.

Curated by D.E. Hardy January 5 - February 5, 1994 Exhibiting Artists:

Tino (Rosie) Camanga Untitled (True Love)1993 Ink on paper 11X 14 inches

Rosie Camanga Sailor Jerry Collins Kandi Everett Tony Fitzpatrick Dave Gibson D.E. Hardy Daniel Higgs Michael Malone Lance McLain

Janet Fleisher GALLERY 211 South 17th Street PHILADELPHIA 1 9 1 0 3 Tino (Rosie) Camanga Untitled (I Love You)1993 Ink on paper 11 .1 X13 3/4 inches

(215)545.7562/7589

THE BEST IN

AMISH QUILTS

Spiderweb Stars • Holmes County, Ohio • cottons dated and initialed 1898 EH • 63 x 76 inches

DAVID WHEATCROFT 220 East Main Street, Westborough, Massachusetts 01581 503-366-1723 Always an outstanding selection of midwestern and Pennsylvania Amish quilts.

Photographs available on request.

DIRECTOR'S

LETTER

GERARD C. WERTKIN

ne of the happiest associations in the Museum's history is the special partnership it has enjoyed with Elizabeth Wecter, a Trustee of the Museum from 1988 to 1993 and Board Secretary from 1989 until her recent retirement.

Elizabeth's warmth and enthusiasm were highlights of Board meetings; indeed, she brings a delightful sense of humor—but a seriousness of purpose—to everything she does. Always generous in sharing creative ideas and to the field of American folk art, she continues to be committed deeply one of the brightest lights in the Museum's family of members and supporters. Among her other important acts of generosity to the Museum, Elizabeth Wecter arranged for the holdings of Animal Carnival, Inc. to be transferred to the Museum in 1985, where they now reside as a valued segment of the permanent collection. Elizabeth founded Animal Carnival, Inc. in San Francisco as a not-for-profit educational venture; the collection is notable for its vigorous and engaging animal sculptures, including many masterworks from the American Southwest. The Museum has been privileged to present objects from this wonderful collection in two national traveling exhibitions:"Ape to Zebra: A Menagerie of New Mexican Wood Carvings" and "Access to Are': All Creatures Great and Small."

Although Elizabeth Wecter has retired from active service as a Trustee, she remains a warmly supportive member of the Museum. On a personal basis, I owe her many debts of gratitude. I know the entire membership will want to join in this expression of appreciation to her for her caring commitment to the Museum over so many years.

I should like to acknowledge with warm thanks a very generous contribution from the Amicus Foundation in support of the Museum's recent exhibition "Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art." Lee Weiner and Barbara and Gregory Reynolds of the Amicus Foundation have been valued colleagues and loyal friends of the Museum for many years. Funds from the Amicus Foundation have been used to purchase a number of major works of art for the Museum's permanent collection. This ongoing commitment has been a deeply encouraging vote of confidence in the Museum and its future. My thanks to the Museum's friends at the Amicus Foundation are profound.

Among the most ardent supporters of the Museum of American Folk Art are the members of its National Advisory Council. The Council is committed to assisting the Museum in the development of programs and resources, and its members contribute generously to the life of the Museum. As the result of a recent poll of Advisory Council members,the Museum has organized five committees within the Council to address several principal program areas. Members of the Council may elect to participate in committees on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century painting, sculpture, and decorative arts; twentiethcentury painting and sculpture; quilts and coverlets; the Museum library; and the Museum's educational efforts. It is anticipated that committees will meet at least twice each year, and that the Council, as a whole, will convene on an annual basis. As the Museum's building program progresses, Council members will assume a special advocacy for their academic or collecting interests within the new facilities. I should like to thank each member of the National Advisory Council and especially Burton M Fendelman, Edward J. Brown, Davida T.

0

ARMADILLO David Alvarez Sante Fe, New Mexico 1984 Painted cottonwood 8

7

19"

Museum of American Folk Art Gift of Mrs. Dixon Wecter 1985.20.1

Deutsch, Helaine Fendelman, Jacqueline Fowler, and Paul Oppenheimer, who recognized the importance of the Council and helped to strengthen its focus and structure.

As the various categories of Council membership indicate, the Museum continues to emphasize a wide variety of fields in its planning and programming. Indeed, the field represented by the Museum's collections and exhibitions is broader today than it has ever been before.

Candidly, this is sometimes seen as a problem by some very committed members of the Museum, whose interests may lie in one area of the field of American folk art or another. Since taking the helm as director two years ago, I have been regularly approached by members expressing concern that the Museum not overlook their special area of interest.

My own commitment is absolutely clear. As stated in the Museum's long-range plan, the institution will continue to represent all aspects of the field in an embracing, wholehearted manner. With the development of new facilities for the Museum,fully balanced programming will become possible at all times. Until then, the Museum's programming decisions will continue to recognize the broad range of interests of its members and visitors. With the opening in early October of the Daniel Cowin Permanent Collection Gallery,for example, a major stride was taken. In this engaging exhibition space, the Museum now presents selected masterworks in all media from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries on a rotating basis, providing a balanced introduction to the field.

These remarks are being written at the beginning of an exciting fall season here in New York and in the world of American folk art in general. Major exhibitions, important auctions, the Fall Antiques Show at the Pier, and special symposia and educational events offer many opportunities for students and collectors. The Museum calendar is especially full with richly varied program offerings. This would be a wonderful time to join the Museum or to bring friends and associates into the Museum family through gift memberships. I look forward to seeing many of you this season and thanking you personally for your enthusiastic interest and support.

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 13

Gaerie Bonheur Laurie Carmody Since 1980

InternationalFolkArt 9243 Clayton gZ9cu1 St. Louis, MO 63124

By Appointment(314)993-9851 F.B. Archuleta Janet Munro Milton Bond Canute Caliste, Grenada Chuckie R.A. Miller 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 Katarzyna Gawlowa, Poland Juanita Rogers Jack Savitsky Lorenzo Scott Jose Antonio da Silva, Brazil Jimmy Lee Sudduth Horacio Valdez Voodoo Flags & Bottles Fred Webster Malcah Zeldis Woodie Long Sybil Gibson (and, many others)

IN ATLANTA

Jimmy Lee Sudduth "Old Man" 1980's

nott ,i;_rAtttrte$ of Atlanta

ESTABLISHED 1973

Specializing in Fine Quality 19th and 20th Century American Art INTROdUCiNq ThE plAyfully imAqiNATivE ART Of Rudy BosTic Also FEATURiNg

woRks by OVER 90 SOUThERN CONTEMpORARy Folk ARTiSTS ANd TRAdiTiONA1 SOUThERN Folk POTTERS

R.V. BOSTIC "ChRiST HEAL A MAN By BREAkiNq ThE BONdS Of His CliAiNSH

14 WINTER 1993/94

FOLK ART

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

LYNNE INGRAM SOUTHERN FOLK ART

Not By Luck: Self-Taught Art in the American South Over twenty-five artists including the following...

Jimmy Lee Sudduth

Bessie Harvey

Sc

Mark Casey Milestone

lessaimingiminF

Tom Patterson/Essay • Catalog available December 1993 • Photos/Lynne Ingram

An illustrated narrative excursion through the South with stops at over 20 artists' homes and studios, the catalog provides insight into how each artist works and examines aspects of southern culture that encourage the production of this richly varied, unofficial and uncertified art.

50+ pages • Over 45 photos — 25 in color • $25.00

Museum Exhibition: "Outsider Art by Southern Folks" December 5, 1993 — January 8, 1994 Hunterdon Art Center Clinton, NJ (1 hour west of NYC) Lecture & Visual Presentation by Tom Patterson Sunday, December 5, 1993 2.00 pm

Outsider Art Fair January 29th and 30th, 1994 The Puck Building/SOHO New York City

BY APPT. • 174 RICK RD • MILFORD, NJ 08848 • (908)996-4786 • FAX (908) 996-4505

0Sotheby's, Inc. 1993 John L. Marion, principal auctioneer, #524728

The Bertram K. Little and Nina Fletcher Little Collection of Important Americana Auction: January 28 and 29, 1994 Exhibition: OpensJanuary 23, 1994 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.

SOTHEBY'S FOUNDED 1744

THE

WOR1,1)'S

Winthrop Chandler, Houses in a Hilly Landscape on a River Flanked by Trees: An Overmantel Panelfrom the Elisha Hurlbut House, Scotland, Connecticut, oil on pine panel, 42 by 59X in.

(106.7 by 151.1 cm.). Auction estimate: $150,000-250,000

LEADING

FINE

ART

AUCTION

HOUSE

Carlo, untitled (#34 A & B), c. 1968, tempera on paper, 271/2 x 191/2 inches

CARLO 4 DECEMBER 1993 - 15 JANUARY 1994 ALSO WORKS BY:

ANDERSON BESHARO DIAL FINSTER GILL

GILLESPIE GUGGING KOCZY LA TINAIA LEBAS

LESAGE MINCHELL MURRY PARAFIMOU PRISON ART

RAMIREZ UDDIN WILSON WOLFLI YOAKUM

PHYLLIS KIND GALLERY 136 GREENE STREET

NEW YORK NY 10012

212 925 1200

FAX 212 941 7841

MINIATURES

COMPILED BY TANYA HEINRICH

THE MANSION OF HAPPINESS Game board W a S. B. Ives Salem, Mass.

1843 lithograph 18 x 22" Collection of William Bopp This first edition may be the first board game published in the United States.

William Bopp

Paper Pastimes "Elegant, Instructive and Amusing: Paper Pastimes from the William Bopp Collection" opened at the Shelburne Museum's Webb Gallery in Shelburne, Vermont, on November 20, 1993, and will run through February 14, 1994. This exhibition offers a selection of rare paper toys and amusements made in England, Germany, France, and the United States

between 1750 and 1850. Many of these early delicate paper amusements, designed to instruct and guide the young, were engraved and then colored by hand. Included in the collection is what is likely the first American board game.

For more information, call the Shelburne Museum at 802/985-3346.

Delicate and Lovely Mrs. McGhee; wood and metal; 48"- Jerry W. Coker From a selection of Jerry W. Coker's sculptures to be featured at the Outsider Art Fair.

Also showing works by: Larry Bissonnette, Georgia Blizzard, Rev. Herman Hayes, Ralph Auf der Heide, Max Romain, B.F. Perkins, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, and Sarah Mary Taylor.

From the ridiculous to the sublime, from the famous to the emerging, we will be bringing a range of art and sculpture all chosen for their originality and exceptional quality.

MAR!ON HARR!S WOODHAVEN,SIMSBURY, CONN.06070

V203-658-9333 Please call for further information. We ship anywhere.

18

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

The exhibition "The Romance of Real Lace," at the Indianapolis Museum of Art's Paul Textile Arts Gallery, runs through January 16, 1994. This exhibit consists of approximately thirty objects drawn from the museum's extensive lace collection.

Caps, collars, parasols, a wedding veil, a child's christening dress, and other apparel are displayed, along with furnishing items such as tablecloths and bed coverings. The highlight of the exhibition is a Belgian bed cover dating from around 1900.

The majority of the pieces were executed in needle-andbobbin lace; also included are a .` few examples of embroidered net and machine lace.

For more information, call CHRISTENING DRESS United States the Indianapolis Museum of Art Late 19th century at 317/923-1331.

Cotton with linen bobbin lace 47" long Collection Indianapolis Museum of Art Anonymous gift 1989.33

VICTOR JOSEPH GATTO EMBLEMATIC PAINTING Tracing board Artist unknown Probably New York c. 1840-1850 Oil on canvas Special Acquisitions Fund, Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, Mass.

90.20

Masonic Lodge Regalia "The Oblong Square: The Masonic Lodge, Its Furnishings, Regalia, and Paraphernalia since 1733" is currently on display at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, Massachusetts, through February 20, 1994.

Showcased are selected items from the Museum's permanent collection, reflecting the furnishings, regalia, documents, books, and initiation items used in Masonic Lodges since the establishment of Freemasonry in America in 1733. Also included in the exhibition are several important tracing boards.

Tracing boards evolved from the less durable painted canvas

floor cloths used to depict the symbols of the mason's craft during candidate initiations.

Symbols often included the allseeing eye, radiant sun, crescent moon,seven stars, black and white mosaic pavement, architectural pillars, open Bibles, and stonemasonry tools. One goal of the exhibit is to reveal the symbolic significance of these objects within the social and ceremonial context of the Masonic Lodge, the shape of which is often referred to by Masons as an "oblong square."

For more information, call the Museum of Our National Heritage at 617/861-6559.

Meet the Artists The New Orleans Museum of Art is featuring twelve self-taught artists-in-residence in conjunction with "Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present."

The exhibition, which opened October 23, 1993, will be on display through January 30, 1994.

Artists will demonstrate their work and meet with the public.

Participating artists from October 22 through November 21 included Clyde Jones, Bessie Harvey, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Charlie Lucas, Purvis Young, J.P. Scott, and Howard Finster.

The schedule for remaining artists-in-residence is as follows: Lonnie Holley, December 3,4, and 5; Mose Tolliver, December 10, 11, and 12; Joe Light, December 17, 18, and 19; Bernice Sims, January 7, 8, and 9; Minnie Black, January 21, 22, and 23.

For more information, call the New Orleans Museum of Art at 504/488-2631.

"Pink Ladies"(circa 1942) Oil on canvas, 18"x22".

EPSTE1N/POWELL Jesse Aaron Rex Clawson Mr. Eddy Roy Ferdinand Victor Joseph Gatto (estate) Lonnie Holley S.L. Jones Lawrence Lebduska Charlie Lucas Justin McCarthy Old Ironsides Pry Popeye Reed Max Romain Jack Savitsky Clarence Stringfield Mose Tolliver Chief Willey George Williams Luster Willis ...among others

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

By Appointment(212)226-7316

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 19

MINIA

TURES

MIDNIGHT CRUISE Earl Cunningham 1949 Oil on masonite 17 x 48"

St. James Place Opens

Marilyn L. and

On October 24, 1993, St. James Place opened with an exhibition of southern folk art from the collection of Dr. A. Everette James, Jr. The new museum,a restored Primitive Baptist church in Robersonville, North Carolina, is a clapboard gothic revival structure that was built by James's grandmother.

The exhibition features over 150 pieces by more than one hundred different folk artists from North Carolina and the southern states, including works by S.L. Jones, Son Ford Thomas, James Harold Jennings, Mose Tolliver, and Ulysses Davis, as well as a number of new discoveries. For more information, call St. James Place at 919/795-4719.

Michael A. Mennello Collection

Earl Cunningham at the High Museum as well as four documentary pho"Earl Cunningham: Painting an tographs of the artist's studio, are American Eden" will open at the included in the exhibition.

High Museum of Art Folk Art Cunningham painted idyllic eastand Photography Galleries at ern coastal scenes that romantiGeorgia-Pacific Center in Atlancally allude to a simple, serene ta on February 14, 1994. Earl period in American history.

Cunningham (1893-1977), a The exhibition, on display self-taught artist, was born in through June 17, 1994, is orgaEdgecomb, Maine, but spent nized by the High with guest twenty-eight years of his adult curator Dr. Robert Hobbs of the life in St. Augustine, Florida, Virginia Commonwealth Univerwhere he operated an antiques sity in Richmond, Virginia. A and second-hand shop. Forty-six 144-page monograph on Earl oil paintings and one sculpture, Cunningham, written by Hobbs

Phil Eschbach

and with an introduction by Lynda Hartigan of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, and published by Harry N. Abrams,Inc., will serve as the exhibition catalog.

For more information, call the High Museum of Art Folk Art and Photography Galleries at 404/898-9283.

JAMES"SON" THOMAS (1926-1993) CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN OUTSIDER/FOLK ART Representing David Butler Patrick Davis Rev. Howard Finster Mike Frolich The Glassman Lee Godie Clementine Hunter O.W."Pappy" Kitchens Sr. Gertrude Morgan Rev. Johnnie Swearingen Willie White and many other important Outsider artists

Two Heads & Skull" unfired gumbo clay, mixed media, 1984 10's 6" x 8"(approx.)

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

20 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

PRIMITIVE • GALLERY 596 New

Broadway #205 York, N.Y.10012

212 966.1530 Aarne Anton

Floretta Warfle 1916-1993 Floretta Emma Waffle, Pennsylvania landscape painter, died on October 2 at the Rose Benjamin Rest Haven in Monroeton, Pennsylvania, of natural causes.

Warfle's lively memory paintings were distinguished by her bold choice of color and the use of recycled cloth scraps and inexpensive yard goods as a painting ground. Her materials were "embroidery paint," ballpoint pens, and indelible ink.

From the time of her marriage in the 1930s, Warfle sold hooked and braided rugs and quilts to help support her ten children. Her husband, Grover Cleveland Waffle, a blacksmith, died in 1946.

During the 1970s, antiques dealer Ruth Stall began to show Waffle's drawings on cloth in Dalton, Pennsylvania. More recently, Epstein/Powell of New

8 York has represented this artist.

Warfle's paintings were exhibited in 1985 at the Roberson Center for the Arts and Sciences, Binghamton, New York. She was the subject of an essay by N.F. Karlins for Pennsylvania Folklife(Autumn 1989) and is included in the Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia ofTwentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists, by Chuck and Jan Rosenak.

