Folk Art (Spring 1993)

MAGAZINE OF THE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART * SPRING 1993* $5.00

CELEBRATING THE GREAT AMERICAN QUILT FESTIVAL 4

FRANK J. MIELE gallery

celebrates Woolen and honors Histortj Month theGallery. tio of Ul/ornen's exhibin through its (/J004

with nieloykitig April 11th a through Woodcarvings o Wo gth March

Pnted ai Sculpture — aintings Shelia 13errq — Puzzle P Mall Sandra Scott — Anitj iZeceptn io Artists' March 13th Saturdag, 5p.t11.

2 to

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

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

1

STEVE MILLER • AMERICAN FOLK ART •

Extremely rare and possibly unique POLO PLAYER weathervane.

18"in length of repousse copper and cast zinc construction,ca.1900.

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

I GIAVP ETRO Fred & Kathryn Giampietro • 203-787-3851 1531/2 Bradley Street, New Haven, CT 06511

Oglala Sioux painting on muslin, circa 1895.

: ,. 72' ;gcs

.

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AMERICAN ANTIQUES & QUILTS

"Hearts" pieced and appliqué quilt. New Jersey. Circa 1880. 70 x 94 inches.

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

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

FOLK ART VOLUME 18, NUMBER 1 / SPRING 1993 (FORMERLY THE CLARION)

FEATURES

COLLECTING THOUGHTS: AN INTERVIEW WITH ARDIS & ROBERT JAMES

27

Stacy C. Hollander

BOB BISHOP: A LIFE IN AMERICAN FOLK ART

34

Cyril I. Nelson

DIVERSITY & CONTINUITY: THE GREAT AMERICAN QUILT FESTIVAL 4 Cover: WHIG ROSE QUILT WITH VINE,FLORAL AND BIRD BORDER; Signed: Abigail Hill; Dated:1857 and 1858;Indiana; Appliqued cotton;80x 70"; Museum ofAmerican Folk Art, gift of Irene Reichert in honor ofher daughter Susan Reichert Sink and her granddaughter Heather Sink. 1992.13.1 Photograph by Scott Bowron Folk Art is published four times a year by the Museum of American Folk Art, 61 West62nd Street, NY, NY 10023, Tel. 2121977-7170,Fax212/977-8134.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 $5.00.

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 ofaddress: 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 lobe involved in or to appear to be involved in the sale of works of art. For this reason, the Museum will not knowingly accept advertisements for Folk Art which illustrate or describe objects that have been exhibited at the Museum within one year of placing an advertisement.

40

Cathy Rasmussen

AFRICAN-AMERICAN QUILTS: TWO PERSPECTIVES

44

Stacy C. Hollander

MANY HANDS:THE STORY OF AN ALBUM QUILT

52

Paula Laverty

DEPARTMENTS

EDITOR'S COLUMN

10

MINIATURES

12

S LETTER DIRECTOR'

21

MUSEUM NEWS

59

BOOK REVIEWS

64

DEVELOPMENTS

72

TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS

72

TRUSTEES/ADVISORS/DONORS

74

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

SO

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 5

JOEL AND KATE KOPP

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

AMMI PHILLIPS (1788-1865) Portrait of Edward Hiram Bronson and Henry Theron Bronson of Winchester, Connecticut, c. 1851.

Oil on canvas; 39" x 48"framed.

JOEL AND KATE KOPP

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

Baltimore Album Quilt made for Sarah Pool and Mary J. Pool, Caroline County, Maryland, c. 1845. The design of the applique blocks is attributed to the master American quiltmaker, Mary Evans. 106" x 107': Ex-Austin Fine Collection Literature: The Quilt Engagement Calendar Treasury (Nelson & Houck: E.P. Dutton 1982); America's Glorious Quilts(Duke & Harding: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates 1987) Exhibited: Baltimore Museum of Art, Dec. 1981-Feb. 1982

JOEL AND KATE KOPP

AMERICA HURRAH 766

MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK NY

10021

tel 212.535.1930 fax 212.249.9718

-......-

-........- -.....s.

Appliqued Table Rug—wool applique on a woolen ground with shirred and embroidered flowers around the border, c. 1845. 37" x 54'.'

Literature: American Hooked and Sewn Rugs (Kopp: E.P. Dutton 1985); All American Folk Arts (Katchhim: Rizzoli 1986); American Country Folk Art(Dalrymple: Time-Life Books 1990)

Flags and Shields Hooked Rug—wool on linen, c. 1860. 56" x 27'.'

Unique pictorial crazy quilt, wool and cotton, dated 1898.

This quilt made by Leila Butts Utter of Otsego County, New York, contains 41 full-length fabric portraits. Each figure, appliqued in relief, has been carefully embellished with individualized period attire including jewelry, pocketbooks, fur coats, etc. 87" x

Literature: Crazy Quilts (McMorris: E.P. Dutton 1985); Country Quilts (Dalrymple: Time-Life Books 1989); Wrapped in Glory (Fox: Thames & Hudson [cover illustration] 1990); New York Beauties (Atkins & Tepper: Dutton Studio Books 1992) Exhibited: Los Angeles County Museum, Oct. 1990-Jan, 1991

JOEL AND KATE KOPP

AMERICA HURRAH 766

MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK NY

10021

tel 212.535.1930 fax 212.249.9718

EDITOR'S

COLUMN

ROSEMARY GABRIEL

his issue of Folk Art is dedicated to the Museum-sponsored "Great American Quilt Festival 4" and its tireless director, Cathy Rasmussen.

The Festival, now an annual event, is scheduled for May 12 through 16 at Pier 92 on the Hudson River in New York City. It will be a spectacular five days featuring eight quilt exhibitions, numerous lectures and workshops, walking tours, and the fabulous Fairfield Fashion Show. For an overview of the Festival see Diversity & Continuity: The Great American Quilt Festival 4on page 40.

To coincide with the Festival, the Museum is presenting the exhibition "Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art" at the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery at Two Lincoln Square. The exhibition will be on view from February 27 through September 12. Bob Bishop, a pioneer in the field offolk art, shaped the direction of the Museum's collection, its exhibitions, and its major programs, and influenced a great many collectors along the way. He recognized, early on, the wide audience for quilts and instituted the first "Great American Quilt Festival" in 1986.

Our lead story, Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art, written by the exhibition curator, Cyril I. Nelson, is a personal account of Bishop's influence on him as a collector and gives us some insight into Bob's seemingly boundless energy and verve. The essay and the exhibition, which features over 100 objects, reflect one remarkable man's enthusiasm, vision, and encyclopedic interests.

Stacy C. Hollander, the Museum's curator, has written a provocative essay comparing the Collection of Ardis theses of two scholars in the field of Detail: BALTIMORE and Robert James African-American quilts. Be sure to ALBUM QUILT Full quilt shown on page 29. read African-American Quilts: Tivo Attributed to Mary Evans Baltimore Perspectives before visiting the c. 1850 Festival and viewing `Always There: Pieced and appliquĂŠd cotton the African-American Presence in 106% x 110' American Quilts," curated by Cuesta Benberry, and "Signs and Symbols: African Images in Quilts from the Rural South," curated by Dr. Maude Wahlman.

Many Hands: The Story ofan Album Quilt, by Paula Laverty, researches the contributors to a friendship/album quilt in the Museum's collection. The quilt is signed and dated November 1, 1861. The illustrations accompanying this essay include a photo of the whole quilt, details of two beautiful blocks, and photographs of the homestead of one of the quilters and the gravestone of another.

Collecting Thoughts, this issue's Folk Art interview, is with quilt collectors Ardis and Robert James, who have amassed over 800 quilts in one of the country's most extensive and exciting collections. We hope you will enjoy their candid remarks on how they got started and the loving care and responsible research that is an integral part of their ownership.

I want to thank Cyril I. Nelson and Ardis and Robert James for contributing the necessary funds for additional color pages in this issue and I hope to see you at the Festival in May.

T

10 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

FOLK ART Rosemary Gabriel Editor and Publisher Johnson & Simpson Graphic Designers Mel! Cohen Publications Associate Benjamin J. Boyington Copy Editor Marilyn Breclmer Advertising Manager Hildegard 0. Vetter Production Manager Craftsmen Litho Printers Grid Typographic Services, Inc. Typography MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART Dr. Robert Bishop, Director 1977-1991 Administration Gerard C. Wertkin Director Karen S. Schuster Director ofMuseum Operations Joan Walsh Controller Maryann Warakomski Assistant Controller Mary Ziegler Administrative Assistant Mary Linda Zonana Coordinator, Human Resources Sylvia Sinckler Shop Accountant Jeffrey Grand Accountant Brent Erdy Reception Darren McGill Manager Mailroom and Maintenance Collections & Exhibitions Stacy C. Hollander Curator Ann-Marie Reilly Registrar Catherine Fukushima Director ofthe Eva and Morris Feld Gallery/Director ofPublic Programs Glen St. Jean Weekend Gallery Manager Judith Gluck Steinberg Assistant Registrar!

Coordinator, Traveling Exhibitions Gina Bianco Consulting Conservator Elizabeth V. Warren Consulting Curator Howard Lanser Consulting Exhibition Designer Kenneth R. Bing Security Departments Beth Bergin Membership Director Constance J. Collins Director ofDevelopment Marie S. DiManno Director ofMuseum Shops Susan Flamm Public Relations Director Alice J. Hoffman Director ofLicensing Janey Fire Photographic Services Chris Cappiello Membership Associate Catherine Dunworth Associate Director ofDevelopment Katie Cochran Coordinator Special Events Edith C. Wise Consulting Librarian Eugene R 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; Volunteers: Marie Anderson, Claudia Andrade, Judy Baker, Marilyn Banks, Olive Bates, Catherine Barreto, Marsha Becker, Ben Bienvenido, Frances Burton, Ann Coppinger, Amy Donnelly, Sally Elfant, Lisa Ferrer, Millie Gladstone, Elli Gordon,Inge Graff, Edith Gusoff, Lynne Hellman, Elizabeth Howe, Annette Levande, Arleen Luden, Katie McAuliffe, Nancy Mayer, Joseph Minus,Theresa Naglack, Pat Pancer, Marie Peluso, Frances Rojack, Phyllis Selnick, Lorraine Seubert, Myra Shaskan, Lola Silvergleid, Blair Sorrel, Maxine Spiegel, Mary Wamsley, Marian Whitley.

Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shops 62 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10112-1507 212/247-5611 Two Lincoln Square(Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th) New York, NY 10023-6214 212/496-2966

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MINIATURES

COMPILED BY MELL COHEN

Major Shaker Exhibit The Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington, Massachusetts, is currently presenting "Receiving the Faith: The Shakers of Canterbury, New Hampshire." This presentation of more than 450 artifacts provides an in-depth examination of the longest surviving communal religious society in the United States. Furniture, maps, clothing, baskets, oval boxes, and other outstanding examples of Shaker decorative arts

are used to explore this alternative culture that began in eighteenthcentury America. Shaker views on family and home, the role of women, and the interrelationship of religion and work are themes central to "Receiving the Faith."

The exhibition is a joint project with Canterbury Shaker Village and marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of that Shaker community. For more information call the museum at 617/861-6559.

LAUNDRY BASKET Nineteenth century The numbering on this basket indicates that it was used in Room 12 of the Laundry.

Courtesy of the Museum of Our National Heritage

Thiene with _faces(2pieces) 76" a- 12"x 12" Photo: Ben Blackwell

THE

AMES GALLERY BONNIE GROSSMAN DIRECTOR

We specialize in exceptional 19th and 20th Century handmade objects.

Also outsider, naive, and visionary art.

• 2661 Cedar Street Berkeley, California 94708 510/845-4949

12 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

Folk Art Studies Degree at New York University The deadline for applications for the Fall 1993 Master's Degree Program in Folk Art Studies at New York University is April 15, 1993. This MA program is offered in collaboration with the Museum of American Folk Art, with courses given at both the Washington Square campus of NYU and the Museum of American Folk Art. Specialized courses such as Folk Painting and Sculpture, The Folk Art Market, and Folk Arts in American Life, as well as more general courses like Studies in Material Culture, and Eighteenth-, Nineteenth-, and Twentieth-century Decorative Arts, are offered as part of the program. Required internships (e.g., placement with a gallery, museum, or historical society)

give students the opportunity for hands-on experience with folk art objects or research, and individually supervised Master's Thesis Projects provide the opportunity for in-depth folk art research directed by NYU faculty.

For information and an application, write to Professor Judith R. Weissman, NYU Folk Art Studies Program, 34 Stuyvesant Street, New York, NY 10003 or call 212/998-5700.

BOOK OF WOOD Elijah Pierce

commercial wood paneling 3 4" 27% x 30/

c. 1932 Carved and painted wood relief with glitter, mounted on painted

Courtesy Columbus Museum of Art

DOW PUGH

Elijah Pierce Retrospective The Columbus Museum of Art is celebrating the life of Elijah Pierce(1892-1984), a renowned folk artist from Columbus, Ohio, with a major retrospective entitled "Elijah Pierce: Woodcarver." The exhibition will be on view through May 16, 1993.

Comprised of 173 pieces, the exhibition represents the full range of the artist's work. Pierce's vibrantly carved and painted wood reliefs, tableaus, message signs, and figures reflect more than eight decades of personal history from

his deeply religious upbringing in Mississippi to his migration to Ohio, where he worked as a barber, carver, and lay minister in Columbus.

Following its display at the Columbus Museum of Art, the exhibition will travel to the Studio Museum,Harlem, N.Y.; the Museum of African-American Life and Culture, Dallas, Tex.; the Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, Pa.; and the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, N.Mex. For visitor information call 614/221-6801.

Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art Seeks Seats •A chair that radiates the spirit Intuit: The Center for Intuitive of the maker and Outsider Art, a Chicago group, will present the exhibition •A chair that transcends the materials it is made from "Eccentric Chairs" in October •A chair that pleases and enter1993. Chairs to be shown in the tains the eye exhibition will be selected according to the following criteria: If you have in your collection a chair that meets these criteria, or •A chair made to be sat upon •A chair made for an individual if you know of one elsewhere, please send a photograph or slide purpose; not made to be sold to the show curator, Jan Petry, 2340 Lincoln Park West, Chicago, Ill. 60614.

"5AM", Woodcarving with cap and pearl buttons, 2"x 9", 1978 / 49"x141

Outsider Artists Represented Eddie Arning Loy "Rhinestone Cowboy" Bowlin Leon Box, deceased Powell "Glassman" Darmafall Justin McCarthy, deceased Ike Morgan

Continually Representing Johnson Antonio Johnny Banks Ned Cartledge Patrick Davis Mamie Deschillie

"Uncle Pete" Drgac Bessie Harvey Naomi Polk Rev. Johnnie Swearingen Derek Webster among others

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

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

13

MINIATURES

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. Arliss Watford

GLASSMAN (1935-

1988 Polychromed wood 12 x 6 x 4

Co k Ec.-rEAD Atc - A ,-"Ek.rAN FRESH-4/R-

The Blanchard-Hill Collection The Sidney Mishkin Gallery of Baruch College celebrated Black History Month with its February exhibition, "Black History and Artistry: Works by Self-Taught Painters and Sculptors from the Blanchard-Hill Collection."

The exhibition, curated by Sandra Kraskin, director of the Sidney Mishkin Gallery, featured more than fifty works by thirtythree black artists from the collection of Edward Vermont Blanchard and M. Anne Hill.

The exhibit included works by Thornton Dial, Sr., Sam Doyle,

.SON C• ITOE•Weivp$ :01 , 4k—bay&

Willie Leroy Elliott Jr., Minnie Evans, William Hawkins, Frank Jones, Annie Lucas, Charlie Lucas, Willie Massey, Ellis Ruley, Simon Sparrow, Mose Tolliver, Bill Traylor, and Joseph Yoakum.

Ii >,,,A A mE rock

CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN OUTSIDER/FOLK ART Representing David Butler Clementine Hunter Rev. Howard Finster Lee Godie O.W."Pappy" Kitchens Sr. Gertrude Morgan Jimmie Lee Sudduth Willie White and many other important Outsider artists

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

14 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

Ezekiel Gibbs 1889-1992 Ezekiel Gibbs, whose paintings and drawings focus on his life experiences, died in Houston, Texas, on November 21. His autobiographical works document a difficult life as a farmer on the Texas Gulf Coast,followed by a move to Houston. The depictions of people and work- and churchrelated activities reveal an optimistic attitude and a fervent love for life.

Gibbs was the oldest folk artist to be included in the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists,

by Chuck and Jan Rosenak. The death in 1972 of Gibbs' wife, Josephine Johnson Gibbs, after a sixty-two-year marriage, and the ensuing loneliness sparked Gibbs' interest in creating art. Gibbs worked first at the St. Francis Senior Center and subsequently at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts Outreach Program for Older Americans (Glassell School of Art). In the beginning, he painted

and drew on scraps of paper and grocery bags using watercolor, tempera, pencil, wax crayons, and oil pastels. Characteristic of his style are dots and dabs of color adding a sense of movement and enlivening the backgrounds.

Currently, a Gibbs retrospective is on exhibit at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The artist was included in "Black History/Black Vision: The Visionary Image in Texas," a 1989 exhibition and catalog, and was featured in a six-part television series on aging produced in 1988

by Houston's Channel 8. Gibbs is survived by three children, eleven grandchildren and sixteen greatgrandchildren.

—Lee Kogan

CHUCK ROSENAK

PA•VicX ileuft4 • ns.A1.1,fAii, -PAM • e Statue of Liberty, 1991: glass, mirror, paint on board, 15"x 27'

MARTHAJACKSON Specializing in 19th and Early 20th Century Quilts

"Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden" 1926 (Provenance Available)

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

AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN MASTERPIECE 4111111M..._

INNIMINIMme-PAVVINS,.

African American Quilt from Indianapolis ca. 1920

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

Exhibiting in Jim Burk's GREATER YORK, Pennsylvania Antique Show May 28-30

A

RICCO/MARESCA

Dwight Mackintosh March 11-May 1, 1993 Untitled, 1988,felt pen and colored pencil on paper, 30"H X 22"W

Untitled, 1985,felt pen and tempera on paper, 3011 X 22"W

Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 11-6

105 HUDSON STREET/ NEW YORK, NY 10013 212-219.2756/FAX•212.431-7996

Untitled, undated,felt pen and tempera on paper, 25"H X 19"W

AT

Open Daily 10:30-6, Sun. 12-6 Convenient Parking• Open to the Public

The Nation's Largest and Finest Antiques Center. Over 100 galleries offering Period Furniture, Jewelry, Silver, Americana, Orientalia, Africana and other Objets d'Art.

10022

Tel: 212-355-4400 • Fax: 212-355-4403

MANHATTAN ART & ANTIQUES CENTER

ghe

FLORAL MEDALLION hooked rug, circa 1920,from the country's best collection of antique hooked rugs, in area to room sizes.

