Folk Art (Fall 1996)

MAGAZINE OF THE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART

Thornton Dial

A Preacher Will Hold A Bible, 1995, 301/2"H x 22 1/4'W, graphite and pastel on paper

Representing the work of Bill Traylor William Hawkins Eddie Arning Laura Craig McNellis Thornton Dial Ken Grimes William Edmondson

Sam Doyle William Atkins

RICCO/MARESCA GALLERY 152 WOOSTER STREET/ NY, NY/212 780.0071,(FAX)212.780.0076 e-mail: rmgal@aol.com http://artnetweb.com/rmgallery

STEVE HILLER • AMERICAN FOLK ART •

Superb example of a formal horse weathervane

by Rochester Iron Works, Rochester, NH; ca. 1885; 36 inches in length; cast iron construction; dry salmon paint surface.

The finest example available.

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

Other hours are available by appointment.

American Antigua', Jim. Austin T. Miller•685 Farrington Road, Columbus, Ohio 43085•(614) 848-4080

Oil on canvas, 30 by 25 inches, circa 1840

American Antiques, Austin T. Miller•685 Farrington Road, Columbus, Ohio 43085•(614) 848-4080

Introducing...Charles A. Owens!

In the spirit of Elijah Pierce and William Hawkins, Charlie Owens continues the legacy of Columbus, Ohio's self-taught folk art masters.

Charles H. Gerhardt and Son 33 North Broadway Lebanon, Ohio 45036 (513) 932-9946

Acrylic on board 24 by 30 inches

Frank J. Miele Gallery 1086 Madison Ave at 82nd Street New York, New York 10028 (212) 249-7250

WOODARD GREENSJ} AMERICAN

111111111111&

11111•1111116

"v- —A•••, • p•-• yr•lir AIL

V. 41116 IP" 411.111/ Alh.

, 'V; ,.„is, i,V. i,.: ilvialk.,IrAiliJIIrlAwileir /7. ir,1 .4_..., „ow ,

1r 46 V'

(414.1 /ALI i'llir; /V"; ,Akiy,Ak,

,1,11

tw, i.ri ,,,,,,,,,,... ,, !....„ ,,,..,, ,.., 'i.„.„ 77„,r/417,/ , ,r/A , 17117/

V. -A tsr "Sr A 1 , A le A A. 41h.

ANTIQUES

'41Ik ""'

A V : : 4, ,.. 401.,

.

IFiiillilr/

iA ir.

11r

Exceptional birdhouse in original paint. Height: 22 inches. Width: 23 inches.

DISCOVERIES AN EXHIBITION AND SALE OF ARCHITECTURAL AND ORNAMENTAL OBJECTS SEPTEMBER 26—OCTOBER 19, 1996 Hours: Monday— Friday 10:30 a.m.— 6 p.m. Saturday 11a.m.— 5p.m.

506 East 74th Street New York, NY 10021 •(212)988-2906• Two blocks from Sotheby's.

Minutes from the Fall Antiques Show.

•tgAk. A,

FOLK ART VOLUME 21, NUMBER 3/ FALL 1996 (FORMERLY THE CLARION)

FEATURES

Cover: SWEET HOME,artist unknown, New England, 1851, incised whale ivory 4". Private / 2x 13 and ink, 544 x 21 collection.

Folk Art is published four times a year by the Museum of American Folk Art,61 West 62nd Street, NY,NY 10023, Tel. 212/977-7170, Fax 212/977-8134. Prior to Fall 1992, Volume 17, Number 3, Folk Art was published as The Clarion. Annual subscription rate for members is included in membership dues. Copies are mailed to all members. Single copy $6.00. Published and copyright 1996 by the Museum of American Folk Art,61 West 62nd Street, NY,NY 10023. The cover and contents of Folk Art are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Museum of American Folk Art. Unsolicited manuscripts or photographs should be accompanied by return postage. Folk Art assumes no responsibility for the loss or damage of such materials.

Change of address: Please send both old and new addresses and allow five weeks for change. Advertising: Folk Art endeavors to accept 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 it is a violation of its principles to be involved in or to appear to be involved in the sale of works of art. For this reason, the Museum will not knowingly accept advertisements for Folk Art that illustrate or describe objects that have been exhibited at the Museum within one year of placing an advertisement.

A PLACE FOR US: VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE IN AMERICAN FOLK ART Stacy C. Hollander

34

"I PAINT WHAT I REMEMBER":THE ART OF MARIO SANCHEZ Barbara Rothermel

42

THE ROMANCE OF A RELIC: SAM COLT'S CHARTER OAK RELIC FURNITURE William Hosley

49

DEPARTMENTS

EDITOR'S COLUMN

6

DIRECTOR'S LETTER

11

FALL ANTIQUES SHOW SPECIAL

15

BREAKFAST SYMPOSIUM

16

FALL PROGRAMS

18

MINIATURES

26

MUSEUM REPRODUCTIONS PROGRAM

72

MUSEUM NEWS

76

TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS

81

TRUSTEES/DONORS

82

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

88

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 5

EDITOR'S

COLUMN

ROSEMARY GABRIEL

ptimism, individuality, ingenuity, and perhaps cussedness are often traits attributed to the American spirit. In this issue of Folk Art, our featured essays, each in its own way,confirm that mind-set."A Place for Us: Vernacular Architecture in American Folk Art," by Stacy C. Hollander, the Museum's curator and the curator of the exhibition of the same name,explores the "architectural records" kept by American folk artists. The artworks they produced tell the saga of how Americans created a place for themselves without benefit of city planners, architects, or Donald Trump. Hollander's story, starting on page 34, will take you on a house tour beginning in the seventeenth century and carrying through to the twentieth.

She points out cottages, homesteads, shops,churches, factories, and farms that sprang up across the nation and shaped the modern American landscape. The exhibition, featuring more than seventy-five paintings, drawings, sculptures, and textiles, will be on view at the Museum from September 14, 1996, through January 5, 1997.

Mario Sanchez, now eightyeight years old, has been carving PICNIC AT OLD MARTELLO, Mario Sanchez, Key Florida, and painting his memories—and c. 1960, oil on carved wood, 32 18". Key WestWest, Art & the architecture of Gato Village Historical Society, 1987.01.3229 in Key West—for the past fifty years. Barbara Rothermel,of the Key West Art Historical Society, writes of Sanchez's life and art in "I Paint what I Remember: The Art of Mario Sanchez," starting on page 42. Despite the sometimes harsh reality of working-class immigrant Americans, Sanchez's narrative street scenes—carved in bas-relief on wooden boards and gaily painted in bright colors—is a joyful chronicle of his youth in Florida, where his parents settled after leaving Cuba in 1869. Rothermel's essay is illustrated with Sanchez's houses and stores, trees and flowers, and people occupied with the pleasures of daily life and community.

William Hosley, curator of American decorative arts at the Wadsworth Atheneum, brings us the story of another community and a dashing individual's fixation with Hartford, Connecticut's icon—the Charter Oak. In his essay "The Romance of a Relic: Sam Colt's Charter Oak Relic Furniture," Hosley traces the history of this venerated tree—a symbol of Yankee determination and freedom—and tells how Sam Colt, the manufacturer of the renowned Colt revolver, adopted it and wrapped himself in its glory. When the tree fell, countless objects carved from its wood were cherished as relics. Sam Colt, however, commissioned several of the largest and most astonishing, some might say eccentric, works of relic art ever made. Hosley writes with the authority of someone who not only understands his material, but also has an intuitive feel for the passions of the people involved. His briskly paced essay, illustrated with images never before published, begins on page 49.

Once again we have included a Fall Antiques Show special section in Folk Art. See a preview of some of the most wonderful examples of American antiques and folk art, starting on page 15. I look forward to seeing you at the Opening Night Benefit Preview on Wednesday. September 25.

O

FOLK ART Rosemary Gabriel Editor and Publisher Jeffrey Kibler, The Magazine Group,Inc. Design Tanya Heinrich Production Editor Benjamin J. Boyington Copy Consultant Brian Pozun Publications Intern Marilyn Brechner Advertising Sales John Hood Advertising Sales Craftsmen Litho Printers MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART Administration Gerard C. Werticin Director Riccardo Salmona Deputy Director Joan M. Walsh Controller Mary Linda Zonana Director ofAdministration Helene J. Ashner Assistant to the Director Jeffrey Grand Senior Accountant Natasha Ghany Accountant Charles L. Allen Mailroom Daniel Rodriguez Mailroom/Reception Collections & Exhibitions Stacy C. Hollander Curator Ann-Marie Reilly Registrar Judith Gluck Steinberg Assistant Registrar/ Coordinator, Traveling Exhibitions Sandra Wong Assistant Registrar Pamela Brown Gallery Manager Blaire Dessent Weekend Gallery Manager Gina Bianco Consulting Conservator Elizabeth V. Warren Consulting Curator Howard Lanser Consulting Exhibition Designer Kenneth R. Bing Security Departments Beth Bergin Membership Director Marie S. DiManno Director ofMuseum Shops Susan Flamm Public Relations Director Alice J. Hoffman Director ofLicensing Valerie K. Longwood Director ofDevelopment Joan D. Sandler Director ofEducation and Collaborative Programs Janey Fire Photographic Services Chris Cappiello Membership Associate Maryann Warakomski Assistant Director ofLicensing Jennifer A. Waters Development Associate Mary J. Olmsted Development Associate Claudia Andrade Manager ofInformation Systems, Retail Operations Catherine Barreto Membership Assistant Edith C. Wise Consulting Librarian Eugene P. Sheehy Volunteer Librarian Rita Keckeissen Volunteer Librarian Katya Ullmann Library Assistant Programs Lee Kogan Director, Folk Art Institute/Senior Research Fellow Madelaine Gill Administrative Assistant/Education Barbara W.Cate Educational Consultant 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 Arlene Hochman Volunteer Docent Coordinator Lynn Steuer Volunteer Outreach Coordinator Museum Shop Staff Managers: Dorothy Gargiulo, Caroline Hohenrath, Rita Pollitt, Brian Pozun; Mail Order: Beverly McCarthy; Security: Bienvenido Medina; Volunteers: Marie Anderson, Helen Barer, Olive Bates, Mary Campbell, Sally Frank, Jennifer Gerber, Millie Gladstone, Elli Gordon, Edith Gusoff, Ann Hannon, Bernice Hoffer, Elizabeth Howe,Joan Langston, Annette Levande, Arleen Luden, Katie McAuliffe, Nancy Mayer, Theresa Naglack, Pat Pancer, Marie Peluso, Judy Rich, Frances Rojack, Phyllis Selnick, Myra Shaskan, Lola Silvergleid, Maxine Spiegel, Mary Wamsley 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

6 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Late 19th-century articulated carving of a black figure, all original.

DAVID WHEATCROFT 220 East Main Street, Westborough, Massachusetts 01581 508. 366. 1723

HOWARD FINSTER

Nowt-hi Is WORTH IT ALL

6ti6:

WHIG

rMVFAill USE ARE NY MANS roNi T v4sR 0 I iโ ขJOULp

silit13

FOOT MI cl cab 10'44

AVE Tata, yรงri

.IF 1 do AND frEPNR Ap.oc "Mr

"1 _c.0

A LAC AND WO A .

L Fog yam v01.1. c iSkel tA iN ANDRECE0 apint/441tHeiN

T.

orcos

i

570 NE of VIE SECoNb fluith

$

Pelf e

THE MODERN PRIMITIVE GALLERY

77;

4ElitY4RfAcE

S.TONE 51 ,3F OF / PAC ' d etaC.Y

ert

ea; tA F RT.VISIOM4 V4,071 .

3 E5111

1402-4 NORTH HIGHLAND AVENUE ATLANTA GA 30306 404/892-0556

AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GALLERY 596 Broadway #205 New York, NY 10012 212-966-1530

Mon—Sat 11am - 6pm

Vcit ISMS OF 0)PACE

) IN ART uf L_J (aØ)S SEPT 12 - OCT 26

Rene Latour, a retired tinsmith, made the life size tin Moonwalker after seeing the astronauts land on the Moon.

lonel Talpazon had a profound experience with a UFO visitation.

His visionary art always centers on contact with UFOs and the future in space.

"BLACK HOLE WITH STARS AND UFOs" Oil on canvas, 30"x 40"

A NEW SPIN ON

FOLK

A Carved and Painted Pine Spinner and Spinning Wheel Articulated Toy, American. probably 20th - - -Southern. - - century, height 10 'A in.; length 12 '4 in.

Auction estimate: $25,000-35,000

FINE

AMERICANA

Auction in New York: October 19, 1996 at 10:15 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Exhibition opens October 13, 1996

SOTHEBY'S FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL NANCY DRUCKMAN OR KARA SHORT at (212) 606-7225. To purchase an illustrated catalogue, please call (800) 444-3709.

Visit our Web Site at http://www.sothebys.com Sotheby's, 1334 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021

DIRECTOR'S

LETTER

GERARD C. WERTKIN

s I write these comments, reports of arson against African As many of you know, the Museum of American Folk Art was American churches dominate the headlines. I generally featured on a one-hour QVC program on the evening of July 4.

A variety of licensed products, many based on objects from the do not choose a national issue as a subject of this column, Museum's permanent collection, were offered. I appeared as guest but I believe that all principled persons, including host with Mary Beth Roe, one of QVC's most popular presenters, those of us who serve the arts community as leaders, and was able to tell the story of American folk art to a wide and must raise our voices to protest this grave offense against appreciative audience. I should like to thank the many members of the American values.

Museum who called in to purchase merchandise. The licensing proThe contributions of black churches to our shared culture—to say gram produces critically important revenues for the Museum's exhibinothing of their essential role in society—are immeasurable; our own tion and educational programming, and your support of these efforts field would be impoverished without their inspiration. This national is deeply appreciated. I was gratified that The Wall Street Journal inheritance should be treasured by all Americans, regardless of relicarried a front page report of the Museum's collaboration with QVC gious faith or ethnic background. Please support one of the several inion June 27. tiatives to rebuild the churches. It is the least that persons of good will If hundreds of thousands of viewers learned about the Museum can do. through QVC,I am pleased that similarly large numbers of Americans The significance of the African American cultural heritage is elowill be able to tune into the Museum at any time, day and night, by quently manifest throughout "Souls Grown Deep: African-American accessing our new web site. The exciting details of this effort at outVernacular Art of the South," now at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at reach will be available by late SepCity Hall East in Atlanta. This tember. The Museum of American comprehensive exhibition from Folk Art has always prided itself the collection of William Arnett on being "user-friendly." Through of Atlanta is at once powerful and its new internet home page, you quietly elegant, witty and heartwill be able to communicate with breaking, intellectually demandthe Museum even more efficiently ing and warmly accessible. I and obtain the latest information suggest that members and friends about the Museum's wide-ranging make a special effort to visit programs and events.

Atlanta to see this challenging, This issue of Folk Art will world-class presentation before it reach you just prior to the opening closes on November 3. of"A Place for Us: Vernacular Speaking of visiting Atlanta, Architecture in American Folk Coca-Cola's "Olympic Salute to Art." This exhibition, organized Folk Art," a project developed for the Museum by Stacy C. Holwith the Museum of American lander, the Museum's curator, will Folk Art, opened to the public evocatively present three centuries in the historic Georgia Freight of American homes, shops, Depot on July 13. Using churches, and other buildings as Coca-Cola's internationally interpreted by folk artists working known contour bottle as a model, ...own 01110.01 flO in virtually every medium. This artists and craftspersons from Resarnet 113r Ahnair,47 dl- 13,rerey hilifr,„ /joy ontws 8. Pis, A./4444re major exhibition will be on view at around the world drew from local the Museum of American Folk Art materials and traditions to create from September 14, 1996, through some of the most imaginative THE RESIDENCE OF DR. JOHN BREWER AT of seeing many works of art 5, 1997.

Having had the pleasure January objects that I have ever seen. The BEVERLY, N.J. BUILT IN 1849, FRONTING THE RIVER DELAWARE that are to be included in this show during the course of its organizaexhibition of these engaging artJoseph Shoemaker Russell (1795-18601 tion, I know how striking and beautiful"A Place for Us" will be. Please works is more than a lighthearted Philadelphia, Pennsylvania visit the Museum to enjoy this special presentation. romp through the world's folk art; 1853 Watercolor, pen and ink on paper I cannot close without expressing my profound gratitude to King it offers some surprising insights 1 4" 8/ 3 4 x 11/ Harald V of Norway and the representatives of Norway in the United into world culture as well. Six Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Keith A. Morgan States on my appointment as a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of American artists—Howard Finster, Merit. The impressive ceremony that was arranged by the Board of Lonnie Holley, Stephen Huneck, Trustees and the staff of the Museum on June 10 was a deeply moving Mary Shelley, David Strickland, experience that I will never forget. Thank you all for your thoughtful and Gregory Wannack—are repregreetings and warm expressions of support.* sented in this spirited survey.