She is survived by four sons, four daughters, two stepsons, thirty-five grandchildren, thirty great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

"THE ARREST" actual size

—Lee Kogan

Jennie York Halstead 1892-1993 Jennie York Halstead of an entire day without tiring "just Middletown, New York, the for the beauty of it." She was maker of more than forty quilts, part of a family of quiltmakers; died on June 25, 1993, a little one of them, her husband's greatmore than a month after celebrat- great-aunt, Elsey Halstead, creating her one hundred-first birthed the beautiful Rising Star with day. Born in Woodridge, New Pine Tree border that will appear York, she was raised on her in the exhibit "New York father's farm in Goshen and mar- Beauties: Quilts From the ried Fred Halstead of MiddleEmpire State," scheduled to open town on April 30, 1912. on April 23, 1994, at the Museum Always talented in needleof American Folk Art's Eva and work, Halstead was especially Morris Feld Gallery at Lincoln interested in quilting. In an Square, New York City. interview on August 7, 1989, Mrs. Halstead is survived by with documentors from the New her two daughters Jane Halstead York State Quilt Project, she Gardner and Margaret Halstead expressed dismay that she could Minch,three grandchildren, six not interest her fellow parishgreat-grandchildren, and one ioners at the North Congregagreat-great-grandchild. tional Church in joining her at the quilt frame. She would work —Phyllis A. Tepper

JOE DIMAGGIO" actual size

RAYMOND MATERSON DEC.2-JAN.8 • MON-SAT 11-6 Raymond Materson discovered his artistic talents after a life of adversity, escape into drug addiction, and a period of self discovery in prison. Remarkably, he taught himself to sew images using the threads from unraveled socks stitched onto cotton shorts. Ray has taken this limited means and taught himself to make miniature pictures of masterful complexity charged with meaning. Some tell stories of his life that led to addiciton and prison,others his dreams and aspirations,as well as images of his interest in theater and baseball.

Important American Furniture, Silver, Prints, Folk Art and Decorative Arts Auction to be held January 22, 1994 at 10 am and 2 pm in our galleries at 502 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10022.

Viewing is January 15 through January 21. For further information please contactJohn Hays, Susan Kleckner and Johanna McBrien at 212/546-1181.

Thomas Chambers, The Constitution, circa 1840, oil on canvas, 21 in. x 29 Y's in.

Estimate: $10,000-15,000

CHRISTIE'S

Hooked Rug—wool on burlap—initialed C.D. JOEL AND KATE KOPA

Dated 1880-43" x 271 / 2"

mEmcA HRRAH

766

MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK

NY 10021

tel 212.535.1930 fax 212.249.9718

new

paltz new york • 12561 • 914 • 2551132

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

23

"World War II Patriotic" Subject to prior sale

AND OTHER TREASURES Since 1978

JOHN 6AULS ANTICX_E6 310 W. QUSIC TYLEQ, TEXAS 75701 Tel: 903-593-4668 Fax:903-593-9661

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

PRESENTS

LAURA FISHER GALLERY #84 ink; w.c. 1987(detail)

Dwight Mackintosh

OUTSIDER NAIVE FOLK SELF-TAUGHT ISOLATE PRIMITIVE TRIBAL And VISIONARY ART EXHIBITING: American Art From Native To Neon Philadelphia December 1-5, 1993

RARE CIGAR RIBBONS silk quilt, 69"x79", c. 1900, unusual colors.

The Outsider Art Fair New York City January 29-30, 1994 Catalog

Mkt

40 Sailor's Valentine Gallery

Antique Quilts Hooked Rugs Coverlets Paisley Shawls Beacon Blankets Vintage Accessories American Folk Art

Fine Art

Folk Art

40 Centre Street, Nantucket, MA 02554(508) 228-2011

Monday-Saturday 11 AM-6 PM

Tel: 212-838-2596

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 25

James Allen Bloomfield Exhibited in New York by Frank J. Miele at 1262 Madison Avenue and 1994 Outsider Art Fair

Deck Museum of American The Folk Art Holiday Trees Halls & Exhibition Trim The On December 7 Trees through January 9

wo years ago,when the Museum received the collection of the Historical Society of Early American Decoration(HSEAD), we learned from their members about the beautiful Christmas trees they had created each year for their museum in Albany. The trees were richly decorated with ornaments crafted in traditional styles. Each ornament was a miniature example of the same rigorous techniques that are the hallmark of the larger works produced by the Society's members.

This holiday season, the Museum of American Folk Art is pleased to continue the HSEAD's tradition with a display of two trees decorated with over two hundred ornaments hand-painted and donated by the members of HSEAD's Pioneer Chapter. The display will be on view at the Museum of American Folk Art's gallery on Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th streets from December 7,1993,through January 9,1994.

Featured on the trees are gold-leafed pineapples, a symbol of hospitality; a variety of tin shapes stenciled with bronzing powders; brush stroke work on candle snuffers; theorem painting on velveteen; and tinsel painting on glass. Country painting techniques are also featured on wood and metal ornaments. Especially charming are the stacked miniature band boxes painted in the Rufus Porter style.

T

Fireman — A Young Man's Dream Linwood Carving,62" tall, painted in oils, 1993

loch lea antiques

24 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

Kentucky Folk Art Lyn Layton 410 Main Street Paris, KY 40361 (606)978-7070

The Pioneer Chapter is proud to be the first group to present an exhibit of this kind since the Society's transfer of its artifacts to the Museum in 1991. Dolores Furnari, then president of HSEAD, worked diligently with the late Robert Bishop for the successful transfer of the Society's magnificent collection.

"On April 1,1991, the Museum of American Folk Art became the recipient of important holdings from the Historical Society of Early American Decoration.

After a long and intensive search to find a home for the collections, the trustees of the Society voted to give full responsibility to the Museum of American Folk Art for the care and custodianship of more than 600 items. Their distinguished collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ornamented furniture, tinware, and glass, papier-mache, and wood objects greatly expanded the Museum's present holdings of early decoration.... The Society's extensive collection of research materials and patterns had also been transferred to the Museum's Library and Research Center."(Atkins, Jacqueline M., "Museum of American Folk Art Acquires Historical Society of Early American Decoration Collections." The Clarion Vol. 16, No.2[Summer 1991]: 31.)

HSEAD was organized to carry on the work and honor the memory of Esther Stevens Brazer, pioneer in the perpetuation of Early American Decoration as an art form,and to promote continued research in that field. Esther Stevens Brazer died in 1945,and on May 27, 1946,eight of her former students met in Darien, Connecticut, and founded the Esther Stevens Brazer Guild in her memory. On April 8, 1947,the Connecticut River Valley Chapter was formed in Springfield, Vermont, and on May 22, 1948,they changed their name to the Pioneer Chapter, as it is known today. In March 1952, a permanent charter was granted to the organization by the New

York Board of Regents, and it officially became the Historical Society of Early American Decoration, Inc. Members meet biannually to view exhibitions showing choice examples of the early craftsmen's art, as well as the work of fellow members. This enables

sincerely grateful to Ms.Zonana, Ms. Fumari, and the Pioneer Chapter members, who have volunteered their invaluable time and talent to accomplish this effort, and sincerely hope that this new tradition will be carried on by the other chapters of HSEAD in the future.

BLITZ ANTIQUE NATIVE AMERICAN ART LTD.

Diamond Willow Effigy Cane, 20th c Great Lakes

Gas In A,h,orth

members to study antique originals, and encourages collectors and museums to preserve this important contribution to our American heritage.

Dolores Fumari is currently the Pioneer Chapter's chairman and has worked enthusiastically with her members on the historical techniques used to create the beautiful ornaments for this year's holiday trees. The Holiday Trees exhibition has been coordinated by Museum volunteer Mary Linda Zonana.

We at the Museum are

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

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 27

ANTON HAARDT GALLERY David Butler Thornton Dial Sam Doyle Minnie Evans Howard Finster Sybil Gibson Bessie Harvey Lonnie Holley Clementine Hunter James H. Jennings Calvin Livingston Charlie Lucas R.A. Miller

B.E Perkins Rhinestone Cowboy Royal Robertson Juanita Rogers Mary T. Smith Henry Speller Jimmy Lee Sudduth "Son" Thomas Annie Tolliver Mose Tolliver Felix Virgous Ben Williams Chuckie Williams

1220 SOUTH HULL STREET MONTGOMERY,ALABAMA 36104 (205)263-5494

See us at Booth 12, Outsider Fair

Felipe Benito Archuleta (1910-1991) Eddie Arning Johnnie Banks(1912-1988) Patrick Davis Charles Dieter(1922-1986) "Uncle Pete" Drgac Estate Rev. Howard Finster Early Works Ezekiel Gibbs(1899-1992) Sybil Gibson "Glassman" William Hawkins(1895-1990) Justin McCarthy(1892-1976) Ike Morgan Rev. Johnnie Swearingen(1908-1993)

(LESLIE NIUTH GALLERY Contemporary American Folk Art "Burro", painted wood carving with bristle, 45x51x10", 1981

28 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

225 East de Vargas St., Sante Fe, New Mexico 87501 (505)989-4620

"Fun's a Poppin'." 1993. Acrylic on canvas. 14"x18".

Inspired by snapshots from her family photo album, Eileen Doman began to paint portraits of the people she has known.

The circa 1940s photograph, from which "Fun's a Poppin" was painted, was taken at a popular Chicago nightclub of the same name. The subjects are family friends Margaret and Ciel, two sisters whose social life and wardrobes are chronicled through numerous photos.

To meet more of Eileen Doman's family and friends, please visit our booth at the second annual Outsider Art Fair in January.

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

6909 MELROSE AVENUE LOS ANGELES CA 90038 213.933.4096

VALERY LANSKY, Next Stop is Commune,oil on canvas, 20- x 391/2"

ZAK GALLERY

S. L. JONES, Woman and Man, paint on carved wood, 27"

folk

primitive

naïf

outsider

FEATURING WORKS BY: Minnie & Garland Adkins Stephen Warde Anderson Fred Aris Wilson Bigaud Emille Blonde!

Carol Bohach Camille Bombois Ronnie Copas Rita Hicks Davis Charles De Witte Maria Do Carino Peter Heard August Jackson Paula Joerling S. L. Jones Jacob Knight Valery Lansky Michelle Liebowitz Elisee Maclet Mundoza Sultan Rogers Fernando Lopes Soares Edgar Tolson

STEPHEN WARDE ANDERSON, Madonna Lisa Del Giocondo, tempera on shade cloth on hardboard, 38- x 28"

3109 Grand Avenue • Coconut Grove, Florida 33133 • (305) 442-9100 • Fax (305) 442-0075

Clementine Hunter (1887-1988) Collection includes: J.B. Murray, Howard Finster, David Butler, Sam Doyle, Nellie Mae Rowe, 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 Almon, Sr., M.C. 50 Jones, "Artist Chuckle" Williams, Ike Morgan, Herbert Singleton, Burgess Dulaney, Dwight Mackintosh, Sarah Rakes, S.L. Jones, Rhinestone Cowboy and others.

GILLEY5

GALLEQY A

"These Vases, They Is Called Spanish Water Jars" 11 " x 15" Oil on Paper Circa 1940

Ginger Young

Southern outsider art,

8750 Florida Blvd.

Baton Rouge, LA 70815 (504)922-9225

Works by more than four dozen artists, including: Minnie Black Georgia Blizzard • Tubby Brown

pottery,

Richard Burnside • Burlon Craig Chuck Crosby

and canes.

Howard Finster Denzil Goodpaster • Lonnie

By appointment

Holley • James Harold Jennings • Anderson

202.543.0273

Johnson • Woodie Long • Jake McCord R.A. Miller • Roy Minshew • Jeff Payne • Frank Pickle

Call or write for a free video catalogue or a complete price list : Ginger Young PO Box 15417 Washington, DC 20003 202.543.0273

Sarah Rakes Bernice Sims Q.J. Stephenson Jimmie Lee Sudduth • Mose Tolliver • Knox Wilkinson Jr. • George Williams • Pauline Willis

Shown above: Swordfish

by Jeff Payne. Oil and acrylic on wood. 78"long

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 31

THE MODERN PRIMITIVE GALLERY PRESENTS PRIS BUTTLER LEROY ALMON, SR. LEROY ARCHULETA EDDIE ARNING RICHARD BURNSIDE BRUCE BURRIS ARCHIE BYRON MINNIE EVANS VICTOR JOSEPH GATTO SYBIL GIBSON JOE HARDIN LONNIE HOLLEY S. L. JONES CHARLEY KINNEY ROLAND KNOX JAKE MCCORD ANTHONY MILELLA

R. A. MILLER MISTER EDDY JUSTIN MCCARTHY VALTON MURRAY J. B. MURRY B. F. PERKINS JUANITA ROGERS 0. L. SAMUELS LORENZO SCOTT BERNICE SIMS ST. EOM JIM SUDDUTH MOSE TOLLIVER SARAH MARY TAYLOR PURVIS YOUNG KURT ZIMMERMAN Pris Butner, Closing Time

Announcing our Association with Ray Benson 457 West 57th Street #407 New York, NY 10019(212)974-9422 1402-4 North Highland Avenue Atlanta, GA 30306(404)892-0556

IMPORTANT CATALOWJE OF OUTSIDER ARTISTS 146 PAGES PLUS COVER,32 COLOR PLATES,90 HALFTONES.

째a beautiful as well as scholarly publication... will be used as the standardforyears to come...

I truly admire what the University Art Museum has accomplished in Baking in the Sun." Ann Oppenheimer,President Folk Art Society of America "informative, beautifully illustrated... makes a major contribution to our understanding ofsouthernfolk art and the artists who create these rich worlds."

William Ferris, Director Center for the Study of Southern Culture The University of Mississippi

BAKING IN THE SUN Visionary Images from the South

32 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

SEND $30 PLUS $3 HANDLING AND POSTAGE TO: UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM USL DRAWER 42571, LAFAYETTE, LA. 70504 (318) 231-5326

Woodie Long: New York City" acrylic on paper 18" x

Visit us in New York

Outsider / Contemporary Folk Art Exhibition January 28 - February 6, 1994 Art 54 Gallery

54 Greene Street, Soho

(corner of Broome Street & Greene Street) Everyday from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. and by appointment Reception for Artists on January 29, 7 - 10 p.m.

(212) 226 -1605 during exhibition

Main Street Marcia Weber/Art Objects, Inc. 3218 Lexington Road Montgomery, Alabama 36106 (205) 262-5349

gallery P.O. Box 641 Clayton, Georgia 30525 (706) 782-2440

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anging in the Louvre is a painting by Eugene Delacroix entitled The Tiger Hunt. Executed in 1854, after the French artist's visit to Morocco, this painting depicts, with warm, vibrant colors and dynamic, swirling brushstrokes, a large tiger struggling with an Arab on horseback, who is about to fell the beast with his spear. From a Romantic point of view, the muscular tiger and the turbaned Moor locked in mortal combat were perfectly equivalent in their exoticism, each the embodiment of the unbridled forces of nature so admired by the cultured artist.

Delacroix's brave but doomed tiger, then, embodies the nineteenth-century European colonialist view of the cultural Other. By marked contrast is another tiger painted by a very different artist—Thornton Dial, Sr. Art history comes full circle with Dial's massive mixed-media canvas Graveyard Traveler: Selma Bridge (1992). This work recounts, in rich detail, the fight by African Americans for civil rights in Alabama during the 1960s. The tiger making his way across the bridge that spans the length of the composition is a powerful symbol of the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and while just as in Delacroix's painting the tiger is a hunted animal, he is nevertheless victorious, transcendent. Although Dial, a self-taught black artist from the South, has never seen a painting by Delacroix, Graveyard Traveler is nothing short of a reclamation of the allegorical image of the tiger from a Eurocentric canon of art history that has long excluded his experience.

The work of Thornton Dial is currently the focus of a major exhibition, "Thornton Dial: Image of the Tiger," that is Thornton Dial, 1993 being held simultaneously at two very different New York City venues: the Museum of American Folk Art and The New Museum for Contemporary Art. Ranging from small works on paper to large-scale, mixed-media canvases, this body of work is unified by Dial's unique mode of allegorical narrative, driven by a symbology of human and animal figures that is dominated by the tiger. Using the tiger image, Dial spins out overdetermined visual and tactile fables that touch on nearly every aspect of American life—history, current events, race and class relations, and the struggle for women's rights, to name only a few. These fables are all part of a personal philosophy that Dial has called "the strategy of the world." Although this very concept was the subject of a significant New York show of Dial's paintings in 1990 at Southern Queens Park Association, Inc., in Jamaica, aptly called "Strategy of the World," and although his works on paper have been presented in two solo shows at New York galleries in 1991 and 1992,' "Image of the Tiger" is by far the most extensive representation of this artist's mature oeuvre to date. That the exhibit is split between such different institutions—one dedicated to the field of American folk art and the other on the forefront of contemporary mainstream art developments—is particularly fitting, considering the nature of Dial's work. While it belongs to and enriches both fields, it ultimately cannot be

H

Gamma One Conversions

of Thornton Dial JENIFER P. BORUM

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 35

ROOSEVELT: A HANDICAPPED MAN GOT THE CITIES TO MOVE 1992 Enamel, found materials on canvas mounted on wood 13612 4"

85

William Arnett collection

iamn

Con c

limited to either one, and indeed problematizes the very Dial calls his "things" or "ideas" are in fact mixed-media existence of the boundaries that separate them. assemblages, complex and magical objects that often tell a Born on September 10, 1928, in Emmel, Alabama story through rich and sometimes cryptic symbolism. One (near Livingston, which is on the western border of the such work is an explosive, brightly painted, vaguely figural state), Thornton "Buck" Dial never knew his father. At the composition constructed of bottles and wood, whimsically age often, he and his half-brother Arthur went to live with entitled Two Men Went Into the Drink Business and Had to an aunt in Sumter County. Following her death three years Pick All the Bottles Up Before They Could Start (1988). later, the boys went to live with their grandmother, Sarah Included in the 1989 INTAR Latin American Gallery(New Dial Lockett, in Bessemer, Alabama (near Birmingham), York)exhibition "Another Face in the Diamond: Pathways where the artist resides today. Faced with poverty for most Through the Black Atlantic South," this work, equal parts of his life, the young Dial was forced to leave grade school Southern bottle tree and brilliant conceptual assemblage, after only a few years in order to work, picking sweet potawas discussed in the exhibition catalog by Robert Farris toes and laboring in an icehouse. He would go on to hold Thompson as a continuation of Kongo cultural practice as many jobs, often simultaneously; he built boxcars for transmitted through the African diaspora and specifically Pullman Standard for nearly thirty years, and was also manifested in black Southern folk art.' Indeed, Dial's employed at the Bessemer Water Works. Over the years objects resonate powerfully within that context, sharing he also worked as a bricklayer, a carpenter, a house painter, much in common with such artists as Bessie Harvey, a construction worker, a What Dial calls his "things" or "ideas" are in fact mixed-media assemblages, complex and magical objects that fisherman, a pipe fitter, a gardener, and a farmer. often tell a story through rich and sometimes cryptic symbolism.