1050 SECOND AVENUE (AT 56TH STREET) NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Gallery #84 • 212-838-2596

New York's largest, most exciting selection of: Antique Quilts, Hooked Rugs, Coverlets, Paisley Shawls, Beacon/Pendleton Blankets, Marseilles Spreads, Amish Buggy Shawls, Vintage Accessories and American Folk Art.

LAURA FISHER

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN quilt, circa 1920,from a remarkable group of intricate quilts made of several thousand pieces.

Fine American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts Auction to be held Wednesday,June 23 at 10 am and 2 pm in our galleries at 502 Park Avenue, NY, NY 10022.

Viewing is June 19 through June 22. For further information please contactJohn Hays, Susan Kleckner orJohanna McBrien at 212/546-1181. For catalogues telephone 718/784-1480.

A black painted and decorated box, probably Mid-Atlantic, estimate: $5,000-7,000 A painted and decorated diminutive stool, Landis Valley, Pennsylvania, estimate: $1,500-2,500

CHRIST!E'S

LETTER

FROM

THE

DIRECTOR

GERARD C. WERTKIN

fall the issues currently under debate in the professional literature of the museum field, no subject leads to more spirited debate than the question of multiculturalism. Museums, as the cultural storehouses of the nation, are asked to recognize a special obligation to be inclusive in collections development, exhibitions, and educational programming. Too often perceived as elitist in nature, they are being challenged to open their doors wider.

I believe that American folk art has a highly significant role to play in this process. By its nature, it embraces a multitude of local, regional, ethnic, and religious traditions that together comprise the American mosaic. Women have found a welcoming place here, too; American folk art from its inception as a field of inquiry has celebrated women not only for their artistic contributions but for their leadership as collectors, scholars, and museum administrators. Exuberant Germanlanguage Fraktur from Pennsylvania; the deeply spiritual imagery of the santo tradition of Northern New Mexico; and striking quilts by generations of African-American women, to mention only a few examples, seem wholly American to us, notwithstanding the diversity of their roots, because they are American.

Happily, because American folk art points to our common heritage as Americans, it can promote an appreciation of this diversity in a way that does not foster ethnic chauvinism or racial division. It is for this critically important reason that I believe the Museum of American Folk Art will play an increasingly significant role in the years to come. In its deepest sense, folk art affirms not only cultural identity but individual creativity; it also provides a way to share and to ameliorate at least some of the problems of a fragmented society. The long-range plan of the Museum, which recognizes the need to reflect American folk art of all regions and periods from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, calls on us to accept this role with ringing affirmation and clear determination.

Current activities at the Museum demonstrate this diversity. As this issue of Folk Art goes to press, for example, preparations are being completed for the presentation of"Uncommon Artists: A Series of Cameo Talks" at the first Outsider Art Fair here in New York. Organized by Lee Kogan, Associate Director of the Museum's Folk Art Institute, the symposium highlights the work of twentieth-century selftaught artists who have developed distinct vocabularies ofform.

Response to the symposium announcement, as well as to "Inside Outsider Art in New York," a Museum of American Folk Art Explorers' Club day trip, has been impressive. It points to the growing recognition of the importance of twentieth-century self-taught art. It is my pleasure to acknowledge with thanks the outstanding contributions of Sandy Smith and his colleagues at Sanford L. Smith & Associates Ltd., producers of the Outsider Art Fair; Phyllis Kind, who not only agreed to participate as a speaker, but hosted the symposium in her gallery; and the other symposium presenters, Trustee Emeritus Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., Russell Bowman, Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, John Maizels, Editor ofRaw Vision, Didi Barrett, former editor of this magazine, Glenn Smith, a California collector, and Dana Mensi, Director of La Tinaia, Florence, Italy.

0

Several upcoming presentations also highlight the paintings and sculptures of twentieth-century self-taught artists. One of these, "Fearful Symmetry: The Tiger Cat in the Art of Thornton Dial," is being organized for the Museum by the well-known art historian and critic Thomas McEvilley. The accompanying book/catalog, with essays by McEvilley and poet and essayist Amiri Baraka, promises to be especially provocative. The exhibition is supported by a generous grant from The Henry Luce Foundation.

Another important effort is currently in planning under a grant from the Lila Wallace—Reader's Digest Fund. "From the Mind's Eye: American Self-Taught Art of the Twentieth Century" is a three-part SNAIL TRAILS Mary Maxtion Boligee, Alabama 1990-1991 Cotton 90 x 77" Museum of American Folk Art This purchase was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

1991.13.2

project including an exhibition, audio and video documentaries, and educational activities. I am especially excited about the team we have organized for this important undertaking. Elsa Longhauser, Director of the Goldie Paley Gallery at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, is guest curator; the Swiss art historian Harald Szeemann is acting as exhibition consultant; and Arthur C. Danto, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, is one of the catalog essayists. The video is being directed by Nigel Noble, an Academy Award—winning producer and director of documentaries. Claudia Polley, well known for her work in public radio and several important projects documenting African-American history, will be producing an audio documentary as well as working with Nigel Noble on the film.

The project addresses the place of self-taught artists in the history of twentieth-century art and provides an opportunity for the community of art scholarship as well as the general public to see and evaluate the best of this significant body of work.

This issue of Folk Art underscores the importance of diversity through its several quilt-related articles. This emphasis, of course, coor-

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 21

LETTER

FROM

THE

DIRECTOR

dinates with the "Great American Quilt Festival 4," which is being presented by the Museum here in New York from May 12 to May 16, 1993. I will save most of my thanks for the next issue of Folk Art, but I do want to express special appreciation to Cathy Rasmussen, the Director of the Festival. As many of you know, Cathy has been battling serious illness for several months, but nevertheless has continued to preside over all aspects of the Festival's organization. Working with her during this time has been an inspiration. I know that the success of the Festival will be a wonderful tribute to her extraordinary efforts. In view of Cathy's inability to be at the office on a sustained basis during this period, we have been fortunate in having Paula Nadelstern and Judy Doenias on board. Remaining regularly in touch with Cathy, Paula and Judy have assumed the day-to-day responsibilities. I am especially pleased to convey to them my own gratitude and the appreciation of the whole Museum family.

Speaking of quilts, I am delighted to acknowledge with thanks Irene Reichert's gift to the permanent collection of several quilts, including the stunning Whig Rose with Floral Border that graces the cover of this issue of Folk Art. Through Ms. Reichert's generosity, which is representative of the splendid support of the Museum's members and friends, the Museum's important collection of American textiles is even richer.

My thanks to her and to you all.

Finally, my heartfelt appreciation goes out to the following individuals and organizations for their recent donations to the Robert Bishop Memorial Fund: Joan M. Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Altshuler, Ruth Bigel, Mr. and Mrs. W. Scott Blanchard, Barbara Braun, Mr. and Mrs. Philip J. Braun, Mr. and Mrs. Milton Brechner, Stephen H. Cooper, Deborah L. de Bauernfeind, Margaret H. Farmer, Nancy K. Fischer, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Fitzsimons, Joanne H. Foulk, Genesee Country Chapter of H.S.E.A.D., Dr. Kurt A. Gitter, Mr. and Mrs. Walker Groetzinger, John Hays, Marilyn Henrion, Robert A. Hill, Dr. and Mrs. Leonard Hochman,Pamela J. Hoiles, Mr. and Mrs. John C. Hood, Maridean Watt Hutton, Noryko Isshiki, Richard Kemble, William C. Ketchum, Jr., Mary Kettaneh, Carla Knobloch, George Korn, Mr. and Mrs. David Krashes, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore J. Lynch, Mary Nell Mashuta, Mr. and Mrs. Byron H. McKinney, Karl V. Mendel, Carmen Mercadal, Sophie H. Minkoff, Mrs. Jean Mitchell, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Murphy, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. O'Brien, Dr. Burton W. Pearl, Mr. and Mrs. Chris P. Regas, Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Schwartz, Pamela Bisbee Simonds, Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Stempel, Peggy Waldman, Stephen W. Welch, Mr. and Mrs. Frank P. Wendt, Mr. and Mrs. Simeon Wrenn, and Susan Yecies.

11140 e ET -Rare Ffj lrorks Arailable ALSO... LEROY ALMON • L. W. CRAWFORD CHUCK CROSBY • HOWARD FINSTER LONNIE HOLLEY • CLEMENTINE HUNTER JAMES HAROLD JENNINGS • M. C."SC" JONES CALVIN LIVINGSTON • WOODIE LONG ANNIE LUCAS • CHARLIE LUCAS • R. A. MILLER B. F. PERKINS • SARAH RAKES JUANITA ROGERS • BERNICE SIMS JIMMIE LEE SUDDUTH • ANNIE TOLLIVER CHARLES TOLLIVER • MOSE TOLLIVER BILL TRAYLOR • DEREK WEBSTER MYRTICE WEST • PAULINE WILLIS "ARTIST CHUCKIE" WILLIAMS MOSE TOLLIVER, 1980 Model Jeep Car, c. 1982. Enamel on board, 21" x 31".

MARCIA WEBER/ART OBJECTS, INC. 3218 LEXINGTON ROAD • MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36106 • 205/262.5349 Ongoing Exhibitions By Appoinlmenl

22 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

Baltimore Album Quilt, dated 1846. Purchased directly from the family. Mint condition. 96" x 120"

SUSAkk__ ., mitRI)n 390 BLEECKER STREET • NEW YORK, NY 10014• 212/645-5020

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

African-American Mule Quilt. Betty Rogers. Cotton, 72 1/2 x 70 inches, 1988.

The pieced black mules with their embroidered daisy-like eyes

stand in stark contrast to the white pieced-work fields.

Small variations from mule to mule result in no two being identical.

Published in Wendy Lavitt's Animals in American Folk Art, 1990, p.132.

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.

"A three-day storm—a husband who was away—unutterable boredom—a sudden idea! Mrs. Cora Scovil, young and lovely wife of a successful steel man in a small Pennsylvania town, reached into her rag bag and picked out Success! It was eight years ago that the "patch poster" business, known today throughout this country and abroad, was born...Today in a large airy studio in the heart of New York's business district Mrs. Scovil manufactures her clever wares, turning out never less than four posters a week."

12-Z River Hill Road Louisville, KY 40207

Patch Poster, made by Cora Scovil in 1922 for the A.L.D. Warner family—Lake Placid, NY, 72" x 81"

(502)897.3819 by appointment

The Grayson Gallery, Inc. 207 West Superior Street Chicago, Illinois 60610 Telephone: 312.266.7766 TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN FOLK ART Minnie & Garland Adkins Felipe Archuleta Leroy Almon Zebedee Armstrong Orlando "Butch" Behnke Georgia Blizzard Jessie Cooper Ronald Cooper William Dawson Minnie Dichelle Howard Finster Denzil Goodpaster Dilmus Hall William Hawkins Jessie Howard Anderson Johnson Clyde Jones S. L. Jones Andy Kane Charley Kinney Noah Kinney Jr. Lewis Carl McKenzie Lanier Meaders Joe Miller Wesley Miller Earnest Patton Rev. B. F. Perkins Enrique Rendon Jack Savitsky Jimmie Lee Sudduth Sarah Mary Taylor James "Son" Thomas Mose Tolliver Edgar Tolson Inez Nathaniel Walker Hubert Walters .1=11,

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COLLECTING THOUGHTS

AN INTERVIEW WITH ARDIS & ROBERT JAMES CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. STACY C. HOLLANDER

This past summer I had the pleasure of meeting Ardis James in her Chappaqua home with some of my colleagues, Gerard Wertkin, Cathy Rasmussen, and Phyllis Tepper. As we drove up to the house, our eyes were immediately drawn to a "crazy quilt" painted on wood and affixed to the side ofthe house as a tribute created by their son. Although we were aware ofthe encyclopedic scope ofthe collection, nothing could prepare usfor the sight ofhundreds ofglorious quilts all in one room.

I caught up with Robert and Ardis James at Mr. James's office in midtown Manhattan, where I spoke with them about their collection.

Selected quiltsfrom this collection were on exhibition in Japan in 1990; a full-color, 198-page catalog, Quilts: The James Collection, in Japanese and English, accompanied the exhibition. —S.H. Folk Art:I am happy that I had the opportunity to view your collection before this conversation, although I've seen some ofthe quilts in the catalog ofthe 1990 exhibition that traveled to Japan.

Ardis James: When we worked on the catalog we didn't even expect people to read it. We have had great success with it and are still getting requests for it.

FA:Have you shown that many quilts in any other exhibition?

AJ: No, we haven't. That was the major exhibition, so it seemed very important to us that the catalog represent the collection as accurately as possible. We took a great deal of trouble to define the collection, making sure that an example of each type was included rather than picking out the prettiest or the most expensive in the collection. We agreed also that the contemporary quilts must be included.

FA:So you have multiple examples ofeach ofthe categories that were represented.

AJ: Yes. Thke, for example, "Log Cabin." That is an important category and we wanted to be sure

that it was included. So selections were made from that category; other quilts were carefully chosen to represent their types.

TRIPLE IRISH CHAIN Northeast Ohio C. 1898 Pieced cotton

FA:Is that the approach that you have taken to the collection as you have put it together? to represent all the different types?

Al:I think it happened in a more random fashion, although we probably would be impressed if we analyzed it now. We would probably find that, consciously or not, we have tried not to duplicate. If we do buy a quilt that is a better example of something we already have, we set that earlier work aside for possible...

FA:Sale or donation?

AJ: Yes. FA: Would you describe the arrangements you have made to house the quilts? I have never come across the kind ofeightplatform arrangement you have devised.

Al: We haven't seen anything like it either. After talking to an architect and a construction person, we decided to build a room 22' by 33' and everyone who saw it under construction said, "Ah it's so huge"; but I knew it wasn't going to be big enough practically from the first moment. We had

75x73

Ardis and Robert James

the idea for the platforms hoping that we could arrange to have the quilts flat, with the ones that are really heavy on or near the bottom and anything threedimensional on the top. And it has worked so far.

FA:How often do youfind that you need to reach a quilt that is several layers down?

AJ: If someone really wants a quilt for publication, we just get busy and pick up quilts and set them over here and set them over there until we get to the one we want. It's tedious; however, most requests can be accommodated with slides.

FA: You and your husband have taken a very responsible attitude toward the quilts, because the collection does come with an awesome obligation and you do have humidity control and museum lighting.

Al: You're right. We used to send quilts out to publishers and then we decided this was not the way to go because some of the quilts were too fragile, and even if they weren't some deterioration would result from sending them out.

Anyone who wants a quilt is welcome to have it photographed here. The quilts do not travel except in rare cases. We now have two quilts out in Kentucky, in an exhibition that will go out for three years. We thought it was important to have them included

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 27

in this exhibition; of course, they are not old. This caveat does not apply to contemporary quilts; these are available.

FA: That brings up a point about your collection that made it unusual rightfrom the beginning: when you started collecting, you were drawn to the contemporary quilts as well as the antique quilts, at a time when it was not common among quilt collectors to do so.

AJ: We didn't know that.

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FA: When you first started collecting did you buy a single quilt that got you started or did you buy several quilts at the same time and all ofa sudden realize you had a budding collection?

AJ: Beats me! I had a fabric shop and it was known—absolutely known—that I was not interested in anything if I could not wear it.

People ask, "When did you start collecting," and I can't answer that either. I know that in 1979 I bought one quilt, but I didn't buy another one for a year. Now that's not really collecting. I read a definition of collecting that said if you have more than you need of anything, whether it's quilts or matchbooks, it's a collection. So at what point we had a collection I don't know. Two quilts may have been more than we needed.

I had studied with Michael James in 1975 and admired his quilts. At the time we had no money. We had a house and a mortgage and three children soon to go to college, so we started on a very small scale with classic quilts, because that is what we saw, they were the most available.

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AJ: I have never understood why people can't love both the old and the new. It was so easy for us to do that.

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But I said to Bob one day, "Isn't it too bad that when I did study with Michael we had no money, because now his quilts are very expensive and I would love to have one," and I thought no more of it.

But apparently Bob listened; he contacted Michael and said, "Could you send me pictures of quilts you can offer me?" That was in November of 1983. At Christmas I found six photographs under the tree and he said, "Make a choice." I was floored; I had no idea and I couldn't make a choice. I said to Bob,"I can't, any one of them would be fine," so Bob went back to Michael and said, "Give me a price for the

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whole lot." Michael was not expecting that.

FA:And neither were you,I take it....

AJ:(Laughter) No, of course not, but Bob doesn't do anything in a small way, so he bought six quilts, including one that was on Michael's bed that his wife didn't want him to sell. We have since acquired three more, including an earlier one. Now we have nine.

That is how we got into contemporary quilts.

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FA:/t is apparent that it is not only important to you to have examples by recognized quilters per se, but also to have quilts in your collection by contemporary quiltmakers who have maybe only one or two examples.

AJ: We have had help from consultants. Michael Kile and Penny McMorris have helped a lot. If you are buying a classic quilt—a classic pattern—you can look at it and tell how much time was spent on that quilt by the stitching and the way it was put together; you can have a fairly good idea of how demanding that quilt was and how you should be viewing it. With contemporary quilts you can't do that, or it is much harder to do that.

Penny has been wonderful making choices available, though we have never felt pushed or unduly influenced. But she does know a lot and she sees everything and we trust her judgement. She knows our collection very well, so when she sees something that she thinks we ought to have and she suggests that we look at it, we look at it.

FA: Ultimately what is it about the quilt that pushes you toward making the purchase? Is it the graphic quality, or the craftsmanship, or a combination of everything?

AJ: We try not to buy anything that is not well-made, so craftsmanship is important. But also [we ask], what does it mean in terms of contemporary work?

How good is it as an example? I am baffled by the names quiltmakers give their creations. At Quilt National you can see what is going on and you can talk to the quilimakers and see how it is with them. We like to know the meaning of the quilts.

FA:Does your assistant, Stacey Epstein, document all the quilts?

Al: She hasn't really gotten into the contemporary work yet. She has good connections at museums and auction houses and she knows how to go about getting information. I hope she can concentrate on antique quilts right away,

because the individual families may still be around, but they won't be forever.

FA:As I said, quilts come with obligations, and that's one of them. I think it is wonderful that you are putting the time and the effort into doing the research.

Al:I think it is important. The more we know about our quilts, the better off we will be. I tend to think of the quilts as individuals, and I would never keep quilts if! had to put them in storage. I want them right here. I want to look at them and know that a particular quilt is there and quite often I will see something that I didn't notice before, so it is very important to me to have them around.

FA:Iguess when you have 800 quilts you need to get reacquainted now and again.

AJ: I hardly ever forget a quilt. I am surprised because I forget everything—I don't know what I did yesterday—but I can remember things about the quilts. We try when we are considering a purchase to see what we may have that is like it; if we do have something that is very similar we may not buy the one that is being offered.

BLUE UNDERCURRENTS Michael James Somerset Village, Mass.

1983 Pieced cotton 70Y2 x 69

BALTIMORE ALBUM QUILT Attributed to Mary Evans Baltimore c. 1850

Robert James enters the room

Pieced and appliquéd cotton 106 0110'

FA:Do youfeel that there are still major categories ofthe historical quilts that you do not have well represented?