A

FALL 1996 FOLK ART Li

Robert Cargo

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

Joseph Hardin (1921-1989). Woman. Mixed media on matboard, 1989.

Dimensions: image, 161/4 x 151 / 2 inches; framed, 243 / 4 x 231 / 2 inches.

The above painting is shown in the exhibition catalogue, Unsigned, Unsung.. .Whereabouts Unknown, 1993.

Joseph Hardin is included in the Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists, 1990; Unsigned, Unsung... Whereabouts Unknown, 1993; Passionate Visions of the American South, 1993; 20th Century American Folk, Self Taught, and Outsider Art, 1993; Revelations: Alabama's Visionary Folk Artists, 1994; and Folk Erotica, 1994.

Works by Hardin have been selected for the 1996-1997 exhibition,"Wind in My Hair," at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

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.

Introducing

Mitch

H n rnburger

Paintings and Works on Paper September 14

November 9. 1996

You Make Four - acrylic on canvas 48" x 60"

Archer Locke Gallery 3157 Peachtree Road NE (Grandview at Peachtree) Atlanta, GA 30305 404.812 9600 fax 404.812.9616

one

—MN

—••1111111,...

Free video catalogs and price lists available upon request.

STAR SPANGLED FOLK ART Christie's is now accepting consignments.

For further information, please contact the American Folk Art Department at 212 546 1181. For catalogue subscriptions, please call 800 395 6300.

A pieced and appliqued cotton quilted coverlet,American, circa 1865,83 x 901/4 in.

Sold in the Important American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts sale on June 19, 1996 for $20,700.

CHRISTIE'S Christie's on-line: http://www.christies.com

Principal Auctioneer: Christopher Burge #761534

1

9 9 6

FALL

ANTIQUES

SHOW

Fall Antiques Show Museum of American Folk Art Opening Night Benefit Preview Wednesday, September 25 6:00 to 9:00 P.M. SEAPORT TOWN Artist unknown New England c. 1850 Oil on canvas 28 - 36" Collection of Isobel and Harvey Kahn

Peter, Paul & Mary, American folk music icons, longtime friends of the Museum, and Honorary Chairpersons of this year's Opening Night Benefit Preview, along with Benefit Chairmen Mr. and Mrs. John H. Gutfreund, invite you to a spectacular party to celebrate the show's 18th year. * They are joined by Vice Chairmen Richard H. Jenrette, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley G. Mortimer III, Mr. and Mrs. Peter C. Rockefeller, William D. Rondina, Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop Rutherfurd, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Elliott K. Slade, Bunny Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene H. Zagat, Jr., and Advisory Chairmen Lucy C. Danziger and Wendy Lehman Lash to welcome you to a wonderful party and preview of a spectacular array of American arts and antiques. * Country Living Magazine will join with the Museum this year as a Corporate Leader of the event. Wine and liquor for the Benefit Preview has been generously donated by Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc. The preview invitation, design courtesy of Ellen Blissman and printing generously underwritten by Christie's, features the 1850s painting Seaport Town from the collection of Isobel and Harvey Kahn. The cocktail reception is being catered by Taste.* Make your reservations early by calling Jennifer Waters at the Museum's administrative offices, 212/977-7170. Preview tickets are $750($680 is tax deductible) for Benefactors, $500($430 is tax deductible) for Patrons, $300($240 is tax deductible)for Donors, $175($125 is tax deductible)for Supporters, and $75 (specially priced for persons 30 years and under; $25 is tax deductible) for Juniors. The evening's proceeds help support the Museum's ongoing educational and exhibition programs.*Educational Chairmen Kathy Booth, Vera Jelinek, Anne Mai, and Julie K. Palley invite you to join us for "In Search of an American Style," a special symposium and breakfast on Thursday, September 26, at 9:30 A.M. in the Tiffany Room at the armory. For more information, see next page.

Peter, Paul & Mari

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 15

1 9 9 6

FALL

ANTIQUES

SHOW

Fall Antiques Show Breakfast Symposium a larger than life-size carved and painted pine head late 19th/early 20th c. ht. 19"

Thursday, September 26 9:30-11:30 A.M. The Tiffany Room Park Avenue Armory Park Avenue at 67th Street New York City Tickets: $35 for Museum members, $45 for non-members

"In Search of an American Style" is a topic that has interested, frustrated, and sometimes consumed collectors, curators, folklorists, decorators, and historians alike since the first cupboards were pegged together and painted on American soil.

Kathy Booth, Vera Jelinek, Anne Mai, and Julie K. Palley, Educational Chairmen of the 1996 Opening Night Benefit Preview of the Fall Antiques Show,invite you to join them the morning after the night before for breakfast and a lively discussion. The Museum's director, Gerard C. Wertkin, will introduce the topic and the key speakers from outside and within the museum community, including Jack L. Lindsey, curator of American decorative arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Brock Jobe, deputy director of The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, and Nancy Vignola, senior vice president of Polo Ralph Lauren.

For reservations, please contact the Museum's Folk Art Institute at 212/977-7170.

Patrick Bell • Edwin Hild airegompe.w.—

OLDE HOPE ANTIQUES, INC.

16 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

New Hope, PA 1893 215,862.5055 FX 215,862,0550 Appointment Preferred

SPICE BOX ON STAND Artist unknown Chester County, Pennsylvania c. 1740-1751) Black walnut, pine, and poplar 35 28" Philadelphia Museum of Art, recent acquisition, gift of Mrs. Whitney Ashbridge, 1994.157.1

WALTERS • BENISEK ART IS ANTIQUES ONE AMBER LANE • NORTHAMPTON • MASSACHUSETTS •01060 • • (4 1 3) 5 8 6 • 3 90 9 • • DON WALTERS • MARY BENISEK

Specializing In American Folk Art

1 9 9 6

FALL

ANTIQUES

SHOW

FALL

PROGRAMS

ghe

MANHATTAN ART & ANTIQUES CENTER The Nation's Largest and Finest Antiques Center.

Over 100 galleries offering Period Furniture, Jewelry, Silver, Americana, Orientalia, Africana and other Objets d'Art. 1050 SECOND AVENUE(AT 56TH ST.) NEW YORK, N.Y. 10022 PRESENTS

The Museum presents the following programs in conjunction with the exhibition "A Place for Us: Vernacular Architecture in American Folk Art." Programs will be held at the Museum's Eva and Morris Feld Gallery at 2 Lincoln Square,Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th streets, New York, unless otherwise noted. For more information, please call 212/595-9533.

THURSDAY EVENING LECTURE SERIES 6:00 P.M. Thefollowing lectures arefree and registration is not necessary.

Images of the Past September 26 ARCHITECTURE AND THE ARTIST'S EYE: A CURATORIAL OVERVIEW Stacy C. Hollander, curator, Museum of American Folk Art October 3 BUILDING FOR AN ORDERED LIFE: SHAKER ARCHITECTURE IN AMERICA Gerard C. Werticin, director, Museum of American Folk Art

"Hutchinson" hooked rug with amorous couples, 52" x 39", circa 1940's.

LAURA FISHER/ ANTIQUE QUILTS & AMERICANA Gallery #84 New York City's largest, most exciting selection of Antique Quilts, Hooked Rugs, Coverlets, Paisley Shawls, Beacon Blankets, Vintage Accessories and American Folk Art. Laura Fisher: Tel: 212-838-2596 Monday-Saturday 11 AM-6PM The Manhattan Art & Antiques Center: Tel: 212-355-4400 • Fax: 212-355-4403 Open Daily 10:30-6, Sun. 12-6 Convenient Park lug • Open to the Public

111 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

October 10 WEEKSVILLE, A STUDY OF A 19TH-CENTURY BLACK SETTLEMENT Joan Maynard, director, Weeksville Restoration October 17 INFLUENCE OF SOLOMON'S TEMPLE ON MASONIC ARCHITECTURE William D. Moore, director, Masonic Museum The Present Reality November 7 MANHATTAN VERNACULAR: AN INTRODUCTION TO URBAN VERNACULAR CULTURE Martha Cooper, director of photography, City Lore

November 14 PRESERVING AMERICA'S HISTORIC BUILDINGS Norman Weiss, adjunct associate professor, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Columbia University November 21 GREAT EXPECTATIONS: FUTURISTIC ARCHITECTURE AND POPULAR CULTURE Norman Brosterman, architectural historian and author WALKING TOURS 10:15 A.M.-12:30 P.M. Sponsored by the Museum of American Folk Art and Museum ofthe City ofNew York. Tour Fee:$12— $10for students and senior citizens. Reservations are necessary. Because oflimited tour accommodations, please reserve early by contacting the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art Education Department at 212/977-7170.

Monday,October 7 Tuesday, October 8 The tour group will meet at the Conservatory Garden in Central Park, at 5th Avenue and 105th Street, at 10:00 A.M. sharp. The route will include the upper Carnegie Hill district, Northern Central Park, and el Barrio. The tour will conclude at the Museum of the City of New York. (continued on page 22)

Free public programs are supported in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and a generous grant from NYNEX.

Box 598 SOUTH EGREMONT MASSACHUSETTS 01258 413-528-3581

1 9 9 6

FALL

ANTIQUES

SHOW

STELLA

RUBIN Fine Antique Quilts and Decorative Arts

12300 Glen Road Potomac, MD 20854 (Near Washington, D.C.) By appointment (301)948-4187

Nineteenth-century rug, 44.5 x 37.5 inches, mounted, in very good condition

62 Main Street, Salisbury, CT 06068 (860) 435-3057

20 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

EXHIBITING AT THE FALL ANTIQUES SHOW AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY

OR BY APPOINTMENT: RICK LEE, LINCOLN, MA. 617.259.0807

1996

FALL

ANTIQUES

SHOW

American Folk Art Sidney Gecker

A RARE AND SUPERB CALLIGRAPHIC DRAWING Artist Unknown.

Steel Pen, Ink and Watercolor on Paper.

Circa 1840. 20 x 23 inches.

For a similar example see, Nina Fletcher Little, The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Collection, page 268.

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

QJJILTS

FALL

Of

PROVENCE

...the book by Kathryn Berenson will be available in Fall 1996, Henry Holt and Company, New York & Thames and Hudson, London ...the antique textiles will be shown by Kathryn Berenson at the Fall Antiques Show at the Armory, New York City

Kathryn Berenson Washington, D.C., 202/686-2727

22 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

PROGRAMS

Continued from page 18

COMMON GROUND: A WORKSHOP FOR EDUCATORS 3:30 P.M.-5:00 P.M. Workshop isfree; registration is recommended. To register, call Pamela Brown or Arlene Hochman at 212/595-9533.

Thursday, October 10 MULTICULTURAL FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN FOLK BUILDINGS Donald J. Berg, architect; commentary by Lee Kogan, director, Folk Art Institute October 31 A family programfor all ages HALLOWEEN: AN EVENING OF EDGAR ALLAN POE TALES AND OTHER GHOSTLY STORIES Eleni Constanelos, storyteller

SUNDAY AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS FOR CHILDREN 2:00-4:00 P.M. Please call the Museum in advance to register or sign up at the desk. Materialsfee: $1.00.

Please call to cancel ifyou are unable to attend.

Sundays,September 22 through December 15 (except December 1) Lots of colorful paper, decorations, crayons, and fun materials.

Bring your ideas and imagination for a great afternoon.

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Teachers' packets are available.

For more information and to schedule a class tour, please call Pamela Brown at 212/595-9533.

Box 598 SOUTH EGREMONT MASSACHUSETTS 01258 413-528-3581

I

9 9 6

F ALL

ANTIQUES

SHOW

IELLA S RuBIN Fine Antique Quilts and Decorative Arts 12300 Glen Road Potomac, MD 20854 (Near Washington, D.C.) By appointment (301)948-4187

BARBARA ARDIZONE

Nineteenth-century rug, 44.5 x 37.5 inches, mounted, in very good condition

62 Main Street, Salisbury, CT 06068 (860) 435-3057

20 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

mama new

anderson paltz new

york

(914) • 2551132

I 996

F ALL

ANTIQUES

SHOW

18 YEARS AGO THE FALL ANTIQUES SHOW WAS HELD AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY. THE FIRST "ALL AMERICAN" SHOW, IT WAS THE SINGLE MOST SUCCESSFUL ANTIQUES SHOW EVER HELD. THE MAINE ANTIQUES DIGEST CALLED IT "A GUTSY SHOW...EXCITING, OVERWHELMING, AND FRANKLY, DAZZLING." THE NEW YORK TIMES SAID IT WAS "BOUND TO CHANGE NEW YORKERS' VIEWS OF ANTIQUES SHOWS."

AND SO IT DID I

Aop +srt 00,-4.,Is.A

NEW LOCATION Park Avenue Armory

NEW DATES September 26- 29

low.

0 eta gilt.

• Sanford Smith's

A FALL

1C. • 18th Annual

TIQUES SHOWat the Armory f l'

SEPTEM ER 26- 291996 ) THURS & FRI • 1lam - 9pm

SAT • 11am - 8pm

SUN • 1lam -(pm

PREVIEW SEPTEMBER 25TH 6pm - 9pm To Benefit The Museum of American Folk Art Information & Reservations: (212) 977-7170

BREAKFAST SYMPOSIUM SEPTEMBER 26TH 9:30am "In Search of an American Style), The Tiffany Room • Park Avenue Armory Information & Reservations:(212) 977-7170

The Park Avenue Armory Park Avenue & 67th Street New York City Produced & Managed By Sanford L. Smith & Associates •(212) 777-5218 Fax: (212) 477-6490

24

FALL 1996 FOLK ART

AARON BIRNBAUM (b. 1895)

exhibition ofrecent paintings September 28,29 October 5,6,12,13 open 12-6 pm and by appointment

K.S. Art 91 Franklin Street #3 New York, NY 10013 212-219-1489 Couple on Park Bench 1995 24 x 24 inches

By appointment 919.932.6003 Works by more than four dozen artists, including Georgia Blizzard • Rudolph Valentino Bostic

Ginger Young Gallery Southern Self-Taught Art

Richard Burnside • Henry Ray Clark • Raymond Coins • Yahrah Dahvah • Patrick Davis • Brian Dowdall Jon Eiseman • Howard Finster • Sybil Gibson Lonnie Holley • Anderson Johnson • MC 54 Jones Calvin Livingston • Woodie Long • Jake McCord R.A. Miller • Roy Minshew • Sarah Rakes • Royal Robertson • Sultan Rogers • Earl Simmons • Hugo Sperger • Jewell Starday • Jimmie Lee Sudduth Mose Tolliver Daniel Troppy • Fred Webster Myrtice West • Patrick Williams

For a free video catalogue or a price list please contact: Ginger Young Gallery 5802 Brisbane Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Phone/Fax 919.932.6003 • E-mail: gingerarteaol.com

The Last Supper by Lorenzo Scott Oil on canvas in bondo frame, 41" x 53, 1991.

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 25

MINIATURES

(WILLIAM DOYLE GALLERIES)

COMPILED BY TANYA HEINRICH COURTING SCENE, artist unknown (Evans Ledger), Cheyenne, C. 1875-1880, pencil and colored pencil on paper, 7/ 1 2 x 12/ 1 4". Collection of National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

AUCTIONEERS & APPRAISERS

Wednesday, November 20, 1996at 10 am

AMERICAN FURNITURE 643 DECORATIONS EXHIBITION SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16: 10 AM - 5 PM SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17: NOON - 5 PM MONDAY,NOVEMBER 18:9 AM - 7PM TUESDAY, NovEmBEE 19:9 AM - 5 PM

Evocative Ledger Drawings in New York City "Plains Indian Drawings, 1865-1935: Pages from a Visual History," a traveling exhibition of the unique genre of ledger drawings, will be on view at The Drawing Center in New York City from November 2to December 21. The exhibition will present the diversity of the ledger art tradition—pictorial drawings on sheets of accountants' ledger paper and in bound books—as it spread among the Plains Indians throughout the American West in the late 19th century. The Lakota, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes chronicled events of the period of forced removal from their land with crayons, pencils, and ink on ledger paper obtained from explorers, traders, Indian

agents, and military officers; the smaller-scale medium evolved from the tradition of hide painting while in encampments and reservations. Early examples in this exhibition of more than 150 drawings display a distinct, elegant simplicity, with stick figures and limited detail. European artistic conventions and photography influenced later works in which elaborated line, pattern, and landscape are evident. Organized by guest curator Janet Catherine Berlo, The Drawing Center, and The American Federation of Arts, the exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated, 256page catalog. For more information, please call 212/219-2166.