In 1951, Dial married Clara Mae Murrow; together they raised three sons, Charlie Lucas, and Lonnie Holley. But he never intended Thornton Dial, Jr. ("Little Buck"), Richard, and Dan, as these objects to be seen as art per se; not only did he often well as two daughters, Mattie and Patricia (the latter now recycle his own works into new incarnations due to lack of deceased). In 1984, Dial began making metal patio furnispace, but he was even forced to bury many of them in his ture with sons Richard and Dan, eventually forming the backyard for the same reason. As part of his vast mixedcompany Dial's Metal Patterns, from which he recently media repertoire, Dial made elaborate decorative fishing retired to fully devote his time to his art. Today, at the age lures, one of which fell into the hands of his fellow selfof sixty-five, Dial finds himself the head of a talented famitaught Alabama artist Lonnie Holley, a resident of ly of accomplished artists, including his sons Thornton Jr. Birmingham. When Holley brought this lure to the attenand Richard and his cousin Ronald Lockett, known for tion of a friend and patron, the Atlanta art collector their distinctive styles.

William Arnett, in 1987, the wheels of history began to In the course of a lifetime of manual labor, Dial turn, setting Dial on the road to gaining long overdue gained valuable skills and experience working with a varirecognition as an artist. ety of materials—wood, metal, cement, fabric, and other It was under the patronage of Arnett that Dial realindustrial substances—that would enrich and determine the ized his potential as an artist working in media not normalunique nature of his artwork. He has been "making things" ly available to rural, self-taught artists. Arnett introduced for as long as he can remember—at least fifty years. What him to materials that have traditionally been the province

38 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

LOOKING GOOD FOR THE PRICE 1993 Enamel, spray paint, found materials on canvas and wood 78 x 79 x 7 1/2" William Arnett collection

Ron Lee

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 37

of highly trained, white, urban artists, and Dial rose to the challenge, applying his wealth of talent and ideas onto quality papers and large-scale canvases. Not surprisingly, Arnett—a self-admitted obsessive when it comes to collecting—has been accused of meddling with the natural course of Dial's work, and of leading him into the arena of fine art. But such accusations ring true only in the ears of those who subscribe to the mythical notion of the "pure" Southern folk artist, somehow miraculously untouched by the outside world even at the close of the twentieth century.

To wit, Arnett's relationship with Dial is hardly unique in the folk art world—consider the example of Charles Shannon and Bill Traylor. It is the opinion of this writer

his purely sculptural works, one often finds material transformations in his paintings that are richly metaphoric.

Nothing that makes its way into a work is wasted. The very act of salvaging and giving new value to discarded objects and scraps deemed worthless by society is for Dial powerfully symbolic of the potential of the AfricanAmerican people. The image of the tiger, when fashioned from a piece of old carpet, speaks volumes about the condition of being stepped upon. Natural materials such as roots, leaves, stones, and even animal hide are often juxtaposed with cast-off industrial detritus such as tin, iron, wire, and any number of intact objects, always unified and subsumed by layer upon layer of oil and enamel paint.

BLOOD AND MEAT: SURVIVAL FOR THE WORLD 1992 Enamel,found materials on canvas mounted on wood 65

95 1/2 8" William Arnett collection

that to have limited Dial's innate potential for the sake of Each one of Dial's canvases is a self-contained universe an outdated and inherently insulting stereotype would replete with its own secrets—not everything is disclosed to have been a greater loss to us all. the viewer at once. Imagery emerges slowly, only to be Since Dial began painting in earnest in 1987, his lost again in a swirl of color. Repeated viewings of any work has evolved in both material and conceptual comwork are likely to yield a completely different experience plexity. The continuity of his painting with his former each time. These larger canvases are balanced by smaller assemblage mode is clear in the larger paintings. In order drawings and paintings on paper, which are usually fluid, to bear the attack of his brush and the considerable weight poetic depictions of women and animals. of the materials often collaged onto them, Dial's canvases To the trained eye. Dial's painterly oeuvre brings to must be stretched over sturdy boards in order But nowhere in Dial's work can one find evidence of the self-conscious relationship with the history of modern to hold up. Charac- art that defines these postmodern painters.... terized by an allover field of expressive brushstrokes, each compelling composimind the large scale and expressivity of American Abstract tion is a dynamic unity populated by figures that range Expressionism; more to the point, it is uncannily consistent from fierce to haunting, all actors in the artist's unique with the vital work of more recent neo-Expressionist morality plays. painters such as Jean Michel Basquiat and Anse1m Kiefer.

To articulate both figure and field, and to better put But nowhere in Dial's work can one find evidence of the his message across, Dial invents strategies that couldn't self-conscious relationship with the history of modern art possibly be found in any art school curriculum. As with that defines these postmodern painters—to be sure, it

31 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

THORNTON DIAL: IMAGE OF THE TIGER remains radically separate in intentionality from that frame of reference, in spite of the fact that it has become undeniably pertinent to mainstream art history. As a self-taught artist, Dial does not make art about art.' His deep involvement with the world itself reveals the quintessentially European notion of art pour l'art to be an embarrassingly anemic caprice. Dial himself puts it best: "Art ain't about paint. It ain't about canvas. It's about ideas."4 Dial is perhaps best known for his prescient social commentary, put forth by means of inventive and everevolving formal solutions. Presented in series with such titles as "Life Go On," "The Way of Life," and "Wondering About Life," Dial's paintings address the

On view at the Museum of American Folk Art through January 30,1994 On view at The New Museum of Contemporary Art through January 2,1994 he Museum of American Folk Art and The New

T

Museum of Contemporary Art are honored to

present jointly the first major museum exhibi-

tion of the paintings and works on paper of Thornton Dial, Sr., a self-taught African-American artist living in Bessemer, Alabama. This unusual cooperative effort by two museums that are historically committed to different artistic traditions reflects the barrier-crossing nature of Dial's oeuvre, which makes the distinction between "folk" and "contemporary" art obsolete.

Using thick layers of paint, tin, plywood, rope, and found objects in imaginative and strongly moving

POSING MOVIE STAR HOLDING ON FOR FREEDOM 1991 Graphite and watercolor on paper 30 22" Private collection

assemblages, Thornton Dial has produced hundreds of powerful, richly textured narrative paintings to record the problems and enduring strengths of AfricanAmerican people and the complexities of American life.

Thornton Dial's conceptualization and use of formal composition and complex techniques make his work relevant to the field of contemporary American art, while it epitomizes the adaptability, and future of American folk art at the close of the twentieth century.

A full-color, 160-page book, published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in conjunction with the exhibition, and featuring essays by the exhibition's curator, Thomas McEvilley, and noted poet, playwright, and essayist Gamma One Conversions

totality of human behavior as much as they specifically address race relations, and inasmuch as they focus on African-American history, they speak to the scope of American history and the American experience. Earning himself a place in the honored company of such artists as William Henry Johnson, Horace Pippin, Sam Doyle, and Willie Birch, Dial has painted his way through the history of the African-American struggle—from slavery to emancipation, and from the 1960s struggle for civil rights to Anita Hill—not with venom, but rather with a sharp wit and a keen global insight.

Throughout, the tiger is the symbol of that struggle.

Often a self-portrait, the tiger also represents black men,or black people in general. Inspired by a union folk hero named Tiger, Dial's tiger often appears in works that address the historical exploitation of black laborers from slavery onward. In The Tiger Cat in the Coal Mine (1989), a large orange tiger made of tin dominates the composition; literally trapped within the mine, he stares out at the viewer from his prison. Through the manipulation of layers

Amiri Baraka, is available at both locations.

Family programming at the Museum of American Folk Art will include a special storytelling series.

Admission is free. "African-American Folk Tales," for adults and children, will take place on Saturday afternoons, November 20, December 11, and January 15, at 2:00 P.M. For information, call 212/595-9533. For exhibition and programming information at The New Museum of Contemporary Art, call 212/219-1222.

The exhibition "Thornton Dial: Image of the Tiger" is supported in part by a generous grant to the Museum of American Folk Art from The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal

agency. The presentation at The New Museum of Contemporary Art was made possible in part by the Bohen Foundation, the Richard Florsheim Arts Fund, and the Jerome Foundation.

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

39

of paint, wood, metal, and wire, Dial has captured a sense mal repertoire. As a black, self-taught, narrative allegorist of claustrophobia that aptly characterizes the Africanwhose work so clearly intersects with the mainstream, he American working-class experience. Very different is the occupies a truly unique position in art history. Although oil painting entitled Smooth-Going Cats and the Hardnarrative has dominated the history of painting, from preHeaded Goat (1990). Here, two tigers follow a fluid, serhistoric Lascaux to Romantic Europe, this mode virtually pentine pathway from the bottom to the top of this predom- evaporated in the modernist period, as the picture plane inantly red, white, and blue canvas. Yet Dial suggests that was successively painted away into pure abstraction. success for blacks in the United States, represented by the Although partially resuscitated in post-Modernism, both in tigers' upward movement,is not at all possible without per- the often cynical historical borrowings of neoseverance and stubbornness, qualities represented by the Expressionism and the didactic diatribes of neovigilant, horned goat that accompanies them. In his 1990 three-part series of paintings entitled The Way of Life," Dial characterized the American The chaotic and Everywoman's multifaceted strategy for survival. fragmentary nature of life in this country is effectively captured in the field of Conceptualism, socially conscious narrative remained the swirls and drips of Pieces of the United States (1991), in uninvited guest at the table of art history as late as the which a number of barely distinguishable figures vie for beginning of this decade. Only now, in the hotly debated prominence while the tiger cat looks on from the upper context of multiculturalism—in which the voices of marright corner, both participant and observer. For Dial, it ginalized Others (including folk artists) have come into seems, the essence of life is the struggle for survival; the vogue, and are therefore finally being listened to—have violence implied by this thesis is perhaps best revealed in narrative modes of art, with their connection to lived expethe gut-wrenching Blood and Meat: Survivalfor the World rience, begun to fill the empty space left by decades of elit(1992), a tangled mass of painted and collaged elements ist formalism. It is with this in mind that the discussion of that evokes, on a visceral level, the brutal assassination of Dial's achievements must continue. Yet the moment of John F. Kennedy. multiculturalism in art is not without its superficial side— Finally, and on a much more personal note, Dial has indeed, "Image of the Tiger" makes much (but not all) of interpreted the ramifications of his own success as an artist the work presented in the notorious "multicultural" with a healthy dose of cynicism in Looking Good for the Whitney Biennial of 1993 seem thin by comparison.

Price(1993). Two grotesque figures in partial relief appear Hovering on the borderline between folk and mainto twist and turn in a slow performance, while a dancing stream art, Thornton Dial forces us to recognize that these tiger looks on. Heavy chains control the movements of the categories are no longer mutually exclusive. Traditionally contorted figure on the right—here the artist puts a dark but a discipline that has represented only the interests and valknowing spin on his role as a black artist performing for a ues of the dominant race and class, art history must now predominantly white art audience. expand to include marginalized self-taught artists such as Another major constellation of works reveals Dial's Dial, as their work speaks to us all.* fascination with and understanding of women. In his 1990 three-part series of paintings entitled "The Way of Life," Acknowledgments: The author would like to thank Lee Kogan Dial characterized the American Everywoman's multifaceted strategy for survival. In The Way of Life: The for making valuable archival materials available to her, and Bill Amen for introducing her to Thornton Dial and his family.

Freedom Picture (1990), nude women are seen engaged in the task of choosing a mate. Two different kinds of men Jenifer P.Borum lives in New York and is currently a Ph.D. canare represented by two different tigers—one proud and the didate in art history at the City University ofNew York's other humble—but it is the women who are in control.

Graduate Center. She has writtenfor Folk Art magazine, Raw Relations between the sexes, and specifically the power Vision, and The New Art Examiner,and is a regular contributor that women exert over men, is also the subject of Lady to Artforum magazine.

Know How to Hold the Jungle Cat 1 (1990), in which the figure of a woman subdues a conquered tiger.

NOTES Dial takes his observations of the opposite sex to the 1 These shows were held at the Ricco/Maresca Gallery and the level of high camp in his "Posing Movie Star" series of Luise Ross Gallery, respectively. small-scale watercolors on paper, without losing his under- 2 Robert Farris Thompson,"The Circle and the Branch: Renascent Kongo-American Art," Another Face ofthe Diamond: lying message of high seriousness. In Posing Movie Star Holding On for Freedom (1991), a rouged woman peers Pathways Through the Black Atlantic South(New York: INTAR out at the viewer with a proud tiger and a blue bird in tow, Latin American Gallery, 1989), p. 25.

3 To superficially lump him,as some have, together with the her captives a silent testimony to the power of her confamiliar litany of art-historically self-conscious, blue-chip, eighttrived beauty. In the hands of another artist, such a subject ies post-Modernists—Salle, Schnabel, Fisch!, and the like—is an might be wrought into a sexist blunder, but in the context exercise in irrelevance. of Dial's unique but consistent worldview, this work pro- 4 As quoted in Paul Amett's essay "The Strategy of Thornton vides a witty and insightful analysis of human behavior.

Dial," in Thornton Dial: Strategy ofthe World(Jamaica, New "Image of the Tiger" reveals Thornton Dial to be an York: Southern Queens Park Association, Inc., 1990), p. 9. accomplished painter with a formidable conceptual and for-

40 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

Micah Williams:

a.

Recumng

Quandary NANCY TOBIN DORER DR. HENRY VAN DER VEER Attributed to Micah Williams C. 18211-1830 Pastel on paper 25 1/4 x 21 1/4" Collection of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, New Jersey.

Although this portrait is unlabeled and was formerly attributed to Micah Williams, I believe it is by James Van Dyck. This attribution is based upon careful comparison with the signed portrait of Abraham Christopher Beekman by Van Dyck.

ntil forty years ago, Micah Williams (1782/83-1837), a folk painter of pastel portraits of many New Jersey residents, was an unidentified artist. Despite his name being unknown to art historians, however, his work was appreciated by many, and there continues to be a strong interest in works attributed to him. Some portraits are still owned by family members; some have been sold for various reasons and have found their way into museums, historical societies, and private collections.

In 1921, the Micah Williams portraits of Henry Mundy and his wife,Phoebe Ayers Mundy, were presented to the New Jersey Historical Society by Nellie L. Mundy. When Holger Cahill, a pioneering scholar in the field of folk art, was assembling

#

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 41

the early folk art exhibition "American Primitives" at the Newark Museum in 1930, he recognized the charm and historical and sociological significance of these portraits and included them in the exhibition.' In discussing the image of Mr. Mundy, Elinor Robinson, who compiled the catalog notations for each picture, wrote, "Good, vigorous color. Note outlining of lace ruffle." Of the portrait of Mrs. Mundy, she wrote, "Sharp, clear color and fine, sure drawing as in matching portrait.

Folds of green dress simply done, suggesting bulk beneath. Folded arms interesting and long hands especially well done."' Only the names of the lenders were given. All of the artists of the thirty-seven paintings in the portrait section of the catalog were anonymous.

In 1953, James T. Flexner was writing his second book on early American art, and Irwin F. Cortelyou was researching the works of Ezra Ames for a book she was to write with Theodore Bolton. Cortelyou and Flexner used to walk together back and forth across Central Park in pursuit of information at the New York Historical Society and the Frick Art Reference Library. What interesting discussions they must have had. Mr. Flexner urged Mrs. Cortelyou to undertake a search for the name of the artist who had executed a group of pastel portraits in the Monmouth County, New Jersey, area—she lived in that region and he thought she might be interested in doing some local investigative work.° Mrs. Cortelyou proved to be quite a detective. Her target artist had been previously identified as "H.C." from a paper label found on the front of one of the portraits. "H.C." was thought to be"H. Conover" or"Henry Conover." Mrs. Cortelyou eventually proved that Henry Conover was the sitter and that Micah Williams was the artist.' This led to the search for more examples of Williams' work.

Over the next twenty years, Cortelyou attributed 120 portraits in pastel and seven portraits in oil to the folk artist Micah Williams.° Interest in American folk art in the form of sought-after collectibles began in the 1920s. Interest in the

42 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

HENRY MUNDY Attributed to Micah Williams C. 1820 Pastel on paper 23 1/4

19 3,8"

Collection of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, New Jersey.

Although this portrait is neither signed nor labeled, it is still attributable to Micah Williams.

work of the then anonymous Micah Williams began at the same time.

Edith Gregor Halpert, owner of the Downtown Gallery in New York City, found six of his portraits in Matawan, New Jersey. In 1931, two of these portraits were sold to Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; they became part of the original body of folk art that she gave to Colonial Williamsburg and that are now part of the collection at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center.' That same year, Holger Cahill bought two Micah Williams portraits, one of which was the Henry Conover portrait.' When one considers Cahill's intimate knowledge of the burgeoning field, this purchase can be construed Another nineteenth-century folk artist whose work is similar to that

of Micah Williams—James Van Dyck. as a great tribute to Micah Williams.

PHOEBE AYERS MUNDY Attributed to Micah Williams c. 1820 Pastel on paper X 19 3/9"

23 174

Collection of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, New Jersey.

Although unlabeled, this portrait of Mrs. Henry Mundy is still attributable to Micah Williams.

In 1981, I enrolled in the Masters Degree Program in Folk Art Studies at New York University, offered in collaboration with the Museum of American Folk Art. Having lived all of my life in New Jersey, I chose to use my home state's folk artists as subjects for my research papers; Micah Williams became the topic for my folk painting class and eventually the focus of my masters thesis. I read Mrs. Cortelyou's four articles in Antiques magazine and the one in The Monmouth Historian.9 Greatly impressed by her findings, I made various trips to view the many Williams portraits located in public places.

It seemed to me that there were at least three different styles or groups of portraits within the works attributed to Williams. I concluded that he, like Ammi Phillips, had three separate modes of expression. In Micah Williams' case, this could have been attributable to a natural progression of ability, to something he had seen or learned, or to a purposeful change in style due to experimentation. He is purported to have "practiced the art of silverplating using a method he invented himself."'° Experimentation would not be out of the question. The differences between the

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 43

JANE VANDERVEER Micah Williams 1819 Pastel on paper 23 3/4 x 19 1/2" Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, Virginia.