Al: Yes, we need a good stencil quilt.

Robert James: We have a great stencil quilt, but it's not in good shape.

Al: It can't be moved, it is so far gone. It is probably one of the best stencil quilts ever made. It should go to an institution that has the facilities to conserve it, rather than remain with us.

RJ: Blue resist, we don't have a good blue resist.

FA:Have you actually mapped out your collecting areas in that

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 29

fashion? Have you sat down and said, "Well, we don't have this area represented or well represented," and then gone out and looked specificallyfor that?

AJ: We have some very good contacts out in the field who look for quilts for us and so a word to them would probably be sufficient if we needed it, but most of the time we just find something.

RJ: Ardis, have you explained what our aim is?

AJ: No, I was waiting for you.

RJ: Our aim, and we have thought a lot about this, is to build a comprehensive quilt collection. We figure that there are few arts in which you can still do that sort of thing as an individual. You can no longer build a comprehensive painting or sculpture collection as a private collector. You can no longer conceive of having a comprehensive American furniture collection, but there are still areas where one can do that. We don't know exactly what matrix we want to lay out, but we have given a lot of thought to it.

FA:Do youfind that you will still buy quilts because you like the fabric or is that something that you have outgrown in your collecting?

RJ: We'll buy quilts that aren't an awful lot of money that are very old and have a lot of great fabric, although they might not have great artistic value. Maybe Ardis would like to answer that.

AJ: Quilts like that are terrific for research. When an old quilt comes in, you can look back and see a whole variety of 150-yearold fabrics. Even though we might wish the quilts were more appealing, we keep them because the fabrics are priceless.

FA: And that gives you a resource as you look at the other quilts in the collection, as well.

AJ: We have at least eight that don't look like much and your first reaction on seeing them might be, "Why did they buy that quilt?"

That is why.

30

SPRING 1993

FOLK ART

FA: Any purchase you make, any quilt you bring into your collection is serving afunction, even if it is as a visual resource.

RJ: Sometimes a quilt is just an error.

FA: Well,I guess you are bound to make some mistakes, especially with the number you are dealing with.

RJ: Some of the mistakes we made were genuine mistakes and some were mistakes of group or category FA:Do youforesee a time when youfeel you will havefulfilled all the criteria that you have setfor yourself?

AJ:I think that we have reached that point with the old quilts.

It is very gratifying to have an example that you know is the best of something.

RI: For a long time we didn't collect quilts from the 1920s and '30s. Now we have a lot of them.

FA:Do you consider quilts folk art?

Al: They certainly are folk art, very good examples of folk art.

When you have a quilt that is made from hand-spun cloth, dyed with home-mixed substances, put together by the woman of the house, it has to be folk art.

RJ: But today's contemporary quilts are not folk art in that way I think Michael Kile and Penny McMorris put it best with the type of quilt they called the art quilt. That's the best way to describe it.

FA: When do you think that change occurred?

RI: Earlier than we thought. People usually say around the 1970s or 1980s, but some quiltmakers were breaking with tradition before then. People who are studying quilts also thought this was happening earlier.

FA: You are actually in the unique position of having the quilt timeline infront ofyou. You can look through time and see the changes that took place, how technology changed things, how styles came and went, and any cyclical styles.

RI: Look at Michael James. The quilt Elaborated Tangram is not an art quilt. It came out of the patchwork quilt tradition.

AJ: It is a series of identical blocks, each one turned a different way to complete the design.

RJ: Well, I think that people looking at that quilt can say, "This quilt is not very different from pieced quilts from an earlier period. I can see how this grew out of an 1880 quilt."

FA: What do you want to happen to your collection?

RJ: Oh, well, we'll sell some.

I don't think it's possible for one place to take care of so many.

But we'll give some to museums.

SHIP OF STATE Made by the Peet Sisters for their father, Rolla Alonzo Peet Lorain, Ohio 1905 Pieced and appliquĂŠd cotton 67% x 58"

AJ: Well, that is what should become of them. They should go to a public place where they will be appreciated, and we have started looking for recipients.

FA:Do you have afavorite period or type of quilt?

AJ: I love them all.

Stacy C. Hollander is the Curator of the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art. She is the author ofHarry Lieberman: A Journey of Remembrance (Dutton Studio Books, 1991).

Countrymasl:Ir9 a rtipe presents a Special Exhibition of

20th rent! t ry Morning Star( )lifts of the Northern Plains Indians at the GREAT AMERICAN QUILT FESTIVAL 4 Museum of American Folk Art, New York City May 12-16, 1993

The Story of Assiniboine, or the Red Bottom Tepee quilt, by Almira Buffalo Bone Jackson. "Arise! Arise! Come see the morning star." This centuries-old call from the Indian camp crier has been woven into the fabric of the Northern Plains Indians' lives...and their quilts. For over a hundred years these Indians of Montana and the Dakotas have been creating colorful variations of the morning star in their quilts.

Today, the morning star still symbolizes a new beginning...a new day dawning.

Come and see a dozen authentic 20th Century Morning Star Quilts on display at the Museum of American Folk Art's "Great American Quilt Festival 4" at Pier 92, May 12-16.

This special exhibit is sponsored by Country Home Magazine.

Country Home magazine is a publication of the Meredith Corporation.

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FOLK ART

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33

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BOB BisHoHN0LITRERICAN CYRIL I. NELSON

Robert Bishop in the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery 1989 From New York April10,1989

© 1989 ISAIAH WYNER

e once told me he was "a little boy from Readfield, Maine, who struck it rich" —not in the literal sense, perhaps, but in the best Horatio Alger way. Bob Bishop was talented, ambitious, and so very, very bright. Not only did he do well whatever task he set for himself, but he also had the talent to inspire others to want to do their best for him, so that his goals could be achieved.

Can anyone forget his wonderful smile?

It is because those goals inevitably were consonant with those of the Museum of American Folk Art that it is right for us to take a brief look at Bob's life in American folk art to appreciate all that he was able to accomplish both for himself and for all of us who treasured him and identified with his goals.

Bob apparently had no conception of how deeply he affected the lives of others; it surprised him to learn how much others cherished his intelligence, sense of fun, and all the other qualities that combine in a personality to make it unique. Bob was the definition of charisma—indeed, the word might have been invented just for him.

Bob's career was in many ways germinated by his grandmother, Ethel Bishop, to whom he was devoted— she was a fun and very savvy lady from Maine, who was involved with antiques and ran a candy shop in Kennebunkport called Port Candy. Bob said that as a youngster he always had money in his jeans because he had inherited Ethel's eye for good things to sell. Bob also began his dancing career in Readfield and finally left Maine in his teens to pursue dancing in New York, where at one point he taught ballroom dancing at one of the Fred Astaire studios.

He went on to become a member of the ballet troupe at the Metropolitan Opera and always kept a poster of himself in costume for his part in Puccini's Turandot.

It was in October 1961 that Bob and I first became acquainted at an antiques show at the old 34th Street Armory on Park Avenue, where he had a small booth and

was displaying, among other things, a pair of "Lincolndrape" salts. He assured me that they were very special, but they were not for me. Several weeks later he phoned to say that he had several pieces of furniture he thought I would enjoy taking a look at. He was right. One was a small Sheraton chair in modern green paint that is still in my home. The other was a simple, handsome American Queen / 2"-wide one-board top in soft Anne table in maple with a 251 pine. This table had been on display in Bob's tiny Cobwebs antiques shop in Readfield the whole previous summer but had found no taker. I acquired it in 1961 and it has been an important fixture in my office ever since.

What started our dual careers in American folic art?

On a bright day in May 1963, Bob called to say that he had just found a fascinating painting from Pennsylvania that he felt was for me. I had probably told him at some point about the watercolor by J. Evans that had come to my family from my grandmother's estate (my grandmother had been born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, where Evans was active).

Bob's little painting was The White House at Sunset, which is now in the Museum's collection. This was the first significant American folk painting sold by him. I bought it, the floodgates opened, and thanks to Bob's enthusiastic and discriminating eye I soon became happily surrounded with many examples of American folk art.

Those were happy days. The Vermont Farm Scene in my office came into my collection as the result of one of our many rambling trips on Route 9W along the Hudson River.

The refreshing Sailboat with Portland Head Light, which is also in my office, was bought from Bob when we attended a flea market in Old Chatham, New York, on a scalding hot August day. I hoped it would help relieve the misery of the heat. It seemed to help, and ever since it has been a happy reminder of my own home in Maine, where I also have several fine pieces that Bob found for me. We discovered A Mill on the Brandywine during a summer-day's jaunt in New Jersey, and several nice paintings of the Hudson River

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 35

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PORTRAIT OF A MILLER Erastus Salisbury Field New England c. 1840 Oil on canvas 30% x 25114" Museum of American Folk Art Gift of Cyril I. Nelson in honor of Howard and Jean Lipman.

(one based on a popular lithograph of the period)also came into my collection through his efforts. It was also about this time that Bob and I became fascinated with the schoolgirl folk art that was being produced in the seminaries of the period 1810-1840. As a result, we added to my collection the Basket ofShells, two theorem paintings in the form of fans, and a splendid painted box. It was so typical of him that after an antiquary expedition involving many "pit stops," as I was driving him back to the theater, Bob would obviously be dead tired but couldn't be persuaded to take a snooze because "I don't want to miss anything!"

It was about this time that Bob helped out at Betty Fehr's antiques shop on Greenwich Avenue, and it was there that he met the Museum's beloved friends Leo and Dorothy Rabkin, who bought some fine sculptures from Bob, including the great two-tier whirligig called The Early Bird Gets the Worm. Also about this time, Bob took a plunge and bought the handsome Portrait ofa Miller, by Erastus Salisbury Field, from the famous Connecticut dealer Mary Allis. I took an even bigger plunge and persuaded Bob to part with the painting, which I then kept for many years in my office and home before turning it over to the Museum in

36 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

BASKET OF SHELLS Artist unknown New England 1825-1835 Watercolor on paper 103/4 x 135/8" Private collection

honor of Howard and Jean Lipman, who have been so very generous to the Museum through the years. Indeed,some of the finest pieces from Howard and Jean's great collection now belong to the Museum.

Bob came to realize that life on the Broadway stage was not what he was cut out for. As Art and Antiques Editor at E.P. Dutton, I at that time had an author who was an executive at American Heritage magazine, so I sent Bob to him, being certain that Bob's personality and intelligence would get him a job at once. I was right. Bob became a picture researcher, working with Marshall Davidson on American Heritage's three-volume history of American decorative arts. Bob was in heaven, but more importantly the work on that project sent him to museums around the country, and it was about 1970 that the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, hired Bob as Museum Editor and Assistant Curator of American Decorative Arts.

In 1968 I got the idea of doing a book on American painted furniture. Dean Fales, Jr., agreed to write the text; Bob and I collaborated on the picture research; and Bob then designed the entire book, using skills that he had learned at American Heritage. American Painted Furniture

THE WHITE HOUSE AT SUNSET Artist unknown Pennsylvania 1850-1860 128/4 x 173/4" Museum of American Folk Art Gift of Robert Bishop and Cyril I. Nelson

was published in 1972, followed about a month later by America's Quilts and Coverlets, by Carleton L. Safford of the Ford Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;once again Bob designed the entire bookâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and about a month after that, still in 1972, we published Bob's Centuries and Styles ofthe American Chair,for which he did the picture research, the writing, and the design! It was a superlatively busy fall for us both.

In 1973, I published Bob's How to Know American Antique Furniture, and in 1974 his American Folk Sculpture (on the jacket of which was featured the magnificent Sea Bird that I had bought from Bob in the late sixties). In 1975 came New Discoveries in American Quilts, in which we had a section devoted to Amish quilts, which were just then becoming popular with quilt collectors. That section resulted in Bob's next book, A Gallery of Amish Quilts, published in 1976, which he coauthored with Elizabeth Safanda. Once again he designed the entire book. We were both very proud of this ground-breaking work, and I am glad to say that sixteen years later it is still in print. It was also in 1976 that we published The American Clock, which Bob did with William H. Distin of the Ford Museum. Bob was the epitome of the self-starter;I can hear him saying, as

he did so often, "Cy, we have to keep moving, we have to get things done!" Bless him; he was such an inspiration.

Bob came to the Museum as director in 1977 after the tragic death of Bruce Johnson. It was Bert Hemphill, that superlative collector of American folk art and a longtime friend of Bob's, who suggested to the Museum's trustees that Bob, who was still at the Henry Ford Museum, might be interested in the directorship. Bert Hemphill was right, and Bob Bishop returned to New York. Bob became synonymous with the Museum of American Folk Art and was tireless in his determination to make the Museum an important force in the cultural life of New York City.

Not being content with the ambitious programs that he instituted at the Museum, however, Bob made time both to write and to design his next book, Folk Painters ofAmerica, which I published in 1979. In the mid-seventies Bob had discovered the important contemporary folk artist Mattie Lou O'Kelley, who lived in Georgia, and he was instrumental in making a wide group of collectors appreciate the beauty of her paintings. I feel sure that Mattie Lou's work inspired Bob to become closely associated with and supportive of the art being produced by a large group of twentieth-

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 37

AMISH QUILT HOLE IN THE BARN DOOR VARIATION Quiltmaker unknown Initialed

SUSAN EINSTEIN

Indiana Dated March 26,1942 Pieced and handquilted cotton 88 x 72 Museum of American Folk Art Gift of David Pottinger

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38 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

century folk artists, including Howard Finster, Mose Tolliver, William Hawkins, Justin McCarthy, Gustav Klumpp, Nellie May Rowe, Clementine Hunter, Kathy Jakobsen, and Thornton Dial.

Bob was a teacher—he taught at the University of Michigan while he was at the Ford Museum—and he was tremendously proud of the graduate program in Folk Art Studies at New York University and the Museum's Folk Art Institute, where he taught regularly. Above all, he was determined that others should learn to use their eyes, to learn to recognize and appreciate not only the beauty of the folk art inherited from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but also the large body of significant work created in the twentieth century. Bob certainly agreed with me in recognizing that "man is an art-producing animal," and that art of all kinds—be it fine or folk—continues to be created regardless of time or place.

It was probably the beliefin the permanence of art in all its manifestations that got Bob so involved with American quilts. In the late 1980s Bob became fascinated with Double Wedding Ring quilts, and he had a lot of fun in putting together a large collection of them. The Double Wedding Ring pattern is, of course, one of the most popular quilt designs ever created, but no one had ever really seriously studied quilts based on this design. Bob decided that having acquired so many examples the time was ripe to publish a book on the subject. After Cuesta Benberry, a fine quilt historian and very gracious lady, was able to provide Bob with early information about the Double Wedding Ring pattern, we published The Romance ofDouble Wedding Ring Quilts in 1989.

Bob was so very proud of the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery at Two Lincoln Square—a beautiful space for our fine Museum—a magnificent capstone for a life in American folk art.

Bob was my mentor and my wonderful friend. He did his best; his spirit and the memories are everlasting.* Cyril!. Nelson is Senior Editor in charge ofDutton Studio Books at Penguin USA, New York, and a member of the Museum's board of trustees. He is the guest curator of "Bob Bishop: A Life in Folk Art," the current exhibition at the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art.

THE EXHIBITION FEBRUARY 27— SEPTEMBER 12,1993

D

r. Robert Bishop, the late director of the Museum of American Folk Art, possessed an enthusiasm, vision, and personal cha-

risma that changed the lives of those around

him. With his passing the folk art world lost one of its

greatest champions, warmest proponents, and most controversial figures. The exhibition "Bob Bishop: A Life in Folk Art," on view at the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery from February 27 through September 12, 1993, is a tribute to him and his accomplishments. The more than one hundred objects in the exhibition, selected by guest curator, Cyril I. Nelson, reflect Bob's encyclopedic interests and unorthodox professional progression from dealer to collector to, eventually, museum director. In his first role he had a profound effect on some of the most important collections in the field today and was often responsible for shaping them in new directions. Among the works on view that collectors associate with his enthusiasm is the important Morris Hirshfield painting The Artist and His Model, which is owned by David L. Davies, and a pair of portraits

by Ammi Phillips recently donated to the Museum by Joan and Victor Johnson.

In his second role he amassed a personal collection that virtually chronicles the development of the field of American folk art. And in his last role, he shaped the direction of the Museum's collection, its exhibitions, and its major programs.

Among Bob Bishop's major contributions to research in the folk art field was his discovery of the identity and body of work now attributed to John Blunt. His research interest in Blunt, which began with his doctoral dissertation, culminated in an exhibition presented at the

Robert Bishop

Museum of American Folk Art; the catalog that accom-

January 1962

panied this exhibition remains the definitive work on this painter. Four examples of the artist's portraits will be included in the exhibition. Bob Bishop's writings and the many books he published on all aspects of folk art and the decorative arts are also represented.

The exhibition has been made possible in part through the generous support of Asahi Shimbun, The Cowles Charitable Trust, and Takashimaya Co., Ltd. Additional support has been provided by Gary Davenport, Louise M. Simone, and other Museum friends.

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 39

COLOURWASH STRIPES III Deirdre Amsden London 1992 Machine-pieced, hand- and machine-quilted assorted cottons and cotton blends 48 x 80 This quilt is one of a series that reverses the convention of using shape to build pattern.

Instead, the design of the quilt causes the patch shape to dissolve in the overall image.

40

SPRING 1993

FOLK ART

Diversity & Continuity: CATHY RASMUSSEN

panorama of quilts celebrating the diversity and continuity of quiltmaking will fill the view at "The Great American Quilt Festival 4" at Pier 92 in New York City on May 12 to 16, 1993. Held biennially in the past, the upcoming Festival marks a transition to a yearly Museum of American Folk Art event in association with Sanford L. Smith & Associates, Ltd. Quilt enthusiasts of all persuasions will be captivated by several museum-quality exhibits highlighting both historical and nontraditional quilts. "Marie Webster Quilts: A Retrospective" rediscovers the author of Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them, the first book devoted to quiltmaking, which was printed in 1915. This exhibit is particularly fascinating in light of the energetic and blossoming quilt industry that accompanies the current quilt revival. The demand for Marie's patterns was so great that a mail-order business offering original patterns, kits, and finished quilts was operated from her home in Marion, Indiana, through the 1930s. This exhibition was organized

by Niloo Imami-Paydar and was originally presented at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The pieced designs of Native American quiltmakers will be showcased in "Morning Star Quilts: Quilting Traditions of the Northern Plains Indians," an exhibit sponsored

by Country Home magazine. The star pattern was a prevalent theme in their culture, adorning animal skins used for tepees, clothing, and shields. The incorporation of the quilting tradition into the community at the end of the nineteenth century was an adaptation of already established skills to new materials and a new medium.

Twenty-seven international members of the Museum of American Folk Art Quilt Connection were chosen from slides submitted of their previous work to make a unique quilt expressly for display in "The Quilt Connection AllStars" exhibition. The contest and exhibit are sponsored by Fairfield Processing Corporation, maker of Poly-fir brand batting and fiberfill. The array of unique responses displayed will be a testament to the exhilarating scope of the present-day quiltmaker. Some of the quiltmakers have chosen fabrics for kinship or confrontation, others embellished their designs with paints and beads, and still others have altered their materials with dyes and stencils. A full-color catalog of this exhibition will be available at the Festival.