Folk Art Society of America Conference and Related Events in Alabama

Figured Maple Cupboard, 2nd Quarter ofthe 19th Century.

SoldJune 5, 1996fir $9,775

26 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

The annual conference of the Folk Art Society of America (FASA)will be held in Birmingham, Ala., on October 18-20 and will coincide with an exhibition of folk art at the Fayette Art Museum in Fayette, Ala., and the annual Kentuck Festival in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Other events include a symposium, a benefit dinner, an auction, a tour to private collections and folk art

environments, and a panel discussion on collecting. For more information, please call FASA at 216/752-6933. The Fayette Art Museum has permanent installations of the works of Sybil Gibson, B.F. Perkins, and Jimmy Lee Sudduth, as well as a temporary exhibition of the woodcarvings of Fred Webster. For more information, please call the Museum at 205/932-8727.

4

photos by Tinsley 8c Laakso

rA

ant

Lm6ekt

NANTUCKET LIGHTSHIP BASKET,oak ribs slightly chamfered on sides and tapers towards bottom,shaped oak handle and ears, varied color in rattan weave,c. 1870-90, diameter 4 3/4".

KEY BASKET,Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, decorative tooling, shaped sides and strap handle, c. 1850.

P.O. Box 1653 • Alexandria, Virginia 22313 • (703) 329-8612

Illinois Goose Decoys Eighteen rare goose decoys from Illinois comprise the exhibition "Goose Decoys of Illinois," on view at the Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences' Illinois Folk Art Gallery in Peoria, Ill., through October 13. Goose decoys, unlike the popular duck decoys, were

rarely utilized by hunters in Illinois, as few geese stopped in the Illinois River Valley while migrating to and from Canada. The exhibition will include works carved between 1875 and 1950 by well-

known carvers Bert Graves, Robert Elliston, Charlie Perdew, Charles Schoenheider, and Charles Walker. For more information,#20 please call 309/686-7000.

Virginia Folk Art

Art Pottery

"Folk Art: The Common Wealth of Virginia," a comprehensive exhibition of works by 23 folk and self-taught artists from Virginia, is on view at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts at Longwood College in Farmville, Va., through September 21. Organized by curator Ann Oppenhimer, the exhibition highlights the works of Ed Ambrose, Georgia Blizzard, Miles Carpenter, Abraham Lincoln Criss, Uncle Jack Dey, and Anderson Johnson, among others. For more information, please call 804/395-2020.

"Art Pottery from the Collection of The Chrysler Museum of Art," an exhibition chronicling the history of the art pottery movement in England and the United States, is on view at The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va., through October 20. Displays of Oriental and French ceramics at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876 were highly influential to men and especially women seeking new forms of employment and artistic expression. Rare, luminously glazed 19th- and early 20th-century pot-

CANADA GOOSE, artist unknown, Banner, Illinois, c. 1915, carved and painted wood with cast-iron head and neck, 18 - 18. Collection of Merle Glick, courtesy Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences, Peoria, Illinois

VASE, Albert Valentien, United States, 1902, 1 2. glazed pottery, height: 10/ Collection of The Chrysler Museum of Art

tery from the subsequent flourishing potteries, such as Rookwood, Weller, and Hampshire, are included. For more information, please call 804/664-6200.

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 21

MINIATURES

ANTON HAARDT GALLERY , V't

r

'irrn r

10 1P rn

Portrayals of Pugilism

SYBIL GIBSON Five Faces 1985, Powdered tempera on paper, 38" x 19" David Butler Thornton Dail Sam Doyle Minnie Evans Howard Finster Sybil Gibson Bessie Harvey Lonnie Holley

Clementine Hunter James H. Jennings Calvin Livingston Charlie Lucas R.A. Miller B.E Perkins Royal Robertson Juanita Rogers

Mary T.Smith Henry Speller Jimmy Lee Sudduth "Son" Thomas Annie Tolliver Mose Tolliver Ben Williams Chuckie Williams

By appointment only: 1220 SOUTH HULL STREET•MONTGOMERY,AL 36104 (334)263-5494 GALLERY ANNEX:2714 COLISEUM•NEW ORLEANS,LA 70130 (504)897-1172

28 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Paintings and sculptures by five self-taught artists deeply influenced by the sport of boxing will be featured in "Low Brow Gods: The Art of Boxing," a two-part exhibition organized by guest curator Cameron Woo and on view at the Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco from September 5 to November 10. Fight fans Tony Fitzpatrick, California Joe Lynch, Alex Maldonado, Rosa Pardo, and ha Watkins—three of whom had early careers as boxers—explore in a visceral manner the potent metaphor of the triumph of good over evil.

The companion exhibition is comprised of popular boxing imagery and historical clippings from the collection of retired San Francisco Chronicle boxing columnist Jack Fiske. For more information, please call 415/978-ARTS.

dt*YXY

ZALE VS. GRAZIANO, Tony Fitzpatrick, Chicago, 1990, colored pencil on paper, 20 x 19.Private collection, courtesy Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia

Traveling Exhibition of African Sankofa, a word and symbol of the Akan people of Ghana meaning "one must retrieve the past in order to move forward," is the integral theme of a traveling exhibition of 18th- and 19th-century African American decorative arts on view at the Museum of African-American History in Detroit through December 1.

"Sankofa," organized by curator Derrick Joshua Beard and the Center for African American Decorative Arts in Atlanta, focuses primarily on the work of freed blacks who resided in urban centers of commerce—whose works can be identified by stamps and styles, unlike that of slave

BOX, artist unknown, possibly Wolverhampton, England, c. 1845, gold leaf and freehand bronze on painted wood, 5/ 1 4 6% x 9/ 3 4". Collection of Shirley S. Baer, Norwell, Massachusetts

HSEAD

meeting in Rhode Island

The Historical Society of Early American Decoration(HSEAD) will celebrate its golden anniversary with its fall 1996 meeting on October 5 and 6 at the Providence Marion in Providence, R.I. Gold leaf decorated objects will be emphasized in the accompanying exhibition of original

decorated articles found in early American homes and from the Midlands region of Britain. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, will also include award-winning pieces by society members. For more information, please call Beverly McCarthy at 212/586-6663.

The Liberating Bicycle More than 400 antique bicycles and related posters and memorabilia from Europe and the United States are on view at the PaineWebber Art Gallery in New York City through October 4.

"Bicycles: History, Beauty, Fantasy," organized by guest curator Pryor Dodge and The Morris Museum in Morristown, N.J., traces the technological evolution of the bicycle from 1817-1920 while examining its liberating influence on and sense of adventure for people of the Victorian era. Highlights include late 19th-century bicycles made

of bentwood hickory and bamboo. For more information, please call 212/713-2885.

OLD HICKORY LADIES' MODEL BICYCLE, Tonk Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 1896, 16-ply laminated bentwood hickory body with pneumatic tires, 43 v 70 22.

Collection of Pryor Dodge, courtesy PaineWebber Art Gallery, New York City

Anonymous, appliped textilefrom the Rudolph Sheaffer Collection, 431/2" x 20"

THE

American Decorative Arts artisans—and explores their influence on American decorative arts. Objects in the exhibition include furniture, sculpture, paintings, metalsmithing, ceramics, and textiles, as well as rare books,slave bills of sale, and photographs. For more information, please call the Museum of African-American History at 313/833-9800 or the Center for African American Decorative Arts at 770/937-9318.

AMES GALLERY

nua AFRICAN AMERICAN A.M.E. CHURCH ALTAR TABLE WITH SECRET DRAWERS UNDERNEATH, artist unknown, Edenton, North Carolina, c. 1780, paint on poplar, 36 48 x 20. Collection of Center for African American Decorative Arts, Atlanta

We specialize in the works of contemporary naive, visionary, and outsider artists, and offer exceptional 19th & early 20th C. handmade objects, including carved canes, tramp art, quilts, and whimsies. • Bonnie Grossman, Director 2661 Cedar Street, Berkeley, CA 94708 Tel: 510/845-4949, Fax: 510/845-6219 Photo. Ben Arles

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 29

MINIATURES

Uttote.,Attme A.flanta ESTABLISHED 1973

INVESTMENT OIJAIITy 1 9Th ANd CENTLIRy AMERICAN ART

00#00 20Th

or of 4:0 47irs t,t _0"0000_ _Zift

BROKEN STAR QUILT Artist unknown Ohio c. 1920-1930 Cotton / 4 841 / 4 • 853 Collection of Cindy Tietze and Stuart Hodosh, courtesy Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles

% clo " tei -s 40, 00p. .

4101 0 4.61100

Distinguished Collection of Amish Quilts in California The deeply saturated hues and spare geometric forms of Amish quilts will be presented in "A Quiet Spirit: Amish Quilts from the Collection of Cindy Tietze and Stuart Hodosh," on view at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles,from September 29 through February 16, 1997. This exhibition includes 50 quilts dating from the 1880s to the 1940s that were created in the Amish

communities of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog, which includes an essay

by Jonathan Holstein. A concurrent companion exhibition, "Views of an Amish Community: Photographs by Susan Einstein," is a document of daily life in an Amish community in Lagrange County,Indiana. For more information, please call 310/825-4361.

The Ornamental Branches "The Ornamental Branches: Needlework and Arts from the Lititz Moravian Girls' School between 1800 and 1865" is on view at the Heritage Center Museum in Lancaster, Pa., through December 28. The exhibition of 65 pieces, organized by guest curator Patricia Thomson Herr, includes many well-preserved examples of finely exe-

cuted crepe and ribbon work, samplers, and bead work. An 88page illustrated catalog—which includes a detailed register of all students at the school from 1794 to 1840, providing a unique amount of background information on each of the girls represented in the exhibition—is available. For more information, please call 717/299-6440.

S.L. JONES(1901- )"CARvEd HEAd" PAiNTEd Wood CARViNg 1 8"x1 2"x10 " FEATURiNg iMpORTANT WORkS SOUTI-IERN

by

Folk ARTiSTS

ANd TRAdiTiONAl SOUTI-IERN

Folk POTTERS 5325 ROSWELL ROAD, NE • ATLANTA,GEORGIA 30342 (404) 252-0485 • FAX 252-0359

30 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Corrections In "Couple & Casualty: The Art of Eunice Pinney Unveiled" (Summer 1996, vol. 21, no. 2, p. 34), the date of Eunice Pinney's earliest dated work was inadvertently given as 1909; the correct date is 1809. In the same issue, in "Sam Steinberg: A House of Cardboard or a Marble Palace?"(p. 40), it was incorrectly stated that Sam Steinberg died in 1992; Sam Steinberg died in 1982. We are sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

WILLIAM DAWSON DAVID BUTLER

SULTAN ROGERS

RAYMOND COINS

J.P. SCOTT

MILTON FLETCHER

MARY T. SMITH

FRANCE FOLSE

MOSE TOLLIVER

CLEMENTINE HUNTER

AUNT TOOTS

CHARLES HUTSON

WILLIE WHITE

"PAPPY" KITCHENS

"CHIEF" WILLEY

MAY KUGLER

CHUCKIE WILLIAMS "White Bird," acrylic on paper, 19 3/4" x 24"

WILLIAM T. PELTIER • FINE AND FOLK ART 376 Millaudon St. • New Orleans, LA 70118 • (504) 861-3196 Bill Peltier By appointment only

SAM DOYLE U. ME. House Paint on Wood 1979 48" x 35"

THE LAROCHE 'OLLECTION (Louanne LaRoche, Former Owner of The Red Piano Art Galleries)

51 Pineview Road May River Plantation Bluffton, South Carolina 29910 (803) 757-5826 phone/fax

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 31

cl:frofly AB THE FLAGMAN • HOPE JOYCE ATKINSON RON BURMAN • BENNY CARTER LONNIE HOLLEY • CLEMENTINE HUNTER WOODIE LONG • ANNIE LUCAS CHARLIE LUCAS • J. B. MURRY MATILDA PENNIC • B.F. PERKINS SARAH RAKES • JUANITA ROGERS BERNICE SIMS • JIMMIE LEE SUDDUTH ANNIE TOLLIVER • MOSE TOLLIVER MYRTICE WEST • WILLIE WHITE JANE WINKLEMAN AND OTHERS DANIEL TROPPY: Miss Lucia, Miss Grace, Miss Rita, & Mr. Thom 4.01111.°11wormowsiolIMIIII.40"4"1"

Marcia Weber/Art Objects, Inc. 1050 Woodley Road • Montgomery, Alabama 36106 • 334. 262.5349 • Fax 334. 288.4042 Ongoing Exhibitions by Appointment

Bernice Sims

Tent Revival, 16"x 20"

Baptism,20"x 16"

Morning Church, 16"x 20"

Alsofeaturing work by: Minnie Adkins, Richard Burnside, Ronald & Jessie Cooper, Minnie Evans, Howard Finster, Sybil Gibson, James Harold Jennings, Woodie Long, Sam McMillan, R.A. Miller, Q. J. Stephenson, Jimmie Lee Sudduth, Mose Tolliver and Myrtice West.

American Pie Contemporary Folk Artfrom the Southeast Elaine Johansen • 113 Dock Street, Wilmington • North Carolina 28401 • (910) 251-2131

32 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

David Butler (1898 ) Collection Includes: "Artist Chuckie" Williams, Ike Morgan, J.B. Murray, Howard Finster, Mary T. Smith, B.F. Perkins, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, David Butler, Clementine Hunter, Sam Doyle, Royal Robertson, Reginald Gee, James Harrold Jennings, Mose Tolliver, Lonnie Holley, Luster Willis, Raymond Coins, Burgess Dulaney, Charlie Lucas, Nellie Mae Rowe, Sarah Rakes, Leroy Almon, Sr., M.C. 50 Jones, S.L. Jones, Rhinestone Cowboy and Albert Louden.

GILLEY8 RAM GALUDY ES

"Man And Monkey In The Moon" 23" w X 17" H Enamel Paint On Tin

8750 Florida Blvd.

Baton Rouge, LA 70815 (504) 922-9225

Jim Sudduth Mose T. R. A. Miller Jake McCord Charlie Lucas Lonnie Holley Woodie Long Richard Burnside Lanier Meaders Michael Crocker and others Barbara Brogdon 1611 Hwy. 129 S., Cleveland, GA. 30628 (706)865-6345

A Celebration of the Mountains

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 33

A Place for Vernacular Architecture in American Folk Art

By Stacy C. Hollander

ollowing the War for Independence and in the wake of the French Revolution, it was fashionable for foreign visitors—and sometimes expedient for the French nobility—to travel extensively throughout the new American republic recording their views and observations.

Scathing commentaries often cut the upstart country down to size. Baron Hyde de Neuville wrote: "This society which has neither a past nor a history draws from foreign annals of glory and fame.... Demosthenes, Cicero, Pompey, etc. have all given their name to a certain extent of territory, so that in looking at a map of the United States, one believes that the land was the patrimony of all the great men of antiquity.

The names of the towns and villages are no less pompous.

We are now only twelve miles from Rome and will spend the evening in Paris. We have passed close to Palmyra, and in detouring a little, we shall arrive easily at Pampelona.

You see that one travels here a deal of road in a very little time. Nevertheless, do not be seduced by these brilliant

F

34 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

names; the Paris of America is only a hole with twenty or thirty houses."'

Though foreign travelers wrote with amused contempt of disheveled yards, haphazard housekeeping, and uncouth social customs, they could not help but be impressed with the natural resources of the fertile country and the energy and achievements of everyday Americans as they developed the landscape. The very aspirations that led to classical place names were indicative of a national character of impatient upward mobility. Among the by-products of these ambitions were structures originally intended only as temporary shelters. For, rather than improving upon existing homes, families tended to move into entirely new residences as economic circumstances improved. Their houses descended, in turn, to those who could not support major renovations, and, as one writer put it, "most dwellings [remained] remarkably unchanged and clearly reflective of their place in time, a kind of paradox— permanence in impermanence."2 A second, perhaps even more important legacy, is the rich body of American folk art made for and used by these families that traces three centuries of changing architectural patterns.