The hand-written label on the reverse reads, "Jane Vanderveer/ Was Born Oct 13th 1801 Likeness Was/ taken January 13th 1819 Aged 17 years/ taken By Micah Williams in Monmouth."

Monmouth is now Freehold, New Jersey.

ABRAHAM CHRISTOPHER BEEKMAN James Van Dyck 1825 Pastel on paper 21 1/4 x 20 3/8" Sewell C. Biggs Collection, Sewell C. Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, Delaware.

Photo courtesy Winterthur Museum Signed and dated on the lower right, "1825/ Van/ Dyck."

44 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

JOHN G. VANDERVEER Micah Williams 1819 Pastel on paper 24

20 1/4"

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, Virginia.

The hand-written label on the reverse reads, "John Vanderveer/ [was b]orn November 26th 177[9] Age [d] 19 y[ears]/ [likelness was taken January 13th [18191/ By Micah Williams [meg.]

Monmouth." Both portraits were completed on the same day.

JANE GRIFFITH KING Attributed to Micah Williams c. 1818 Pastel on paper 26

21 7/5"

Collections of the Passaic County Historical Society, Paterson, New Jersey.

Now unlabeled, this is one of the more sophisticated portraits that I have placed in the "third group." It may be

by Williams or by another artist, possibly Van Dyck.

three groupings are not so startling as in those of Phillips, but they are nevertheless perplexing.

For years I have known about another nineteenth-century folk artist whose work is similar to that of Micah Williams—James Van Dyck.

These two artists were active in New Jersey at about the same time, both generally used pastels but also worked in oils, and both sometimes signed or labeled their portraits. Both artists backed or lined the pastel paper with newspaper for strength, and used additional newspaper as a dustcover for the back of the frame. Thus, Cortelyou's theory that the presence of newspaper "is important evidence in attributing unsigned portraits to Williams" " is now unfounded. I have recently concluded that works previously attributed to Micah Williams were not all executed by him. Because neither Williams nor Van Dyck always affixed his signature to his portraits, I have had to use the signed works of each of them as guides for attributing works to the appropriate artist.

I began by investigating the three different styles of portraits attributed to Williams. Works of the first group were executed around 1800 to 1815, probably by two entirely different artists, neither of whom was Williams or Van Dyck. Artist A executed at least three portraits using a distinctive red and blue background behind sitters whom he portrayed with strong sculptural features. I know of nine portraits, probably by artist B, that have somber colors for backgrounds and clothing and sitters portrayed with rather beady eyes, thin lips, strong chins, and dour expressions. Cortelyou was uncomfortable with a Williams attribution for these, and the staff at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center believes that "they do not relate stylistically to Williams' known work."' I agree with the assertion that they are not by Micah Williams; the connection to Williams and Van Dyck seems to have been drawn simply because the portraits are pastels of New Jersey people executed during or around the same time period.

Holger Cahill, in his introduction to American Primitives, the cata-

log to the exhibition of the same name, advanced the theory that "The limners went from town to town in summer, carrying with them a supply of stock pictures, usually in pairs, which they had painted during the winter. Background, accessories, clothing, and hands had been painted in. The costumes of these stock portraits were usually conventional and immaculate, and the background tastefully set with pillars and decorative hangings. From these stock figures the sitter could select the one that suited his fancy and have his face painted in for a fee ranging from ten to fifty dollars."' Research by others has shown that the prices were sometimes even lower than those cited by Cahill. I had heard this "faceless theory" before, but had not realized it had come from Cahill.

At the New Jersey Historical Society is an Unfinished Portrait, a pastel discovered in 1925 behind a likeness of Richard Stockton, Jr.'4 Both the likeness of Stockton and the unfinished portrait appear to be by artist A. The unfinished portrait consists of a well-drawn face without hair, neck, clothing, etc. If Cahill was correct, one would assume that a few "faceless" portraits might have been discovered. Since none has been found, I, and others, assume this theory is wrong. Simply because a bodiless face has been found, should we assume that this was the normal procedure followed by most pastellists?

General body outlines can be seen on the portraits I am studying, so I presume that a rough sketch was laid on the paper in the sitter's presence, and I further suppose that the face was drawn next. After all, since the purpose was to execute a "likeness," the face would have been the most important part of the portrait.

The second group of portraits I call the "certain" ones. They are the two signed oils and the six pastels that have paper inscriptions, all in Micah Williams' handwriting, some giving the artist's name. There is a ninth work which was surely created by Williams, but unlabeled (possibly the label was lost?). This portrait is of a second child in a family where three other family members were painted and labeled by Williams; since the

subject is a member of the same family and the style of the painting is similar to the other three, it is fair to assume that this fourth work was executed by the same artist. And in his diary, Gerard Rutgers, a resident of Bellville, New Jersey in 1823, refers to a portrait, as yet unlocated, of himself painted by Williams's —which brings the total to ten.

It is the third group—a group of unlabeled portraits—that constitutes the quandary. I assume that the labels from many of them have dried out and become unglued, or were lost when the backings were removed for restoration, reframing, or moving. In this category there is a large group of paintings of men, women, and chilIf Cahill was correct, one would assume that a few "faceless" por-

traits might have been discovered.

dren obviously executed by Micah Williams in the rather flat and unsophisticated style of those in the "certain" labeled works. The faces in these portraits are well executed and I have no problem attributing them to Williams; they are in the third group only because they are unlabeled.

There is a subgroup in the unlabeled category that seems to have been drawn by a more accomplished hand. The men and women appear to be more dashing, vibrant, stylish, and sculptural. Many of the subjects are portrayed with an arm thrown over the back of a grain-painted or stenciled chair with the hand resting on the crest rail. Did Micah Williams change his style in the mid-1820s,and portray some of his patrons in the then popular "fancy" chairs? Several portraits of children currently attributed to him show full-length figures seated in a child's painted chair. The chairs vary in type and stencil design.

Are the thirty-one "chair portraits" by Micah Williams or by someone else?

In the new Sewell C. Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, Delaware, there is a signed James Van Dyck pastel of Abraham Christopher Beekman. The depiction is of a man with his arm dangling over the back of a chair, showing the stenciled side post. The pose and exe-

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 45

cution are very similar to the portrait of Dr. Henry Van Derveer owned by the New Jersey Historical Society.

The unsigned Van Derveer portrait has previously been attributed by Cortelyou to Micah Williams, but I believe it is by James Van Dyck.

There is a companion portrait of Mary Ann Frelinghuysen Van Derveer, also at the New Jersey Historical Society, which I believe is by Van Dyck as well. To me, the most interesting thing about her is that her hand is resting on the crest rail of a stenciled chair. The positioning of her fingers is similar to that in several works that fall within the more sophisticated Williams subgroup. I think that further research will lead me to the conI know of eight portraits attributed to Micah Williams...it is also possible that some are copies.

elusion that there are more Van Dycks in the third category.

The question of accessories is also an interesting one. I have seen identical rings and necklaces on too many of the women for their presence to be coincidental or attributable to a sharing of treasured family pieces. I suggest that the artist traveled with a small selection of stylish jewelry in which a female sitter could choose to be portrayed, or the artist asked whether or not she wanted some jewelry depicted, and, if so, drew in some stock items. The portrait purported to be of Micah Williams' wife, however, shows no jewelry.'' There are two different types of jewelry depicted: gold, jet, and coral jewelry; and rings, brooches, and elaborate drop earrings in a daisy pattern of gold and what may be pearls or some sort of semiprecious stones. Are these period pieces, or are they examples of the "stock" jewelry used by one or two different artists?

There is also another enigma involving duplicates. I know of eight portraits attributed to Micah Williams two each of four different people. It is possible that they were all done by him, but it is also possible that some are copies. Those that at the moment seem to me to be copies may have their "different" character-

46 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

istics because of over-restoring or because the fragile pastel was smudged when the glass was shifted or removed. There is further research to be done on this matter.

An additional task is to rediscover the whereabouts of the portraits Cortelyou found years ago, many of which were easy to find. Quite a number are now in public institutions; others come up for auction every so often, and must be traced again. The most difficult to locate have been those that were passed on to relatives who have retained them in their private collections. Cortelyou added twenty-four works to her list, and I have found thirty-six more. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has a Micah Williams or James Van Dyck portrait.

As a researcher, it would be ideal to see these portraits "in the flesh." Photos and slides help one to remember, but they are not the same as the actual works when delicate comparisons are called for. The ideal solution would be to bring all of the works together into one great hall with perfect lighting, so that one might then solve the mysteries, but this, of course, is not possible. The late Joyce Hill, a former curator at the Museum of American Folk Art and my mentor, told me to perform my research carefully and thoroughly, study the minutest details, and use my now educated hunches—my gut feelings—to form my conclusions.

The works of both Micah Williams and James Van Dyck are an important part of New Jersey's folk art history.

A few questions remain, but hopefully, these will soon be answered.* Acknowledgments: Jam privileged to have known Irwin F. Cortelyou. She has been most generous in giving me access to her notes, card files, and photographs.

I could not have come this far in my research without her.

Research for this article has been made possible by a grant from the American Folk Art Society to further research New Jersey's folk artists, particularly the portraits attributed to Micah Williams, and to expand upon the work done by Cortelyou between 1953 and 1974.

Nancy Tobin Dorer is aformer Curator of Education at the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art. She earned her A.B. in art his-

toryfrom Brown University and her MA. infolk art studiesfrom New York University. A lecturer and researcher, she wrote "Hackensack Cupboards:Jazzy Neoclassical Folk Forms ofthe Early Nineteenth Century," an essay for The Challenge of Folk Materials for New Jersey's Museums (published by the Museums Council ofNew Jersey, 1986), and is currently investigating the works of Micah Williams and James Van Dyck.

NOTES 1 Holger Cahill, American Primitives (Newark, N. J.: Newark Museum Association, 1930), p. 20.

2 Ibid.

3 Telephone conversation with Irwin F. Cortelyou, Sept. 20,1993.

4 Interview with Irwin F. Cortelyou, May 5,1988.

5 Irwin F. Cortelyou,"Henry Conover: sitter, not artist," Antiques(Dec. 1954): 481.

6 ,unpublished catalog.

7 ,card file notes. These two portraits are of John G. Vanderveer and another Vanderveer family member, possibly John's mother, Jane Griggs Vanderveer. The New Jersey Historical Society, which owns paintings of three other members of this family, lists the family name as Van Derveer.

8 Ibid.

9 "A mysterious pastellist identified," Antiques (Aug. 1954): 122-123;"Henry Conover: sitter, not artist," Antiques (Dec. 1954): 481;"Notes on Micah Williams, native of New Jersey," Antiques (Dec. 1958): 540-541;"Micah Williams, pastellist," Antiques (Nov. 1960): 459-461;"Micah Williams, New Jersey Primitive Portrait Artist," The Monmouth Historian (Spring, 1974):4-15.

10 Cortelyou,"Micah Williams, New Jersey Primitive Portrait Artist," p. 8.

11 Ibid., p. 10.

12 Beatrix T. Rumford,ed., American Folk Portraits (Boston: New York Graphic Society in association with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1981), p.217.

13 Cahill, op. cit., p. 7.

14 S. Gail Fuller, Painted in Crayon: Pastel Portraitsfrom the Collection (Newark, N.J.: The New Jersey Historical Society, 1980), catalog #15, p. 79.

15 Cortelyou,"Micah Williams, pastellist," p. 461.

16 Ibid, p. 460. The portrait is now owned by the Monmouth County Historical Association, Freehold, New Jersey.

JIMMY LEE SUDDUTH JOHN HOOD

A

ADAM AND EVE 1991 Mud and housepaint on plywood 48

24"

Laima and John Hood Collection

s controversial as the field of contemporary folk art can be with its production lines, family workshops, and commercially directed artists, there is one twentieth-century American folk painter who, in most opinions, epitomizes the term "folk artist"—Jimmy Lee Sudduth of Alabama.

Sudduth is unquestionably self-taught, and the subjects he paints spring from and are a part of the local environment. His need to paint and his love of painting without money-making as his goal are obvious, and his simple straightforward style shows a talent which is the hallmark of folk painting. There are other artists who fit this pattern, but few of them have had such a lengthy career and created such a large body of work without assistance or professional guidance.

Jimmy Lee Sudduth, an African American, was born near Fayette, Alabama, on March 10, 1910, and has lived in the area all his life. A small town with a population of about five thousand, Fayette is located some sixty miles west of Birmingham in a land of rolling hills, woods, and farms. Sudduth's parents, Alex and Balzola, lived and worked on a number of farms in the Fayette area. His mother, who is said to have been part Native American, had a knowledge of herbal medicine, which she inherited from her ancestors.

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 47

The son of an Indian "medicine lady," he recalls painting with a mud and honey mixture on the surface of a freshly cut tree stump while he and his mother were in the woods looking for medicine plants. When they returned days later, the painting was still there. His mother saw this as a good "sign" and encouraged him thereafter to paint.'

During Sudduth's youth, he and his family (he had two brothers and three sisters) lived and worked on at least five different farms in the Fayette area. As a result, although he attended a one-room school through the fourth grade, he received little formal education. He showed a much stronger desire to draw than to acquire any book learning.

Whenever schoolmarms Mrs. Bertha Cannon or Mrs. Effie Rowland were teaching the other students, it was drawing time for Jimmy Lee. His failing to go along with the curriculum caused him to feel the pain of teacher's paddle more than once, but could not diminish his desire to draw and paint.

Before putting on paper his graphic creations, Sudduth says he drew in the dirt with a stick. "I drew this way for two years before I ever drew on paper or cardboard," he says.'

Jimmy Lee Sudduth and his parents settled on the Lumpkin White farm and lived there for many years.

While there, Sudduth met and married his first wife, Onnie Lee Strong, a young woman he described as an "Indian girl." The marriage lasted until Onnie's death in 1942.

The house where they lived is still standing and a project is underway to save the house and move it to a local park. In 1946, Sudduth married Ethel Palmore of Meridian, Mississippi. After they were married, Sudduth and Ethel lived on several farms before moving in January 1950 to Fayette, where he has lived ever since. Sudduth had a child with Hazel Doughty, a daughter, Annie Jamison, who was born around 1933.

In Fayette, Sudduth did yard work and odd jobs. He soon became well known in the neighborhood for his creative paintings.

One flat surface was as good as the next when it came to finding something to paint on. The corrugated metal side of the tool shed in his yard afforded space aplenty to create an eight-foot cow. She had a fun-loving demeanor about her that captured the hearts of the neighborhood, to say nothing of the train crews who passed by only a few feet away.

Jimmy Lee's yard slowly became a happening, especially at Christmas time when no one around could match him in creating yard decorations.'

One of the yards Sudduth cared for was owned by Jack Black, who is now the director and curator of the Fayette Art Museum. Black was also the publisher of the Fayette County Broadcaster for many years and the manager of a local radio station. Early on, Black recognized Sudduth's talent and became a supporter and an advisor.

He curated the first show of Sudduth's work in 1971.

Sudduth's work springs from the local Alabama earth in more ways than one. His subject matter is almost literally rooted in Fayette in that he uses local clay and

411 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

SNAKE 1990 Mud and housepaint on plywood 24

48"

Charles Locke Collection

mud to paint his pictures. He is a man and painter of the soil. His basic materials are clay, vegetables, sugar, and water, which he applies to locally manufactured plywood.

He usually paints with his fingers when applying mud, but uses well-worn brushes when working with paint.

When he begins a picture, he surrounds himself with containers holding sands, soils, and clay. He likes to use white, gray, and brown sand as well as brown and black soils. He prepares these by adding sugar and a little water to the sand, and syrup to the dirt and clay to help them stick to the board.'

According to Sudduth himself, this technique was developed gradually and somewhat by accident.

I worked with cardboard but the mud didn't seem to hold up so well. So I went to plywood, somethin' that holds up. But I still didn't know how to make the mud get hard. There was a man lickin' syrup

one day and he dropped some syrup on the ground.

I got that syrup and I put it on a board and that was it! I went up there and got juice from the [sorghum] mill. I put it in my mud and put it on the board and it got hard and wouldn't come off. I said, 'I got what I want now., I went wild! I went wild! I commenced paintin' everywhere and I painted for at least 25 years and just give 'gm away.'

Concerns about the permanency of his pictures have arisen because of Sudduth's use of mud and clay. In response to these concerns, Sudduth has stated that "after a painting is down, you can step on it, kick it, anything you like and it won't come off the board."' So far there have been no reports of preservation problems, although Jack Black has said insects are attracted to dried sweet water.

The rawness and texture of the mud and clay result in a work of dynamic simplicity. By using different shades

of mud he creates effective contrasts. Sudduth says he uses thirty-six different shades of local clay. Sometimes he applies it directly to the raw plywood, but more often he paints the plywood white before applying the mud or clay, thus making the subject stand out. Even though he prefers to paint with mud and clay alone, Sudduth also uses house paint and chalk. Chalk is frequently used in portraying houses, while house paint is sometimes used to provide additional contrasts and at other times makes up most of the painting.

While Sudduth's subjects are many and varied, you can generally recognize a Sudduth work at first glance. In the early years, he concentrated on Fayette houses and public buildings; more recently, he has also painted city skylines. He delights in painting his dog Toto, as well as a myriad of birds and other animals, including snakes, turkeys, bears, skunks, turtles, alligators, and his specially

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 49

BALZOLA 1991 Mud and housepaint on plywood 24

24"

Laima and John Hood Collection

ALLIGATOR AND BIRDS c.1990 Mud and acrylic on tin 26

35"

Courtesy American Primitive Gallery

invented creature, the "dinalizard." Another favored theme consists of multiple small figures in one or two rows, which can be aligned horizontally or vertically.

As is the case with many folk artists, Sudduth often repeats his favorite themes over and over with slight variations. His images are simple and straightforward. He usually does not try to tell a story. This "in-your-face" directness is one of the basic appeals of folk art. Sudduth is unusual among Southern folk artists in that few of his themes are religious or patriotic and he does not put any written message on his works.