A glimpse into what makes the successful quiltmaker stitch will be provided by "The Creative Balance: Quilts From the Great American Quilt Festival 4 Teaching Staff," sponsored by Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. Showcasing the innovative talents and cutting-edge explorations of professional quiltmakers who choose quiltmaking to translate skills and personality into visual expression, the exhibit will also focus on the fine balance needed in the

A

The Great American Quilt Festival4 SPRING 1993

FOLK ART 41

Cathy Rasmussen is Director of "The Great American Quilt Festival 4."

SUNFLOWER Marie D. Webster 1911 Linen appliquéd on cotton 88'x81 Indianapolis Museum of Art Webster Collection Gift of Mrs. Gernsh Thurber "The sunflower quilt shows a very realistic bold design of vivid coloring, but well balanced in its relation to space.

The border, too, is harmonious, suggesting a firm foundation for the stems. The quilting in the center is noticeably attractive in a design of spider webs, leaves and flowers."

Marie D. Webster in Ladies Home Journal January 1912.

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lives of quiltmakers in order to accomplish these quilting goals and challenges. For each the need to create, an act that is often best accomplished in isolation, must be balanced with personal relationships and responsibilities to family and society. Statements reflecting the maker's creative thought processes and insights into her personal balancing act will accompany each quilt.

Quilts from well-known celebrities will comprise "Star Coverage: Celebrities and Their Quilts:' an exhibit coordinated by noted quilt authority Shelly Zegart and sponsored by V.I.P Fabrics. The personal side of collecting will be explored through statements by the celebrities, including Muhammad Ali, Phyllis George Brown, Larry Gatlin, Joan Hamburg, Norman Lear, Marsha Norman, and Sally Jessy Raphael.

Two wonderful quilts pieced from the winning blocks from the quilt block contest sponsored by Family Circle magazine and Fairfield Processing Corporation will be on display for the very first time. The designs of these original blocks focus on family traditions, heritage, and fond memories.

Other highlights of the Festival will be the divergent viewpoints of two exhibits of African-American quilts — "Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts," presented by Cuesta Benberry, and "Signs and Symbols: African Images in Quilts from the Rural South," presented by Dr. Maude Wahlman — and the exhibition "Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art" at the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery.

The five full days of comprehensive educational programming reflect the joys and depth of the quilt aesthetic.

Each day of lectures will focus on a particular aspect of quiltmalcing. The first day's lectures will be presented by Museum of American Folk Art staff members and consultants. Those of the second will focus on exploring the historical aspects of quilts and their relevance to contemporary quilting. In conjunction with the Museum's two exhibitions on African-American quilts, the programming of the third day will focus on cultural influences on quilts and textiles. This will be followed by a day of lectures highlighting the innovative talents of the studio art quilter. The final day's lecture will provide an inside look at publishing in the quilt market. A Design and Sew Quilt Workshop will be given for children from 6-10 years of age. All ofthe lectures will be presented on the Pier during the Festival, while workshops, seminars, and evening programs will be held off-site at the Festival headquarters hotel, the Days Inn. All-day and half-day workshops on traditional as well as innovative quiltmaking techniques will be offered at both beginner and advanced levels. Two pragmatic seminars will focus on issues.relevant to the professional quilt artist, while another will offer a panel discussion on the ethics and methodology of appraising antique and art quilts. Surface embellishment, textile printmaking, fabric dyeing and painting techniques, advanced sewing machine methodology, and a demonstration of the growing use of computers in contemporary quilt design are all topics offering opportunities for learning and exploration.*

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-4.1.414.444.4.44141414.4ii AIA444.04 ,,A14141,441AAAAAAA141141AAt FLAG QUILT Artist unknown Philadelphia, Pa. c. 1876 Cotton 69 x 86 Collection of Lyn and Norman Lear Pieced-cotton quilt with printed Centennial kerchiefs.

The central kerchief represents Memorial Hall Art Gallery in Philadelphia, site of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. The other kerchiefs represent the flags of participating nations.

42 SPRING 0993 FOLK ART

STAR AND ARROWS Artie Crazy Bull Fort Peck, Montana c. 1975 Cotton 82/ 1 2x 92' Florence A. Pulford Collection Courtesy Leone Publications This Lakota quiltmaker continues the traditional use of the star motif originally used on buffalo hide.

ecently there has been an explosion of interest in American quilting. Scholars have explored quilts by chronology, region, construction, and materials.

They have looked at the overall history, they have focused on singular traditions. One important and complex area of inquiry that has emerged over the last decade is the study of quilts and other textiles made by African Americans. From May 12 to 16, 1993, as part of "The Great American Quilt Festival 4" at Pier 92 on the Hudson River, the Museum of American Folk Art will present two important exhibitions devoted to quilts made by AfricanAmerican quiltmakers. Both exhibitions represent many years of research on the part oftheir respective curators — Dr. Maude Southwell Wahlman and Cuesta Benberry— and offer different aspects of the history of AfricanAmerican quilting in the United States.

While one exhibition explores the African antecedents of some AfricanAmerican quilting traditions, the other presents the broad spectrum of quilting

by African-American quiltmakers from the nineteenth century through the present day.

It is not the purpose of this article to paraphrase the thoughts and writings of two scholars eminently qualified to represent their own findings. Nor is it my aim to endorse one perspective over another. It is my hope that this brief discussion will encourage people to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to experience for themselves the dialogue that continues to evolve in this field.

As an observer with an interest in American quilt history, I am left, after reviewing the thoughtful material of both historians, with a strong conviction that neither line of inquiry ultimately negates the other. The fine focus applied by one is part ofthe story told by the other. However, the attention paid to the African design qualities of some quilts has captured the imagination of the quilt world almost to the exclusion of all other aspects of African-American quiltmaking. But there remain questions and inconsistencies that suggest there is more than one way to view a quilt and a great deal of work still to be done. The more

R AfricanAmerican Quilts: Two Perspectives STACY C HOLLANDER

44 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

information we bring to this material, the deeper is our understanding and appreciation of the incredible complexity of historical, cultural, and emotional forces that shape every aspect of the creation of these quilts and our response to them.

In 1976, Gladys-Marie Fry wrote a monograph on the life of Harriet Powers, whose two Bible quilts must be included among the United States' greatest cultural treasures. She discovered a corollary between the Wahlman has been one of the most eloquent proponents of the study of African design derivations... technique and imagery of these two quilts and the appliqué tradition of the Fon people of Dahomey, West Africa, now the Republic of Benin. During the following two years John Michael Vlach and Mary Twining noted the seeming retention of two African textile techniques in work by African Americans, namely strip piecing and appliqué.' By 1980, the first exhibition of African-American quilts had been organized by Maude Wahlman and John Scully for the Yale School of Art Gallery. The purpose of the exhibition was to pinpoint specific characteristics of quilts made by African-American quiltmakers that were similar to African-made textiles. In the enthusiasm that followed, the visual characteristics quickly came to be generally viewed as the criteria for defining an African-American quilt. African designs, techniques, and symbolism as antecedents for the quilting aesthetic of African-American quilters became the primary focus for ensuing articles, exhibitions, catalogs, and symposia.

Dr. Wahlman, who has been one of the most eloquent proponents of the study of African design derivations in this body of work, writes in the introduction to her forthcoming book, Signs and Symbols: African Images in AfricanAmerican Quilts: Similar designs in African quilted textiles and African-

BIBLE SCENES QUILT Made by a member of the Drake family Thomaston, Georgia 1900-1910 Appliquéd cotton ?6½x 71" Collection of Shelly Zegart

SPRING 1993

FOLK ART

45

FREEDOM QUILT Jessie Telfair Parrot, Georgia; 1980 Pieced and appliqued cotton and synthetic fabrics 73x 85" Collection of Shelly Zegart

American quilts are coincidental, due to the technical process of piecing which reduces cloth to geometric shapes—squares and triangles. All these techniques—piecing, appliqué, and quilting—were known in Africa, Europe, and the United States, yet these AfricanAmerican quilts are often profoundly different from European or Anglo-American quilts.

The difference lies in historically different aesthetic principles, with both technical and religious dimensions.2 Dr. Wahlman's research began in 1977 when she was a graduate student at Yale. She had already published one book on contemporary African art that included an examination of African textiles. With the support of Robert Farris Thompson, her advisor at Yale, Wahlman began an exploration of possible connections between those textile traditions and quilts made by

48 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

African Americans. In the course of her continuing investigations she has interviewed at least 500 quilters and seen thousands of quilts. The results have formed the basis for her many contributions to the study of the African roots of quilts made by African Americans.

In 1989, Dr. Wahlman published two articles in The Clarion that detailed some of the results of her research.3 At that time, Dr. Robert Bishop approached her with the idea of organizing an exhibition for the 'Museum of American Folk Art using quilts by living African-American quiltmakers that she would identify for the Museum's collection. The purchase of the quilts would be supported by a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

This past year I had the opportunity to view Cuesta Benberry's exhibition "Always There: The AfricanAmerican Presence in American Quilts," which was organized under the auspices of The Kentucky Quilt Proj-

ect, Inc. Louisville, Kentucky. In the exhibition and accompanying catalog, Benberry was the first to publicly question the existence of the "AfricanAmerican" quilt as the only or even the major quilt expression of African Americans. She proposed that there was no "typical" African-American quilt, but a diverse body of work influenced by factors that included region, education, training, socioeconomic group, and period. She further advocated that the work of African Americans was not separate from the mainstream of American quilting and that African Americans, present in America since the first slaves arrived in the seventeenth century, had in fact participated in the formation of that mainstream. As a result of the exhibition organized by Cuesta Benberry, the Museum recognized a unique opportunity to bring together these two different areas offocus for the first time in one space.

Quilt history has been Cuesta Benberry's "absorbing interest" for

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over thirty years. During that time she has collected an astounding archive of material relating to quilting and has generously shared her knowledge with curators, quilt historians, quilters, and the public. She writes that her interest became a "passion" when she began her investigations into AfricanAmerican quilt history many years ago. In the introduction to the catalog that accompanied her exhibition, Benberry indicts the single-mindedness of the direction of earlier research: Scholars located a small group of quilts profoundly different visually from the accepted aesthetic of traditional American patchwork quilts. These idiosyncratic quilts from black women of rural southern and similar backgrounds were examined closely for stylistic variances, construction techniques, fabric color choices and symbolic design references.

Most exciting of all was a linkage between the black American quilts and African design traditions, believed to indicate an unconscious cultural memory in the quiltmakers of their far-away motherland. AfricanAmerican quilts became one of America's newest forms of exotica. Continued scrutinization of the quilts resulted in the promulgation of a number of theories which were immediately accepted as fact. Visual criteria for recognizing AfricanAmerican quilts (stitch length, asymmetrical organization of quilt patches, size of the patches, frequent use of bright colors) were devised. Longestablished canons of quilt history research, such as determining the quiltmaker's identity, the quilt's provenance, date of making and fabric content, were no longer deemed essential. One needed only apply the recentlycreated visual criteria to identify with certainty quilts of African-American origin.4 This criticism of the methodology behind some of the early research highlights a few of the problems associated with this topic and rightfully

48 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

condemns the application of these criteria as the sole determining factors of African-American quilts. But it does not, nor is it meant to, invalidate the existence of this "profoundly different" group of quilts. The large numbers of quilts that share this aesthetic, including nineteenth-century examples, and the insight that Dr. Wahlman has shown regarding the making of these quilts lend credence to the argument for a specific cultural tradition at play in certain quilts. Furthermore, Dr. Wahlman writes in the introduction to her own forthcoming book about African-American quilts:

craftsmen, this piecing often intentionally results in asymmetrical and unpredictable patterns that stop the eye as it travels across the cloth. Weavings by women on wide stationary looms utilized vertical designs that simulated the fabrics made from pieced strips that were woven by men on narrow, portable looms.

Color has traditionally played an important role in African textiles.

The earliest cloth was blue and white, providing a strong contrast that could Benberry cautions repeatedly against

These aesthetic criteria were a starting point and in no way was I trying to pigeonhole this innovative art. Yet others picked up on these criteria and used them to determine which quilts were 'real' African-American quilts....

My thesis is that most AfricanAmerican quiltmaking derives its aesthetic from various African traditions, both technological and ideological ones. Thus I deliberately study AfricanAmerican quilts which exhibit similar aesthetic tendencies with African textiles. Cuesta Benberry has recently clarified this situation by correctly pointing out the great diversity of quilting made over the last two centuries

by African Americans.5 Dr. Wahhnan describes seven traits that appear consistently in the African-American quilts she has studied: vertical stripes, bright colors, large designs, asymmetry, improvisation, multiple patterning, and symbolic forms. She has also noted deeper affinities between these quilts and African textiles, primarily in the use of symbolic patterns.

Long narrow strips are the primary construction technique in West African and Caribbean textiles, and most cloth found in West Africa was made by joining these strips to form cloth. Loose, or "flying," strips were also used as part of ceremonial costumes in societies such as the Yoruba Egungun in Nigeria, which were organized to honor ancestors. The piecing of strips to form a textile is related to patchwork and in the hands of African

drawing general conclusions on the basis of scant visual evidence. be seen from a distance. Later, colorful cloths were produced using European cloth that had been unraveled and rewoven. Multiple patterning, improvisation, asymmetry, and color all contribute to the important function of African textiles in communicating the social status of the wearer in terms of wealth, prestige, and education. Robert Farris Thompson has also suggested that they serve the further function of protection, confusing evil spirits that travel in straight lines.6 Dr. Wahlman traces these characteristics to four African civilizations: the Mandespeaking people of West Africa, the Yoruba and Fon people, the Ejagham people, and the Kongo and Kongoinfluenced people. As slaves were brought to the New World,this mixture was further blended with Latin-American, Native-American, and European influences.

Although men were the primary textile artists in Africa, in the United States slave women became the principle weavers, seamstresses, and quilters, conforming to an established gender division of labor. Yet these same women were also expected to perform many of the same hard physical tasks for which the men were responsible.

These additional skills were desirable and increased the female slave's worth to her owners. However, they also increased the burden that slave women bore. Long after men

STARS Nora Ezell Green City,Alabama 1977 Cotton and synthetic fabrics 94074' Museum of American Folk Art This purchase was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

1991.13.1

SPRING 1993

FOLK ART 49

were able to rest at night, women would still be required to produce a certain stint of weaving as well as the textile needs of their families.7 Cuesta Benberry states, "Africans brought to America were unfamiliar with the bed quilt but had knowledge both of the techniques used in making a quilt (piecing, appliquĂŠ, embroidery) and in weaving cloth."8 The transition to quilting was thus facilitated. However, the fact that Africans already possessed these skills would suggest that, as in other immigrant cultures, they also possessed an aesthetic concomitant with these skills that could be newly interpreted and adapted to the new forms. Whether that aesthetic was applied by the same quiltmakers who created the pieced, appliquĂŠd, embroidered, whole cloth, broderie perse, and reverse appliquĂŠd quilts that conformed to the dominant aesthetic is not yet conclusively known.

Benberry repeatedly cautions against drawing general conclusions on the basis of scant visual evidence. This is important to keep in mind as one reads earlier writings on this topic. In his important and acclaimed work By the Work of Their Hands: Studies in Afro-American Folklife, for instance, John Michael Vlach briefly discusses African-American textiles. He makes several interesting points in his description of a blanket woven by Luiza Combs, an African woman who was brought to the United States near the beginning of the Civil War. Her weaving, a wool blanket with a stripe pattern, was probably made during the era of Reconstruction. Vlach emphasizes that all the steps of production, including color and design, were entirely within her command. Based on this one example he states that, although more comparative study is needed, the color choices conform to an African aesthetic. He points out that the stripe design, though familiar in "Anglo-American" weaving, was also a common African design. But then he concludes that the one blanket gives a "hint of the kinds of textiles that might have been made by slaves under the supervision of white owners. Those coverlets, blankets, and fabrics may have been African and American simultaneously."9 Even postulated as tentatively as Vlach has done, can the inference be

50 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

made that a blanket woven during Reconstruction for family use might be indicative of a textile produced under the supervision of a white owner? Benberry points out that to use the term "Anglo-American" suggests that no other groups participated in the formation of "American" textile traditions.

Yet Africans, to name just one group, were vital contributors to the weaving and textile community that was forming these traditions. The limitations of the form make stripes a natural design choice from a technical standpoint and striped weavings are found in many cultures. Until more evidence is found, is the argument for an Anglo derivation more compelling than that for an African influence imported with slaves since the seventeenth century? It is, after all, the aesthetic and technical manipulation of the form, as well as its use, that indicates cultural preference.

One of Cuesta Benberry's aims in both her exhibition and publication was to establish the presence of African Americans throughout the annals of quilt history in the United States.

She hoped to achieve this through the analysis of historical fact and visual evidence. Where there did not seem to be ample material to draw conclusions, she chose not to speculate, but simply to state what was historically known.

That quiltmaking among African Americans was widespread is supported by surviving examples from all former slave-holding states. Most of these quilts have descended in the families ofthe slave owners and are considered by some to be representative of the work produced by slaves for their white owners. The number of extant quilts made by slaves for their own use is small, yet statements have been published assigning general design characteristics to this category of quilts. The quilts that are documented were made mostly in traditional patterns such as "Nine-Patch," "Log Cabin," and "Rob Peter to Pay Paul.") Benberry asks rhetorically whether she can then conclude that these examples did not differ from those made for the slave owners.

Interestingly, these are the very types of patterns that Wahlman cites in her discussion of African antecedents in African-American quilts. Log Cabin is essentially a strip-pieced pattern and a design that continues to be popular with contemporary African-American

quilters. Both Log Cabin and the Nine-Patch pattern incorporate small squares that share affinities with the cloth charm known as a "Mojo" or a "Hand." These charms, derived from West and Central African charm concepts, embody a healing medicine with the power to protect. In addition to their decorative qualities, they symbolize safety for the person using them."

In the paragraph that follows, Benberry raises another interesting question, one that highlights the comThat quiltmaking among African Americans was widespread is supported by surviving examples from all former slaveholding states. plexity of tracing the origins of quilt styles and techniques. The American patchwork quilt is usually associated with the geometric block configuration. In recent years this has increasingly been referred to as an AngloAmerican style. According to quilt historians, among them Barbara Brackman,this configuration did not become standard in American quilting until the middle of the nineteenth century.12 Previously, there had been more flexibility in the patterns that quiltmakers chose, the most popular being the medallion style; both block and strip construction appear as minor techniques. As the block construction did not arrive in the New World intact from a European source, but seems to have developed in the United States, it cannot be accurately labeled "AngloAmerican." Such a term precludes the possibility of contributions to the evolution of the form by people of a nonEuropean background.