SWEET HOME Artist unknown New England 1851 Incised whale ivory, ink 1 2 x 1/ 3 4" 5/ 3 4x 2/ Private collection

THE HOUSE AND SHOP OF DAVID ALLING Artist unknown Newark, New Jersey c. 1830-1841) Oil on canvas 181 / 4 261 / 4" Collection of The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, New Jersey

The significance of the architectural record represented by American folk art has long been recognized by architectural historians. Chroniclers of daily life, the artists we call "folk" today have preserved the way America looks since at least the eighteenth century. In addition to the beauty of the many forms this expression takes, and its value in terms of visual documentation, folk art often positions the buildings within the broader context of a community's priorities as manifested in individual residences and the development of farmsteads, town plans, commercial enterprises, and institutional settings. The depictions were made by professional and amateur artists, and were inspired by various motivations—pride, nostalgia, decoration, commerce. It is interesting to note that several important changes had already taken place in American architecture by the time that artists and artisans began to turn their attention to the built environment in the middle of the eighteenth century. When Rufus Hathaway painted the waterfront properties of his future father-in-law, Joshua Winsor, in about 1795, both were well aware of the impression of wealth produced by the robust facade. Emphasizing the calculated role of the painting as a witness to his material success, Winsor is shown proudly surveying his substantial holdings with the keys to his storehouses held in his hand.

The act of building is in itself an assertion of dominance over nature. This fact was not lost on early colonists, for whom each building was a battle in the war to tame a wilderness and thrive in a new land. Descriptions of the initial hardships that had to be overcome by the settlers lend a special air of sympathy to later displays of wealth: "Thise [settlers] in New Netherland and especially in New England, who have no means to build farm-houses at first according to their wishes, dig a square pit in the ground, cellar fashion, six or seven feet deep,...case the earth inside all round with timber, which they line with the bark of trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the earth; floor this cellar with plank and wainscot it overhead for a ceiling, raise a roof of spars clear up and cover the spars with bark or green sods, so that they can live dry and warm in these houses with their entire families for two, three and four years."3 The need for such primitive shelter did not end with the close of the seventeenth century; it continued through the eighteenth century and was repeated in the western frontiers as the twentieth century approached and pioneers struggled anew in a virgin landscape. For each person or group of people who moved into an unknown and often harsh environment, the creation of a sense of familiarity

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 35

and a feeling of belonging was established most successfully through architecture. It is this sense of place that is captured so evocatively in the many folk art expressions that preserve the seaports, townscapes, and rural and urban architecture of American life and society.

The preoccupation with architecture as a symbol of economic security, progress, and status is clearly communicated in the vast numbers and variety of media that received artistic embellishments with architectural themes.

Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, these portrayals occurred mostly on interior architectural elements such as fireboards, overmantels, and painted walls, in expressions that were both localized and personal. By the mid-1800s, however, the sentiments had become regional and national, and architectural images appeared on virtually every type of decorated material,from stoneware to tinware and from schoolgirl samplers to painted furniture. The growing sense of stability as the cultivated landscape developed encouraged paintings of architectural vistas in unprecedented numbers. Paintings and drawings of prosperous farms laid out in colored patches throughout agrarian regions of the country were proof of economic attainment and a statement of permanence. Cultural and geographic considerations that determined the appearance offarm acreage—plans of crops and fields, tree lines, fence forms, relation to water, placement of roads and buildings—were captured by itinerant artists who worked on commission and by local residents enthralled by the order and beauty of their surroundings.

Over time, the forms and emphases of art about architecture changed radically, reflecting not only popular taste as disseminated through published lithographs, but also the increasing density of the population and the built landscape. Even artists' perspectives gradually shifted, moving from direct, head-on images of residences and landholdings to long-distance prospects and elevated bird's-eye views, perfect for highlighting the sprawling towns that now dotted the landscape, as well as institutional complexes and extensive factory plants. Many manufacturers even commissioned portraits that detailed every type of building and activity related to their product and the original paintings frequently formed the basis for lithographs that were published later. Commercial architecture became an important feature in the American landscape, especially in small towns trying to compete in larger markets. Jurgan Frederick Huge's painting of the Burroughs Building in Bridgeport, Connecticut, for instance, appears to be a faithful rendering of the imposing commercial elevation. With its handsome stores below (including a tea shop with a shop figure in the window)and elaborate ornamentation above, the Burroughs Building conformed to a commercial building type that had developed to give an appearance of importance and excitement to the street and to impart a feeling of economic growth. On the less

36 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

traveled side street, however, the ornamentation is substantially scaled down, and the older residences once again come into focus.

Architectural imagery in folk art has always tended to portray the exceptional rather than the mundane. Those who could afford to commission paintings of their homes and landholdings also owned homes worthy of the attention. Especially in the twentieth century, when the lines are so sharply drawn between the urban and rural architectural landscape, artists such as William Hawkins have been attracted to the competitive skyline, where innovative buildings vie with one another for dominance. In contrast, the paintings of rural artists like Clementine Hunter and Nellie Mae Rowe reveal the more retentive and conservative nature of their architectural environments. Nevertheless, the majority of the structures portrayed in American folk art are typical of a period, place, and form, and provide insights into common architectural solutions.

The notion of common architecture raises issues regarding the term "vernacular" that are analagous to issues in the debate over terminology in the field of American folk art. According to author Stewart Brand in How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built,"vernacular" has been in use by architectural historians since the 1850s and was borrowed from linguists.4 One model that folklorist Henry Glassie has proposed for studying folk tradition in architecture also looks to linguistic structural principles to diagram the infinite possible expressions of a prescribed "architectural grammar."5 Brand points out that any child asked to draw a house will invariably sketch a one-story rectilinear box with two windows, a central door, and a pitched roof with chimney seen on end. A perfect description of the Cape Cod house, this model embodies the very idea of "houseness" and helps to explain the longevity of vernacular form. Eminently functional, inexpensive to build and maintain, the conservative Cape Cod was above fashion and always in demand. Or, as architect Thomas Hubka phrased it, "Folk designers start with the unchanging and accommodate change."6 The most persistent American building traditions were introduced by the dominant colonial immigrant groups, primarily the English, the German, and later the Scots-Irish. The establishment of culture hearths—those centers of settlement that originated and dispersed architectural traditions through later migrations—provided the wellspring of architectural forms that spread across the expanding republic from New England, the middle colonies, and the Tidewater South. It was the commonality based on shared cultural and building traditions that allowed people in a locale and its extensions to recognize the organization of interior space, or flow, inside each other's homes. Vernacular architecture—"architecture without architects"—is accomplished through a shared understanding of proven architectural conventions between a builder and his client. This contract for a Manhattan

GLASS-WINDOWED CHURCH Artist unknown Eastern United States 1860-1900 Plaster of Paris and glass 213/1 • 101 / 2 51 / 4" Museum of American Folk Art, bequest of Effie Thiirton Arthur, 1980.2.78

0SWECO STARCH FACTORY TKINGSFORD&SON Mamaiicutrers.

INCORPORATED 1848

OSWEGO STARCH FACTORY Artist unknown Initialed "AM/77" Oswego, New York Possibly 1877 Watercolor, pen and ink on wove paper 361 / 2 . 531 / 4" Museum of American Folk Art purchase, 1981.12.16

house constructed in 1648, for instance, contained all the information the builder needed to comply with his client's wishes: "Farmhouse 60 feet long and on each side a passageway throughout, the frame 24 feet wide; 11 feet high in front, 12 feet high in rear, rear part one foot above the ground. Front room 24 feet square with cellar under it.

Tongue and groove attic floor, wainscot front room, all around; 2 [built-in] bedsteads, one in front room, one in chamber; a winding stair, so that one can go from cellar to attic; front gable perpendicular and rear gable truncated [jerkin-head]. Window in front room to have casing with transom and mullion; also a mantel piece. Roof of split rafters and nail-on laths, and on each beam a loft bent."'

In Dutch New York there was already some thought given to town planning, general appearance, and fire prevention. In 1676 Governor Edmund Andros decreed that "All new buildings fronting on the street shall be substantial dwelling houses, not less than 2 rooms deep and not less than 18 feet wide, being built in front on the street of

brick or quarry stone and covered with tiles..."8 The impression of solid brick did not mislead all visitors to New York, however. In 1749, Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm observed: "Houses built of both wood and brick have only the wall towards the street made of the latter, all the other sides being boards. This peculiar kind of ostentation would easily lead a traveller who passes through the town in haste to believe that most of the houses are built of brick."9 In contrast to characteristic Dutch orderliness, early New England homes indicated a lack of regard for the immediate surroundings and for the physical plant of the buildings. In 1818, William Cobbett wrote that there was"a sort of out-of-door slovenliness.... You see bits of wood, timber, boards, chips, lying about, here and there, and pigs tramping about in a sort of confusion."째 What was not apparent to the casual observer was the orientation of the main (lengthwise) axis of the home along the points of the compass to provide maximum light and warmth: the living quarters, often, were oriented toward the south and the

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 97

Frank Maresca

UNTITLED Edward Patrick Byme (1877-1974) Lewistown, Missouri 1966-1973 Enamel on cardboard 8 14" Collection of Frank Maresca

kitchen toward the north." These earliest buildings were constructed of heavy timber frames covered with wood sheathing, a medieval technique that had been largely abandoned in timber-poor Europe, but which was revived in the New World because of strength, ease of construction, and availability of wood. Life was centered around the massive fireplace that was usually located in the middle or at one end of the building. The most common plan was a singlepile (one room deep), one- or two-room, one- or one-and-a-

half-story home; this was the "architectural building block from which various linear plan folk dwellings originated."2 The Georgian form, which was introduced in the middle of the eighteenth century, radically changed the attitudes of Americans toward both external appearance and internal privacy. The typical Georgian style included an ornamented central doorway symmetrically flanked by windows. The fully developed plan that continued into the Federal period was two stories high, two rooms deep, and

Vernacular Architecture at the Museum of American Folk Art On View from September 14, 1996, through January 5, 1997

ince the mid-eighteenth century, folk artists have depicted the way America looks. It is through their legacy that our architectural traditions can still be observed, studied, and admired.

"A Place for Us: Vernacular Architecture in American Folk Art" opens at the Museum of American Folk Art on Saturday, September 14.

It examines the vernacular architecture of daily life as depicted by American self-taught artists. Curator Stacy C. Hollander, with an informed eye and quest for consistent aesthetic excellence, has selected more than seventy-five objects from the Museum's collection and from other important public and private collections for this extraordinary exhibition. These artworks clearly

S

38 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

illustrate the homes and buildings of ordinary people in paintings, sculpture, furniture, needlework, and decorative arts of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.

To articulate the relationship between the artistic representations created by folk artists and actual historic buildings,consultant Norman Weiss of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation has interpreted these "house portraits" within an historical framework, adding an invaluable component to the exhibition.

"A Place for Us: Vernacular Architecture in American Folk Art" is about the efforts of people who moved into an unknown and sometimes very harsh environment and,

through architecture, created a sense of familiarity and a feeling of belonging. It is this sense of place that is captured so evocatively in the many folk art expressions that preserve the seaports, townscapes, and rural and urban architecture of American life and society. This is an exhibition about the house that Jack built—and the farm, the church, and the workplace. It is on view from September 14, 1996, through January 5, 1997, at the Museum of American Folk Art at Two Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th streets, in New York City.

Exhibition support is provided by Polo Ralph Lauren and the members and friends of the Museum of American Folk Art.

A VIEW OF MR. JOSHUA WINSOR'S HOUSE Rufus Hathaway (1770-18221 Duxbury, Massachusetts c. 1795 Oil on canvas 231 / 4 271 / 2" Museum of American Folk Art, promised anonymous gift

two rooms wide, with a central entryway that created a transitional space between public and private areas of the home. The perfectly balanced and often imposing symmetrical facade was now situated to face the road where it could be appreciated by passersby. The new self-consciousness about appearance that is suggested by the symmetry and reorientation of the facade also marked the moment when architectural depictions began to flourish in folk art as proud homeowners began to commission depictions of their beautiful homes in paintings, overmantels, fireboards, and wall murals. It was also about this time that young women began to stitch images of residences and public and state buildings into their samplers or to paint them on sewing boxes, worktables, and other small decorative pieces. For Young America, portrayals of her government seats and wealthy residences were tangible statements of freedom and the triumph of the democratic process.

The important symbolic role that architecture played in the minds of Americans is well illustrated by the reverence that surrounded Mount Vernon after George Washington's death in 1799 and the large numbers of artworks in every medium that displayed its unique silhouette. Mount Vernon was originally built in 1738 by George's father, and in 1758 General Washington began a renovation that would continue for thirty years. The building was raised

one story, and smaller buildings known as dependencies were added to the grounds. The main house was expanded at both ends, creating clear divisions between public and private areas. But the major innovation that inspired the now famous view of the residence was the two-story high porch "piazza" running the length of the house on the side overlooking the Potomac River.

In 1823, the Englishman W.Faux wrote in his Memorable Days in America that "Mount Vernon has become like Jerusalem and Mecca, the resort of travellers of all nations, who come within its vicinity. Veneration and respect for the memory of the great and illustrious chief whose body it contains, lead all who have heard his name, to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of patriotism and public worth, and to stroll over the ground which has been consecrated by the repose, and hallowed by the ashes of heroism and virtue. A twig, a flower, or even a stone, becomes interesting when taken from the spot where Washington lived and died, and no man quits it without bearing with him some memento to exhibit to his family and friends."13 By the 1820s an architectural revolution—the Greek Revival—was well underway; this revolution reoriented buildings from a horizontal to a gable-end presentation.

Doorways placed asymmetrically to one side led to a passage the depth of the house that opened into rooms, one

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 39

behind the other. Meetinghouses and churches were among of the artwork. The power of these images is exemplified in the earliest types of buildings to adopt this new plan, which the scrimshaw made by sailors on whaling ships. Isolated was sometimes called end, side hall, or temple front house from family, friends, and home, on voyages that might last because of its inspiration from ancient Greek temples. from three to five years, the men could yet maintain a link Besides the Cape Cod form, Greek Revival was perhaps the to distant shores through the memories of homes and towns most influential development in American architecture, that they painstakingly etched in ink on whale ivory. The becoming something of a national style in its many inter- sailor's "Sweet Home" is just an earlier version of pretations across the country. Greek Revival mansions with Dorothy's invocation in the film The Wizard of Oz, porticoes supported by classical columns —the prototype "There's no place like home."* of Tara, the archetypal plantation mansion in Gone with the Wind—came to symbolize all that was gracious and solid Stacy C. Hollander is the curator ofthe Museum ofAmerican about life in the antebellum South. It has even been conjec- Folk Art. She lectures widely onfolk art and has writtenfor tured that southern architecture embraced the Greek Antiques and Country Living magazines, as well asfor this publiRevival form so completely because it validated slavery cation. Hollander is the author ofHarry Lieberman: A Journey of Remembrance (Dutton Studio Books, 1991). through an association with the ideals of ancient Greece—a slaveholding society with democratic principles.'4 Greek Revival plantation mansions, however, were NOTES the exception rather than the norm in the South, where the 1 Baron Hyde de Neuville, quoted in Jadviga M. da Costa Nunes, average home was generally more modest than its northern Baroness Hyde de Neuville: Sketches ofAmerica, 1807-1822 counterpart. More usual were small houses with kitchens (Rutgers, N.J.: Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum,Rutgers, built separately because of the warm climate, and the sad- The State University dlebag house that featured two square pens on either side of of New Jersey and an open central space with the three parts connected by the The New-York Hisfloor and the roof. Another form particular to the South was torical Society), p. 4. the shotgun cottage, a narrow, one-story building with 2 John A. Jakle, Robert W. Bastian, gable-end presentation that was one room wide but two or and Douglas K. more rooms deep. It has been conjectured that this form, Meyer, Common which first appeared in New Orleans in the early nineteenth Houses in America's century, can trace its roots to Haitian, and possibly West Small Towns: The African, origins.

Atlantic Seaboard to Changes in taste that were readily apparent in the the Mississippi Valley decorative arts were also described in architectural terms. (Athens, Ga.: The The complex house amalgams of the late nineteenth cen- University of Georgia tury can certainly be viewed, at least partially, as an out- Press, 1989), p. 196. growth of the principles of the Aesthetic Movement, which 3 Cornelis Van Tienhoven, March 4, had a profound influence on both high-style and folk arts.