While many of his pictures are of women, few are of men, and these are mainly self-portraits. I believe Sudduth does his finest work with his paintings of women.

His simple and direct style shows sensitivity and produces a sensuous effect. Although there is only a minimum of detail apparent in them, his women's faces are alive and alert, and their bodies have a fluidity of movement.

Sudduth seems to like and empathize with women.

Sudduth loves to paint; it is his life. He has created thousands of works—no one knows exactly how many— during his lifetime. He can work rapidly and finish a painting in a few minutes, or he can take days to complete a work. In contrast to other artists, all works signed by Sudduth were created by him alone.

Public notice of Sudduth's work was first taken in a newspaper article written in 1963. This article reflects the mores of the South at that time, as well as the nature of the attention paid to this kind of art.

50 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

A popular yard man, who does not have enough time to get around to all his customers, Jimmy Lee says he really appreciates his white folks. Jimmy Lee takes great pride in his work, using colored crepe paper and shoe polish to get his colors. He has never had any training. He said he has made $500 from sales of his pictures all over the US. His largest sale was $25 for his painting of the Fayette County Court House. Jimmy Lee and his wife live in the servant house of Mr. and Mrs. Eric Grimsley and they take great pride in their home and surroundings. He even has put artificial blooms on the shrubbery. Jimmy Lee's wife, Ethel, is one of the long time baby sitters in the nursery at the Fayette First Methodist.'

The first public exhibition of his art was at the Fayette Art Museum in September 1971. In 1975, Sudduth appeared on Alabama television and, as a result, was one of two Alabama artists invited to the Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C., in 1976. He appeared on television on NBC's Today show on October 27, 1980.

Over the years, his work has been shown in many exhibitions in the United States and Europe. The latest one-man show of his work was at the Eastern Shore Art Center in Fairhope, Alabama, in August 1992. Sudduth's work is included in the New Orleans Museum of Art exhibition "Passionate Visions of the American South: SelfTaught Artists from 1940 to the Present," which opened on October 23, 1993.

FAYETTE COUNTY COURTHOUSE c. 1963 Mixed media (all mud except perhaps some green housepaint on trees and shrubbery) on Celotex 30 1/2

48"

Jack and Margaret Black Collection

Except for a few short breaks, Jimmy Lee Sudduth has continued painting regularly since he began. Jimmy Lee and Ethel Sudduth, although they were married for forty-six years, had no children but helped to raise a relative's son; when the boy drowned in the summer of 1974, Sudduth was heartbroken and stopped painting for a short time. When Ethel suffered a debilitating illness, Sudduth helped care for her at home for a number of years; she died in August 1992 in a Fayette nursing home. Even though he himself has had some ailments and his doctor has recommended that he slow down, Sudduth continues to work almost every day, often painting late into the night. While his painting has a compulsive component, Sudduth is certainly no obsessive recluse. He loves to have people visit. He plays his harmonica and keyboard for them and also sings the blues. This is a man with a zest for life and a powerful need to express himself.

Once you meet Jimmy Lee Sudduth, it is difficult to separate his magnetic, outgoing personality from his art. Actually, his art displays the same powerful love of life that he shows to visitors through his openness and friendliness. The confidence and optimism he shows by referring to himself as the "greatest" have led some to call him an entertainer, even a clown. For some, this vision of Sudduth is reinforced by his eagerness to sing and play the harmonica.

He is indeed the Muhammad Ali of folk painting. And if he is, in fact, an entertainer, it is certainly a role he enjoys. His energy and raw talent show in the bold style of his work, and his gregarious and enthusiastic personality seeks attention, but in a healthy way.

Public attention and considerable income don't seem to have changed his lifestyle. He lives in a simple four-room house with a porch; for the comfort of visitors, he has installed an air-conditioner in his kitchen.

Whatever the driving force behind his creation of art may be, it is not money.

Jimmy Lee Sudduth is without doubt one of our important folk painters. This is not simply because his drive to make art was so strong that he created his own materials, drawing from the poor rural environment of his youth; because he has been featured on national television and his work had been shown in exhibitions all over America and in Europe; or because he has an open,friendly personality that captivates all who meet him— "I've made a million friends with mud"8 says Sudduth, and "I taught myself to paint with mud. Dirt is free and never wears out. I can paint anything I can dream."9 His talent and status are based on his mastery of line and his ability to create vivid and vital figures with a minimum of detail. Sudduth is more than an Alabama artist who creates simple paintings on plywood and happens to use mud as well as house paint. Some aficionados of self-taught art object to his use of paint, preferring his works in the various brown and red shades of mud and

clay, while others find that his use of paint effectively enhances his work. Regardless, it is generally agreed that he has an excellent sense of color.

Only time will tell whether his works truly have a lasting appeal, but in contemporary American folk art, Jimmy Lee Sudduth certainly holds an important place.

Robert Bishop wrote that "there are artists who paint for joy...[men who] transfer to canvas in acid tones and brighthued colors their love of life."' Jimmy Lee Sudduth is one of these.* John Hood is a retired mortgage broker and a student at the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art's Folk Art Institute. He earned his BA.from Notre Dame University and a masters in businessfrom New York University. He and his wife, Laima, have traveled extensively through the South, visiting Americanfolk artists and collecting their work.

NOTES 1 Marcia Weber,September 1991 interview with Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Outsider Artists in Alabama (catalog), a Project of the Alabama State Council on the Arts(Montgomery, Ala., 1991), p. 48.

2 Jack Black,"Jimmy Lee Sudduth Paintings To Be Exhibited At Museum,"Fayette County Broadcaster, 23 Sept. 1971. ,Eastern Shore Art Center at Fairhope, Alabama 3 Checklist of the exhibition "Jimmy Lee Sudduth Paintings 1968-1992,"(Fairhope, Ala.: Eastern Shore Art Center, Aug. 1992).

4 Carolyn W.Ezell,"The Anything Art of Jimmy Lee Sudduth," Highlightsfor Children (June 1991): 16-17.

5 Nancy Callahan,"Plywood for his canvas,turnip greens for paint, old houses as subjects," The Christian Science Monitor, 23 July 1980, p. 19, Arts/Entertainment.

6 Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Museum ofAmerican Folk Art Encyclopedia ofTwentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists (New York: Abbeville Press, 1990), p. 297.

7 "Negro of Fayette Becoming Famous For His Primitive Painting" Daily Northwest Alabamian, around 31 Jan. 1963.

8 Black,"Fame built on mud:5.5 million viewers to meet folk artist Jim Sudduth," Fayette County Broadcaster,9 Oct. 1980, Vol. 19, No. 32, p. 10.

9 Ezell, op. cit.

10 Robert Bishop, Folk Painters ofAmerica (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1979), p. 14.

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 51

SAVE YOUR OLD SILK STOCKINGS: 5 <, aveyour old silk stockings! When your stockings run, let them run to Labrador! We need silk stockings in Unlimited Quantities! Please send your silk stockings and underwear no matter how old and worn! We need such silk and artificial silk for the making of hooked rugs of a beautiful type." This was the urgent plea sent out from the Grenfell Mission of Newfoundland and Labrador to American and British socialites in 1928. By this time, the cottage industry, referred to as the "Industrial," established by the Grenfell Mission more than twenty years before, was flourishing and was, as Sir Wilfred Grenfell wrote in his later years,"the key to the whole situation."2 Mat hooking in Newfoundland and Labrador did not originate with the Grenfell Mission. I-looking was a craft whose roots lay with the earliest English and Scottish settlers and was generations old by 1892, when Dr. Wilfred Grenfell arrived on the stormy northern shores of Newfoundland and Labrador, where he met a courageous, hardworking, reserved, and always generous and hospitable people. These people were fighting terrible odds against rampant disease and hunger, poverty, and exploitation, but little or no aid was forthcoming for these British colonies. Grenfell decided, almost immediately, to dedicate his life to alleviating the terrible suffering he had encountered. Out of his devotion grew a medical mission that, in its farreaching aims, had significant and lasting impact on the lives and futures of. the fishing families of this land of awesome beauty but as Dr. Grenfell wrote,"utter lack of opportunity."3 While on a lecture tour in the spring of 1905, Grenfell

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Mrs. Martha Colburne and her daughter Laura hooking mats at St. Mary's River, Labrador 1931 Photo courtesy Grenfell House Museum, St. Anthony, Newfoundland.

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was introduced to Miss Jessie Luther in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Luther, originally from Providence, Rhode Island, was involved in setting up a small sanatorium that offered various crafts, such as pottery, weaving, and woodworking, as treatment for patients recovering from nervous collapse and other similar maladies. Grenfell was impressed by Luther and her unusual "cure" and felt that weaving was just the thing needed by the people of this extreme northern coast to augment their meager and unreliable income from the fishing industry. He firmly believed that outright gifts of money,food, and clothing would offer no long-term help. This belief provided the seeds for a cottage industry that produced a number of handicrafts, including the now well-known hooked mats. Grenfell urged Jessie Luther to make the journey to the mission's headquarters at St. Anthony, a tiny settlement on the very northeastern tip of Newfoundland, to start a weaving industry. In July of 1906 she headed north for what was to be the beginning of nearly ten years of dedicated service to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the Grenfell Mission.

Many difficulties had to be overcome in the establishment and continuance of the weaving project.

Weaving had to be taught, as no cultural precedent existed.

Transportation of supplies was extremely difficult, irregular, and expensive. The sheep population was continually in danger due to the basic instincts of the essential husky dogs. Women were used to existing on the uncertain results of the summer's catch of fish and seemed unwilling to try anything new. Because of the size of the looms, weaving was not a craft that could easily be performed in their small homes, making it necessary to travel by dog team or on foot to St. Anthony.

Local girls had to be trained and then sent to the various outposts dotting the coast to instruct a curious but suspicious group of women. With Luther's unlimited faith in the people and careful planning, however, the weaving industry was established. It is rare, however, to see products of this industry today.

Although Grenfell and Luther certainly were aware of the flawlessly hooked and colorful matsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which were abundant in houses of the fisherfolk, where they provided warmth and decorationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;this craft was overlooked in the first few years of the Industrial.

Perhaps the bold colors and undisciplined designs of these floor coverings did not allow their salability to be immediately apparent. Every woman hooked, most from their earliest childhood. The quiet months of February and March were known as the "matting season." No special equipment was Photo counesy America Hurrah NYC

54 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

necessary, and what was needed did not cost anything and could be easily made by the husbands. Each home had a mat frame made from four pieces of wood lashed together.

When not in use, this frame rested up against the wall. The hook was merely a filed-off, bent nail pounded into a stump of wood that was whittled to fit the individual woman's hand. Old sugar and flour sacks were used as the mat base. No scrap of material had seen the end of its life until it was hooked into a mat. Grenfell tells of a boy who felt reluctant to attend school because one leg of his trousers was made from a flour sack and "Pillsbury's Best" covered the seat. This scrap of humble fabric had not yet arrived at its final goal.'

Dr. John Little, a colleague of Grenfell's at the hospital in St. Anthony, was the first to take note of the mat's possible usefulness. In November 1907 Miss Luther noted in her diary that Dr. Little, in his zeal for combating the prevalent tuberculosis, had "designed a rug with the devise 'Don't Spit' in red letters on a white background, bordered with a pattern in red and green. Several people have used the design on door mats."5 None of the mats are known to exist today.

The first mention of organizing the matting industry occurs in Luther's journal on January 29, 1908. "This afternoon was the beginning of the matting club. Several women came but evidently with the idea of looking around before committing themselves."6 And on February 5,1908, "Mr. Ash brought the matting frames for the class today, but none of the women appeared; `too dirty' the girls said.

I am often surprised by the attitude of the women,especially the older ones, towards the weather. But when one considers the clothing, it is not strange."' It may also be

DOG TEAM WITH SHADOWS Steve Hamilton C. 1942 331 2 461 2 Private collection

POLAR BEAR ON ICE FLOE Designer unknown c. 1930 9

7"

Collection of Robin Walker White-coat seal fur was used to hook bear.

that the women did not feel the need for lessons in a craft they had already mastered. The women were indeed hooking some interesting "scrap" mats of their own design: blocks or triangles arranged like a patchwork quilt, some with circles or simple designs, and others with intricate floral motifs. They would offer to sell these mats to Grenfell or Luther in return for medical services. The best of them would be accepted and would then serve as an "interesting addition to our annual sales as curios."9 However, traders had begun to sell burlap stamped with "ugly designs in glaring and inharmonious colors with pound packages of bright colors for patterns,"9 and as a result women were frequently hooking these into mats that Luther felt were unsatisfactory and unsalable.

Being aware of Mrs. Helen Albee of Pequaket, New Hampshire, who had developed the successful Abnakee hooked rug cottage industry, Luther began to pattern the Labrador Industrial along similar lines. She designed some mats herself using animal themes of local significance, usually treated as borders running around a plain center. The materials used were new wool and outing flannel, some of which were purchased from Mrs. Albee.

In experiments with vegetable brews and local dyes, the materials were "dyed in the loom room in an enameled dish pan over a little Florence oil stove."' Patterns were marked on burlap and given with the materials for the hooking to be worked on at home; color samples were carefully pinned to each part of the design to indicate which color to use. In her writings, Luther frequently mentions that mats of good workmanship and of colorings which would not "clash with average household furniture" should find a ready market." Few, if any, of these early

mats have been found today and it is certain that only small numbers actually were offered for sale.

In her journal entry of September 10, 1910, Luther wrote that "after important matters were disposed of [Grenfell] became interested in making designs for hooked mats that are being prepared for distribution among the local women who work in the industrial department."

This may signify the start of Grenfell's awareness of the hooked mats as a viable part of the Industrial, which until now had been relying on weaving and woodworking. He credits himself with coming up with the idea of turning the hooked mats into a profitable industry in 1912 when he and his wife, Anne MacClanahan of Lake Forest, Illinois, whom he had married in 1909, were visiting the home of a prosperous fisherman at the edge of Hare Bay. The fisherman's wife and daughters proudly displayed their winter's mat hooking for Mrs. Grenfell. Their work was beyond reproach, and the idea of standardizing and refining the hooked mat industry to suit the marketplace may have arisen from this showing.

Jessie Luther was devoted to Grenfell and seems to have felt a sense of betrayal when he married. When Mrs. Grenfell undertook to standardize the hooked mat industry, thus becoming directly involved in the workings of the Industrial, Luther, citing differences of opinion, tendered her resignation. Grenfell's response to her letter of resignation contained a hint of her discontent:"Your fears about our little mat industry seem groundless. We have on hand now orders for 145 mats...." In her pursuit of the highest standards of workmanship, Luther had altered indigenous designs and trained her workers to produce only highly salable crafts. She was criticized by Mrs. Grenfell for giving work only to those who did "extra good work" and for insisting on selling at a high profit. Mrs. Grenfell also had pronounced her husband's mat designs "more interesting" than Luther's, and this had been repeated to Luther.'

Despite Mrs. Grenfell's criticism, Jessie Luther deserves the praise Grenfell lavished on her many years later. Jessie Luther built the Industrial from the barest of beginnings; she was the key to its success, and by the time of her resignation after nearly ten years of service, it was fully developed. She had traveled thousands of miles on the rocky Labrador coast giving out bundles to be hooked, picking up finished work, and inspiring a feeling of interest, self reliance and self confidence in the people. The women trusted her; she had given them the "courage to attempt and the ability to do."'

Sixteen mission patterns were in production by 1916. These were designed by Grenfell and represented local scenes: dog driving, reindeer driving, reindeer on ice floe, a white owl, bears on snow, bears on icebergs, flight of geese over the moon, killing of a whale, lynx stalking crows, and foxes hunting partridges. In the mission's quarterly publication, Among the Deep Sea Fishermen, Grenfell urged benefactors to send only new materials for these mats, noting that pieces should be over ten inches long, as "mere scraps would be of no use to us."' White was particularly desirous as most of the animals are white in the winter and many scenes are snow pictures. Black woolen of a medium weight was also requested, as all borders are

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 55

black. The first mention of silk stockings as a hooking medium for use in the borders appears in 1916.

Mat hooking was centralized in St. Anthony, Battle Harbor, Red Bay, and Harrington Harbor. At this time, Mrs. Grenfell was preparing twenty-five mats for hooking each week. Each mat was cut, hemmed, and drawn and inked over, then twelve to eighteen yards of hooking material was torn into quarter-inch- by ten-inch-long strips.

These strips were pulled taut so that the raw edges turned inward. Along with the appropriate materials dyed to the specified colors, each hooker was given a pattern stenciled on burlap, or brin, as it was called, and a miniature painted picture of what the finished mat should look like. A standard-size mat, which was 25" x 41", was sold in the United States for $5.00. Of this $5.00, $1.50 was given to the hooker, either in cash or in clothing. The remainder of the money covered costs for dyes and materials not donated.

After each of Jessie Luther's trips north, she had returned home to the States to show and sell the products

bearing the Grenfell name. As early as 1911 and 1912 there had been successful sales in Providence and Boston.

The hooked mats and other crafts found a ready market in the New England states. At a sale in New York, all hooked mats sold out on the first day. McHugh's, a fashionable shop on Manhattan's 42nd Street, was selling the mats purely as a business—not as charity—proving their merit.

Two hundred mats were reportedly sold in a six-month period in 1916. This represented a $300 collective earning for the hookers. In 1917, 360 mats were sold at a higher price; these were made by sixty women and represented a $20 earning for each. Considering that no family was earning the equivalent of $500 per year for a family often having five or more children, and that many people had never seen money —the yearly fish catch was traded for supplies"—it is easy to see the significant impact of the Industrial.

The period between 1918 and 1923 was one of substantial growth for the mat industry. Over twenty copyrighted patterns, including several new designs, were in production. The new designs included two walrus on ice pans, a fleet of four schooners, a fox chasing a rabbit, three bears traveling in a line over snow in front of a cabin, three dogs with traces in front of a cabin, and two men in a canoe paddling by a bear on an ice floe. To cover rising

56 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

costs, the price of a standard-size mat rose to between $6.50 and $8.00. The Industrial was providing work for nearly 475 mat hookers who lived along hundreds of miles of the Labrador coastline. The emphasis was on wellmade, clean, and carefully standardized work. While mission policy was to accept only work that met its standards, cases certainly were dealt with on an individual by-need basis. Some substandard mission mats were accepted and used as sample mats or sold locally as seconds. Scrap mats, designed by the hookers, were also bartered.