Cuesta Benberry's text positions the creation of quilts within the social and historical context of AfricanAmerican life and quilt history. From this chronological presentation there emerges a picture of AfricanAmerican life from the Antebellum South to the Freedom Marches of the Civil Rights era to today. She writes of slave women who purchased their free-

dom and the freedom of their families through their needlework skills and of free black women in the anti-slavery movement who supported their endeavors partially through the sale of their quilts. She writes of the Freedom Rides and Freedom Marches of the 1960s and early 1970s; of Jessie Telfair's quilt that reads simply, "Freedom," over and over across its surface; and of the Freedom Quilting Bee, a quiltmaking cooperative that remains in existence today as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Freedom Quilting Bee. African Americans made autograph quilts, commemorative quilts, crazy quilts, fancy quilts, and scrap quilts. In the twentieth century they have continued to quilt individually, for their own use, and as a group, to support community values. Many trained artists have turned to the medium as a flexible alternative to more orthodox materials. Some of these artists have utilized African visual traditions to express their sense of continuity. Carole Harris of Detroit felt that traditional African designs offered her "the answer to questions I didn't know I had."13 After making a quilt that featured colorful hanging strips, Harris discovered pictures of dance costumes from Western Yoruba to which her quilt bore a striking resemblance.

Quiltmaking has been so much a part of the African-American tradition that creative African Americans working in all the arts have incorporated quilt imagery into their written and visual expressions.

One of the most important groups of quilts included in Benberry's exhibition are those made by several generations of the Perkins family.

These quilts represent a rare chance to document the quilting practices of a single family over a period of time and in both rural and urban settings. They range from decorative quilts on which a great deal of care and technical expertise were lavished to quickly made utility quilts. The technical skill, composition, and construction appear to be directly related to the quilt's intended function. The quilts demonstrate a participation in the prevalent trends of quiltmaking ofthe period and illustrate the adaptation of skills to both use and socioeconomic factors.

At the risk of being criticized by both curators, however, I would not be

entirely fair to this discussion if! didn't point out a few motifs that seemed ambiguous, especially in the crazy quilt. One block, strikingly different from the rest, bears a design that looks like a strip-pieced quilt. This is explained only as having particular significance for the family. Crazy quilts are usually embellished with embroidered and appliquéd motifs, and this example is no exception. The crossed croquet mallets express the family's enjoyment of this activity, and the wheeled star is an effective decorative device. But these designs also bear strong similarities to symbols in the ideographic writing system of the Ejagham peoples of Nigeria known as Nsibidi, which Wahlman feels has played a significant role in the language of African-American quilts. Could the embroidered hands be the record of a child, as Benberry states, and also have protective connotations? The very nature of the crazy quilt—complex, asymmetrical, multi-patterned—invites the quiltmaker to encode layers of meaning, whether that meaning is personal to the maker and her family or signifies wider cultural messages.

Among the most interesting American quilts, both for their powerful imagery and rich historical and cultural references, are Bible quilts, made predominantly by Southern AfricanAmerican women. Through their visual appliquéd narrative imagery these quilts parallel a strong African oral tradition that transmits values and religious beliefs, as well as educational and cultural teachings.

The appliquéd images found on the late-nineteenth-century quilts made by Harriet Powers have inspired research for some time, and their debt to the appliquéd banners of the Fon people of Dahomey is not in question.

Wahlman has taken a new look at Harriet Powers' quilts and believes that they might have strong fraternal associations. Benberry, too, notes the importance of fraternal organizations to African-American families from the postbellum era into the twentieth century. She suggests fraternal associations as another possible source for the enigmatic imagery sometimes found on Bible and other quilts. These organizations offered one of the avenues available to African Americans for health insurance and other benefits

that were otherwise frequently denied them. They also afforded opportunities for social activities and achievements of office within the society.

In the literature on AfricanAmerican quiltmaking there has developed an exciting and thoughtprovoking discussion that has widened the scope of scholarly investigations.

Hopefully, the result will be the continued discovery of material and information that sheds light on all aspects of the African-American contribution to the history of American quiltmaking.* Stacy C. Hollander is the Curator of the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art. She is the author ofHarry Lieberman: A Journey of Remembrance (Dutton Studio Books, 1991).

NOTES I would like to thank Dr. Wahlman for making her manuscript available to me prior to publication.

1 Dr. Maude Southwell Wahlman,Signs and Symbols: African Images in AfricanAmerican Quilts(New York: E.P. Dutton in Cooperation with the Museum of American Folk Art, 1993).

2 Ibid.

3 Dr. Maude Southwell Wahlman, "African-American Quilts: Tracing the Aesthetic Principles," The Clarion 14, no. 2(Spring 1989), pp. 44-54; Waldman, "Religious Symbolism in AfricanAmerican Quilts," The Clarion 14, no. 3 (Summer 1989), pp. 36-44.

4 Cuesta Benberry, Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts (Louisville, Ky.: The Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc., 1990), p. 15.

5 Wahlman,Signs and Symbols.

6 Ibid.

7 Deborah Gray White, "Female Slaves in the Plantation South," in Before Freedom Came:African-American Life in the Antebellum South, eds. Edward D.C. Campbell, Jr., and Kym S. Rice(Richmond, Va.: The Museum of the Confederacy and University Press of Virginia, 1991), p. 109.

8 Benberry, Always There, p. 23.

9 John Michael Vlach, By the Work of Their Hands:Studies in Afro-American Folklife (Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1991), p. 36 10 Benberry, Always There, p. 28 11 Wahlman,Signs and Symbols, p. 81.

12 Barbara Bradman,"The Strip Tradition in European-American Quilts," The Clarion 14, no 4.(Fall 1989), p. 45.

13 Benberry, Always There, p. 62.

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 51

MANY HANDS The Story of an Album Quilt PAULA LAVERTY

52 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

riendship/album quilts were a popular expression of sentiment in the middle of the nineteenth century. These quilts are still generally made to recall a unique bond of friendship or to commemorate a special occasion. The Museum of American Folk Art in New York City has several important quilts of this type in its collection.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to research one of these undocumented examples. After many letters, a myriad of phone calls, and hundreds of miles, the women whose creative energies produced this bedcover are once again remembered.

The first steps in the research were a thorough perusal of the museum's accession file and a close examination of the quilt. The file contained the standard information regarding description, condition, exhibits, and donor specifics. The provenance of the quilt was noted as New York, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania. I naively thought that one call or letter to the donor would provide me with all the necessary clues to trace the origins of the quilt. Unfortunately, that call and letter have never been answered. The file did provide an important clue: a note, from a person who had seen the quilt on exhibit several years earlier, stating that at least two of the signatures were surnames common in the town of Katonah in Westchester County, New York.

The friendship/album quilt shown here is typical of those made in great numbers from 1840 to 1870. It does not possess the sophistication of the Baltimore Album Quilts, which were made in the Baltimore, Maryland, area at the same time and many of which are known to have been made by professional quilters. This quilt was stitched by many hands, young and old.

It consists of 39 blocks, each block individually appliquĂŠd and then pieced together to form the whole. Eleven blocks contain signatures; these were also individually executed. (This is somewhat unusual; many times on a friendship quilt one person with laudable penmanship carefully inked all the signatures.) Some signatures are embroidered, others are stenciled or written directly onto the cloth in india ink. Red, green, and yellow are

FRIENDSHIP ALBUM QUILT Cross River, New York Signed and dated Nov. 1,1861 Embroidered and appliqued cotton and silk 90x 75" Museum of American Folk Art Gift of Jackie Schneider 1980.8.1 Album quilts, popular during the middle of the nineteenth century, were usually made to commemorate a special occasion or person. Although the reason behind this quilt is not known, the names inscribed on eleven of the blocks are of people who were probably related and perhaps belonged to the same church group in the Cross River area.

Detail: Mrs. Eldad Miller's quilt square. Strips of taffeta form the basket. Trapunto berries and pears of silk fill the basket. The butterfly is elaborately embroidered and has wings of velvet.

the predominant colors and, with few exceptions, the fabric is cotton.

The designs, for the most part, are the popular, accessible patterns of the day. However, several charming and unusual squares set this quilt apart from the commonplace: the red socks and green button shoes, the green covered-button "grapes" in the meandering vine border, the bold Union Jack, and a square devoted to the symbol of hospitality, the pineapple.

The research began with a scrutiny of the pages from Katonah: The History of a New York Village and its People that had been left in the accession file. Two of the signers of the quilt, Ruth and Olive Avery, did reveal themselves in this source. Ruth and Olive

were the daughters of Harvey and Nancy Reynolds Avery. The sisters never married and lived their lives on the family farm in Pound Ridge, New York, a village that neighbors Katonah.' When the quilt was being stitched Ruth was 44 years old and Olive was 42, making them the second- and third-eldest signers.2 Olive's block is a traditional dahlia wreath pattern. Ruth used the same fabrics in her appliquĂŠd oak leaf design that her sister used in her block. Olive died at the age of 56 and Ruth at the age of 88.

The two are buried side by side in the small Green Cemetery, which is hidden behind a house and over a grassy knoll in Cross River, New York.

Reading each genealogical

entry in Katonah: The History ofa New York Village and its People became important, if a bit tedious. Joanna E. Reynolds also came to life in these pages, although not as easily as the Avery sisters. Joanna E. Reynolds turned out to be Joanna Emily Silkman, who married DeWitt Clinton Reynolds in 1858. Joanna was the daughter of Wright and Katherine Keeler Silkman. The Silkmans had moved from Cross River to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Joanna was born in 1841. The story in the Silkman family history relates that Joanna was sent back to Cross River to visit her maternal grandparents and "bumped into" DeWitt, her third cousin, and married him.3 DeWitt was 12 years her senior

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 53

and a prosperous farmer. DeWitt's father, Gideon, was the owner of the first successful stagecoach line in Cross River. When relatives threatened to operate a competing line, Gideon had them sign an agreement stating that they were "firmly bound unto Gideon Reynolds."4 All of Gideon's sons learned to drive as youngsters "strapped into the driving seat, so that they would not be pulled off by the horses?'5 It is highly probable that the newly married couple lived in the home of Gideon and his wife, Betsy, or at least were frequent visitors there.

The stately home still stands on Route 121.6 Joanna was 20 when the quilt was made. Perhaps her involvement in this project softened the sadness caused by the recent loss of her first child, DeWitt, Jr., who died at the age of six weeks. A small gravestone that reads simply "Our DeWitt" stands in the Reynolds plot. In all, Joanna bore fourteen children, including a set of twins.

Three other children died before the age of five. Joanna was widowed when she was 48, but there were many family and friends to help her with her brood. Ruth and Olive Avery were her second cousins and their brother Harvey married Joanna's sister-in-law, Caroline Reynolds,further strengthening the family ties. Joanna lived until

she was 73 and is buried with many of her family in the Cross River cemetery.

She has embroidered her signature in the red calico leaf that she sewed for the quilt.

Admittedly, at this point I felt I had completed the research, for it was now possible to pinpoint the Bedford area of Westchester County as the place of origin of the quilt. But it was impossible to stop. I wanted to know as much about the rest of the signers as I did about Joanna, and I even wished that all the blocks had been signed. I had exhausted the sources I had been using. No matter how many times I read the genealogical histories, I did not find any of the other names.

The card catalog at The New York Public Library listed several gravestone inscription pamphlets under the Bedford, New York, heading.

These proved to be an important resource. Mrs. Eldad Miller quickly came to life here. As the former Nancy Q. Avery, born in 1805, she too was a second cousin to the Avery sisters. Her marriage to Eldad Miller on November 14, 1829,joined her with a descendant of one of the original settlers of Bedford.7 In 1861, Nancy was a busy woman with all eight of her children, the youngest just ten years old, living at home. At age 55, she was the oldest signer on the quilt. It is Nancy we must

thank for dating the quilt; along with her signature she embroidered "Nov. 1, 1861" on her block. Her block is the most accomplished. Strips of plaid taffeta are stitched together to make a fruit basket. Trapunto berries and pears made of silk fill the basket. The butterfly flying over the basket has velvet wings and a body of elaborate embroidery. The clasped hands opposite the butterfly (lower left) are simply embroidered. Are the hands clasped in a promise of marriage or a firm bond of friendship? Mrs. Miller died in 1874, aged 69 years, 9 months, and 15 days.8 She rests in the Avery Cemetery, located just inside the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.

These gravestone inscriptions also helped to locate Belinda and Ahnira Ruscoe.9 Belinda was the wife of a house carpenter, George W. Ruscoe.1° They too lived in the Bedford area. Sadly, dates in the inscription pamphlets indicate that Belinda died in childbirth in 1862, at the age of 29, one year after the quilt was completed. Her daughter, also named Belinda, survived, and a lovely calling card and an autograph in an autograph book dated 1880 are sweet remembrances of her.

These were found in a dusty box of memorabilia at the Trailside Museum in the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.

Belinda, the quilter, left us a memory

The home of Gideon and Betsy •rn

Reynolds, c. 1900.

1;Si LOW

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I' 441110.ftele

• 4.40.94.0

_`'•:;;st,A= ,44.Psce.""fi

Sydney & Neff map of 1850 showing the area in which the women lived.

54 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

of her in the form ofa large, beautifully stitched trapunto dahlia.

An intricately embroidered design done in green cotton thread certainly makes Almira Ruscoe's block the most unusual on the quilt. Her individualist contribution adds interest and originality. Almira was the second wife of Jeremiah Ruscoe, also a house carpenter. She bore at least two children, Anna Mary, who died at 7 months, and Katie, who died just after her eleventh birthday. Almira herself died at the early age of 35. It is likely that Belinda and Almira were sistersin-law, for they are both buried in the old Miller Cemetery,just over the Bedford line in Cross River.

After weeks of research all pertinent records at The New York Public Library had been exhausted, but there were still five more names to identify.

The Bedford Historical Library had been helpful all along, supplementing the genealogies with historical background and suggesting sources for research. Mrs. Rosemary Mahoney, the research assistant, patiently listened as I talked out connections, relationships, and dates. When she offered to accompany me on a graveyard tour I quickly accepted. At least I'd be one step closer to the women I already knew. Mrs. William Kelly, the leading local historian, joined us. We visited

the two tiny cemeteries where the Averys and the Ruscoes lie and the two large, well-kept ones where Joanna and Mrs. Miller rest. Each stone yielded something new. Mrs. Miller must have had a fulfilling life for her stone reads: "My work is done..." The monument to Joanna stands tall and erect where she rests with her family gathered all around her. Olive Avery may have had a troubled life for her stone reads: She's gone she's left this world of woe for regions of eternal love For a God who called her from below To join in praising him above.

Some stones were weathered and worn, barely readable, but others had withstood time and the elements well. It was one of the most rewarding days. Here were women who probably never even thought of the twentieth century, much less expected to be remembered, researched, and loved so many years later.

However, the graveyard tour turned up no new information on the remaining names. Mrs. Kelly, herself a Silkman, had brought along an unpublished volume of Silkman genealogy that she had compiled. Together we searched through it looking for clues to a Carcie or a Nellie Silkman,two ofthe unsolved names. Simultaneously, it occurred to us that Nellie might be a

nickname for Cornelia; it was. Cornelia Madison Silkman was born on May 5, 1844. She was the daughter of Aaron D. and Emily Newman Silkman and a first cousin to Joanna Reynolds.

Nellie's was a wealthy family who employed several laborers and servants on the family farm." The house still stands on Route 35 as part of the Four Winds Hospital. On October 10th, 1865, Nellie married Gilbert B. Newman. She gave birth to two sons. Only the base of the Newman monument remains in the Cross River Cemetery, where she rests. Her quilt block, with a bird perched on the leaf of a flower, has a youthful exuberance. At 17, she was one of the youngest signers.

Excited by this discovery, we reread the Sillunan index, quietly hoping to find a Carcie, Cancie, or Candy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the embroidered signature was difficult to read. Nothing seemed to work. Obviously it was a nickname, but for what? Then I spied Cartheline. I couldn't imagine anyone whose name was Cartheline not shortening it. Sure enough, Cartheline, or Carcie, as I'm now sure the signature reads, was Nellie's younger sister. Born on July 13, 1846, Carcie, at 15, was the youngest contributor to the project. Her appliqued rose wreath consists of some of the same fabrics that Nellie used. Carcie married George Delavan,the son of

The calling card and signature in an autograph book of Belinda Ruscoe's daughter, Belinda (Binnie).

The gravestone of Mrs. Eldad Miller, Nancy Q. Avery Miller.

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 55

Daniel and Roxy Bishop Delavan. The couple had no children.

Persistence had paid off and the exhilaration gained from this day carried the research through subsequent weeks of frustration; once again, I was at a dead end, with three names outstanding. None of the sources I had contacted had any clues to S.J. Elmore, Emma Todd, or Fannie M. Cady. They had to be there, but where?

In 1850 and 1860 the town maps of Westchester County indicated family names. The Sydney & Neff maps of those years clearly showed the homes of all of the women I had already identified. They lived in very close proximity to one another in Cross River, a hamlet of the town of Lewisboro, not Katonah or Bedford or Pound Ridge as I had originally thought. It should be noted that these towns all bordered on one another and it was common to open your front door in one town and close your back door in another. Cross River was a village of some note in 1861. It boasted a Baptist Church started in 1840, a Methodist Episcopal Church established by the Silkman family in 1843,12 a grist mill, several stores, a carriage maker, a blacksmith, and a schoo1.13 There was an active social life in this community that consisted mostly of farming families. One account tells of the Mary Crane Ball for 103 guests: "44 men and 59 ladies began the festivities at 7:00 P.M. and partied until the dawn...4:30 A.M. Two violins caused all the music."14 Among the families in attendance the Millers and Reynolds were noted.

Unfortunately, much of Cross River is now gone. The Cross River Reservoir literally cut the town in half when it was built in 1905. About twenty buildings on the west side of Route 121, representing the hub of Cross River, were either moved or destroyed. The flourishing shops and homes gave way to progress.

Up to this point my attempts at reading the microfilm of the 1860 Census for this area had been fruitless.

The ink is so faded as to render many pages nearly illegible. While I knew from other sources that the families had lived in this area, I could find no readable evidence. Now, there was ample information to allow concentration in a very specific area of the Census. And it seemed that the three

54 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

remaining names were there. They appeared so faintly though that I could not be entirely sure. When I complained to the librarian about the quality ofthe microfilm she suggested I call the New York State Library in Albany; maybe they had a better copy. They didn't, but the librarian encouraged me to try Accelerated Indexing Systems in Utah. She told me that they were currently indexing the 1860 Census.

After I had noted all the page numbers and visitation numbers from the Census, I called Utah. For a small fee, they sent me copies of the pages I requested and also searched for one name I could not find. And here were all the names,including the elusive last three. S.J. Elmore was Sarah J. Elmore, born in 1844, the daughter of Terah and Jeminah Elmore. Her family was living with David and Elizabeth Benedict, a wealthy elderly couple. At 77 years of age, Mr. Benedict listed his occupation as "gentleman:' The listings in the census are numbered in order of visitation, and the Benedicts, the Sillunans, and Almira Ruscoe are listed consecutively, indicating that they probably lived next to one another.

Sarah's quilt block is a carefully executed green oak leaf.