1650, quoted in The central philosophy of this movement was that beauty Roderic H. Blackburn should be part of everyday life, and the asymmetry of and Ruth Piwonka,Remembrance ofPatria: Dutch Arts and nature was held up as an ideal and was manifested in every- Culture in Colonial America 1609-1776(Albany, N.Y.: Albany thing from crazy quilts to Queen Anne-style architecture. Institute of History and Art, 1988), p. 130.

The hyperdiversity of late nineteenth-century architectural 4 Stewart Brand,How Buildings Learn: What Happens After forms encouraged the proliferation of itinerant artists who They're Built(New York: Penguin Books, 1994), p. 132. could provide precise pencil drawings of these elaborate 5 Camille Wells,"Old Claims and New Demands: Vernacular residences. The format of these depictions was often mod- Architecture Studies Today," in Perspectives in Vernacular eled upon the work of popular lithographers such as Currier Architecture II, ed. Camille Wells(Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1986), p. 2. and Ives, who produced idealized versions of American 6 Thomas Hubka,"Just Folks Designing: Vernacular Designers and scenes. Thus many of the hand-drawn renderings are the Generation of Form,"in Common Places: Readings in American labeled with the names of the residences and their locations Vernacular Architecture, eds. Dell Upton and John Michael Vlach either in a cartouche or in a band along the bottom of the (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1986),P. 428. paper. It is through these notations that we can trace the 7 Blackburn and Piwonka, op. cit., p. 142. movements of artists such as Fritz G. Vogt, who traveled 8 Ibid., p. 92. through areas of upstate New York trading his artistic skills 9 Ibid., p. 108.

10 Jack Larkin, The Reshaping ofEveryday Life 1790-1840 for bed, board, and sometimes a small payment.

In its most essential nature, folk art expresses the (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988), p. 127. concerns of human activity and endeavor, and from a grow- 11 Ibid., p. 117.

12 Jakle, Bastian, and Meyer, op. cit., p. 107. ing sense of place and stability a variety of structures 13 W.Faux, quoted in da Costa Nunes, op. cit., p. 29. evolved to host these activities—workplaces, schools, 14 Joyce K. Bibber, A Homefor Everyman: The Greek Revival houses of worship. The overwhelming emotion conveyed and Maine Domestic Architecture(Portland, Me.: American by the wealth of American folk art illustrating these themes Association for State and Local History Library and Greater Portis a pride barely contained within the physical boundaries land Landmarks, 1989), p. 12.

40 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

OUR HOME Dugout of unidentified family Vicinity of McCook, Nebraska 1890s Nebraska State Historical Society

NELLIE'S AND JUDITH'S HOUSE Nellie Mae Rowe (1900-1982) Vinings, Georgia 1980 Crayon, felt tip marker, and pen on paper 18'o 237/c" Collection of Judith Alexander

41111111lli . ;.:•....:910.;:.0.:i:d,;.'041.'f,';!,;1,1;;;!:. •

Is 111111

1.11 It Ill! 11,11111111 11111,1111.11 11 MI.;,,omo -1 Ill 141:44E17

la ai

rirrA L.4 mg ilir Willatille11111111110411110.1104,4 • 4 41F,4V.Ike04111,Allkk

rozekgorfrweeuwe,,,.., ! ...r."

49.

10# rAoo re ;

VieVag/14-,101srareVAIKWAY0?,-

r, r# ) i,

02 ,

A4 . „„..........,„,,,,,,r;;,;,..Is 4, .;)-..,..4-tt- :„. -,-•, ri--. „4 .; ,-. , P-. .„. -. , , , ,„.„,„. ."- . . ,.-,,iii:0 llJ

RUG Artist unknown Otisfield, Maine 1820-1840 Wool appliqued on wool; embroidery Approx. 52" long Museum of American Folk Art, promised anonymous gift

:PI Li

UI

1 1

I it111111 Mitt mum 111110'‘

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 1

0\11111111iiiiiil 1N 111111111111111

‘ta tilmittinummix 0,1-er

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 41

"I Paint what I Remember"

The Art of

By Barbara Rothermel

4J1i

i • k JLlli [41111111

A FAMILIAR LANDMARK: CONVENT OF MARY IMMACULATE C. 1960 Oil on carved wood 18 37" Key West Art & Historical Society, 1987.01.3211 The Convent of Mary Immaculate, with its dormered roofs and towers, was built in 1878 by the Canadian order of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, who had established a school in Key West in 1868. The convent was also used as a hospital during the Spanish-American War. It was demolished in 1968. Sanchez says,"The beautiful building should have been saved from demolition, but restoration of historic structures was not in vogue when it was torn down and replaced by four modern boxes."

(Interview with the curatorial staff at Key West Art & Historical Society, 1987.1

ario Sanchez has a remarkable memory. He remembers, to the most infinitesimal detail, the people and places of Key West as it was before the encroachment of tourism, moviemaking, and retirement homes. He recalls the names and faces of such people as Monkey Man, Pee-roo-lee Man, Little Sprinkle, Shut-Up-Your-Mouth, Bad Body, and the Chicken Thief, among others. His reminiscences of El Barrio de Gato, an enclave of Cuban-American cigar makers at the ocean end of what is now known as Old Town,are clear and vivid. All of these people and places come to life in Sanchez's brightly painted woodcarvings, which document the history of the island's Cuban population, its enduring cultural strengths, its picturesque, if sometimes bizarre, local characters, and a style of life now lost.

42 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

larral_10.

Mario Sanchez was born in Key West in 1908 into a family of immigrants who had come from Cuba in 1869 at the outset of Cuba's war for independence from Spain. His father was an educated man who worked as a reader in a local cigar factory. "My father, Pedro Sanchez, was the reader in the Eduardo Hidalgo Gato cigar factory from the 1900s until the 1920s," recalls Sanchez. "In the mornings, he read the news from the local paper, which he translated into Spanish. He read international news directly from Cuban newspapers brought daily by boat from Havana.

From noon until three in the afternoons, he read from a novel. He was expected to interpret the characters by imitating their voices, like an actor. The workers chose the titles from a list prepared by the reader. Among the novels offered were I Accuse, by Emile Zola; Don Quixote, by Cervantes; Legend of the Centuries and The French Revolution, by Victor Hugo; Twenty Thousand Leagues Under

I II @HMI

the Sea and A Trip to the Moon, by Jules Verne; and The Demise of the Century, by Blasco Ibanez. So, many years before the advent of the submarine and the radio, and long before the first moon landing, the cigar makers of Key West heard Jules Verne's predictions of those scientific developments. Each cigar maker paid the reader twentyfive cents a week for their education."

Sanchez pays tribute to cigar makers in a number of carvings, including Old Island Days #20: A Fabulous Industry, also known as The Reader (El Lector), c. 1963, and The Buckeye (El Chinchal), c. 1960. The narrative of The Reader is one of workers who shape and cut tobacco leaves. A large sign hanging above the tables identifies it as the Eduardo Hidalgo Gato cigar factory. On each side of the sign are cigars and a cigar band advertising the popular cigar called "1871." At the tables, fair- and dark-skinned workers of Cuban and Afro-Cuban descent sit in rigid pro-

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 43

file; all wear hats, ties, and starched white or striped shirts.

Some smile as they work; others puff cigars; spittoons can be seen beside each chair. To the left of the tables women sit at large tubs and separate tobacco leaves. Next to them is a platform (la tribuna),from which the lector reads to the employees as they work.2 The Buckeye shows the other side of the cigar industry: small operations called buckeyes consisting of two or three cigar makers working out of a private home.

Sanchez did not paint as a child, although he did whittle images from scraps of driftwood found along the beach. He first attended a neighborhood school in Gato Village, which was held in the home of the teacher. He then attended elementary school in Key West. Memories and events from his childhood commonly appear as the subjects of his carvings, and Sanchez frequently features himself as a kite-flying youth. "We used to make kites out of tissue paper of all colors and thin slats of scrap wood from the box factory. With a nickel we made five kites. We called black kites 'widow.' They were trimmed with white fringe, like the old-time carriages. The four-colored ones we called cuatro vientos [four winds]. We also made box kites. We flew 'em at night over the beach, over the ocean with candles in 'em. We had good times flying kites, shooting marbles, playing baseball, watching parades in the streets, and spinning tops."3 Sanchez's early interests included stenography, baseball, and theater. He wrote plays and skits, and performed with various theater groups, including the Young Cuban Vaudeville Thespians, at the Cuban Club, where rent for a one-evening performance was fifteen dollars and admission was twenty-five cents. "The Cuban Club brings back grateful memories of my childhood days," Sanchez recalls. "Here is where I acted as a comedian when I was twelve years of age, together with a group of children directed by Pepe Lopez and Ernest (Baby) Salazar. Also, here is where I won the city's singles pocket billiards championship in 1935."4 Sanchez also took courses in typing, shorthand, bookkeeping, and translating, and in 1925 received a diploma from the Otto L. Schultz Business Institute in Key West. His first job was with a real estate company in Key West, but he soon moved to Tampa, along

44 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

with other members of his family who were relocating to Ybor City (a section of Tampa), following the migrating cigar industry. While living in Tampa, he worked as an office clerk. He met Rosa De Annas, who worked with her widowed mother as a tobacco stripper. On June 5, 1929, Mario and Rosa were married in the De Armas home in Ybor City.

In 1930, Mario and Rosa Sanchez, along with Rosa's mother, moved back to Key West, where Sanchez became secretary to historian Albert Manucy, who was writing a history of Fort Jefferson in Florida's Dry Tortugas as part of a WPA project. Remembering the advice his grandmother had given him—"My grandson, enjoy your youth, it is very short. Old age is long and ugly."5— Sanchez spent his spare time pitching for local baseball teams and performing with local dance and theater groups at the San Carlos Opera House.

Sanchez's love of the theater and festivals pervade his work. Bicentennial America #8: Viva Boza y su Cornparsa (1980) is a scene of dancers performing a traditional

A LOADED WASHTUB 1970 Oil on carved wood 22 28" Key West Art & Historical Society, on permanent loan from Anderson College, Anderson, Indiana, 1987.01.3244 During the Depression, the Sanchez family and their neighbors often survived by eating the local fish. This image of the day's catch of biajaibas (lane snappers) connotes plenitude and well-being rather than hardship and despair, an attitude that is a hallmark of Sanchez's carvings.

BICENTENNIAL AMERICA #8: VIVA BOZA Y SU COMPARSA 1980 Lithograph from an original carving 15 29" Key West Art & Historical Society, 1992.20.0009

A FAMOUS KEY WEST LANDMARK: HEMINGWAY HOUSE 1979 Oil on carved wood 19 39" Key West Art & Historical Society, 1987.01.3210

Cuban conga-line folk dance along Duval Street as part of la Comparsa (the carnival), with cobblestones and store fronts as they appeared when he was a young man. Abelardo Boza, a native of Key West, organized the dancers in 1938 and performed with them at state festivals and occasionally through the streets of Key West. Everyone who could dance participated in the local festivals, under the supervision of Boza, who was a barber by trade. Among the dancers depicted in the carving are three men carrying farolas, lanterns made of bright tissue paper and lighted with candles.6 Leading the conga line is a trumpet player, followed by three men playing drums; the larger drum is a tumba and the two smaller drums are called quintos. All of the men wear matching blue trousers, red socks, and brown and white spectator shoes, but with different-colored sparkling shirts. The women, with slits in their bright skirts, dance gaily as they hold colored scarves around their necks.

An elegant woman wearing a polka dot dress and carrying a parasol walks intently on her way and pays little attention to the dancers.

Old Island Days: Funeral No. 19 (1970) depicts an elaborate Afro-American funeral procession on its way to the Key West cemetery. Leading the procession is a brass cornet band dressed in blue and white uniforms—it played solemn music on the way to the cemetery and festive music on the return. Behind the band is a black horse-drawn hearse with its curtains raised to reveal the flower-strewn coffin. The horse is covered with a black wool coat specially made for funeral processions. Walking beside and behind the hearse are a group of men in pink jackets. They are lodge members who serve as pallbearers. Colorfully dressed family members follow the pallbearers, and bringing up the rear are lodge sisters, dressed in white. The doors of the houses along the street are closed out of respect for the dead. This work is one of Sanchez's more

than thirty funeral scenes, each with a different authentic street background drawn from memory.'

The years of the Great Depression brought hard times to Key West, and the Sanchez family often survived by eating the fish that were plentiful in the Gulf waters at that time. Sanchez began to carve and paint replicas of the fish—yellowtail, grunts, porgies, and snappers. He sold these works for $1.50 each at a hardware store or gave them away to friends. "Nobody taught me how," he explains. "You know. Some people whittle. I carve fish on pieces of board about six by eight inches. Rosa has some of 'em in the kitchen."8 Sanchez's mother-in-law complimented him on his carvings and suggested that he carve scenes of life in Key West. The first such work he sold was Manungo's Diablito Dancers, carved and painted on discarded boards of leaf tobacco crates; it was purchased by the manager of a local clothing store for two hundred and fifty dollars. In 1946, his work began to sell at El Kiosko Gallery on Duval Street, in what was once Gato Village.

In the last fifty years, Sanchez has produced a large body of work based on his life, his observations, and the people and history of Key West. His nostalgic scenes are part sculpture and part painting. Each begins as a pencil drawing on a brown grocery bag. The image is then transferred to wood with carbon paper. The average size of these drawings is 18" high by 36" wide—they are almost always horizontal—and there is almost no variation from the initial drawing to the finished carving.

1 4",/ 1 2", and 3/4" wood chisSanchez uses few tools: / els; a wooden mallet; a piece of broken glass; and a singleedged razor blade used to refine the outlines. Every detail is replicated, from striped shirts and cigar bands to fence posts and bicycle spokes. When Sanchez first started to carve he used discarded boards from leaf tobacco crates.

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 45

Although he now prefers Northern white pine, he also carves on cypress and cedar boards. He brushes chips of wood from the surface of the work with a round whisk of hemp from Cuba that is shaped like an old-fashioned shaving brush. The paintbrushes he uses are the dime-store variety, and his palette is a piece of cedar. Sanchez paints the carved scenes with oil paints, mainly in primary colors, but uses castor oil rather than turpentine or linseed oil as a paint thinner. As he describes it, "One day, long ago, I gave out of linseed oil. My mother-in-law said to try castor oil instead, it works. I've used castor oil as a paint thinner ever since. I've discovered, too, long ago, before paints were perfected as they are today, that castor oil makes white paint stay white. White paint doesn't need anything to make it stay white nowadays, but I still mix castor oil with white anyway." He also uses unorthodox substances to achieve certain effects—egg yolk to color bananas and clear glue over paint to make windows look like glass. For marl streets or brick paving, he uses crushed coffee grounds, limestone from the studio floor, or fresh kitty litter beaten to a powder with a wooden mallet, which he spreads over thick white paint. "None of this is very academic," he says."I sort ofjust made it up."9 As is typical of untrained artists, Sanchez does not always adhere to the appearance of the real world in his use of colors, shapes, and perspective. Buildings are seen only from the front, shading is absent, and trees and shrubbery are repetitive shapes. People are stiff, almost puppetlike, often androgynous, and viewed either in full frontal or profile pose. As Sanchez himself says,"What I do is primitive.

Nobody taught me. I don't know so much about what other people do, how they paint. I don't read art books, either....

They might influence my style.',10

For years, Sanchez's studio has been located in the shade of a towering sapodilla tree in the yard of his modest home in the Gato Village section of Key West. A bowed and weathered hand-lettered sign nailed to a mango tree reads "Mario's Studio Under the Trees." His worktable, which measures five feet by three feet, is made of old boards stuck together and fixed to the base of his mother's 1930 Singer sewing machine. Printed on the cement-block garage wall is a motto that Sanchez says is a truthful saying: "Se que mi modesto arte no es bueno, pero gusta" (I know that my modest art isn't good, but it pleases). He knows it pleases because it makes people smile."

Sanchez typically works for several hours each morning, usually stopping around noon. Rosa Sanchez, his wife of sixty-five years, died in the winter of 1995; before her death, she made Mario stop working after a few hours each day. He doesn't work as much anymore, but when he does his studio is often crowded with friends and family who want to talk and strangers who want to see him at work. He works on one piece at a time, finishing each before starting the next. Each carving takes three to four months to complete. Over the years, he has built up a backlog of commissions; these are listed on a piece of paper

BIRTH OF A RUMOR Date unknown Pencil drawing on paperbag 16 • 21" Key West Art & Historical Society, 1987.01.3254

BIRTH OF A RUMOR Date unknown Oil on carved wood 16 •• 25" Key West Art & Historical Society, 1987.01.3248

48 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

he keeps in his back pocket, without benefit of signed contracts or deposits on the purchase price.