Also during this time, the Industrial moved into larger quarters, where work progressed according to an almost assembly-line discipline. Women came on Tuesdays and Fridays to deliver finished mats and to pick up new work. Many workers had to travel in by dog team or on foot, a journey which often took days. Each worker was recorded on a card on which mission staff had noted whether her family was in need, the kind and grade of work she did, and the amount of work she had been given. The finished mats were then weighed (to assure that the materials that went out came back), graded, and paid for. Women were scrupulous about returning all of the hooking flannelette they had originally been given, many returning even the cut-off scraps, which they stuffed into old stockings.'"

One large mat, which may have taken the hooker from one week to one month to hook, was worth $3.50. Most women chose to be paid in the form of clothing made up into "500 bundles." Each bundle contained six to eight pieces of clothing. One worker said it didn't matter what was in the clothing bundle, because if they needed trousers, but had received a coat, they just tore up the coat and used the material to sew up some trousers, or if they received a sweater that was too small, they ripped it out and knitted up some mittens.'9 Each family was permitted only one "baby bundle" per year.

In 1928, a mailing list of interested donors received the appeal for silk stockings. Children in Sunday schools were urged to participate in the silk collections. Mrs. Rosamond G. Shaw, the youngest of the Grenfell children, remembers handing out pamphlets requesting donations of silk and rayon stockings during summer sales and after her father's lectures. The donors were encouraged to cut off the tops and feet to save postage.'" The stockings, which were cut round and round on the bias, were first used for flowers and the more delicate inserts of the mats, and then for the finest grade mats. With the use of stocking material, the mat industry entered its years of peak production.

On a return visit to St. Anthony, Jessie Luther called the Industrial "a veritable workshop or factory.'"' Mats of all sizes, shapes, and colors were stacked up to the ceiling; groups of workers could be seen tearing flannel into strips, winding balls of unraveled brin, and cutting the tops off silk stockings and the legs into narrow strips; in another room, workers were cutting stencils and marking burlap with the patterns to be hooked. Rows of people sat drawing in the design room. A dye room, still only a bathtub and a sink in which stockings were bleached then dyed, and a stock room that held the huge quantities of material awaiting preparation for the mats completes the picture.

There simply was not adequate space to accommodate all

WELCOME MAT Designer unknown C. 1925 24 1/2

40 1/2"

Private collection

Labrador woman working at her frame at home c. 1933 Photo courtesy Grenfell House Museum, St. Anthony, Newfoundland.

Jessie Luther at St. Anthony c. 1908 Printed with permission from Martha Gendron.

Hanging dyed stockings out to dry in St. Anthony c. 1935 Photo courtesy Grenfell House Museum, St. Anthony, Newfoundland.

the work and the workers. Luther wrote that the amount of material "fairly took my breath away....I know of no work...to compare with the excellence of workmanship of these mats....This is especially true of the latest product, small mats in which old silk stockings, dyed in attractive colors, are used?"' Imagine Luther's response to the fact that 3,000 mats had been hooked in the winter of 1929 and revenues from sales had risen from $27,000 in 1926 to $63,000 in 1929. In 1930, payments to mat hookers amounted to $10,847.68, which, at an average of $3.00 per mat paid to each worker, indicates 3,615 mats hooked.23 In the 1930s, enthusiastic volunteers toured the resort areas of New England and New York. Sales were held in hotels, clubs, city halls, and private schools and homes, and frequently were accompanied by a lecture and

show of lantern slides presented by Grenfell. Retail shops were opened on Madison Avenue in New York City and at 1631 Locust Street in Philadelphia. In its first ten months, the New York shop counted receipts of $14,000; Philadelphia reported a financially successful first year. In 1931 the Dog Team Tavern was established in Ferrisburg, Vermont, to provide another point of distribution for the products, and in 1934 the Dog Team Tea House was established in Oxford, Connecticut, for the same purpose.

By 1932, owing to scarcity of funds, accumulation of goods, and lack of new markets, production had to be severely curtailed. "It is simply heartbreaking to have everyone on the Coast clamoring for two or three mats...we feel we ought to give everyone something if possible....We are making up the last bags to be given out this Tuesday. Then we are through...."" The beginning of the decline came at a time when the people needed the work the most. The fish catch had failed and nearly 20,000 people were on government relief, receiving 6¢ a day.

"Stocking congestion" at the Industrial had been completely depleted and the mission publication called for desperately needed donations of clothing and silk stockings and bolts of "cheap-grade" flannelette. Special sale prices on hooked mats were offered at the Grenfell shops in New York, Philadelphia, London, and Boston. "We can not fail them now" wrote the superintendent of the Industrial, Miss Pressley-Smith, in her appeal." But the effects of the Depression had reached the region and the Industrial never fully recovered or returned to its happy days of overcrowding and standing-room-only production. Grenfell's health had begun a slow, steady decline owing to frequent minor heart attacks, and his involvement and leadership began to pale.

When Rhoda Dawson was designing for the Industrial in Cartwright in the early to mid1930s, she provided new vision and spirit. She felt that the Industrial was now the "public trustee for the folk art of the Labrador.""

Dawson encouraged the craftspeople to retain their own identity in their mat making and other crafts. She is responsible for one of the most graphically interesting mat designs: Fish on Flake, circa 1933.

With the advent of World War II, closed markets, insurmountable transportation difficulties, problems obtaining materials, and rising costs led to the American, Canadian, and English markets seeing few, if any, of the handicrafts of the Grenfell Mission. Production fell dramatically. It is reported that in 1938, only $150 was paid out to a population of 2,000."

When Grenfell died in 1940, the spirit and inspiration behind the Industrial died with him. Nonetheless, the Industrial, although reduced to only two trained workers on the coast, persevered. Servicemen stationed in the region provided a new market and the hooked mat industry maintained a stable base, producing 978 and 1,547 mats in the years 1947 and 1948, respectively." The Industrial's

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 57

headquarters in St. Anthony were finally moved to desperately needed new quarters, but the fact that only nylon stockings were available after the war changed the program entirely.

Because nylon would take only blue dye, the beautiful tints achieved by dying huge vats full of silk and rayon stockings could no longer be attained."

Nylon stockings could be used only in the braided rugs made at Harrington Harbor. In 1952 an urgent SOS went out for silk and rayon and cotton stockings, but times had changed and there was never again an adequate supply. The hooked mat industry carries on today under the independent "Grenfell Handicrafts" label in St. Anthony. The mats are the original, copyrighted Grenfell patterns hooked with the same flawless precision in wool, but the colors lack the subtleties so cherished in the old mats.

Mat hooking has had wide-ranging benefits for the women of the Labrador. In the early days of the mission, women provided their families with the bare necessitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; clothing, food, and medicines. Later, wallpaper, linoleum, and paint purchased with "mat money" began to inspire a new pride. Women could earn their own livelihood and were no longer forced to marry young. Two enterprising young sisters earned one tuition for school, each going to school one day and staying home the next." The men looked at the women with new respect and proudly spoke of their own contributions to the art, sometimes offering technical advice on a mat design. "I showed Janie how t'rigging of that schooner should go.'" They willingly hauled their wives by dogsled or rowed them to St. Anthony on Mat Day. Lady Grenfell (Dr. Grenfell was knighted in 1929) was particularly active in finding scholarships to enable promising students to go to the States to attend Berea College, Pratt Institute, and other art schools.

These students returned home to teach and enrich the lives of others. However, with progress came a change in attitudes. Mat hooking is now carried on by only a handful of women. Unfortunately, believing that only poor women hook, mothers have not encouraged their daughters to continue the tradition.

Though it is possible to recount the history of the Grenfell mat industry, there are many facts and stories that remain only in the memories of the aging hookers and Industrial workers. The question of who designed the mats often arises. Luther and Grenfell certainly designed many of the early mats. Valda Vaughn, a volunteer at Cartwright, designed a large sea gull over rocky cliffs and the map of Newfoundland and Labrador. Dora Mesher, a talented local woman who was sent to Berea College, designed some distinctive mats. Henrietta Frantz, a Norwegian, and Rudolph Freund, a Jewish refugee from Hitler's Germany, contributed mat designs. Edwin "Ned" Hancock designed a "People Working" series around

51I WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

SCHOONER

1938. Hancock was the godchild of Jessie Luther and in 1920 she wrote, "The men of the family tell me I am expected to give the family a barrel of flour and provide for that child if left stranded." Edwin Hancock graduated from Rhode Island School of Design as a sculptor and later became a naturalized United States citizen." Steve Hamilton designed the well-known Dog Team with Shadows mat in 1942, while working in the Craft Shop as a "wop"(worker without pay), waiting on customers. It is the only mat he designed." Anne Carney designed the Husky Head mat at Harrington Harbor in 1952. Countless more volunteers, Industrial supervisors, and hookers are responsible for the myriad of designs found in the marketplace today. Although their names will remain largely unknown, they have left a vital contribution to the folk art of North America.

"There's nothin' in the world I likes better'n hookin' a mat," said Olive Saunders, speaking with the distinctive lilt of the people of this region. The hookers retain a certain pride about their craft but few still practice it. The Grenfell Mission kept scrupulous records on each hooker but these records can not be found among the many boxes that fill the upstairs of the old Industrial. It is impossible to know who hooked which mat. "I liked the geese, and the shadin' of the sky was all like rainbow colors," Minnie Compton said, smiling as she remembered. Emily Sulley said,"I've worked as a hooker for sixty years. Took me two weeks to do a Mallard duck, got $10.00 for it; smaller ones, size of a window pane, a dollarâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;just givin' it away. Hard work for nothing. Oh, I liked doin' it." Una Roberts said,"I loves hookin' a mat, I enjoyed every minute. I done all kinds, I s'pose every kind they med." Mrs. Elsie Chislett, one of the most accomplished hookers from Harrington Harbor, is known to have hooked many mats of the Steve Hamilton design," but she would have trouble identifying her work.

There is confusion over the labels that are on the reverse of many of the mats. There are five different labels

Designer unknown C. 1930 25

39"

Collection of Barbara and Robert Meltzer

Paula Laverty is a graduate ofthe Museum's Folk Art Institute and guest curator ofthe upcoming exhibition "Northern Scenes: Hooked Art of the Grenfell Mission," on view at the Museum of American Folk Artfrom February 5 through April 17,1994.

ANCHORS Designer unknown c. 1930 21

271/2"

Collection of Patricia and Sanford Smith

that have been seen to date. One, probably the earliest, is a small strip of white cotton with "Made in Labrador" stamped on it. It is generally agreed that you can not date a mat by its label, for there is no way to know when each label was used. Additionally, when the mats first became collectible, many antique dealers, fearing that a Canadian label on a mat might bring down the price, simply took the labels off. It is now desirable to have the label on a mat, so some of these labels have been stitched back on to other mats with no regard to design, material, or date. Also, mats may have been sent out of the Industrial without labels due to the often frantic pace of production. There is no mention of the labels in Among the Deep Sea Fishers.

All of the women interviewed for this article remember sewing on the label themselves, in the lower right-hand corner on the reverse. One of the five known labels, the "Canadian Labrador" label, was used in Harrington Harbor. This label certainly was being used by 1944 and probably much earlier."

Today, these flawlessly hooked mats are an eagerly sought-after artwork. They are distinctive in their almost universal use of straight horizontal line hooking and their use of every hole in the brin, which results in as many as 200 stitches per square inch. They have survived the test of time as folk art. Those who admire the handiwork of these unnamed women must know that into each mat went a genuine pride of workmanship, an honest commitment, and a ray of hope. The Canadian government has placed a twoyear moratorium on commercial cod fishing, and the fishing families are once again faced with an uncertain future.

One elderly hooker, speaking about the mats, said simply, "Wouldn't they be nice, back again."* Acknowledgments: The author wishes to thank Ruth Pilgrim and Annie Hornett of Grenfell Handicrafts and Gill Hillyard of Grenfell House Museum for their invaluable assistance.

NOTES 1 Wilfred Grenfell,"Save Your Old Silk Stockings," Among the Deep Sea Fishers (July 1928): 69.

2 Wilfred Grenfell, letter to Jessie Luther, private collection of Martha Gendron.

3 Among the Deep Sea Fishers(January 1917).

4 Wilfred Grenfell,"The St. Anthony Mat Industry," Among the Deep Sea Fishers(October 1916): 135.

5 Jessie Luther,"Mission to Labrador"(unpublished manuscript, private collection of Martha Gendron).

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Jessie Luther,"In Retrospect," Among the Deep Sea Fishers (October 1930): 121.

9 Ibid. p. 123.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Jessie Luther,"Mission to Labrador."

13 Wilfred Grenfell, letter to Jessie Luther dated October 20, 1915, private collection of Martha Gendron.

14 Anne Grenfell, letter to W.R. Sterling dated August 6, 1916, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University.

15 Mary E. Schwall,"Industrial Work in Northern Newfoundland and Labrador," Among the Deep Sea Fishers (April 1916): 4.

16 Jessie Luther,"Industrial Work," Among the Deep Sea Fishers (October 1913): 27.

17 Earl B. Pilgrim, The Price Paidfor Charley (White Bay, Newfoundland: Tromso Enterprises Ltd.). p. 70.

18 Mrs. Alice Jones, telephone interview with author, Harrington Harbor, Quebec, September 1993.

19 Mrs. Olive Saunders, personal interview with author, St. Anthony, Newfoundland, June 1992.

20 "Silk Stockings Needed in Unlimited Quantity," Among the Deep Sea Fishers(October 1929): 133.

21 Jessie Luther,"In Retrospect," Among the Deep Sea Fishers (October 1930): 113.

22 Ibid.

23 "The Industrial Department," Among the Deep Sea Fishers (April 1931): 15.

24 M.A.Pressley-Smith,"Industrial Distress," Among the Deep Sea Fishers (April 1932):2.

25 Ibid. p. 5.

26 Rhoda Dawson,"The Folk Art of the Labrador," Among the Deep Sea Fishers (April 1939): 39.

27 Ronald Romkey, Grenfell ofLabrador(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991), p. 286.

28 Veronica Wood,"The Industrial窶年ew Quarters," Among the Deep Sea Fishers(April 1949): 11.

29 Marjorie Wheeler Gardiner, letter to author, September 1993.

30 Edith Tallant,"An Itinerant Industrial Worker," Among the Deep Sea Fishers(October 1930): 127.

31 Wilfred Grenfell,"The St. Anthony Mat Industry," Among the Deep Sea Fishers(October 1916): 135.

32 Jessie Luther, unpublished manuscript, private collection of Martha Gendron, p. 308.

33 Stephen Hamilton, letter to author, November 1991.

34 Alice Jones,telephone interview with author, September 1993.

35 Ibid. She positively asserts that Harrington Harbor never used the "Newfoundland and Labrador" label in her seven years, 1944-1951,as assistant supervisor.

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 55

MARTHAJACKSON Specializing in 19th and Early 20th Century Quilts Exhibiting In: White Plains Antiques Show January 7-9, 1994 and Convent of the Sacred Heart 1 East 91st Street, New York City January 21-23, 1994

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

Myopic Hunter, A one of a kind.

Carved, weathered gild over polychrome. 25"L x 31"H.

THOMAS LANGAN american folk art Glenwood Road P. 0. Box 304 Roslyn Harbor, NY 11576 516-621-3882

SO WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

Teddy's Present Acrylic on Carved Wood 34"x 18"

Ronald Cooper

Painted Wood

"Suicide"

ESQUELETO contemporary American folk ad and related ad objects

22 Carpenter Court Oberlin, Ohio 44074 2'16-775-2238 Hours Mon -Sat ,1-5pm

Ballard Street - Yorktown VA 23690 (804) 898-3076, fax (804) 890-0967

Ronald Cooper

-Baptismel Service"

Painted Wood

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 61

Carousel hand carved by Bill and Phyllis Duffy.

22" wide x 34" high.

10 animals with riders on a revolving base.

THE LIBERTY TREE Contemporary Mod Carvings 104 Spring Street Newport, Rhode Island 02840 Lynn de la Valette 401-847-5925

ALAN ROUSH ASSOCIATES PRESENTS FOLK ART BY

BRYAN McNun 11020 AUDELIA ROAD SUITE B101 DALIAS, TEXAS 75243

PHONE: 800-458-9542 DALLAS: 214-553-1586

62 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

STEPHEN HUNECK

F S. South Carolina In 1964 and MHO resides In Georgia. Her drawings offer passage to a World of her creation — often humorous and sometimes poignant. was born in

Blue Spiral 1 also has HETRICK ERROIFF: Carped and painted boomer ones REV. RUSSELL GILLESPIE: Homesteads and landscapes BESSIE HARVEY: Sculpture, drawings and clag figures JIM HRUHER: Clag figures LONNIE HOLLEY: Sculpture and paintings 51111011 RAKES: Paintings PARKS L TOIRHSEHD [SUITE: Canes, animals and figures

BLUE SPIRAL 1 "BATHING BEAUTY FLOOR LAMP" • 70"x15"x 15" • 1993

FINE ART • AMERICAN CRAFT - CONTEMPORARY FOLK ART

STEPHEN HUNECK GALLERY

38 8ILTMOBE DIANE - RSHEUILLE. NC 28801 - 704 251 0202

49 Central Street, Woodstock, VT 05091 1-800-449-2580

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART U

*olktokar ,,reAtra4...r84Agi MOSE T WOODIE LONG HOWARD FINSTER JAMES HAROLD JENNINGS REVEREND BENJAMIN PERKINS JIMMY LEE SUDDUTH ANNIE T SARAH RAKES

Eight outstanding folk artists of rural America have licenced FOLKWEAR This line of high quality activewear is dedicated to the creative spirit of America's contemporary folk artists.

Thirty t-shirt designs to choose from!

For more information and a brochure call 1-800-289-8744 or 205-758-0678 or write to Campus Collection P.O. Box 2904 Tuscaloosa, AL 35403 Not sold individually.

Sold only to retail outlets at wholesale prices.