Fannie M. Cady remains a weak link. There are Cadys in the Cross River Cemetery. Mrs. Lucius Cady died in 1857 and is buried beside two young sons. Fannie would be the surviving daughter, who lived with her brother Arthur on the Benedict farm where an Arthur and Fanny Carry15 are listed as living with the Elmore family. Misspellings are common in the census and "Cady" could certainly have been misspelled as "Carry." Fannie and Sarah Elmore were both 17year-old schoolgirls; certainly they were both quilters. Fannie's rose wreath is skillfully executed. Both she and Sarah have penned their signatures in india ink.

The final name was Emma C. Todd. Todd was a prominent name in the Bedford area but my efforts had failed to find an Emma. Careful reading of the Census found Enunilene C. Todd living with Amos and Susan Mead. Why would she be living with this family? Had her mother died, as was probably the case with Fannie?

Quite unexpectedly the Lewisboro historian, Lois Reynolds, had the answer.

During the day I spent looking through mementos in the Trailside Museum, Ms. Reynolds stopped by to meet me.

With her she brought an old Reynolds genealogy, which she had purchased at a yard sale years before. Joanna was mentioned in this book and Ms. Reynolds thought I might enjoy seeing it. After a short study, I discovered that a Susan Reynolds was born in Bedford in 1818. She married George Todd in 1837, and George died seeking his fortune in the California Gold Rush in 1850. Susan was widowed with four children, one of whom was named Emelie, who was born in 1843. Susan remarried Amos Mead, a farmer 29 years her senior. Emma lived with her mother and stepfather until she married Edison Lawrence. Her simple, red eight-pointed star adds a bold contrast to the other, more elaborate blocks.

The eleven women were identified and documented. Still, it is unclear why the quilt was made. The date of November 1, 1861, holds no obvious significance: there are no weddings, births, deaths, or moves among this group of women to support the date.

Perhaps the quilt was a patriotic endeavor, as 1861 marked the onset of the Civil War. The Soldiers Aid Society was active in the area raising funds through private contributions, fairs, and entertainments.16 It was also common to commemorate the departure of a pastor in the community by presenting him with a quilt. Unfortunately, the Methodist Church records from this time were destroyed by fire. There is no mention of any of these names in the Baptist Church records. A strikingly similar quilt, made in 1861 in Bedford, New York, was stitched by the ladies of the Baptist Church on the departure of their pastor. However, no names common to both quilts have been discovered.

The reason this quilt was made may never be known. Perhaps that is best. What is known is that the quilt honors friendship, love, and peace through the symbols embroidered on it.

The women who made it were ordinary women of average means who ranged from 15 to 55 years of age. They were probably all related in some way and lived within a mile or two of one another. Hearts, butterflies, birds, baskets, and flowers combine with original touches to make a visually exciting

r

Detail: Almira Ruscoe's quilt square is an elaborately embroidered design done in

vquili

green cotton thread.

..1.50•••• •

bedcover. A small mystery enhances the romance of a time past. The creative spirit of these eleven women will endure through the small piece of themselves left to us.* Acknowledgments: This information was gathered with the invaluable assistance of Mrs. William B. Kelly of Katonah, New York; Rosemary Mahoney of the Bedford Historical Library, Bedford, New York; and Lois Reynolds of Cross River, New York.

Paula Laverty is a graduate ofthe Museum's Folk Art Institute and guest curator of the Museum's upcoming exhibition "Northern Scenes: Hooked Art of the Grenfell Mission," scheduledfor January 1994.

NOTES 1 From information revealed on their gravestones in the Green Cemetery, Cross River, N.Y., where they are buried beside their parents.

2 All ages are based on information from the 1860 Census of Westchester County, N.Y. 3 Conversation with Mrs. William Kelly, a Silkman descendent.

4 Alvin R. Jordan. A History ofthe Town ofLewisboro(South Salem, N.Y.: Lewisboro History Book Committee, 1981), p. 224.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid, p. 223.

7 Town of Bedford, Westchester County, N.Y.: Bedford Historical Records, Vol. IX, Bedford genealogy Descendants of the Original Settlers, p. 110.

8 From the inscription on her grave marker in the Avery Cemetery.

9 Town of Bedford, Westchester County,

N.Y.: Bedford Historical Records, Vol. VIII, Town of Bedford Cemeteries 16811975, p. 316.

10 All occupational information is from the 1860 Census of Westchester County, N.Y. 11 Ibid.

12 Alvin R. Jordan, op. cit.

13 Sydney & Neff map of Cross River in 1850, further supported by the Frederick Beers map of 1860.

14 From an account in the Somers Museum, the official publication of the Somers(New York) Historical Society, second series, 1958.

15 Spelling as it appears in the 1860 Census. Names are frequently misspelled.

16 From the Somers Museum, second series, 1958.

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 57

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*AMERICAN * ANTIQUES*

58 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

MUSEUM

NEWS

afftries COMPILED BY MELL COHEN

rif Atlanta ESTABLISHED 1973

Museum's Junior Committee allery Associates, the Museum's junior committee, which is now a year old, has had a busy and exciting fall and winter season that has been full of fund-raising and educational programs for the Museum's "under-35" members.

The committee solicited gifts and conducted this year's Fall Antiques Show Raffle, which contributed greatly to the overall success and fun of the 1992 Benefit Preview. Gallery Associates President Sara Clinton arranged several gallery visits and tours of private collections: a viewing of connoisseur Jim Linderman's collection of contemporary folk art; an opening of works by homeless outsider artists, hosted by Gallery Associate Leslie Palanker at her Leslie Howard Gallery; and tours of two galleries, Leigh Keno's American Furniture and Ricco/Maresca.

Gallery Associates began the new year by organizing a tour

G

and lecture, generously hosted

by Sotheby's, on the highlights of Sotheby's 1993 January sale.

Many thanks go to Jim Linderman, Leslie Palanker, Leigh Keno, Roger Ricco, Frank Maresca, and Sotheby's for those wonderful, educational evenings.

As regards future events, the Gallery Associates are planning a 1993 Spring Membership Drive and Dance, and are pleased to announce that a Red Dress Ball, scheduled to coincide with the noted nineteenth-century portrait painter Ammi Phillips' retrospective at the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery, will be held in January 1994. The evening's theme is derived from Girl in a Red Dress with Cat and Dog, a painting by Phillips that is in the Museum's collection. We will keep you posted on these and any other events of note, and we hope that you will join us. For Gallery Associates membership information, please contact the Special Events Coordinator, Katie Cochran, at 212/977-7170.

INVESTMENT QUAIlly 1 9TH ANd 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN ART

JESSE AARON LEROy ALMON, SR. RiChARd BuRNSidE ARChiE ByRON NEd CARTIEdqE RAymond Coins ULYSSES DAVIS BUNESS DulANEy MiNNiE EVANS REV. HOWARd FINSTER REqiNE GiLbERT RAlpli GRIFFIN BESSIE HARVEY T. A. HAY LONNIE HOWE CLEMENTINE HUNTER JAMES HAROLCI JENNiNgS

GIRL IN RED DRESS WITH CAT AND DOG Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) Vicinity of Amenia, New York 1834-1836 Oil on canvas 30 x 25" Promised anonymous gift P2.1984.1

(continued on page 62)

ChARLEy KINNEy WILLIE MAssEy LANIER MEAdERS MATTIE Lou O'KEllEy REV. B. F. PERkiNS DANIEL PRESSLEy RObERT RobEN PriopliEi RoyAl RObERTSON NELLIE MAE ROWE 0. L. SAMUEIS HERbERT SiNcLETON 0. J. STEphENSON JIMMIE LEE SudduEli WilliE TARVER SON ThOMAS MOSE TOLLIVER WiLLiE WhITE

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

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 59

American Folk Art Sidney Gecker 226 West 21st Street New York, IVY 10011 (212)929-8769 Appointment Suggested

PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN FRAKTUR Signed by Daniel Peterman Baptismal certificate for George Luther Ziegler, dated May 4,1857 in York County, Pa. Brilliant color, and in wonderful condition.

14x 11 inches Price: $6,500.

(SUBJECT TO PRIOR SALE)

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Clementine Hunter (1886-1988) Collection includes: J.B. Murray, Howard Finster, David Butler, Sam Doyle, Mary T. Smith, Jimmy Sudduth, James "Son" Thomas, Royal Robertson, James Harold Jennings, Mose Tolliver, Lonnie Holley, B.F. Perkins, Luster Willis, Raymond Coins, Charlie Lucas, Junior Lewis, William Dawson, LeRoy Almond, Sr., M.C. 50 Jones, "Artist Chuckie" Williams, Ike Morgan, Herbert Singleton, Burgess Dulaney, and others.

GILLEY8C-ALLE1Y "Zinnias" 12/ 1 2"x16"

80 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

8750 Florida Blvd.

Baton Rouge, LA 70815 (504) 922-9225

ESQUELETO contemporary folk

art

American: Minnie and Garland Adkins Calvin Cooper Ronald and Jessie Cooper Denzil Goodpaster Rev. Howard Finster Jim Lewis Junior Lewis Leroy Lewis R.A. Miller Annie Tolliver Mose Tolliver Jimmy Lee Sudduth Others

ANNIE TOLLIVER,"Two African Men Carrying Water In Bucket, 24" x 24"

Mexican: Ceremonial masks and religious art Woodcarving,claywork and lacquer from Tonala, Ocumicho, Olinala and the Valley of Oaxaca Art of the Huichol 22 Carpenter Court, Oberlin, Ohio 44074 (216) 775-2238

LYNNE INGRAM SOUTHERN FOLK ART

Charley Kinney "Hanted Hous,"1987 Watercolor and pencil on paper 22"x 28"

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

SPRIN(19,), FIlIK ARI

61

MUSEUM

NEWS

Record Sales for Senior Citizens' Art useum members who served on the Steering Committee for "Folk of Emmaus House," the first-ever fund-raising exhibition featuring the work of residents of a lowincome area of Atlanta, are all smiles after tallying sales. The exhibition held at the Modern Primitive Gallery in Atlanta raised nearly $5,000 to help the artists and to continue providing art materials for members of the Emmaus House community center senior citizens program. Thirtyeight of the 42 works on display sold the night of the opening, establishing a record for Modern Primitive.

M

A Decade of Dedication ne of the Museum's greatest assets is the faithfulness and support of its hard-working book- and giftshop volunteers. Annette Levande exemplifies this kind of resolute dedication. She first became involved in 1982, when the streetlevel museum book and gift shop opened on 53rd Street. In 1986 the shop moved to new and enlarged quarters on 50th street; Annette moved with us and to this date she continues her volunteer commitment of one day a week.

Annette, who travels extensively to Europe and Mexico, especially enjoys conversing with the many foreign visitors who frequent the shop. In addition to being employed by the Seagram Corporation two days a week, Annette's other interests include her three grandchildren, her friends, and the ballet. Annette Levande, we salute your warmth, feisty spirit, and -devotion!

O

12 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

Left to right: Artist Ethel Mathews, collectors Bert and Jane Hunecke, International Advisory Board member and event chairman Randy Siegel, artist Annie Porter, Jill Siegel, Ken and Karin Koser, and gallery co-owner Mark Karelson.

Library Book and Bake Sale he 1992 Book and Bake Sale, held for the benefit of the Museum's Library Fund, was an unqualified success.

More than $1,600 was raised during the three-day event. Beginning at 9 A.M. on November 18th, eager shoppers paid their "early-bird" fee; fortified themselves with home-made pastries and coffee; and began to peruse hundreds of

T

books(many donated by Trustee Cyril I. Nelson), catalogs, periodicals, and Museum postcards. By the end of the first day, more than half of the books were sold; the baked goods disappeared with equal speed.

Credit and thanks for organizing the sale go to Brent Erdy, the Museum's receptionist; John Hood, a student of the Folk Art Institute at the Museum; Jill Keefe, a student in the NYU Folk

Art Studies program and the library intern this fall; and Mary Linda Zonana, the Museum's Coordinator of Human Resources.

The Library Book Sale is an annual fall event where excellent reference works and gift books can be had at a fraction of their retail prices.

Upcoming Folk Art Explorers'Club Tours olk Art Explorers' Club tours are open to Museum members and their guests.

Tours are organized on a firstcome-first-serve basis and generally fill up quickly. For more information, call Beth Bergin or Chris Cappiello, at 212/977-7170.

F

Santa Fe: April 13-18,1993 Join us for this exciting tour that will include visits to some extraordinary private collections, special museum tours, private receptions at galleries, and a unique visit to the Taos Pueblo.

Chicago/Milwaukee: June 8-13,1993 Museum members from the Chicago area have helped to organize an exciting itinerary, including visits to artists' workplaces and some wonderful private collections. A special tour of the Michael Hall collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum will be included.

Alabama:October 13-17,1993 This tour will coincide with the annual Kentuck Festival in Northport, Alabama, featuring Southern folk artists, craftsmen, and musicians. We will also visit

some impressive private collections and enjoy several gallery receptions.

England: June 1994

Plan to spend ten days in England enjoying private collections, galleries, and theater in London; museum visits in Bath; and antiques shopping in the Cotswolds.

Members will receive a detailed brochure on this tour in the coming months.

"Revelations," 1992, painted wood carving, 23 x 36"

R M GALLERY CD LC)

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LEROY ALMON 0" 0

One-Person Exhibition February 20 - April 3, 1993

N CD

Specializing

in

folk

art

from

Texas

and

the

South

Galerie BoRINur acyiis

Laurie Carmody

A.

Wee 1980

IpterpatioRal folk Art 9243 Claytou Road St. Louis, MO 63124 Appoiuttueut(314)99-9851 F.B. Archuleta Lisca Ayde, Brazil Milton Bond Canute Caliste, Grenada Chuckie Joe Little Creek Mamie Deschillie Amos Ferguson, Bahamas Milton Fletcher Haitian Art & Masters Boscoe Holder, Trinidad Georges Liautaud, Haiti Justin McCarthy Mexican Artifacts Rafael Morla, Dominican Rep.

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

Gabriel Bien-Aimee Haiti "Crucifixion" 1970's

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

63

BOOK

R

E

V

I

E

W

S

Quilts in Community: Ohio's Traditions Nineteenth & Twentieth Century Quilts, Quiltmakers, and Traditions Edited by Ricky Clark.

With essays by Ricky Clark, George W Knepper, and Ellice Ronsheim.

Published by Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, TN, 1991 $29.95 hardcover

useful information about women's history, aesthetics, regional and communal traditions, and, most significantly, the strength of community among Ohio's quilters.

Individual essays examine the quilts as objects of material culture, pieces of the past that, through careful examination and comparison, help tell the story of their particular time and place. In "Germanic Aesthetics, Germanic Communities," Ricky Clark In the concluding essay of this focuses on the aesthetic differvolume, the book's editor, Ricky ences and similarities of two Clark, expresses the hope that the different groups in the Ohio Germanic Community: Roman book effectively communicates Catholic and Protestant women, the sense of place so strongly and members of the Amish, experienced by the members of the Ohio Quilt Project as they Mennonite, Brethren, Moravian, and Zoar sects (the Germanic conducted their research and examined the wide range of quilts Sectarians). The researchers brought to them from homes all discovered that despite great difover Ohio. The book accomferences in their use of color and choice of design, these two complishes that and a great deal more: it tells us what kinds of munities of Germanic quilters quilts Ohio quiltmakers created shared two things: a love of color and a tendency to choose quilt and why and offers insights into the relationship of women to their designs that "recall other Germanic decorative arts." They also quilts and quiltmaking wherever quilts are made. The great found that while the quilts characstrength of this excellent book, in teristic of each group have very fact, is exactly that: in describing different looks, both groups "favor inside borders framing the the particular, it reveals the universal as well. center field and colorful, contrastBegun in 1984, The Ohio ing bindings," and that "borders Quilt Project set out to document are the single design element and interpret nineteenth- and common to quilts in both styles." twentieth-century Ohio quilts, The idea of a community quiltmakers, and quiltmaking tra- of quilters sharing not only ditions. The findings of that long- religious beliefs and family or term project, which ultimately place ties but quilting styles and documented more than 7,000 techniques is a central theme quilts, are presented here in five throughout the entire work. In thoughtful essays. A thorough her essay "Sisters, Saints, and analysis of the quilts and related Sewing Societies: Quiltmakers' documents and histories yields Communities:' Clark further explores the idea of community in a discussion of the kinds of groups, both large and small, of which women were a part. One of

OHIO's

Jf

TRADITIONS

,

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the discoveries of the Ohio Quilt Project was that the commonly held view of nineteenth-century women doing most of their quilting in neighborhood quilting bees was not necessarily valid. They found that women more often quilted with smaller groups of relatives, "mothers and daughters, sisters, even husbands and wives."

Whatever the size of the group they quilted with, one of the main reasons women made quilts was to affirm their strong ties to other women, a tendency that continues in the twentieth century, even up to the present.

In the essay "From Bolt to Bed: Quilts in Context:' Ellice Ronsheim discusses the larger world in which quiltmakers worked, and how technological and sociological changes affected their quiltmaking. The question of where women got the cloth for their quilts, for example, whether it was saved and recycled or bought specifically to make a bedcover, is discussed in detail and documented through contemporary inventories, newspaper advertisements, and pages from

popular women's magazines.

What comes across strongly in this essay is a manner of discussion that makes for one of the book's greatest strengths: when there is ample evidence to draw conclusions, the authors state their case clearly and cite their evidence; when evidence does not exist, they state equally clearly that there is a lack. One example of this kind of sound scholarship is found in the discussion of the popularity of red and green floral appliqué quilts, a style that became very popular in the 1840s. The researchers note that while trying to account for the popularity of these quilts they examined "new developments in dye techniques, dress fabrics... and interior decorating schemes," but despite their investigations, could not come up with enough information to come to a firm conclusion.

Such insistence on careful research, in documenting both the quilts and the other materials and in the conclusions drawn from that documentation, makes this book an invaluable resource for quilt historians and other researchers, as well as for anyone else wanting to know more about quilts. By starting with the objects themselves and asking informed questions about them, the researchers of the Ohio Quilt Project have written a book useful not only for what it tells us about Ohio quilts and quilters, but also for the methods it teaches us for coming to an understanding of any quilts that capture our interest.

—Judith Reiter Weissman Judith Reiter Weissman is Associate Professor of Art and Coordinator of the Masters & Ph.D. Programs in Folk Art Studies at New York University. (continued on page 76)

44 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

ter's ' 4 147A/171--en Susan Varanka created Stormy Evolution she knew the quality of the products she selected would be extremely important. Her innovative Storm at Sea pattern variation utilized seventy different blue print fabrics and featured extensive quilting. That is why she chose a Poly-fil batting to highlight the hand quilted feather wreaths and undulating plumes . LOW-Loft R that so bracefully enhance Susan's quilt. Poly-fil Traditional '-'-',, Extra-Loft', and Cotton Classic battings are superior in quality and made to last for generations. Ask,for them by name and make Poly-fil your choice for quality!

Quilt by: Susan Varanka 'Batting Poly-fil Cotton Classic

traditional batting .