Few records exist from Sanchez's early career as an artist, and his work is difficult to date. He signs his carvings, but rarely dates them. Clues can often be found either in the type of wood used or in the decorative and narrative details of the clouds in the sky, which are found consistently in more recent carvings. A Famous Key West Landmark: Hemingway House (1979) is a good example of Sanchez's later work. "I have featured two of Hemingway's best-known novels in the clouds: For Whom the Bell Tolls and Death in the Afternoon, the latter written while in Key West," says Sanchez. "I also picture his boat Pilar, which he kept in Key West and in Cuba."12 Ernest Hemingway purchased the house in 1931, and occupied it frequently until 1939. Mario and Rosa Sanchez lived across the street during those years; Sanchez recalls that Hemingway often brought his fishing catch to the sidewalk and gave the fish to his neighbors or to passersby.

Typical of his early work is A Familiar Landmark: Convent of Mary Immaculate (c. 1960), where the stylized clouds do not contain any imagery related to the narrative.

Other carvings feature clouds with whimsically executed creatures, such as angels, cats, fish, and turtles.'3 Sanchez often claims that his memories have become sharper with age; one incident, in particular, bears this out. An elderly Key West resident commissioned Sanchez to re-create his family residence, which was torn down long ago to make way for a commercial building.

When the carving was finished, the man questioned the wood fence that Sanchez had placed across the front of the house. After a lengthy discussion, the man remembered

qri

OLD ISLAND DAYS: FUNERAL #19 1970 Oil on carved wood 20 49" Key West Art & Historical Society, 1987.01.3240

iILiiU 1 ml nut

that it was his grandmother's house that did not have a wood fence.'4 Sanchez's recollections of buildings that have burned or been demolished, businesses that have closed or moved, and people who are long since gone are precise and detailed. After all, he claims, "You just can't invent history."I5 Picnic at Old Martello, c. 1960 (see Editor's Column on page 6), a scene based on events of 1919, is one of many carvings that attest to the infallibility of Sanchez's memory, which has been proven true time and again by photographs, documents, and accounts of historians or other witnesses to the times. "During the years of my boyhood I remember that every section of the city had a neighborhood social club formed by the teenagers and each club

The Pepatnong0 c001 se rso s ez Iirsy 0f the Key Cal

zrso

0am atoalo covtev-wV` 5 C./14"1.09*es S° t S „isees,e, \ : oi k toic3% soc e Mario and R 1.11tPtor.— 929. con Rosa 1929 ' One s, "On of & ”.s t"CaiSock* " Key West

was given a popular name. Most of these clubs held their picnics at the Martello Tower grounds [now the East Martello Museum]. In those days, the only access to the Martello Tower was through a dirt road. We used to take a horse-drawn wagon down that road through the mangroves to the fort. The water's edge was up to the fort and there was a beautiful sandy beach where we used to swim. The phonograph in the carving was typical of those days, as was also the ice cream freezer for the picnics. We had good times there."' Some have questioned the reality of Sanchez's happy narrative scenes of a bygone Key West that perhaps never was, but Sanchez bristles slightly at this, saying simply,"That's the way it was when I was a boy."17 Humor is a strong component in Sanchez's art. He has been known to refer to the subjects of his art as caricatures, gently poking fun at everyday life and reminding the viewer to take life a little less seriously. Although these depictions are of actual personalities, they often serve as comic stereotypes that recall similar types in vaudeville or burlesque. His memories are positive, and so is his view of history: there is no poverty; there is no serious crime, only petty thefts and practical jokes; and tragedy, with the exception offuneral processions, is never suggested.18 Sanchez has had a variety of jobs over the years, including positions as a stenographer, a translator, a court reporter, copublisher of a local newspaper, restaurant man-

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 47

(:9

f

CiGAR COMPAHY ager (with his brother Perucho), shipping room clerk at the A I-MNn'12.

U.S. Naval Air Station in Key West, and even custodian for hF1'W1 r. LA the East Manello Museum, where his carvings are now on permanent display. For many years, he and Rosa Sanchez spent the summer months in Tampa and the winter months in Key West, surrounded by family and friends in both homes. Since Rosa Sanchez died, Sanchez has remained mostly in Tampa. He is often called Key West's most famous native son, a statement he takes lightly: "I've been very lucky with this boberia [nonsense]," he says. "I've been very lucky. Very lucky."9 He still shuns publicity, lives modestly, and remains unimpressed that his carvings are now in the collections of numerous museums and private collectors.

One of the first people from outside Key West to buy Sanchez's work was the late actor Cary Grant, who purchased four carvings in 1960, when he was in Key West to film the movie Operation Petticoat. He later used them in the background of a hotel scene in the 1962 film That OLD ISLAND DAYS #20: A FABULOUS INDUSTRY Touch of Mink. The first public exhibition of Sanchez's Also known as THE READER carvings was held at the Key West Art & Historical Soci- Barbara Rothermel is the Assistant Directorfor Public Relations (EL LECTOR) ety's East Martello Museum in 1961. The first six carvings & Curatorial Affairs ofthe Key West Art & Historical Society in c. 1963 Oil on carved wood in the society's collection were acquired in 1954. The col- Key West, Florida, and theformer curator ofthe Everhart Muse19 43" lection now includes more than seventy of Sanchez's um in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Rothermel earned her B.A. in art Key West Art & Historical and cultural historyfrom Hood College and a master ofliberal works, spanning his entire career; many of these works Society, 1987.01.3209 studies(museum emphasis)from the University ofOklahoma. She were acquired from the collection of his friend and patron, wrote "American Folk Art at the Everhart Museum: The Collecthe late Margo Golan. tion ofJohn Law and Rhetta Church Robertson," which appeared Sanchez's carvings have also been featured in such in the Fall 1993 issue ofthis publication. museums as the Tampa Museum of Art, the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, the Coral Gables Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the New York State Historical Associ- NOTES ation in Cooperstown. He was featured on ABC-TV's 1 Mario Sanchez,interview with the curatorial staff at the Key Discovery program in 1970 and was included in the 1982 West Art & Historical Society, 1987.

PBS documentary Three American Primitive Painters. His 2 Diane Lesko, Mario Sanchez: Folk Artist ofKey West and work has been reproduced in National Geographic and Tampa, brochure (St. Petersburg, Fla.: Museum of Fine Arts, American Heritage magazines, as well as a variety of publi- 1988).

3 Kathryn Hall Proby, Mario Sanchez: Painter ofKey West cations on the history of Florida. He has been honored by Memories(Key West, Ha.: Southernmost Press, 1981), p. 16. the state of Florida, the city of Key West, and Monroe 4 Mario Sanchez,interview with the curatorial staff at the Key County, Florida. In 1995, he was commissioned by the West Art & Historical Society, 1987.

State Folldife Festival to produce a carving to be used for 5 Oscar Aguayo,"Mario Sanchez," La Gaceta, Tampa, May 9, the official symbol and poster marking the State's sesqui- 1986. centennial. Nevertheless Sanchez, who never sought fame 6 Proby, op. cit., pp. 58-59.

7 Leland Hawes,"Mario Sanchez Remembers Ybor City," The or fortune, remains a modest and unassuming man.

In America, interest in folk art has been closely (Tampa) Tribune, June 28, 1986. related to the rediscovery of a national past that is collec- 8 Proby, op. cit., p. 19. tive in its focus and diverse in its cultures. Sanchez feels 9 Ibid., pp. 20-21.

10 Ibid., p. 11. strongly about his Cuban-American heritage. Although he 11 Ibid., p.

10. is fluent in both English and Spanish, his memories flow 12 Mario Sanchez, interview with the curatorial staff at the Key more readily in Spanish, the language spoken in his child- West Art & Historical Society, 1987. hood home. "We like to talk about our heritage," says 13 Mario Sanchez: Ybor City Memories, exhibition catalog, Mario Sanchez. "We were taught to appreciate our ances- Tampa Museum of Art, June 1986. tors. Every generation should tell the next one about its 14 Proby, op. cit., p. 11. ancestors."29 The narrative scenes carved and painted by 15 Ibid., p. 11.

Mario Sanchez are indelibly etched in his mind and in his 16 Mario Sanchez, interview with the curatorial staff at the Key vision. His carvings are deceptively simple scenes of West Art & Historical Society, 1987.

17 Elinor Lander Horwitz, Contemporary American Folk Artists streets lined with houses and stores, yards filled with trees (New York: J.B. Lippencott, 1975), p. 92. and flowers, and people occupied with the pleasures of 18 Lesko,op. cit. daily life and community. They are accessible to all, beck- 19 Susana Bellido,"He has Carved a Historic Niche: Sanchez oning us to step in and take part in the joyful world he Works to Promote Festival," The Miami Herald, April 21, 1995. remembers.* 20 Lesko, op. cit.

48 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

The Romance of a Relic: Sam Colt's

Charter Oak Relic Furniture

By William Hosley THE CHARTER OAK Charles DeWolf Brownell (1822-19091 Hartford, Connecticut; 1856 Oil on canvas 43 54" Charter Oak frame Carved by F. Stuart Blinn Signed and dated 1868 Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum,98.10 Brownell studied painting with Hartford artists Joseph Ropes and Julius Busch and by 1857 was an accomplished professional landscape artist. His pictures of New England's White Mountains, Mexico, Cuba, and the Connecticut River earned him much acclaim.

Although this picture is dated 1857, a perhaps unfinished version was first exhibited in 1856, two months after the fall of the Oak.

T

he Charter Oak is Connecticut's Paul Revere and Pilgrim's Landing, its Alamo and its Liberty Bell, all rolled into one. A century ago, the Charter Oak was the most familiar

of Connecticut's unifying myths. The State Capitol building (1874-1879)is drenched in Charter Oak iconography and the Oak had already become a parody of itself in 1868 when Mark Twain visited Hartford and satirized the legend:

Samuel Colt 11814-18621

The Charter Oak...used to stand in Hartford.... Its memory is dearly cherished.... Anything that is made of its wood is deeply venerated.... I went all about town with a citizen... [who] showed me all the historic relics of Hartford.... He took me around and showed me Charter Oak enough to build a plank road from here to Salt Lake City.'

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 49

Even then, few realized that the storied and ancient Oak had only recently been transformed from a local folk legend into an international symbol and the central icon of Connecticut identity. That the great tree crashed and died on August 21, 1856, at the height of the Charter Oak craze underscored its biblical and providential symbolism. Sam Colt, inventor and manufacturer of the renowned Colt revolver, the "Gun that Won the West," was Hartford's leading industrialist at the height of the Oak craze. One of the Oak's greatest champions, Colt wrapped himself and his enterprise in the mantle of the Oak, exploiting its associations and proximity to his South Meadows factory village, and tapping into its patriotic associations to help validate his controversial enterprise, while at the same time providing his many German workers with a unifying icon of patriotism and citizenship in their adopted country.

The story of the Charter Oak embodies the human drama at the core of Connecticut's identity as the Constitution State. In 1662, Connecticut freemen voted to petition the newly restored monarchy of Charles II for a Royal Charter. Ably negotiated by Connecticut governor John Winthrop, Jr., a Charter was granted that enabled Connecticut to maintain the illusion, if not the reality, of continuous self-government.

The legend of the Charter Oak began on All Saints Day (October 31) in 1687, when Edmund Andros arrived in Hartford bearing a Royal Commission as Governor of the United Colonies of New England with instructions to dissolve Connecticut's independent government. Historians dispute whether Andros demanded the charter. But at the decisive moment, a gust of wind allegedly extinguished the lights in the meeting room, and by the time light was restored the charter had vanished. Legend has it that Captain Joseph Wadsworth, dashing through the shadows, stole off and hid the "sacred" charter in the hollow of the great oak. The facts aside, in the civic mythology, Connecticut had kept the faith under trial. The Charter was never surrendered and neither the written word nor the Oak—now divine by association—were betrayed, and this became a symbolic prelude to the American Revolution by signifying the courage to defend liberty against the forces of oppression.

Passed down as folklore, the myth of the Oak emerged as an icon of popular culture during the 1820s and 1830s, when poems, prints, and historical narratives began to trickle into the public domain, heightening interest and awareness of the legend of the Oak.' Two events helped launch the Oak craze. The first occurred in 1840, when Isaac Stuart, a retired Whig politician, orator, antiquarian, author, and civic evangelist became the "proprietor of Wyllis hill and the Charter Oak."' A second impetus to the Oak myth occurred in 1848 when Europe was nearly overcome by democratic uprisings, described by contemporaries as the beginning of"an era ... such as the world has never seen."'

Not long after breaking ground for his new armory and industrial compound on Hartford's South Meadows in

50 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

1854, Sam Colt befriended Isaac Stuart, who assisted Colt in designing a program of place names and emblems for Colt's industrial compound. On May 6, 1856, Colt and Stuart unveiled Charter Oak Hall, a hundred-foot-long, fourstory brick building at the north end of Coltsville that was "devoted to purposes of moral, intellectual, and artistic culture," founded to "marry the forge and work shop to the Reading Room and the Dancing Hall," and dedicated to "the sovereignty of labor."' It was a day of triumphant celebration, as Colt's twenty-year quest for an industrial utopia approached its zenith. But all was not well in paradise, at least not for the Charter Oak. Three months later, in the darkness of night, another "providential wind" toppled the aging "monarch," which crashed to ground at 12:45 A.M.' while Sam Colt and his bride were touring along the Danube River en route to St. Petersburg, Russia. How this became world news' and the extent of its newsworthiness beyond Connecticut remains something of a mystery.

In the days and weeks after the fall of the Oak, tributes, condolences, and requests for souvenirs poured in from all over the country, especially from the South, which was then waging its war for self-determination. The Louisville Journal described the Oak as the "sacred hysting place of patriotism" whose "legend has struck root into the national heart."' In "The Famous Charter Oak Tree," a Bostonian warned of the danger to liberty and Union.' Although reports of "thousands of strangers from abroad"' paying homage to the Oak g were undoubtedly exaggerated, the tree clearly had become an icon of I2 To more than state or local significance.

In November, what was left of the tree was still embellished with a "national flag, draped in the emblems of mourning" behind the high picket fence Stuart erected to protect the Oak from "plundering." According to newspaper accounts, he had already dispersed relics "in the form of canes, snuff-boxes, [and] pieces of wood" to "more than 10,000 persons in various parts of America""—Mark Twain's joke twelve years later about "Charter Oak enough to build a plank road from here to Salt Lake City" was true enough.

In the years following, carved Charter Oak relics would proliferate wildly. Gavels and ballot boxes were popular, as were canes, picture frames, tokens in the shape of nutmegs [Connecticut being the Nutmeg State], and small trinket boxes.' Sam Colt's neighbor and friend, the German woodcarver and piano manufacturer John H. Most, advertised and exhibited "pianos from the wood of the Charter Oak"; Isaac Stuart himself owned one of these, and at his death in 1861 it was valued at $400 (about $24,000 today).''

Before the end of 1856, the nation's two leading commercial lithographers, Nathaniel Currier and Kellogg Bros., each turned out pictures of the Charter Oak suitable for framing." By October 1856, Charles DeWolf Brownell's masterful portrait of the Charter Oak was ready for exhibition in the fine arts department of the popular Hartford

CHARTER OAK CRADLE Designed by Isaac W.Stuart, carved by John H. Most Hartford 1857 Carved white oak 55 65 25" Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum, 05.1580

CHARTER OAK CHAIR Designed and carved by John H. Most and Charles Burger Hartford 1857 Carved white oak 61 37/ 1 2 26" Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum, bequest of Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Cott, 05.1580

FALL 1996 FOLK ART SI

County Agricultural Society fair:3 This view, which became the model for most subsequent renderings, portrayed the Oak as more grand, heroic, and statuesque than the rather sickly looking tree that had collapsed in August:6 Joseph Buckardt, a Swiss immigrant and woodcarver at Colt's armory dazzled the public (and no doubt pleased his employer) with an "ingenious picture of the Charter Oak," painstakingly inlaid with wood from the fallen monarch.'' Whether influenced by Buckardt's creativity or by parallel inspiration, Sam Colt and Isaac Stuart soon emerged at the center of a campaign that took the Oak fetish to the next level by creating the two most astonishing and eccentric works of art to emerge during the Charter Oak frenzy.