BARBARA OLSEN Self-Taught Artist Noah & the Good Book — Watercolor— Available as aframed print 13"x 17"

BARBARA OLSEN STUDIO 18781 Chillicothe Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44023 (216) 543-2452 FAX (216) 543-2453 Callfor gallery referral or studio appointment

64 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

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

Raymond Coins. Doll Baby. River stone, 14 1/2" x 11" x 3", ca. 1988.

See Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists and Signs and Wonders. Outsider Art inside North Carolina.

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.

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Executive Committee Ralph Esmerian President Frances Sirota Martinson, Esq. Executive Vice President and Chairman,Executive Committee Lucy C. Danziger Executive Vice President Joan M.Johnson Vice President Bonnie Strauss Vice President Peter M.Ciccone Treasurer Cynthia V. A. Schaffner Secretary Judith A. Jedlicka Theodore L. Kesselman Susan Klein George F. Shaskan, Jr.

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58 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

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

DONORS

The Museum of American Folk Art greatly appreciates the generous support of the following friends: $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*

Honorary Trustee Eva Feld

Fairfield Processing Corporation/Poly-fir Daniel & Jessie Lie Farber* Walter and Josephine Ford Fund* Taiji Harada* Estate of Aniel T. Hubbell Joan & Victor L. Johnson* Johnson & 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.* Mrs. Louise A. Simone* Barbara and Thomas W.Strauss Fund David & Jane Walentas Robert N.& Anne Wright Wilson* 84,000—$9,999 American Patchwork & Quilting Joan Bull The David and Dorothy Carpenter Foundation* Tracy & Barbara Cate* Cone Communications,Inc. Country Home 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 F. 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 Takashimaya Co., Ltd. Mr.& Mrs. Stanley Tananbaum* Time Warner Inc. WIT Fabrics Mrs. Dixon Wecter* $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 Conde Nast Publications Inc. Consolidated Edison Company of New York Mr.& Mrs. Joseph F. Cullman III Gary Davenport Mr.& Mrs. Donald DeWitt* Mr.& Mrs. Alvin Einbender* Margot & John Ernst Richard C. and Susan B. Ernst Foundation M.Finkel & Daughter First Nationwide Bank Colonel Alexander W.Gentleman Concordia: A Chamber Symphony,Inc. Cordelia Hamilton* Justus Heijmans Foundation IBM Corporation Wendy & Mel Lavitt* Marsh & McLennan Companies MasterCard International Inc. Christopher & Linda Mayer* Morgan Stanley & Co., Incorporated PaineWebber Group Inc.

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Bad Ray Komer UNTITLED 1989

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Please call for more information

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Examples From Our Collection of Trade Signs 8c Symbols

1333 Abbot Kinney Blvd. • Venice, CA 90291 • (310)452-3909

Freddie Brice Ray Hamilton Aaron Birnbaum Gayleen Aiken Rev. St. Patrick Clay Lillian Smith Philip Travers

K.S. Art will be participating in the Outsider Art Fair(Booth #6)

Freddie Brice,Four Fish. 1992 32 x 48"

K.S. Art self-taught, outsider & folk

68 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

by appointment 91 Franklin Street #3 New York, NY 10013 212-219-1489

lut

" & w

s

t-t 6-1

•V f•J

The Joy Moos Gallery is pleased to announce exclusive representation of Harry Bertschmann

"Rookery" c. 1989 - 90 marker on paper, 11" x 14"

-City Scape I" C. 1985 -86 marker on paper, 11" x 14"

JOY MOOS GALLERY WORKS

01,

AR 1

Joy Moos Gallery Inc., 355 NE 59th Terrace, Miami, Florida 33137 Tel. (305) 754-9373 / Fax (305) 757-2124

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Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation Rockefeller Group,Inc. Betsey Schaeffer* Robert T.& Cynthia V. A. Schaffner Mr.& Mrs. Derek V. Schuster Mr.& Mrs. Ronald K. She1p* 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* Women's Action Alliance, Inc. Alice Yelen & Kurt A. Gitter $1,000—$1,999 Herbert A. Allen American Savings Bank William Arnett* The Bachmann Foundation Didi 8z David Barrett* Michael Belknap Bernina of America Adele Bishop Dr. Robert Bishop* Edward Vermont Blanchard & M. Anne Hill* Mr.& Mrs. Thomas Block Bloomingdale's Dr. & Mrs. Robert Booth Tina & Jeffrey Bolton David S. Boyd Mabel H. Brandon Sandra Breakstone British Airways 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 The Coach Dairy Goat Farm Joseph Cohen Consulate General of Mexico Judy Angelo Cowen The Cowles Charitable Trust Crane Co. Cullman & Kravis Susan Cullman Mr.& Mrs. Richard Danziger Carolyn & Robert Denham 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

70 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

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 IBM Corporation Robert G. James Mr.& Mrs. Yee Roy Jear* Judith A. Jedlicka Dr.& Mrs. J. E. Jelinek Barbara Johnson, Esq.* Mr.& Mrs. Alistair Johnston 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 Estate of Mary B. Ledwith William & Susan Leffler Barbara & Morris L. Levinson Dorothy & John Levy Nadine & Peter Levy James & Frances Lieu* Mr.& Mrs. Henry S. Lodge Dan W.Lufkin Robert & Betty Marcus Foundation, Inc.* Marstrand Foundation C. F. Martin IV* Leni & Peter May Helen R. Mayer and Harold C. Mayer Foundation Mrs. Myron L. Mayer Marjorie W. McConnell* Meryl & Robert Meltzer Brian & Pam McIver Michael & Marilyn Menne11o* The Mitsui USA Foundation Benson Motcchin* Mr.& Mrs. Jeremy N. Murphy Cyril I. Nelson Mattie Lou O'Kelley Omnigrid,Inc. Paul Oppenheimer* Park East Sewing Center 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. 8z Mrs. Jon Rotenstreich Louise Sagalyn The Salomon Foundation Inc. Mr.& Mrs. Oscar S. Schafer Mr.& Mrs. William Schneck Mr.& Mrs. Richard Sears* Sew New York Rev.& Mrs. Alfred R. Shands III Mrs. Vera W.Simmons Philip & Mildred Simon Mr.& Mrs. Sanford L. Smith* Sanford L. Smith & Associates Mr.& Mrs. Richard L. Solar* Soloman Co., Ltd. Sony USA Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Elie Soussa Jerry I. Speyer Ellen & David Stein Kathryn Steinberg Mr.& Mrs. Michael Steinhardt Sterling Winthrop Inc. Swiss National Tourist Office SwissAir Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Tananbaum Phyllis & Irving Tepper* Mr.& Mrs. Raymond S. Troubh Mrs. Anne Utescher* H. van Ameringen Foundation Tony & Anne Vanderwarker Jessie Walker & Arthur Griggs Warm Products, Inc. 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* Mr. & Mrs. William Zabel 8500—$999 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

chelo amezcua matthew smith jon serl anna zemankova joe salvatore bessie harvey daniel pressley michael madore howard finster rusdi lane john harvey braulio diaz roger rodrigus gregory van maanen christian michel georges liautaud robert st. brice andre pierre seneque obin miles carpenter louis monza justin mccarthy Gavin-Morris Inc. 560 Broadway, Suite 205 New York, NY 10012 Tel: (212) 226-3768 Fax:(212) 226-0155

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WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 71

American Folk Art Sidney Gecker

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL Attributed to Emily Eastman Watercolor on Paper Circa 1820 Loudon, New Hampshire

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

William Hawkins

Ann Nathan Gallery 210 West Superior Street Chicago, Illinois 60610 Tel: 312-664-6622 Fax: 312-664-9392 Wagon & Stork, enamel on corrugated, 30"x501/2"

72 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

20TH CENTURY AMERICAN FOLK, SELF TAUGHT/ AND OUTSIDER ART

JIM LINDERMAN FOLK AND OUTSIDER ART SELF TAUGHT MASTERS RECENT DISCOVERIES SCULPTURAL OBJECTS ANONYMOUS PIECES

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Twentieth Century American Folk, Self Taught, and Outsider Art, A Resource Guide, is the most comprehensive compilation of information and resources available.

It includes: A directory of81 museums with folk, self taught, and outsider art in their permanent collections.

VIEWING BY APPOINTMENT CALL FOR HOURS DURING THE OUTSIDER ART FAIR 530 WEST 46 STREET #3W NEW YORK, NY 10036 (212) 307-0914

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74 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

DONORS

Arlene Hochman Mr. and Mrs. John C. Hood 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* Jaclyn & Gerald P. Kaminsky Edward Keating Mr.& Mrs. Michael Kellen 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. 8z Mrs. John K. Libby Mr. 8z Mrs. Richard M. Livingston Adrian B.& Marcie Lopez Lynn M.Lorwin Mr.& Mrs. Robert Luchars, Jr. R. H. Macy 8z Co., Inc. Mrs. Erwin Maddrey Kathleen Mahoney Franklin Maisano Hermine Mariaux Hermine Mariaux,Inc. Alastair B. Martin Michael T. Martin Robin 8z 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 Pierson K. Miller Jean Mitchell Mr. & Mrs. Keith Scott Morton Arlene & Bruce Nadel 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 & Jeffrey Salaway Richard Sabino

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 Shearson Lehman Brothers Francisco F. Sierra Skidmore Owings & Merrill Kay Sloman Smith Gallery Mr. and Mrs. Scudder Smith Smithwick Dillon Karen Sobotka Mr.& Mrs. Richard Solomon Amy Sommer William W. Stahl, Jr. Mr.& Mrs. Jeff Tarr Nancy F. Karlins Thoman Edward I. Tishelman Peter Tishman Mr.& Mrs. Thomas Tuft Susan Unterberg Mr.& Mrs. Michael A. Varet Mr.& Mrs. Royall Victor Jessie Walker Clune J. Walsh, Jr. Joan Walsh Marco P. Walker Maryann & Ray Warakomski Washburn Gallery Yuko Watanabe Mr.& Mrs. Roger J. Weiss Herbert Wells 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, Lucy C. Danziger and Cynthia V. A. Schaffner, for the significant support received through the Museum's major fund-raising events.

The Museum gratefully acknowledges a recent contribution from the Amicus Foundation to help produce the exhibition "Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art." Made in honor of Dr. Bishop, who valued the Museum's partnership with the Foundation, this gift is especially meaningful and very much appreciated.

OUTSIDER ART FAIR

Adolf-Wolfli-Stiftung, Kunstmuseum Bern

[ self taught. visionary . intuitive . outsider. art brut ]

JANUARY 29 & 30 SATURDAY 11-7PM • SUNDAY 11-6PM • ADMISSION $10

PREVIEW: JANUARY 2814-I. 5:30-9PM ($35 INCLUDES CATALOGUE & RE-ADMISSION SATURDAY & SUNDAY)

THE PUCK BUILDING LAFAYETTE STREET AT HOUSTON, NYC UNCOMMON ARTISTS: A SERIES OF CAMEO TALKS II SPONSORED BY THE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART

SATURDAY JANUARY 29TH INFORMATION: LEE KOGAN (212) 977-7170 THE ART PROGRAM FOR THE HOMELESS I WILL BE EXHIBITING SELECTED ARTWORK AT THE FAIR FAIR INFORMATION. (212) 777-5218 CAROLINE 0 K. KERRIGAN . COLIN LYNCH SMITH

AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GALLERY NEW YORK. NEW YORK THE AMES GALLERY BERKELEY. CALIFORNIA GALERIE BONHEUR ST. LOUIS. MISSOURI HENRY BOXER GALLERY LONDON, ENGLAND BRIDGES + f3ODELL NEW YORK. NEW YORK GALERIE SUSI BRUNNER. ZURICH, SWITZERLAND CAVIN-MORRIS INC. NEW YORK. NEW YORK EPSTEIN/POWELL NEW YORK. NEW YORK JANET FLEISHER GALLERY PHILADELPHIA. PENNSYLVANIA GASPERI GALLERY NEW ORLEANS. LOUISIANA GILLEY'S GALLERY BATON ROUGE. LOUISIANA CARL HAMMER GALLERY CHICAGO. ILLINOIS MARION HARRIS SIMSBURY, CONNECTICUT GALERIE HEIKE CURTZE VIENNA. AUSTRIA HILL GALLERY BIRMINGHAM. MICHIGAN LYNNE INGRAM SOUTHERN FOLK ART MILFORD. NEW JERSEY JAM ISON / THOMAS GALLERY PORTLAND. OREGON DEAN JENSEN GALLERY MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN K. S. ART NEW YORK, NEW YORK PHYLLIS KIND GALLERY NEW YORK, NEW YORK KURTS / BINGHAM GALLERY MEMPHIS. TENNESSEE MIA GALLERY SEATTLE. WASHINGTON FRANK). MIELE GALLERY NEW YORK, NEW YORK LESLIE MUTH GALLERY SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO ANN NATHAN GALLERY CHICAGO. ILLINOIS OUTSIDE-IN GALLERY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA MAYA POLSKY GALLERY CHICAGO. ILLINOIS RICCO / MARESCA GALLERY NEW YORK, NEW YORK RISING FAWN FOLK ART CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE LUISE ROSS GALLERY NEW YORK, NEW YORK SAILOR'S VALENTINE GALLERY NANTUCKET. MASSACHUSETTS UTE STEBICH GALLERY LENOX. MASSACHUSETTS GALERIE SUSANNE ZANDER COLOGNE, GERMANY

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MUSEUM

NEWS

COMPILED BY TANYA HEINRICH

Possible Darger Source section of the New York Herald.

In a weekly cartoon strip that ran for several years, the main character,"Mr. Twee Deedle," a "comely little fairy," protects two children and teaches them good values.

In these short morality tales, the children are often exposed to threatening situations. The theme and the occasionally running, twisting, turning figures suggest parallels to a prototype for Darger's highly charged, complex compositions.

tudying the artworks of Henry Darger leads one to conclude that popular sources such as comic strip characters may have been his inspiration. Stacy Hollander, the Museum's curator, in reviewing the biography Johnny Gruelle, Creator ofRaggedy Ann and Andy, by Patricia Hall (Pelican Publishing Company,1993), came across one of Gruelle's newspaper cartoon creations, which first appeared on February 5, 1911,in the Sunday comic

S They're here!

RARE DUCK & FISH DECOYS

September Gallery Opening n September 20, a reception was held to celebrate the exhibition "Driven to Create: The Anthony Petullo Collection of SelfTaught and Outsider Art." The exhibition, organized by guest curator Russell Bowman of the Milwaukee Art Museum,featured the works of self-taught artists from Europe and America and brought many new faces to the Museum's gallery.

The opening reception was well attended by Museum members and major contemporary folk art collectors and dealers.

Anthony Petullo, Russell Bowman,and artist Rosemarie Koczy, whose work was represented by seven ink-on-paper drawings, met informally with the Museum's guests.

The exhibition, which was organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum, will travel through the summer of 1995. Its debut at the Museum of American Folk Art was sponsored by The Olsten Corporation. A fully illustrated exhibition catalog with essays by Russell Bowman and Roger Cardinal is available at the Museum's book and gift shops.

O as reported in

Business Week The New Yorker The New York Times The Village Voice True American Folk Art Guaranteed to be as described

From left to right: Russell Bowman, Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum; Phyllis Kind, Director of the Phyllis Kind Gallery; Anthony Petullo.

Permanent Collection Gallery Opens n Monday, October 4, 1993, at the Museum of American Folk Art, Joyce Cowin and the Cowin family hosted a private reception to celebrate the opening of the Daniel Cowin Permanent Collection Gallery. Attending the event were 180 distinguished guests and contributors to the fund established in memory of Daniel Cowin.

At the dedication, the Museum's Director, Gerard C.

0

36 West, 44th Street New York, NY 10036 (212) 391-0688 VISA, MASTERCARD, AMEX ACCEPTED

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IP CD

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76 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

(1)

wo exhibitions of traditional folk art will be on view at the Museum of American Folk Art from February 5 through April 17, 1994. In "Revisiting Ammi Phillips: • Fifty Years of American Portraiture," the timeless appeal and aesthetic significance of portraits by this distinguished nineteenth-century American painter will be recognized in the first comprehensive investigation of his work in more than twenty-five years.

Organized by Stacy Hollander, curator, and Howard Fertig, research curator, the exhibition will feature approximately fiftyfive of Phillips' most important paintings. In conjunction with this exhibition, the Museum is publishing a catalog of the artist's work.

"Northern Scenes: Hooked Art of the Grenfell Mission" will also open on February 5. The Grenfell Mission was founded in 1892 and a cottage industry was established there in 1907 to relieve the extreme poverty prevalent among the population.

'

Two Upcoming Museum Exhibitions

hornton haeo.Ie "otch a a. 'o• a

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HARRIET CAMPBELL Ammi Phillips Greenwich, New York c. 1815 Oil on canvas 48 172

25"

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass.

Gift of Oliver Eldridge in memory of Sarah Fairchild Anderson, teacher of art, North Adams Public Schools, daughter of Harriet Campbell.

The exhibition includes approximately seventy-five hooked mats, in addition to a selection of contextual objects used in their production.

Organized by guest curator Paula Laverty, this is the first major museum exhibition to celebrate and document the community that produced these beautifully crafted examples of folk art.

AMERICAN SELF-TAUGHT

THORNTON MINNIE

Wertkin, remarked on the extraordinary legacy left by Daniel Cowin, whom the director described as a "wonderful trustee, true friend, and inspired colleague." Joyce Cowin followed with recollections of her husband's love of the Museum, collecting, and folk art. At the completion of her remarks and to much applause, Mrs. Cowin ceremoniously removed the drapery covering the entrance and dedicated the gallery in Daniel Cowin's name.

"America's Heritage," the inaugural exhibition of a series planned for this space,opened to the public on October 5, 1993.