FOR PATTERN INFORMATION WRITE:

P.O.Box 1130 Danbury, Connecticut 06813

CONTEMPORARY Minnie Adkins Jesse Aaron Linvel Barker The Beaver Pricilla Cassidy Ronald Cooper Mr. Eddy Denzil Goodpasture Homer Green Alvin Jarrett Carl McKenzie Hog Mattingly

PRISCILLA CASSIDY

BRUCE NASHVILLE, TN

FOLK

House Paint on Board

ART

Frank Pickel Braxton Ponder Dow Pugh Royal Robertson Sultan Rogers Jimmy Lee Sudduth "Son" Thomas Mose Tolliver Fred Webster Wesley Willis Troy Webb And Others

SHELTON

By APPOINTMENT(615-352-1970)

Also Serving the Following Areas:

Chicago/Milwaukee • Brimfield, MA/New England New Orleans/Houston • Atlanta/Palm Beach • DC/Virginia/North Carolina

MAIN STREET ANTIQUES and ART Colleen and Louis Picek Folk Art and Country Americana .1110,440re

(319) 643-2065 110 West Main, Box 340 West Branch, Iowa 52358

N%aSir 41111kAlir.

On Interstate 80

Send a self-addressed stamped envelope for our monthly Folk-Art and Americana price list

Several interesting old articulated toys

66 SPRING 1993

FOLK ART

IIP IIP IIP IIP

110 IIP

IP.IP 110 IP VIP W."IP..

•

ART. ..4.

FOLK COUNTRY 1,• imp ier 1ili Pli,, A4 -64 SHOW & SALE . ..

II 41(4 \4 . .h..... Thr__fV_lir The Leading Folk Art Show in the Nation! Featuring the awardlb winning, top quality handcrafted Folk Art of hundreds of outstanding Artisans from across the country. V Bringing for sale quality Reproductions & Country "Heirlooms of the Future"! V All Juried shows V Many product catagories V French Country, Victorian, Southwest & Country-Western items V All Country decorating needs for sale! V TM

11, 1993 SPRING-SUMMER SHOW DATES IP Del Mar, CA March 5-7 Del Mar Fairgrounds

Edison, NJ April 2-4 Raritan Center Expo Hall

Denver, CO June 4-6 National Western Complex

Marlborough, MA July 30-Aug. 1 Royal Plaza Trade Center

Indianapolis, IN March 5-7 State Fairgrounds

Saratoga Springs, NY April 16-18 Harness Raceway, Grandstand Bldg.

Toronto, ONT, CANADA June 4-6 Exhibition Place

Sacramento, CA July 30-Aug. 1 CAL-EXPO State Fairgrounds

Oklahoma City, OK June 11-13 State Fairgrounds

Pleasanton, CA August 6-8 Alameda County Fairgrounds

Ridgefield, CT April 23-25 Skating Center

Grand Rapids, MI June 18-20 Grand Center

Peoria, IL August 6-8 Peoria Civic Center

Morristown, NJ April 30-May 2 Mennen Arena

Indianapolis, IN June 25-27 State Fairgrounds-Expo Hall

Pomona, CA August 13-15 FAIRPLEX-L.A. County Fairgrounds

Valley Forge, PA May 7-9 Convention Center

Farmington, CT* July 9-11 Polo Grounds

Maumee, OH August 13-15 Lucas County Fairgrounds

Waukesha, WI May 7-9 Expo Center

Timonium, MD July 16-18 State Fairgrounds

Sacramento, CA March 26-28 CAL-EXPO (State Fairgrounds)

Las Vegas, NV August 20-22 Cashman Field Center

Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN May 14-16 State Fairgrounds

Tacoma, WA July 16-18 Tacoma Dome

Harrisburg, PA August 20-22 Farm Show Complex

Niagara Falls, NY March 26-28 Convention & Civic Center

West Springfield, MA May 14-16 Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds

San Francisco, CA July 23-25 Fort Mason Piers

Scottsdale, AZ August 27-29 Westworld

San Mateo, CA April 2-4 San Mateo County Expo Center

Long Island, NY May 21-23 Nassau Coliseum

Richmond, VA July 23-25 State Fairgrounds

Newport, RI** August 27-29 Newport Yachting Center

Pomona, CA March 12-14 FAIRPLEX - LA Cty. Fairgrounds

Pontiac, MI April 23-25 Silverdome

Tampa, FL March 12-14 Florida State Fairgrounds Davisburg, MI March 12-14 Springfield-Oaks Center Pleasanton, CA March 19-21 Alameda Cty. Fairgrounds Ft. Lauderdale, FL March 19-21 Broward County Convention Center

'Country 10, FOLK ART SHOWS,INC. P0. Box 111 Ortonville, MI 48462 (313)634-4151

SHOW TIMES FRIDAY EVENING 5 P.M. to 9 P.M. - ADM. $6.00 (Early Buying Privileges) SATURDAY & SUNDAY 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. - ADM. $5.00 CHILDREN UNDER 10- ADM. $2.00 • NO STROLLERS PLEASE! *Farmington, CT: Fri. 1 - 7 p.m.& **Newport, RI: Fri. 5- 10 p. m.; Sat. 10 a.m. -9 p.m.

V Catering to both Retail & Wholesale buyers V Please call or write for local driving directions and/or hotel accommodations and/or Exhibitor or Advertising information V Publishers of Country Folk Art

TOYBOXTm & Yippy-Yi-YeaTM Magazines

I 1-

Come See Us....

Judith and James Milne,Inc. as always Antique Quilts of Collector Quality

506 E. 74th Street NY, NY 10021 (212)472-0107

Weekdays 9:30-5:30 and by Appointment 1111

r

-1111

CARDBOARD

r

PAINTINGS

‘t.

0 4 0 7 • 78 3 • 0 9 20

4

itAx lit

1320 SOUTH ATLANTIC AVE., COCOA BEACH, FL 32931

68 SPRING 1993

FOLK ART

(The Beaver" Invites You To

"Fly Away With Me"

.0•41^..

7z t.

ITN AKE

HOUSE PAINT ON PLYWOOD

"No matter what your problems are, you have to keep your hopes flying high."

'The 'Beaver"

WANDA'S QUILTS P.O. BOX 1764 • OLDSMAR,FLORIDA 34677

(813)855-1521 WORKS BY"THE BEAVER" CAN BE SEEN AT THE DON SCOTTS ANTIQUE SHOW SECOND WEEKEND OF EVERY MONTH IN ATLANTA.

EPSTE1N/POWELL 22 Wooster St., New York, N.Y. 10013

By Appointment(212)226-7316

Jesse Aaron Antonio Esteves

Rex Clawson Roy Ferdinand

Mr. Eddy Howard Finster

Victor Joseph Gatto (Estate) Reverend Hunter

James Harold Jennings

Lawrence Lebduska

Emma Lee Moss

Inez Nathaniel

Popeye Reed Isaac Smith

Justin McCarthy Max Romain

Clarence Stringfield

Chief Willey

George Williams

S.L. Jones

Peter Minchell

Old Ironsides Pry Jack Savitsky

Mose Tolliver Luster Willis

Floretta Warfel and others

JOHN C. HILL ANTIQUE INDIAN ART 6990 E. MAIN STREET,SECOND FLOOR,SCOT"TSDALE,AZ 85251

(602)946-2910

White Work Cradle "Bouti", France, 19th century All white couverture pique with vase, stuffed work in stylized flowers, swags, lyres, stars and four rows of corded border; 38 x 48 inches. . â&#x20AC;&#x17E;,;;;&1,,1

Kathryn Berenson Quilts Antique French 8r American Quilts 6r Textiles 7206 Meadow Lane, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815 By appointment 301/718-0570 Exhibiting at The Great American Quilt Festival 4, with emphasis on 19th century French and American whole cloth quilted works

70

SPRING 1993

FOLK ART

IMPORTANT DECOY AUCTION APRIL 22 & 23, 1993 At the National Antique Decoy Show,Pheasant Run Resort St. Charles, Illinois Approximately 800 Investment Quality Lots

Outstanding Canada goose

by Nathan Cobb Jr. AUCTIO

Dept B,PO Box 522 W.Farmington, ME 04992 (207) 778-6256/FAX(207) 778-6501 Lie. # AR00001088

Exceptional running curlew from Massachusetts.

Discount rooms call(708) 584-6300 Guaranteed catalog with color plates $30 We have been commissioned to sell the collection of Adele Earnest. Most of the decoys in the collection are pictured in her two books, "The Art Of The Decoy" 1965, and "American Folk Art" 1984.

CONTEMPORARY FOLK ART 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.F. 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

FROM THE DEEP SOUTH ANTON HAARDT GALLERY 1220 SOUTH HULL STREET•MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36104 (205)263-5494•FAX (205) 264-9241

DEVELOPMENTS

CONSTANCE J. COLLINS

he year 1993 has gotten off to an exciting start. The International Advisory Council's general membership gathered for their annual meeting and dinner on January 29 at the Eva and Morris Feld Gallery Chaired by Museum Trustee Frances S. Martinson, this meeting did much to set the IAC's course for the future. IAC members, who are among the Museum's most committed friends, will be instrumental in helping the Museum to promote its educational programs and exhibitions, enhance its collections, and broaden its membership and support base. As Director of Development, I thank the IAC wholeheartedly for their commitments of time, talent, and personal resources.

Like the members of the IAC, a core group of staunch Museum supporters continues to assist the Museum in its mission to present exhibitions and educational programs to the public free of charge. Asahi Shimbun, The Cowles Charitable Trust, and Takashimaya Co., Ltd, as well as Gary Davenport, Louise M. Simone, and other private donors helped to underwrite the Museum's current exhibition,"Bob Bishop: A Life in American Folk Art." This very special commemorative exhibition, which runs through September 12, is a celebration of the life and accomplishments of the Museum's late Director, Dr. Robert Bishop.

During the Members' Opening Reception for the exhibition on March 1, the Museum's South Gallery will be formally dedicated as the Robert Bishop Memorial Gallery. A plaque will be unveiled listing all of the donors to the Robert Bishop Memorial Fund at levels of $500 and above. More than 100 individuals, corporations, and foundations made contributions to the Fund at this level, and approximately 300 more made donations at lower levels. We thank them all for a truly heartfelt effort and for an impressive total. Such generosity is a wonderful tribute to the memory of Dr. Bishop.

Just around the corner is "The Great American Quilt Festival 4," one of the Museum's largest and most popular events. In my column in the Winter issue of Folk Art, I reported that Country Home magazine graciously agreed to sponsor "Morning Star Quilts: The Quilting Tradition of the Northern Plains Indians" and Fairfield Processing Corporation agreed to underwrite "The Quilt Connection All-Stars" contest and exhibition. I am now delighted to tell you that two more sponsors have come on board for the Festival. Quilter's Newsletter Magazine is underwriting an exhibition entitled "The Creative Balance: Quilts from The Great American Quilt Festival 4 Teaching Staff," and V.I.P Fabrics, Inc. is sponsoring the "Star Coverage: Celebrities and Their Quilts" exhibition. We anticipate a very successful and popular Festival, and thank all those corporate friends who have generously supported this effort. We hope all of you come out and celebrate America's living quilt tradition by attending the Festival during its May 12 to 16 presentation.

Looking farther into the future, I hope you all mark your calendars for the opening of a very significant and exciting Museum exhibit entitled "Fearful Symmetry: The Tiger Cat in the Art of Thornton Dial" on September 18. This exhibition presents the works of one of the most

T

important American self-taught artists alive today. The Museum is honored to have received a $75,000 grant for this exhibition from The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Before I close, I want to bring to your attention yet another important support group that has recently been formed at the Museum. The Gallery Associates is a group of young people, 35 and under, who are interested in learning about and sharing their knowledge of folk art, raising funds for the Museum's educational programs, and increasing the awareness of the Museum's activities within the New York community.

Members of the Gallery Associates develop their own program of lectures and study trips to local dealers and auction houses, working closely with the Museum's staff and Board. The group is now a year old and is under the enthusiastic leadership of its current President, Sara Clinton, and Vice President, Nick Nicholson. The Gallery Associates is planning a major membership drive for the spring. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about the activities of the Gallery Associates, call the Museum's Special Events office at 212/977-7170.

TRAVELING

EXHIBITIONS

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

April 5, 1993-May 31, 1993 Santos de Palo: The Household Saints of Puerto Rico Plains Art Museum Fargo, North Dakota 701/293-0903

February 1, 1993-March 29, 1993 Access to Art速: All Creatures Great and Small Flint Institute of Arts Flint, Michigan 313/234-1695

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

March 13, 1993-May 2, 1993 Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America San Antonio Museum of Art San Antonio, Texas 512/978-8100

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

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

72 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

Ginger Young Specializing in Southern outsider art, pottery, and canes.

By appointment 202-543-0273 Artists include: Georgia Blizzard Tubby Brown Richard Burnside Howard Finster Jack Floyd Lonnie Holley James Harold Jennings

Woodie Long R.A. Miller B.F. Perkins Frank Pickle Bernice Sims Jimmie Lee Sudduth Mose Tolliver

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

Sarah Rakes, In for the Afternoon" 21 1/2 x 19, Mixed media on wood

-ALIEN ART- VISIONARY HUBCAPS - URBAN FIRE PIECES - AXE HANDLE PEOPLE - VISUAL DIARIES -HOMELESS ART

JOE BELL: fli?hts of fancy — ERN 5th — IIPRILL,th MLR JONES: Illatercolors —11PRILith— fflY 9th

Sometimes Ope Must Seek Out the Unusual.

•In

eld•n

ifixion 199

KRISTIN HELBERG

find Us.

Antique Chests • Grained Boxes, Mirrors and Accessories • Vinegar-Painted Furniture Showroom in Washington, D.C. area. Painted furniture commissions gladly considered. By appointment only.

(301) 681-5210 P.O. Box 1941 • Silver Spring, MD 20915

3 Charles St. ( Off Greenwich Ave ) 212.989•3801

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

73

TRUSTEES/ADVISORS/DONORS

MUSEUM

OF

AMERICAN

FOLK

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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

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

Honorary Trustee Eva Feld Trustees Emeriti

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

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

William Arnett Didi Barrett Frank & June Barsalona Susan Blumstein Judi Boisson Gray Boone Robert & Katherine Booth Barbara & Edwin Braman Milton Brechner Raymond Brousseau Edward J. Brown Charles Burden Tracy Cate Margaret Cavigga Joyce Cowin Richard & Peggy Danziger Marian DeWitt Davida Deutsch Charlotte Dinger Raymond & Susan Egan Margot Paul Ernst Helaine & Burton M Fendelman Howard & Florence Fertig Joanne Foulk Jacqueline Fowler Ken & Brenda Fritz Ronald J. Gard

CURRENT

MAJOR

Robert S. Gelbard Dr. Kurt A. Gitter Merle & Barbara Glick Baron & Ellin Gordon Howard M. Graff Bonnie Grossman Lewis!. Haber Julie Hall Michael Hall Elaine Heifetz Terry Heled Anne Sue Hirshorn Josef& Vera Jelinek Eloise Julius Isobel & Harvey Kahn Allen Katz Mark Kennedy Arthur & Sybil Kern William Ketchum Susan Kraus Wendy Lavitt Mimi Livingston Robert & Betty Marcus Paul Martinson Michael & Marilyn Mermello Steven Michaan Alan Moss

Kathleen S. Nester Helen Neufeld Henry Niemann Donald T. Oakes Paul Oppenheimer Ann Frederick & William Oppenhimer Dr. Burton W.Pearl Dorothy & Leo Rabkin Harriet Polier Robbins Charles & Jan Rosenak Joseph J. Rosenberg Le Rowell Randy Siegel Sibyl Simon Susan Simon Ann Marie Slaughter Sanford L. Smith R. Scudder Smith Richard Solar Hume Steyer Jane Supino Edward Tishelman Tony & Anne Vanderwarker Clune Walsh John Weeden G. Marc Whitehead Alice Yelen

DONORS

CURRENT MAJOR 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 ofThomas M.Conway* Estate of Daniel Cowin Ford Motor Company Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Joseph Martinson Memorial Fund* Two Lincoln Square Associates*

74 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

$50,000-$99,999 Anheuser-Busch Companies,Inc. Asahi Shimbun*

The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. $20,000.$49,999 Marilyn & Milton Brechner* Chinon, Ltd.* Mr.& Mrs. Frederick M. Danziger Mrs. Eva Feld* Estate of Morris Feld* Foundation Krikor

William Randolph Hearst Foundation* Kodansha, Ltd.* Jean & Howard Lipman* Restaurant Associates Industries, Inc. United States Information Agency $10,000-$19,999 Amicus Foundation* Bear, Stearns & Co.,Inc. Mr.& Mrs. Martin Brody* Lily Cates* David L. Davies*

ART

CURRENT

MAJOR

Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Deutsch Estate of Mary Allis* Fairfield Processing Corporation/Poly-fil째 Daniel & Jessie Lie Farber* Walter and Josephine Ford Fund* Thiji Harada* Joan & Victor L. Johnson* Shirley & Theodore L. Kesselman* Masco Corporation* Kathleen S. Nester* New York Telephone* Dorothy & Leo Rabkin* Schlumberger Foundation Samuel Schwartz* The William P. and Gertrude Schweitzer Foundation,Inc.* Mr.& Mrs. George E Shaskan, Jr.* Mrs. Louise A.Simone* Barbara and Thomas W.Strauss Fund Robert N. & Anne Wright Wilson* $4,000-$9,999 Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Joan Bull The David and Dorothy Carpenter Foundation* Tracy & Barbara Cate* Country Home Country Living Daniel & Joyce Cowin* Mr. & Mrs. Edgar M. Cullman Department of Cultural Affairs, City of New York Zipporah S. Fleisher Jacqueline Fowler* 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. Philip Morris Companies Inc. Quiher's Newsletter Magazine Ramac Corporation The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation, Inc. Sotheby's Mr.& Mrs. Stanley Tananbaum* Time Warner Inc. V.I.P Fabrics Mrs. Dixon Wecter* John Weeden $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 The Coach Dairy Goat Farm Mr. & Mrs. Peter Cohen Mr.& Mrs. Joseph E Cullman III Gary Davenport Mr. & Mrs. Donald DeWitt* Mr.& Mrs. Alvin Einbender* Margot & John Ernst Richard C. and Susan B. Ernst Foundation Colonel Alexander W. Gentleman Cordelia Hamilton* Justus Heijmans Foundation