Sam Colt's wife, Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt, gave birth to Samuel J. Colt on February 24, 1857. Isaac Stuart approached their mutual neighbor, the piano manufacturer John H. Most, about creating the ultimate Charter Oak relic to honor Colt's "babies"—his offspring and his vision for Hartford. Most and his German shop carver Charles Burger worked feverishly through the winter, sawing, shaping, and carving huge branches, burls, and sections of trunk from the Oak that were dutifully supplied by Stuare° Colt collaborated in the design and provided exotic jewels that he acquired at "the great Asiatic Fair" in the ancient and symbolically charged Russian city of Novgorod.'

When it was unveiled in April, the Charter Oak cradle caused a sensation. In a community still dominated by Congregationalists of the old puritan stripe, this was the most egregious and self-aggrandizing display of ego that had ever graced the threshold of this once-insular and proper New England town. The cradle, with its eight colt heads, two rampant colt finials, and carved Colt family coat-of-arms, swung from gnarly oak posts and was shaped conspicuously like a canoe, a reference to Colt's carefully cultivated populist image as the man who had "paddled his own canoe."

On a less public level, Isaac Stuart's letter to the baby Samuel Colt, which accompanied the cradle, is a masterpiece of idolatry and captures the spirit and values of the Oak craze and of Sam Colt's creed of liberty,justice, truth, Godliness, and prosperity:

52 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Master Samuel Jarvis Colt: You are a tiny infant now, Sammy,just bursting into life, and cannot read.... But you will grow...and then you will find out that a friend of your father and mother...sent for your use this day a beautiful present...a cradle made from the wood of a very famous tree called the Charter Oak. ...a long, long time ago...a very bad man, named Edmond Andros, came with a troop of soldiers...to take away...the Charter of Connecticut.

Now, this Charter made the people...free....

It gave them LIBERTY, and LIBERTY, you will live, I hope, to learn, Sammy, is a very precious thing, and ought to be defended at the cost of all the money in the world...[and] sometimes of human life....

Now, Sammy, your cradle is made out of the wood of this...oak, and it should teach you always to remember that hero who hid the Charter...and make you follow his example in defending your country whenever it is in danger. Die for your native land,Sammy,rather than let anybody hurt it!

This cradle too should teach you to be wise, and virtuous and honorable, and industrious, just as those good men were who lived when the oak was made so famous.... They adored liberty.... They worshipped justice.... They made truth their idol.... They worked out their own prosperity... "paddled their own canoes?"2° In the months immediately following the squabbling over Colt's cradle, Most and Burger completed a second and equally grand Charter Oak masterpiece, an enormous throne commissioned by Hartford's mercurial Common Council for use by the Mayor. Unveiled in June,' the Charter Oak chair picked up the theme of Joseph Buckardt's "ingenious picture," with its entire back carved in bas-relief in the shape and form of the Oak. Looking at the chair, it is easy to understand how it might have cost the $375 (about $20,000 today) asked for it. It is a tour-de-force of workmanship and woodcarving and probably involved as much labor as any chair made in America before the Civil War. Whether the Common Council was shocked by the chair's design or simply balked at the price, the bill remained unpaid through the fall and winter of 1858. Sneering at the city's "unpatriotic fit of economy," Sam Colt finally stepped in the following March and made another public spectacle by declaring the chair "cheap at any price," and paying a onethird premium over the price billed the city: $400 for the chair, and $100 as a gift of Isaac Stuart for their aggravation.'

Among firearms collectors, few Colt revolvers are more prized than those with grips made from the Charter Oak, which Colt began manufacturing in 1857. John H. Most continued to manufacture Charter Oak relics, supplying a Charter Oak trumpet as a prize in Hartford's grand Fireman's Muster, which attracted fire departments to Hartford from cities as far away as Providence, Boston, and Brooklyn." In 1858, Colt spent $122 (about $7,500 today)

CHARTER OAK RELICS 1856-1875 Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum clockwise from top COLT'S EMPIRE LAMP SHADE (described below) ARMSMEAR, BOUND IN CARVED CHARTER OAK Hartford 1867 11 8 2" 05.1574 Armsmear: The Home, the Arm, and the Armory of Samuel Cott. A Memorial, commissioned by Elizabeth Cott, was written in 1866 by Henry Barnard ELIZABETH'S LEAF FROM THE TRUE OAK (preserved oak leaf from the Charter Oak); c. 1856 ELIZABETH'S CHARTER OAK GAVEL AND BOX Hartford c.1875 Gavel: 9" long Box: 10 4 - 21 / 2" 05.1555

COLT'S EMPIRE LAMP SHADE Designed by Sam Colt, carved

by Christian Deyhle Hartford 1861 Carved ivory, white oak, and engraved silver 22" high 05.1151 Just before the age of the stereo-opticon viewer, lamp shades were fa with mounts for interchangeable pictures, and backlit by candles or gas-light.

This shade was designed with a fixed scene carved in ivory on the principle of the porcelain lithophane pictures invented in Germany in 1827, which became wildly popular in America during the 1840s and 1850s.

\

„_ 4 • I •• ,,,,,,,, ,

a

commissioning Charter Oak toddy sticks and crucifixes as gifts for friends."

Sam Colt's last tango with the Charter Oak was a project completed less than a month before his death in 1862. In 1860, Colt commissioned Christian Deyhle, a German woodcarver who worked for him, to make a pair of what he described as "lamp shades," designed to frame and display translucent ivory or lithophane pictures. Deyhle was the armory's chief ivory carver and the man responsible for decorating the grips on Colt's ultra-deluxe presentation revolvers."

The "lamp shades" are intensely personalized and autobiographical works of art, three-dimensional representations of Colt's accomplishments and ideals. Virtually without sources, they are like a cross between a scrapbook and a monument. For eighteen months, beginning in June 1860, Deyhle posted expenses for work on the "lamp shades" that eventually added up to $410.19 (about $24,000 today)." Each shade is made of carved ivory panels mounted amidst a frenzy of naturalistic, carved Charter Oak, attached to revolving rods secured to a carved pedestal. American art before 1860 provides no finer or more painstaking examples of woodcarving. Christian Deyhle, trained in the German art of ivory and woodcarving, arrived in Hartford from Wurttemberg, Germany, in 1856. He became one of the most independent of the Colt armory's independent contractors.

The politics of industrialization are apparent in the design and symbolism of the two lamp shades, which take as their themes, respectively, "American liberty" and "Colt's empire." Colt's Empire rises from a pedestal enriched with iconographic representations of Hartford's "glorious past"—the 1796 Connecticut State House; the founding Reverend Thomas Hooker; symbols of agriculture, shipping and commerce,engineering, and manufacturing; and the grapes and oak leaves of the Connecticut State seal. The stand provides a tableaux of heroic associations, pointedly surmounted by an even grander tableau, a shade embellished with icons of Colt's triumph—a rampant colt prancing among the oaks, laurels, and evergreens; the armory with the steamboat City of Hartford in the foreground; and the enigmatic figure of a lone boy (perhaps symbolizing Colt's youth) "paddling his own" rowboat across the Connecticut River. Pistol-shaped casts and engraved silver screws provide support for the intended gas light. As much as any work of art on record, this "lamp shade" is a boldly audacious "song of selfhood" and personal iconography. It sings of the marriage of art and arms, of past, present, and future linked in an ascending line of progress, of the patriotic achievements of American industry, and most of all of the glorious triumph of the self.

The American Liberty shade, Sam's gift to his wife, Elizabeth, for their last Christmas together, provides a tableau of military glory enriched with figural heroes of the Revolution: generals Green, von Steuben, Lafayette, and Hamilton. Modeled after the architect Robert Mills' Washington Monument in Baltimore, the "liberty" shade features two equestrian cameo portraits in carved ivory of George Washington and Israel Putnam beneath a cameo of seated "Columbia" surrounding a central panel celebrating the

FALL 19% FOLK ART 53

"valor" and "glory" of the United States' civilian army. The "Battle of Bunker Hill" and the "Battle of New Orleans" represent two wars, two epochs, but one universal law of freedom and liberty. Here was a highly personalized rendition of the story of "American liberty," by which we witness Sam Colt "making history" in the most literal sense.

The specific ordering of icons and emblems again reveal Colt as a collaborator in the design and conceptualization of an emotionally charged patriotic relic.

If this wasn't enough Oak and glory for one man and one life, Colt's brother members of Hartford's private, patriotic, gentleman's militia company, the "Putnam Phalanx," presented him with a gift that was surely the pike de resistance of the age of American patriotic reliquary, a "grand historic souvenir," a cane(now lost) made from the Charter Oak and inlaid with wood from George Washington's Mount Vernon, General Putnam's house, and the U.S.S. Constitution,"Old Ironsides.""

By the end of the nineteenth century, Hartford, the "Charter Oak City" in Connecticut, the "Charter Oak State," was brimming with monuments, institutions, and symbols—everything from banks and boats to cigars— named after the Charter Oak. For better or worse, the commercialization of the Oak legend began with Sam Colt, who believed that industrial civilization was destined for greatness. By wrapping himself in the mantle of the Oak, Colt helped fuel both the Oak craze and the legend of his own personal rebirth through spiritual pilgrimage to the frontier of the new industrial age.

But is it art? More specifically, is it folk art? Despite Colt's worldly ways and tremendous wealth, I regard each of the Charter Oak objects as extraordinarily poignant works of American folk art. They are personal. Each is unique. Each is the physical embodiment of a verbal tradition handed down over generations. The whole Charter Oak craze was emphatically regional in its origin and meaning.

It is a folk legend that helped shape the regional identity of a specific place. But mostly, what gives Sam Colt's Charter Oak treasures their quality as masterpieces of American folk art is the collaborative dimension of their design and fabrication. Although Colt and Stuart conceived the objects, it was the unique blend of craft skills in Colt's German immigrant work force that made their fabrication possible. Cast and engraved steel and silver mounts, florid carving, sculptural carving in ivory—these were the special skills that Colt's German work force brought to Hartford.

Colt's Charter Oak relics are as much an affirmation and expression of the craft skills of Hartford's new immigrant community as they are monuments to the ego and aspirations of that community's patron. Together, Colt and his German workers offered a new vision of progress that found expression in these extraordinary folk objects.* William Hosley is curator ofAmerican decorative arts at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. He is a graduate ofthe Winterthur program in Early American Culture and received his MA. from the University ofDelaware. He has curated numerous exhibitions, including the award-winning The Great River: Art & Society ofthe Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820."A prolific writer and lecturer, Hosley is well known as the curator ofthe Wallace Nutting Collection and as an authority on the art and history ofNew England.

54 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Hartford Exhibition September 8, 1996-March 9, 1997

yhe

Wadsworth Atheneum's

epic exhibition "Sam and Elizabeth:

Legend and Legacy of Colt's Empire" explores nineteenth-century Victorian Hartford through the story of firearms inventor and entrepreneur Samuel Colt and his wife, Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt. The Colts' ventures changed the face of Hartford and their success echoed throughout the world. This multimedia exhibition offers a comprehensive historical and artistic view of Colt's America. Nearly 300 objects—from Victorian home furnishings, including the Charter Oak relic objects, fine art, and jewels, to Sam Colt's own collection of firearms and historic photographs—dramatize the effects of industrialization on Victorian America.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Wadsworth Atheneum has planned a wide selection of related programs for all ages and interests, including gallery talks, lectures, a symposium on women's philanthropy and the arts in Victorian America, architectural walking tours, concerts, and more.

For detailed information, please call 860/2782670, ext. 3049. The Wadsworth Atheneum is located at 600 Main Street, Hartford, CT,06103.

AMERICAN LIBERTY LAMP SHADE Designed by Sam Colt, carved

by Christian Deyhle Hartford 1861 Carved ivory, white oak, and engraved silver 25/ 1 2" high Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum, bequest of Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt, 05.1150

NOTES 1 Hartford Daily Times, April 20, 1868.

2 The painting by artist George Francis is in the collection of The Connecticut Historical Society and is discussed in Richard Saunders, Daniel Wadsworth: Patron ofthe Arts (Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1981), p. 62. The frontispiece to Samuel Peters, A History of Connecticut(New Haven: D. Clark & Co., 1829), contains the earliest popular-press illustration of the Charter Oak. A more sickly looking likeness appears in John Warner Barber, Connecticut Historical Collections(New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1838), p. 43; when the same author published Historical, Poetical and Pictorial American Scenes; Principally Moral and Religious(New Haven: J.H. Bradley, 1851), he mentioned the Oak but failed to provide a vignette or illustration, even though its mythology and symbolism were perfectly compatible with the subject of the book. The omission is best explained by the fact that the Oak myth was just beginning to take off when the book was being compiled in 1849. In 1846, Daniel Wadsworth commissioned Frederic Church to paint the great iconic image of "westering puritans" titled Hooker and Company Journeying Through the Wildernessfrom Plymouth to Hartford in 1636. It is believed that Church consciously incorporated the Charter Oak as one of the trees in his idealized wilderness landscape. Prints and sheet music by Nathaniel Currier and the Kellogg Bros. from the late 1840s are now in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum. At the dedication of The Connecticut Historical Society room at the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Charter Oak and its connection with the Wadsworth family was the theme of the dedication address: Thomas Day,A Historical Discourse Delivered before The Connecticut Historical Society (Hartford: December 2, 1843).

3 J. Deane Alden, Proceedings at the Dedication of Charter Oak Hall(Hartford: Case, Tiffany & Co., 1856), p. 38; Stuart was described as the "anointed priest and oracle of the past...the lord, the guardian, and the Clio of the Oak." After he died in 1861, Stuart was buried in his "robes of state, the old Continental uniform" of Washington's day; his body, dressed with flowers and evergreens, was wrapped in his country's flag (Hartford Daily Courant, October 7, 1861).

4 Hartford Daily Times, March 24, 1848.

5 Alden, op. cit., pp. 11,41.

6 Hartford Daily Times, August 21, 1856.

7 The fall of the Charter Oak and its legend was reported in the London Times on September 9, 1856, as cited in the Hartford Daily Times, November 8, 1856. If, in fact, European tourists had been making a beeline for the Oak since 1854, there must have been more and varied reports in other places. Lydia Sigourney alluded to the international appeal of the Oak ("Our Mecca,-to whose greenwood glad/ Come feet from every clime")in her Fall ofthe Charter Oak(Hartford: August 22, 1856).

8 The Charter Oak: Its History and Its Fall(Hartford: A. Collins, August 1856), pp. 10-12; Hartford Daily Courant, August 22, 1856.

9 Curtis Guild,"The Famous Charter Oak Tree," Hartford Daily Times, August 26, 1856.

10 Hartford Daily Times, September 22, 1854; Henry Barnard, Armsmear: The Home, the Arm, and the Armory ofSamuel Colt.

A Memorial(commissioned by Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt and produced by Alvord printers in New York City, 1866), p. 35.

11 Hartford Daily Times, August 8, 1856.

12 Robert Trent,"Charter Oak...," Bulletin ofthe Connecticut Historical Society.

13 Estate Inventory,Isaac Stuart, February 19, 1862, Hartford Probate District Court Records, Connecticut State Library and Hanford Daily Times, April 16, 1858. Although it is reported that John Most made three of these pianos, he may have manufactured more. Only one survives; it is in the collection of the Deep River (Connecticut) Historical Society.

14 Currier's "Charter Oak! Charter Oak Ancient and Fair!" accompanies Lydia Sigourney's ballad by that title (Wadsworth Atheneum,#44.361); Hartford's Kellogg Bros.' "The Charter Oak" was jointly sponsored by Isaac Stuart(Wadsworth Atheneum,#23.69).

15 Hartford Daily Times, October 2, 1856.

16 Brownell's portrait of 1856 was rendered as a steel engraving the next year and became the iconic image after which most popular representations were subsequently modeled. The painting, which was donated to the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1898, was showcased and described in The Story ofthe Charter Oalc, compiled by Marshall Jewell(Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1883).

17 Hartford Daily Times, November 17, 1856.

18 Hartford Daily Courant, April 28, 1857.

19 Bernard Pares, A History ofRussia (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,Inc., 1953), pp. 70-73. The city of Novgorod,one of the most ancient in Russia, was historically also one of its most independent and jealous of its liberty, associations Colt would have recognized and admired.