Joyce Cowin and Gerard C. Wertkin

LONNIE

EVANS HOLLEY

TRAYLOR

BILL

LUISE

DIAL

ROSS GALLERY

50 WEST 57 STREET

NEW YORK NY 10019

212 307-0400

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 77

MUSEUM

WILTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

27

NEWS

From left to right: Stacy Hollander, Mary Linda Zonana, and Karen Schuster

ANNUAL ANsTjauTU ES

MARCH 12 & 13, 1994 SATURDAY 10 to 5 & SUNDAY 11 to 5 ADMISSION $8.00 WITH AD/FLYER $7.00 ,....._ ,

WILTON HIGH SCHOOL FIELD HOUSE ROUTE 7 • WILTON • CONNECTICUT EARLY BUYING AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST SATURDAY 8:30 - 10:00 am ADMISSION $25.00 This distinguished and comprehensive event features American country and period formal furniture of the 18th and 19th centuries shown by some of America's finest dealers.

In addition, it offers appropriate period accessories, with an emphasis on American, English and Continental ceramics, Chinese porcelains and antiquities, textiles, fine art, a strong representation of folk art; also clocks, scientific instruments, rare maps, early glass, jewelry and silver of the American Arts & Crafts Movement.

One of the most highly regarded shows in New England, it offers quality and variety at a range of prices. It has been planned to appeal to both the advanced collector and novices in the field. It is easy to reach and offers ample parking and food service.

Wilton High School is 5.5 miles north of Exit 39B, on the Merritt Parkway, 8 miles north of Exit 15 on 1-95 and 12 miles south of 1-84, 50 miles from New York City and within walking distance of Cannondale station on the Metro North rail line.

For additional information about the show or overnight accommodations, call the Wilton Historical Society at 203 762-7257.

MANAGED BY MARILYN GOULD

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78 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

11IF

Alabama Tour Sold Out he Folk Art Explorers' Club Alabama tour, which took place October 12 to 17, attracted forty Museum members and guests from around the country. The trip was planned to coincide with the annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts in Northport, Alabama, and included visits to the homes and workplaces of a number of artists from that state, as well as gallery receptions, tours of private collections, and visits to local museums.

Participants in the tour spent time with some of the most wellknown self-taught artists working today, including Mose Tolliver, Annie Tolliver, Lonnie Holley, Charlie and Annie Lucas, and Thornton Dial, Sr. Holley conducted an inspiring tour of his densely constructed environment offound-object assemblages and Dial treated the group to a rare tour of his studio in Bessemer, where he created many of the stunning and richly textured multi-media paintings on exhibit at the Museum this winter in "Thornton Dial: Image of the Tiger."

Special tours were arranged at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Old Alabama Town, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery,and the recently re-opened Birmingham Museum of Art. The group also spent a full day at the annual Kentuck Festival.

In addition to the artists mentioned above, Beth Bergin and Chris Cappiello of the membership department would like to thank the following people for helping to make the Alabama tour such a tremendous success: Margaret Lynn Ausfeld and Eileen Knott of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Georgine

T Favored Volunteer On Leave aryLinda Zonana is taking a breather after dedicating most of the last five years to the Museum of American Folk Art, where her invaluable service included the development and management of the Docent Program. Zonana, a graduate of the Folk Art Institute Certificate Program, served as Volunteer Coordinator, Gallery Administrator, and Human Resources Director under Karen Schuster, Director of Museum Operations.

Schuster stated that "Mary Linda acted not only as my administrative assistant, but as my personal confidant. She authored, edited, and commented on the many documents that the Gallery, Planning, and Operations departments have distributed—some confidential and others with far-reaching influence throughout the Museum's administration."

Mary Linda's tremendous contributions of time and cheerful willingness to offer her wisdom and advice are strengths of character that the Museum has profited from for many years.

The Museum staff will miss her terribly and wishes her happiness and success in whatever she does.

M

TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS Mark your calendars for the following Museum of American Folk Art exhibitions when they travel to your area during the coming months: October 30. I993—January 5, 1994 Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Los Angeles, California 213/744-3466

January 23—March 13, 1994 Signs and Symbols: African Images in African-American Quilts from the Rural South Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Montgomery, Alabama 205/244-5700

November 22, 1993—January 17, 1994 Santos de Palo: The Household Saints of Puerto Rico San Antonio Museum of Art San Antonio, Texas 210/978-8100

February 13—April 10, 1994 Santos de Palo: The Household Saints of Puerto Rico Fowler Museum of Cultural History University of California Los Angeles, California 310/825-4361

December 6, 1993—January 28, 1994 Access to Art': All Creatures Great and Small Evansville Museum of Arts and Science Evansville, Indiana 812/425-2406

ART NAIF Haitian Folk Art

April 23—June 19, 1994 Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, Illinois 313/922-9410

January 22—March 20, 1994 Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America The Art Museum at Florida International University Miami, Florida 305/348-2890 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

Clarke of the Kentuck Museum, Annie Hicks, Jane and Jim Ed Mulkin, Micki Beth Stiller, Gail Trechsel of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Robert Vardaman of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and Marcia Weber. Additional thanks to the following galleries for entertain-

We invite you to come see our collection of original oil and acrylic paintings on canvas,fanciful steel structures and exquisite wooden carvings, as well as other forms of art developed by Haitian artists who have evolved a distinctive approach marked by careful brushwork, lush color and optimistic themes.

Jeanine Frydl

ing the group: Art Objects, Inc.; Robert Cargo Gallery; Cotton Belt Gallery; Anton Haardt Gallery; Leon Loard Gallery; and From left to right: Herm Imber, Al Udow, Thornton Dial, and Jim Cole outside Dial's studio

the Clary Sage Gallery.

(News continued on page 83)

Thursday through Saturday Noon to 7:00 p.m.

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WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 79

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Michael Crocker - Coiled Snake Edwin Meaders - Rooster Lanier Meaders - Early Face Jug

BARBARA BROGDON Hwy.129 S., P.O. Box 491, Cleveland, GA 30528

706-865-6345 Photos Available

JOHN C. HILL ANTIQUE AMERICAN INDIAN ART 6990 E. MAIN STREET,SECOND FLOOR SCOTTSDALE,AZ 85251

January The January Antiques Show Stratford, CT Connecticut National Guard Armory Armory Road off Nichols Avenue

(602)946-2910

March The Connecticut Spring Antiques Show Hartford, CT University of Hartford 200 Bloomfield Avenue

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WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART SI

NORTHWEST & BEYOND Contemporary Outsider and Self-Taught Artists

Outsider Art Fair Booth # 23 Jan. 29 - 30 New York, NY

GREV

536 First Avenue S. Seattle, WA 98104 Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 - 5:30• Sunday 1:00 - 5:00 (206)467•8283

Anne Grgich "Pure Retires the Realm" 1991 mixed media on paper 11" x8 1/2"

WEBB FOLK ART GALLERY

"Indian Joe" Williams

Rev. L.T. Thomas,Texas

Born Georgia 1943, Truck Driver Inspired by Awakening Spirit Paints Dimensional Wood Carvings of His Personal Visions

WORKS BY

Cyril Billiot Artist Chuckie Rhinestone Cowboy Burgess Dulaney Baltimore Glassman Rev. J. L. Hunter James Harold Jennings R. A. Miller Carl Nash

B. E Perkins Royal Robertson Xmeah ShaElaRe'EL David Strickland Jimmie Lee Sudduth Rev Johnnie Swearengen Son Thomas Onis Woodard and Face Jugs

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82 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

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MUSEUM

NEWS

JON SERL

Outsider Art Fair and Museum Programming he second Outsider Art Fair will be held on January 29 and 30 at the Puck Building in New York's Soho district. The tremendous success of last year's fair has all of us awaiting this event with great eagerness. Dealers from the United States and Europe will be offering a wide range of twentieth-century works, and if last year's event is any indication, collectors, art lovers, and curiosity seekers will fill the hall. The Museum's bookshop booth will carry a full range of titles on selftaught artists; members can take advantage of their 10% discount on all purchases at the booth.

Sanford L. Smith & Associates, Ltd., the show's producers, will hold a gala preview on the evening of Friday, January 28. For information, contact the show office at 68 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003, or call 212/777-5218.

The Museum will sponsor a symposium on Saturday and Sunday, January 29 and 30, at the Phyllis Kind Gallery, 136 Greene Street, between Prince and Houston streets."Uncommon Artists II: A Series of Cameo Talks" will feature slideillustrated lectures highlighting twentieth-century self-taught artists. Last year's symposium was completely sold out, and many disappointed participants were turned away. Preregistration is advised (see program listing).

In conjunction with the fair, the Museum's Folk Art

T

Explorers' Club has planned a full-day tour of private collections in the New York area.

"Inside Outsider Art in New York" is scheduled for Friday, January 28,from 9:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. and includes breakfast and lunch.

A gallery tour of the exhibition "Thornton Dial: Image of the Tiger," led by art historian Paul Arnett, is scheduled for Friday, January 28,from 3:00 to 3:45 P.M., at the Museum's Eva and Morris Feld Gallery at Lincoln Square.

For information on all programs,contact the Museum offices at 212/977-7170.

BOOTH 15 AT THE OUTSIDER ART FAIR JON SERL, "THE INDIAN SIGN" OIL ON PANEL 56 X 32 INS UNDATED

JAMISON•THOMAS•GALLERY 1313 NW GLISAN • PORTLAND • OR • 97209 503/222-0063• GALLERY HOURS• TUES.-SAT. 10-6 "OUTSIDER, SELF-TAUGHT, AND CONTEMPORARY ART "

Uncommon Artists II: A Series of Cameo Talks Saturday, January 29, 1994 2:00-5:00 P.M. Admission: Museum Members $25.00 Non-Members $30.00 Introductory remarks Gerard C. Wertkin Museum Director Thornton Dial Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones)Author Lonnie Holley Bruce Lineker Curator William Hawkins Gary J. Schwindler Art Historian Chelo Amezcua Mickey Cartin Collector Emery Blagdon Dan Dryden Collector Grottoes & Environments Lisa Stone Artist/Conservator Sunday,January 30, 1994 10:30 A.M.-12:30 P.M. Admission: Museum Members $8.00 Non-Members $10.00 Visionary Environments Marcus Schubert Photographer

Uncommon Artists II Symposium Saturday, January 29 0 Members $25.00 per person $ 0 Non-Members $30.00 per person Sunday,January 30 0 Members $8.00 per person 0 Non-Members $10.00 per person

$ Total $

NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

ZIP CODE

TELEPHONE

0 Enclosed is my check for $ made payable to the Museum of American Folk Art, the Museum of American Folk Art Program Office, 61 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023 OR Bill my credit card: 0 Visa 0 Mastercard 0 American Express

CARD NUMBER

EXPIRATION DATE

SIGNATURE

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 83

MUSEUM

REPRODUCTIONS

PROGRAM

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART COLLECTION' Home Furnishings and Decorative Accessories

To celebrate an American tradition—the craft ofthefolk artist—the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art has created a collection of home furnishings and decorative accessories honoring thisfine heritage. ow is an exciting time for the Museum of American Folk Art Collection."

American folk art has been and continues to be a recognized and respected design choice. First conceived by the Museum of American Folk Art in 1978 as an educational tool to foster, promote, and celebrate the style, craft, and history of American folk design, the Collection has proved to have staying power, consumer appeal, and a future that seems to know no bounds.

The Museum of American Folk Art is recognized for its collections, exhibitions, publications, research, and educational programming. Drawing from these exclusive resources, the Museum and its family of licensees have created a home furnishings and decorative accessories collection that not only represents over three hundred years of American design, but also provides comfort and grace for today's lifestyle.

Dedicated to remaining true to the legacy of the original period and regional American folk art designs upon which it is based, the Museum of American Folk Art CollectionTM features authentic reproductions and approved adaptations. Each licensed prod-

N

uct comes with a hang tag that provides historical and educational information.

The Museum of American Folk Art Collection'can be found in stores nationwide and in Museum of American Folk Art America Collection shops in Takashimaya department stores throughout Japan. The Collection continues to bring broad national and international attention to the Museum as well as providing an important source of income for the Museum's educational programs and exhibitions.

Tradition and innovation, design and beauty, and comfort and grace are hallmarks of the Museum of American Folk Art Collection,TM which is designed to be enjoyed now and for generations to come. Your purchase of these products directly benefits the Museum and helps it realize its goals to serve the public.

Thank you for your support.

For information regarding the Museum of American Folk Art CollectionTM licensing program, contact Alice J. Hoffman or Maryann Warakomski at 212/977-7170.

The Lane Company, Inc.

Tyndale, Inc.

Tyndale, Inc.

* Available in Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shops.

For mail-order information, contact Beverly McCarthy at 212/977-7170.

Rowe Pottery Works

84 WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

Family of Licensees

• Abbeville Press: Gift wrap, book/gift tags, quilt note cube* • Galison Books: Note cards, address book, puzzle, holiday cards* • Hedgerow House Inc.: Posters* • The Lane Company, Inc.: Furniture(Lane case goods, Lane/Venture wicker; Clyde Pearson/Lane upholstered furniture)800/447-4700 • Milton Bradley Co.: Jigsaw puzzles* • Mirage Editions, Inc.: Art posters* • Perfect Fit Industries: Machinemade in America printed quilts, coordinated bedroom products 704/289-1531 • Rose Art Industries: Toys (dolls),jigsaw puzzles, hobby kits* • Rowe Pottery Works: Pennsylvania redware(microwave, oven, and dishwasher safe)* • Takashimaya Co., Ltd.: Home furnishings accessories, furniture (available only in Japan) • Tyndale, Inc.: Lighting and lampshades 312/384-0800

((The Beaver" Angel of Xmas 48" x 24" Plywood

MERRY ,ClUAS HAPPY NEW YEAR

'The Beaver'

WANDA'S QUILTS P.O. Box 1764 Oldsmar, Florida 34677 (813)855-1521 THE BEAVER'S FOLK ART CAN BE SEEN AT THE DON SCOTT'S ANTIQUE SHOW THE SECOND WEEKEND OF EVERY MONTH IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA. ALSO, AT THE "POSH PINEAPPLE" IN BELLAIRE, FLORIDA.

MAIN STREET ANTIQUES and ART Colleen and Louis Picek Folk Art and Country Americana (319) 643-2065 110 West Main, Box 340 West Branch Iowa 52358 On Interstate 80 Send a self-addressed stamped envelope for our monthly Folk-Art and Americana price list

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THE MODERN PRIMITIVE GALLERY LEROY ALMON,SR. LEROY ARCHULETA EDDIE ARNING RICHARD BURNSIDE BRUCE BURRIS PRLS BUTTLER ARCHIE BYRON MINNIE EVANS SYBIL GIBSON JOE HARDIN LONNIE HOLLEY S. L.JONES CHARLEY KINNEY ROLAND KNOX JAKE MCCORD ANTHONY MILELLA R. A. MILLER MISTER EDDY JUSTIN MCCARTHY VALTON MURRAY J. B. MURRY B. F. PERKINS JUANITA ROGERS 0. L.SAMUELS LORENZO SCOTT BERNICE SIMS ST.EOM JIM SUDDUTH MOSE TOLLIVER SARAH MARY TAYLOR PURVIS YOUNG KURT ZIMMERMAN

Announcing our Association with Ray Benson*457 West 57th Street #407 New York, NY 10019 (212)974-9422 1402-4 North Highland Avenue Atlanta, GA 30306(404)892 - 0556

61)%91kie folk artist

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

P.J. Hornberger The Gathering Woodcarvings

WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART 87

GALLERY

INDEX

TO

163 TOWNSEND • BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN 48009 • (313) 540-9288

ADVERTISERS

America Hurrah 6,7,9,23 America Oh,Yes 73 American Primitive Gallery 21 The Ames Gallery 2 Marna Anderson 23 Art Naif 79 The Artists' Alliance 86 Blitz Antique Native American Art Ltd. 27 Blue Spiral 1 63 Campus Collection 64 Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery 65 Cavin-Morris Inc. 71 Christie's 22 Country Living magazine Inside Back Cover Double K Gallery 67 Epstein/Powell 19 Esqueleto 61 Fine Folk Art 87 Laura Fisher 25 Janet Fleisher Gallery 11 Forbes & Turner 80 Galerie Bonheur 14 Gasperi Gallery 20 Sidney Gecker American Folk Art 72 Giampietro Back Cover Gilley's Gallery 31

SS WINTER 1993/94 FOLK ART

Grove Decoys 76 Anton Haardt 28 Carl Hammer GalleYy 71 Marion Harris 18 John C. Hill 80 Hill Gallery 88 Stephen Huneck Gallery 63,81 Lynne Ingram Southern Folk Art 15 Martha Jackson 60 Jamison Thomas Gallery 83 Stephen Johnson/Post-Columbian Antiques 68 K.S. Art 68 Phyllis Kind Gallery 17 Knoke Galleries 14 Thomas Langan 60 The Liberty Tree 62 Jim Linderman 73 Loch Lea Antiques 26 Main Street Antiques and Art 86 Mia Gallery 82 Frank J. Miele Gallery Inside Front Cover Steve Miller 1 Modern Primitive/Ray Benson 32,87 Joy Moos Gallery 69 Leslie Muth Gallery 28 Ann Nathan Gallery 72

Neal-Schuman Publishers Barbara Olsen Outside-in Roger Ricco/Frank Maresca Rosehips Gallery Luise Ross Gallery Alan Roush & Associates Stella Rubin Sailor's Valentine Gallery John Sauls' Antiques Jack Savitt Gallery Sanford L. Smith & Associates, Ltd. Sotheby's Nancy Thomas Timpson Creek Gallery University Art Museum Wanda's Quilts Webb Folk Art Gallery Marcia Weber/Main Street Gallery David Wheatcroft Eldred Wheeler Gallery of Americana Wilton Historical Society Thos. K. Woodard Ginger Young Zak Gallery

73 64 29 3 80 77 62 8 25 24 86 75 16 61 82 32 85 82 33 12 81 78 4 31 30

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AMERICA'S LARGEST AND FAVORITE SHOWCASE FOR ANTIQUES AND FOLK ART A publication of Hearst Magazines, a division of The Hearst Corporation. © 1992 The Hearst Corporation.

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Outstanding Cigar Store Indian Princess.

Circa 1885.

Exhibiting at: The Winter Antiques Show January 21 -30 New York Oily

Fred & Kathryn Giampietro • 203-787-3851 • 153'/2 Bradley Street, New Haven CT 06511