DONORS

IBM Corporation Wendy & Mel Lavitt* Marsh & McLennan Companies Christopher & Linda Mayer* Morgan Stanley & Co.,Incorporated PaineWebber Group Inc. Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation Rockefeller Group,Inc. Betsey Schaeffer* Robert T. & Cynthia V. A. Schaffner Mr.& Mrs. Derek V. Schuster Mr.& Mrs. Ronald K. 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* Alice Yelen & Kurt A. Gitter $1,000-$1,999 Herbert A. Allen American Savings Bank William Arnett* The Bachmann Foundation Didi & David Barrett* Michael Belknap Adele Bishop Dr. Robert Bishop* Edward Vermont Blanchard & M. Anne Hill* Mr.& Mrs. Thomas Block Bloomingdale's Dr. & Mrs. Robert Booth David S. Boyd Mabel H.Brandon Sandra Breakstone Ian G. M.& Marian M.Brownlie Morris B. and Edith S. Cartin Family Foundation* Edward Lee Cave* Chase Manhattan Bank, N. A. Christie's Liz Claiborne Foundation Joseph Cohen Conde Nast Publications Inc. Consolidated Edison Company of New York Consulate General of Mexico Judy Angelo Cowen The Cowles Charitable Trust Crane Co. Cullman & Kravis Susan Cullman Mr.& Mrs. Richard Danziger Mr.& Mrs. Richard DeScherer Gerald & Marie DiManno* The Marion and Ben Duffy Foundation* Mr.& Mrs. Arnold Dunn Echo Foundation Mr.& Mrs. Lewis M. Eisenberg Bruce Engel Ellin E Ente* Virginia S. Esmerian Mr.& Mrs. Anthony Evnin Helaine & Burton M Fendelman Mr.& Mrs. Thomas Ferguson Janey Fire & John Kalymnios* First Financial Carribean Corporation

Louis R. and Nettie Fisher Foundation M. Anthony Fisher Susan & Eugene Flamm* Evelyn W. Frank Mr.& Mrs. Richard Fuld, Jr. Ronald J. Gard Emanuel Gerard The Howard Gilman Foundation Mr.& Mrs. Eric Jay Gleacher Selma & Sam Goldwitz* Mr.& Mrs. Baron Gordon* Renee Graubart Doris Stack Greene* Carol Griffis 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 Mr. & Mrs. Yee Roy Jear* Judith A. Jedlicka Dr. & Mrs. J. E. Jelinek Barbara Johnson,Esq.* Isobel & Harvey Kahn* KaMr,Philips, Ross,Inc. Lore Kann Foundation Mr.& Mrs. Leslie Kaplan Mary Kettaneh Lee & Ed Kogan* 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* Dan W. Lufkin Robert & Betty Marcus Foundation,Inc.* Marstrand Foundation C. F. Martin IV* Peter May Helen R. Mayer and Harold C. Mayer Foundation Marjorie W. McConnell* Brian & Pam McIver Meryl& Robert Meltzer Michael & Marilyn Mennello* The Mitsui USA Foundation Benson Motechin* Mattie Lou O'Kelley Paul Oppenheimer* Dr. & Mrs. R. L. Polak Helen Popkin Kelli & Allen Questrom Random House,Inc. Cathy Rasmussen* Ann-Marie Reilly* Paige Rense Marguerite Riordan Dorothy H. Roberts Daniel & Joanna S. Rose Willa & Joseph Rosenberg* Mr.& Mrs. Jon Rotenstreich Louise Sagalyn The Salomon Foundation Inc. Mr.& Mrs. Oscar S. Schafer (continued on page 78)

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 75

B 0 0 K

REVIEWS

KIPS BAY BOYS & GIRLS CLUB Decorator Show House 1993 813 Park Avenue, betwecii 74th anti 75th Streets New York City

April 27 through May 16 Monday through Saturday: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sunday: noon-5 p.m.

Tuesday and Thursday evenings until 8 p.m.

Admission $15, including Journal (Ticket sales stop one hour before closing) Children under 6[iicluingir4ants1 not admitted

Featuring the

To) lowing designers:

David Barrett Justin Baxter Sig Bergamin Casa Maia—James O'Brien George Constant The Cooper Group Michael De Santis T. Keller Donovan Genevieve Faure Clare Fraser Gail Green Susan Zises Green Stephen & Gail Huberman McMillen—Luis Rey M(Group)Incorporated Norman Michaeloff Peter Moore Barbara Ostrom Stedilla Design Geoffrey Bradfield of Jay Spectre, Inc. Terrace by Lexington Garden—Susan Colley Historical Research by Erin and Christopher Gray

GALA PREVIEW Monday, April 26, 6-8 p.m.

Tickets, $125.

For information (718)893-86(X) A benefit for Kips Bay Boys

TS SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

iris

ii

Honest Abe Paintings by Malcah Zeldis Words by Edith Kunhardt Published by Greenwillow Books, New York, 1993 $15.00 hardcover As a folk art icon since his death over a century ago, Abraham Lincoln has been a favorite subject for various folk artists, including painters Horace Pippin, John Kane, Elijah Pierce, and Malcah Zeldis. Honest Abe is Malcah Zeldis' paean to Abraham Lincoln. In her words,"I have always loved and painted Lincoln. This book is my personal tribute to him:' In Honest Abe twenty-five densely detailed and richly colored plates work together to provide a visual biographical narrative that tells the moving story of America's sixteenth president.

The highly charged, spirited illustrations are accompanied by a straightforward short text provided by Edith Kunhardt, a wellknown author of over fifty books for children. A chronology of Lincoln's life and a transcript of the Gettysburg Address are also included.

Zeldis uses representational forms that are simplified and combined with a multitude of decorative details: large numbers of objects, accessories, and decorative patterning. There is an artistic coherence and brilliant innate sense of design in all Zeldis' paintings and an underlying balance in her composition, line, and color.

In her anecdotal presentations, the artist favors a shallow picture plane, occasionally providing some perspective outlines in interior spaces to suggest depth.

There is no evidence of spatial modeling in Zeldis' use of color to delineate her forms. Liberties are

often taken with scale for anecdotal emphasis or compositional choice. Simultaneous perspective is another of Zeldis' stylistic characteristics.

People and animals are often presented in a direct frontal pose, encouraging communication and engaging the viewer. Zeldis' color palette is strong—red, gold, orange, blue, green, and some brown and black strengthen the lively narrative. Details such as the curve of a tree trunk and the freehand-drawn stripes of a patterned floor or on a flag further add an emotional component, thus enriching the paintings' content.

Honest Abe is a must for adults as well as children. The original paintings reproduced in Honest Abe will be exhibited this summer at the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown, New York. Exposure to Malcah Zeldis' gifted artistic sensibility can serve only to elevate one's taste and connoisseurship in a most enjoyable manner.

—Lee Kogan Lee Kogan is Associate Director ofthe Folk Art Institute of the Museum of American Folk Art and a member of thefaculty. She was Senior Research Consultantfor New York Beauties (1992)and the Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of TwentiethCentury American Folk Art and Artists (1990).

Carved bust of George Washington, 9" h.

PORCELLI

signed

Silvio P. Zoratti,

AMERICAN FOLK ART and AMERICANA

1962

Showroom

12708 Larchmere Blvd., Cleveland 44120 Mailing

P.O. Box 217, Cleveland, Ohio 44017 Always presenting the finest in 19th and 20th century American folk art.

FOLK ART SOCIETY OF

AMERICA

216/932-9087 Saturday, 11-5 or Appointment

AN INVITATION TO JOIN THE FOLK ART SOCIETY OF AMERICA The Folk Art Society of America is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization formed to discover, study, promote,preserve, exhibit and document folk art,folk artists and folk art environments.

Membership includes a subscription to the quarterly publication,Folk Art Messenger, and all other privileges of membership.

CATEGORIES OF MEMBERSHIP • Gold Star Membership O

Silver Star Membership

• Bronze Star Membership O

Contributing Membership

• Patron Membership D

General Membership

• Student Membership fulltimel I.D. copy required El Foreign Membership Gift Membership include message or card Back issues(when available)

$1,000 or more $500

Name Address

$250

Zip

$100 $50

Telephone

$25

Referred by

$15

Please make check payable to Folk Art Society and send to:.

$35 U.S. $25 $7 each

FOLK ART SOCIETY OF AMERICA P.0.BOX 17041 RICHMOND,VIRGNIA 23226-7041 Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

(Federal Tax I.D. No.54-141-5937)

LE

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 77

CURRENT

MAJOR

Mr. & Mrs. William Schneck Mr. & Mrs. Richard Sears* Rev. & Mrs. Alfred R. Shands III Mrs. Vera W.Simmons Philip & Mildred Simon Mr.& Mrs. Sanford L. Smith* Mr.& Mrs. Richard L. Solar* Peter and Linda Solomon Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Elie Soussa Jerry I. Speyer Kathryn Steinberg Mr.& Mrs. Michael Steinhardt Sterling Winthrop Inc. Swiss National Tourist Office SwissAir Phyllis & Irving Tepper* Mr.& Mrs. Raymond S. Troubh Mrs. Anne Utescher* H. van Ameringen Foundation Tony & Anne Vanderwarker Elizabeth & Irwin Warren* Weil, Gotshal & Manges Foundation Frank & Barbara Wendt Wertheim Schroder & Co. Mr.& Mrs. John H. Winkler* $5003999 A&P Michael G. Allen Helen & Paul Anbinder Nathan S. Ancell Anthony Annese Louis Bachman Billie Bailkin Arthur & Mary Barrett* Mr.& Mrs. Frank Barsalona David C. Batten Robert Baum Helen & John Bender Roger S. Berlind Mrs. Anthony Berns Mr.& Mrs. Peter Bienstock Peter & Helen Bing Mr.& Mrs. Leonard Block Tina & Jeffrey Bolton Mr.& Mrs. J. H. Brandi Michael 0.Braun Mr.& Mrs. Lawrence Buttenwieser Michael J. Bzdak Iris Carmel* John Mack Carter Classic Coffee Systems Limited Edward & Nancy Coplon Mrs. Arthur Cowen Edgar M. Cullman, Jr. Mr.& Mrs. Lewis Cullman D'Agostino's Allan L. Daniel The Dammann Fund,Inc. Days Inn-New York City Andre & Sarah de Coizart Mr.& Mrs. James DeSilva, Jr. Nancy Druckman Mr.& Mrs. James A. Edmonds, Jr. Mr.& Mrs. Ray Egan Ross N. & Glady A. Faires* Howard & Florence Fertig Mr. & Mrs. R. Fischbein Mr.& Mrs. Alexander Fisher

7111 SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

DONORS

Richard L. Fisher John Fletcher Timothy C. Forbes Mr.& Mrs. Norman Freedman Estelle E. Friedman Mr.& Mrs. Ken Fritz Frieda & Roy Furman Daniel M.Gantt Mr.& Mrs. Bruce Geismar General Foods Barbara & Edmond Genest Mr. & Mrs. William L. Gladstone Irene 8z Bob Goodkind* Great Performances Caterers Dr. & Mrs. Stanley Greenberg Grey Advertising, Inc. Connie Guglielmo The Charles U. Harris Living Trust Denison H. Hatch Mr.& Mrs. Richard Herbst Arlene Hochman Mr.& Mrs. Albert L. Hunecke, Jr.* Mr.& Mrs. Thomas C. Israel Guy Johnson Ed Jorgensen Cathy M. Kaplan Louise & George Kaminow* Gerald P. Kaminsky Edward Keating Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Kenner Barbara Klinger Barbara & David Krashes Janet Langlois Estee Lauder Naomi Leff Mr.& Mrs. Richard LeFrak Peter M. Lehrer Mr.& Mrs. John A. Levin Mr.& Mrs. Richard M. Livingston Adrian B. & Marcie Lopez Lynn M. Lorwin Mr.& Mrs. Robert Luchars, Jr. R. H. Macy & Co.,Inc. Mrs. Erwin Maddrey Franklin Maisano Hermine Mariaux Alastair B. Martin Michael T. Martin Robin & William Mayer Mr.& Mrs. Robert McCabe Mr.& Mrs. D. Eric McKechnie Grete Meilman Gertrude Meister Gael Mendelsohn Ronay & Richard Menschel A.Forsythe Merrick Mrs. Ralph Merrill Pierson K. Miller Mr.& Mrs. Jeremy N. Murphy Cyril I. Nelson 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 Richard Ravitch

Mr.& Mrs. Stanley M. Riker Betty Ring Mr. & Mrs. David Ritter Trevor C. Roberts Richard & Carmen Rogers Toni Ross Richard Sabino Toni Ross & Jeffrey Salaway Mary Frances Saunders Schlaifer Nance Foundation Harrie & Tom Schloss Mr.& Mrs. Richard Schwartz H. Marshall Schwarz Jean S.& Frederic A. Sharf Skidmore Owings & Merrill Smith Gallery Smithwick Dillon Karen Sobotka Mr.& Mrs. Richard Solomon Amy Sommer David E Stein Mr.& Mrs. Jeff Tarr Edward I. Tishelman Peter Tishman Mr.& Mrs. Thomas Tuft Susan Unterberg David & Jane Walentas Clune J. Walsh Jr. Marco P Walker Maryann & Ray Warakomski Washburn Galley Mr.& Mrs. Roger J. Weiss Anne G. Wesson G. Marc Whitehead L. John Wilkerson Mr.& Mrs. S.M. Wrenn Mr.& Mrs. John R. Young Marcia & John Zweig *Contributor to Lincoln Square Endowment Fund

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

Lucy C. Danziger Cynthia V A. Schaffner

The Museum thanks the following donors for their recent gifts to the Permanent Collection, Library, and Education Collection: William Arnett George Colin Winifred P. Eichler Laura Fisher/Antique Quilts and Americana, New York City Marilyn Grais Barbara Johnson William C. Ketchum Boris McGiver

Carlton McLendon Cyril I. Nelson Robert Phelps Dorothy & Leo Rabkin Irene Reichert Ron and June Shelp Robert E. Smith Mary Sposeto Pauline Unger

MARK ETPL ACE

BRUCE BURRIS Catalog 31, Americana emphasizing Art, Pictorial and Satiric — Illustrated, $5.00. Over 630 items, including Jonathan Fisher's Scripture Animals, a Fisher print discovery, Edward Hicks, American Folk Art in print, drawing, illustration. ZITA BOOKS,760 West End Avenue, New York, NY 10025.

Brazilian Folk Art & Amazonian Indian Art—Several hundred items on display. Carved wooden votive sculptures (ex-votos), Macumba Candomble altar icons (ferramentos), Carrancas, and various Indian art of fifteen tribes. Tribe Gallery, 196 7th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215, 718/499-8200.

Bases for Art and Antiques— Custom mounting of sculpture in metal, wood, and Plexiglas. Collectiondisplay consulting. Folk art a specialty for over 15 years.

American Primitive Art and Bases Inc., 596 Broadway #205, New York, NY 10012, 212/966-1530, Aarne Anton.

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

Just for Nice—Most comprehensive book on Pennsylvania woodcarving, with full-color illustrations of 275 carvings and biographies of 30 previously unidentified carvers.

Hardcover, indexed, bibliography. $35.00 postpaid. Historical Society of Berks County, MAF,940 Centre Avenue, Reading, PA 19601.

Mary Shelley Painted Woodcarvings—Artist carves Saturday mornings at Steamboat Landing Outdoor Farmers Market, Ithaca, NY. Visit if you're in the area.

For further information write the artist at 109 Park Place, Ithaca, NY 14850, 607/272-5700 or 607/273-6235.

The Great American Quilt Festival

4

Museum of American Folk Art The Great American Quilt Festival 4 61 West 62nd Street New York, NY 10023

May 12-16, 1993 Pier 92 New York City A Museum of American Folk Art Event •Quilt Connection All-Stars Invitational Quilts •The Creative Balance Teachers' Showcase •Star Coverage Celebrities and their Quilts •Morning Star Quilts Northern Plains Indians •Marie Webster Quilts A Retrospective •Always There The African-American Presence in American Quilts •Signs and Symbols African Images in Quilts from the Rural South •Lectures, Workshops,Dealers and much, much more!

For information on travel & hotel arrangements & registration for all events send a LSASE with 520

MEE OF LIFE -1992- INDIA INK ON PAPER-22" X 30"

BRAUNSTEIN/QUAY GALLERY SAN FRANCISCO, CA GALLERY ANTON WASHINGTON, D.C.

••••••••••••••••••••••• • JACK SAMT : • • • GALLERY ± 2015 Route 100 • Macungie,PA 18062 • (between Macungie and Trexlertown) + + + ,A + + + + + + ++ + + + + +

•

Peaceable Kingdom

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

•

4

Jack Savitt, Representing

•

JACK SAVITSKY

•

4 4

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

4 4

+ +

For Appointment Call

+ +

4

(215)398-0075 • • +++444+44+4444+44+4+444

SPRING 1993 FOLK ART 75

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

6909 MELROSE AVENUE LOS ANGELES CA 90038 213.933. 4096

JAMES BAUER THE WAITRESS and THE BOXER" 25"H and 22"H

INDEX

TO

ADVERTISERS

'all of us americans' 58 America Hurrah 6,7, 8,9 American Patchwork & Quilting 26 Ames Gallery 12 Marna Anderson 68 Antique Quilt Source 33 Kathryn Berenson Quilts 70 Bruce Burris 79 Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery 24 Christie's 19 Country Folk Art Show & Sale 67 Country Home magazine 31 Country Living magazine Inside Back Cover Brian Dowdall 68 Epstein/Powell 70 Esqueleto Contemporary Folk Art 61 Fairfield Processing Corporation 65 Laura Fisher Antiques 18 Janet Fleisher Gallery Back Cover Folk Art Society of America 77 Galerie Bonheur 63

SO SPRING 1993 FOLK ART

Gasperi Gallery 14 Sidney Gecker American Folk Art 60 Giampietro 2,3 Gilley's Gallery 60 The Grayson Gallery 25 Gary Guyette窶認rank Schmidt, Inc. 71 Anton Haardt Gallery 71 Kristin Helberg 73 John C. Hill American Indian Art 70 Leslie Howard/Alternative Art Source 73 Lynne Ingram Southern Folk Art 61 Martha Jackson 15 Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Decorator Show House 1993 76 Knoke Galleries 59 The Liberty Tree 32 Leon Loard Gallery 32 Main Street Antiques 66 Marketplace 79 Marston House 58 Frank J. Miele Gallery Inside Front Cover

Steve Miller Judith and James Milne Leslie Muth Gallery Barbara Olsen Outside-in Susan Parrish J.E. Porcelli R M Gallery Carol and Gene Rappaport Roger Ricco/Frank Maresca Stella Rubin John Sauls' Antiques Jack Savitt Gallery Bruce Shelton Wanda's Quilts Marcia Weber/Art Objects, Inc. David Wheatcroft Thos. K. Woodard Ginger Young Shelly Zegart Quilts

1 68 13 33 80 23 77 63 16 17 20 58 79 66 69 22 11 4 73 25

COUNTRY LIVING MAGAZINE AMERICA'S SOURCE FOR FOLK ART AND ANTIQUES Look for Country Living Gardener on your newsstand March 16.

A Publication of Hearst Magazines, A Division of the Hearst Corporation

Purvis Young

1

February 9 March 6, 1993

Janet Fleisher Gallery represents the work of Purvis Young.

People to the Angel, 1990 Housepaint, paper, wood 72 x 40 inches

'01

Janet Fleisher GALLERY 211 South 17th Street

PHILADELPHIA 1 9 1 0 3 (215)545.7562/7589