20 I. S. Stuart to Samuel Jarvis Colt, April 25, 1857, Charter Oak Cradle object file, #05.1580, Wadsworth Atheneum; reprinted in Barnard, op. cit., pp. 32-34.

21 Hartford Daily Times, June 22, 1857.

22 Hartford Daily Times, March 11, 1858; March 10, 1858, Colt Patent Fire ;-• Arms Manufacturing Co., Cash Book A, January 1856-March 1864, p. 93, private 3 collection; Barnard, op. cit., pp. 132-135.

23 Hartford Daily Times, September 22, 1857.

24 March 30 and May 31, 1858, Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co., Cash Book A,January 1856-March 1864, pp. 95, 105, private collection.

25 Hartford Daily Times, December 21, 1861; R.L. Wilson, Samuel Colt Presents (Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1961), pp. 139, 163, 192, 208.

26 June 14, 1860-December 16, 1861, Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co., Journal A, January 1856-March 1863, pp. 303, 329, 334, 347, 351, 357, 368, 380, 389, 398, 410, 423, 435, 447, private collection; Christian Deyhle signed one of the shades and is credited as "the artist" in the newspapers (Hartford Daily Times, December 21, 1861).

Deyhle's specialty was ivory carving. Colt also employed German carvers like Abraham Skaats, who may have collaborated on the shades.

27 I.W. Stuart, Hartford, to Sam Colt, Cuba, March 15, 1861, as cited in Barnard, op. cit., pp. 361-363; Hartford Daily Courant, February 23, 1866. Four years after Colt's death, members of the Putnam Phalanx presented their Major Commandant, Timothy M. Allyn, with a Charter Oak cane described so like the one given Colt that it is quite possibly the same cane, left with the Phalanx at Colt's death.

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 55

A

1

1

'wfir A" "Ar

WILTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY CELEBRATION OF AMERICAN CRAFTSMANSHIP November 16-17, 1996 Wilton High School Field House Wilton, Connecticut

WILTON,the acclaimed venue for the finest in collector-quality traditional and contemporary folk art and hand crafted furniture, supports the talented artisans of today who are keeping alive the folk crafts of the past. This exciting show features the work of 150 artists-craftsmen who are creating objects for the home, unique gifts and holiday specialties, handsomely presented. Comprehensive in its offerings, with quality as its keynote, it continues to be the most impressive show of its type in the nation.

Managed by Marilyn Gould

*** EARLY BUYING: SATURDAY 8-10 AM, $15 PER PERSON.

A unique opportunity to take advantage of wholesale ordering or retail buying before crowds fill the floor.

ONLY 50 MILES FROM NEW YORK CITY

• Merritt Parkway: Exit 39B from the West; Exit 41 from the East II 1-95: Exit 15, North 8 miles M 1-84: Rt. 7, South 12 miles

GENERAL ADMISSION: $6 PER PERSON, $5 WITH THIS AD.

• Metro North Railroad: To Cannondale Station

Wilton Historical Society, 249 Danbury Road,Wilton, Conn. (203) 762-7257

BUSH PRISBY Aget46 Jta4ekeh at

7C A KOLENE SPICHER Ate fe4lQe0Ci4etil9W

and bi

I,

163 CAMP MEETING ROAD EXTENSION SEWICKLEY,PA 15143 (412) 741-5531

5505 WERTZVILLE ROAD ENOLA,PA 17025 (717) 240-0797

KATE ADAMS

PATRICIA PALERMINO

ghte wW)teCtt,e vat&

P.O. Box 3025 KENNEBIJNKPORT, ME 04046 (207) 967-5077 •(800) 553-3766

,,

wetia-

9029 GREYLOCK STREET ALEXANDRIA,VA 22308 (703) 360-4757 • FAX (730) 360-4114

aid

* CANDLE IN THE WIND STUDIOS

BARBARA STRAWSER Vateziecohvieed —

-60,ilect(467etafily

288 STAFFORD STREET CHARLTON,MA 01507 (508) 248-6928

P.O. Box 165 SCHAEFFERSTOWN,PA 17088 (717) 949-2374

DAVID GUILMET

SUSAN DAUL FOLK ART

01

#4

0

4

0/Yak ifrIn/Cla(iIta,;)26;np areatted f1?

ori

ranvril

,Aratf;o4tc4 xecorWx,ealcaectiow orAtictr,e/ urAirdeci4,oxes woode/itA&(veh,

f-ittrev,i0 1445446rioff e, ce,yo.

6465 ROUTE 202 NEW HOPE,PA 18938 (215) 862-5055 • FAX (215) 862-0550

624 STRATFORDSHIRE DRIVE MATTHEWS, NC 28105 (704) 847-6553

W W W BRYCE M. RITTER PEGGY TEICH Z./Ric/ea/AiMa and 19/h ce/itteeiey I,

.

0

4

and/wed xecy4

CVlatS/ 2 11ieJtjar/4a

100 MILFORD ROAD DOWNINGTOWN,PA 19335 (610) 458-0460

P.O. Box 11601 MawAuKEE,WI 53211 (414) 354-6255

D.R. COBLE AND CO.

SHOONER

g;eachZiogtaiwranow-6eachtio/itai a,6tteirewniewee cr/iteiacceoaoieleo,

,S4/ 4ne4einwit xecietia/iee

P.O. Box 479 ANGOLA,IN 46703 (219) 665-2448

1772 JEFFERY ROAD OREGONIA,OH 45054 (800) 452-7058

Pk

A

FASSBENDER EXCLUSIVE REPRESENTATIVE FOR

Matt Lamb Exhibition Catalogues Currently Available:

Madness and Matt Lamb

by Donald Kuspit

Matt Lamb (traveling exhibition)

by James Yood et al in English, German, and Greek

For further information, please contact the gallery.

309 W. Superior Street, Chicago, IL 60610 31 2-951 -5979 Celebration, 1996, Oil on canvas, 69 x 61 inches Photo courtesy of FASSBENDER GALLERY

CONTEMPORARY FOLK ART Minnie Adkins Linvel Barker Pricilla Cassidy Ronald Cooper G.C. DuPrie Mr. Eddy Roy Ferdinand Denzil Goodpaster Homer Green Gary Hargis Alvin Jarrett Sammy Landers Helen LaFrance Junior Lewis

Stone

carvings by Tim Lewis

Tim Lewis Hog Mattingly Jesse Mitchell Frank Pickel Dow Pugh Royal Robertson Sulton Rogers Jimmy Lee Sudduth Olivia Thomason Mose Tolliver Wesley Willis Troy Webb And Others

BRUCE SHELTON SHELTON GALLERY & FRAME STANFORD SQUARE • 4239 HARDING ROAD, NASHVILLE, TN 37205 • (615) 298-9935 Call to see when we are in your area

Exclusive representation of Jesse L. Mitchell & Bobby Williford

60 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

2ND ANNUAL

NEW YORK CITY

TRIBAL ANTIQUES SHOW AMERICAN INDIAN, AFRICAN, OCEANIC, ART OF THE AMERICAS & AMERICAN FOLK ART OCTOBER 19, 20, 1996

1

00INTERNATIONAL DEALERS EXHIBITING & SELLING PRE-1940 AMERICAN INDIAN, FOLK, DEVOTIONAL, TEXTILE & TRIBAL ART & ANTIQUES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

OPENING NIGHT PREVIEW FRIDAY OCTOBER 18 6-9PM SATURDAY 11 AM-8PM SUNDAY 1 AM-6PM

THE ARMORY AT GRAMERCY PARK 68 LEXINGTON AVENUE & 26TH STREET, NEW YORK

INFORMATION . CASKEY-LEES/SHA-DOR . P 0 Box 1637. TOPANGA, CA

90290

UPCOMING SHOWS: ETHNIC VISIONS Los ANGELES'96CONTEMPORARY & ANTIQUE AMERICAN INDIAN & TRIBAL ART SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA NOVEMBER 8, 9 & 10, 1996

SANTA FE WINTER ANTIQUITIES SHOW SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO DECEMBER 27, 28 & 29, 1996

NATIVE CULTURES: THE CHICAGO ANTIQUE AMERICAN INDIAN & TRIBAL ART SHOW CHICAGO, ILLINOIS APRIL 4, 5 & 6, 1997

PHOTO COURTESY OF SUSAN PARRISH. NY

TELEPHONE . EASTERN TIME. SHA-DOR 301-738-1966 • PACIFIC TIME. CASKEY-LEES 310-4552886 OR Km MARTINDALE 805-652-1960

11111,,,f7J, RT. 5 BOX 965 DAHLONEGA, GA. 30533 (706) 864-8362 The Meaders Family Annie Wellborn Michael Crocker Mary Greene Bobby Ferguson Chris Lewallen Brian Wilson The Gordy Family The Hewett Family B.B. Craig R. A. Miller

We specialize in locating the unusual!!

EDWIN MEADERS

Gene Beecher b.1909

"Savages"

1985

Acrylic on canvas board

18"x24"

Folk, Found ESZ Outsider Art: Gene Beecher, The Glassman, Ed Ott, Ruby C. Williams, Popeye Reed 860 Path Valley Road Fort Loudon Pa. 17224

717.369.5248

http://www.cyspacemalls.com/huston/

HUSTONTOWN 02 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

RECENT WORK MICKEY MANTLE SCULPTURAL CHAIRTABLE, CARVED CHERRY BASE, PINE TOP, OIL PAINT 30 IN. TALL, 48 IN. DIAMETER TOP.

JEF STEINGREBE CENTER ROAD BRADFORD, NH 03221 603 938 2748 STUDIO AND GALLERY OPEN BY APPOINTMENT

FRANK J. MIELE CONTEMPORARY

AMERICAN

ART

FOLK

gallery

WE'VE MOVED (just down the street 9 blocks) to

AMERICA*01I,YES!

1086 Madison Avenue (at 82nd Street) New York, NY 10028 (212) 249-7250

In Our Washington Gallery/Fall

"A Woman's Work Is Never Done" 8 Acclaimed Folk Artists 2020 R Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. Phone: 202-483-9644

In Our Hilton Head Island, S.C. Gallery

Massey: My Tricks" 17 Pope Avenue Executive Park, Building 4,(P.O. Box 3075) Hilton Head Island, SC 29928 Phone:803-785-2649 A

Kacey Crimea!

(Virginia)

64 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

1-800-FOLK-ma Call for our newsletter, Folk Art Collecting.

ANNE BOURASSA

"Bumper Cars" 48" x 50"

"Under the Arbor" 48" x 56"

GALLERY HOUSE 5 CENTER STREET

NOBLEBORO, MAINE

207.563-8598

Weathervane Folk Art Gallery

Z.B. Armstrong Ralph Griffin S.C. Hudson Earnest Lee Jake McCord Donna Wilson & others

Jake McCord 42 x 44 inches acrylic on plywood

Tom & Krista Wells 324 Main Street, Thomson, GA 30824, (706) 595-1998 Two hours east of Atlanta Photos on request

NORTH SHORE FOLK ART SHOW 1-5 C:01-2^ _1.Ft.I/%7C3- -1-1-1E FINEST'zrz AN/IERICA/s4 CF2_,AIF-

c F'01-1E.G AFP-M

BLOMQUIST GYMNASIUM — 617 FOSTER ST. — NORTHWESTERN CAMPUS — EVANSTON,ILLINOIS

COCTC:013E12 198z20,1996

75 ATZTTISTS -NLP 1 — 11J12110 LO—6 •••• •••• IN • SLIN 1:30 S JAMES CRAMER,COUNTRY LIVING EDITOR, ARTIST & AUTHOR WILL BE SIGNING HIS NEW BOOK FOUR SEASONS AT SEVEN GATES ADMISSION $6 WEEKEND — $1 OFF WITH AD — FREE PARKING INFORMATION: A.BRA.TTAN — 2721 HARRISON ST. — EVANSTON,ILLINOIS 60201 — 847-475-8710 •••••••••••••• MMMMMMMMMM ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 0 Is MI , T1E.1" , 11D•13.A.CMINTI.A.015 or raoCnnflS 1

66 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

nornwSsrSan

csr.rx-

rcst rir-ne

St M-1-2-i-M142,-2.4"T

9alvtee Eadtecet Zdaltee ea4.41t444

Scace 1920

Totteueectitigedci1s ,4re 9243eldytea Read

St.-detaa, Ilea. 63/24 Vv Almazoctioteme: 314-993-9251 7dt:314-993-4790 1-200-763-6105 Ralph Auf der Heide Jeannette Carballo, Costa Rica Rita Hicks Davis Mamie Deschillie Esperanza Espinoza, Nicaragua Amos Ferguson, Bahamas Guatemalen artifacts Dora Gonzalez, Costa Rica Carolyn Hall Haitian Masters Boscoe Holder, Trinidad Edwin A. Johnson Woodie Long Justin McCarthy

Metal Sculptors of Haiti Rafael Morla, Dominican Rep. Nikifor, Poland Polish Wood Carvers Frank Pickle Jack Savitsky Lorenzo Scott Daniel Troppy Horacio Valdez Bottles, Haiti Voodoo Flags Fred Webster Malcah Zeldis (and many others)

"The Plumed Stallion is Challenged by the Rooster" Ralph Auf der Heide, 1996 20 1/2 x 24 3/4 Oil on reverse of plexiglass

NEW LOCATION 305 Decatur Street New Orleans, LA 1 3 0 7 0 504 • 581 • 1706

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 67

NANcY THomAS

BRIE SPIRAL 1 PRESENTS

OUTSTANDING SOUTHERN 01K ARTISTS CYRIL BILLIOT • IVY BILLIOT • JILL CARNES • JUDITH CHENEY • REV. RUSSELL GILLESPIE • BESSIE HARVEY • JIMMY LEE SUDDUTH • WILLIE TARVER • PARKS TOWNSEND • HUBERT WALTERS • AND AN EVER-CHANGING SELECTION OF SOUTHERN FOLK POTTERY.

HUBERT WALTERS. THREE FIGURE HEADS, RONDO AND AUTO BODY PAINT. PHOTO:TIM BARNWELL

FINE ART CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CRAFT CONTEMPORARY FOLK ART

S

38 BILTMORE AVE. ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA 28801 (704) 251-0202

ahe L% _Oe/l)-Le/714, American and International Folk Art

"The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" Acrylic on Wood

40"W x 38"H

Nancy Thomas is a nationally known artist whose paintings and sculptures blend traditional and contemporary design with a unique wit. Nancy has done one-woman shows from Paris to California. Her latest accomplishment, An Alphabet of Sweets, a collaboration with renowned chef Marcel Desaulniers, will be published by Rizzoli Books in late 1996. You are cordially invited to visit the Nancy Thomas Gallery in historic Yorktown, Virginia. In addition to her own works, Nancy's gallery showcases an assortment of fine primitive antiques and quality contemporary works by other local and national artists.

Nancy Thomas Gallery 145 Ballard Street • Yorktown, VA 23690 (804)898-3665

88 FALL 1996

FOLK ART

Featuring important works by traditional, contemporary, and naive artists.

More than just a gallery.

SANDRA ANDERSON KATHY JAKOBSEN MILTON BOND THEODOR JEREMENKO YVON DAIGLE JEAN PIERRE LORAND RENE DESSAINTE LINDA MEARS SALLY CALDWELL FISHER BARBARA OLSEN IVAN GENERALIC SUSAN POWERS JOSIP GENERALIC JANIS PRICE GORAN GENERALIC MARY MICHAEL SHELLEY HERBERT FELIC HOFER ARTHUR VILLENEUVE ...and others One Riverside Avenue Westport, CT 06880 Tel:(203)227-7716 Fax:(203)227-7758 Marco D. Pelletier, Director

Tbe

Museum

of

Avnerican

Fotk

At

Presents

Stepping Out Of Tbe FrawieTM

Item# D1504 Girl In Red Dress, 20". Limited Edition of 1,500.

Authorized adaptation of the painting "Girl in Red Dress with Cat and Dog" by Ammi Phillips, circa 1830 - 1835.

One Newbold Road P.O. Box 36 Fairless Hills, PA 19030 Phone: 215-428-9100 Fax: 215-428-9200

Color Catalog $7.50

DYNASTY

)'LL COLLECTION

Order Hotline: 1-800-736-GIFT(4438) or contact your Dynasty Representative.

Ask about our sister company Dreamland Creations.

"The Beaver" "Wanda The Fish"

24" X 24" HOUSE PAINT ON PLYWOOD

SEE YOU AT THE FOLK ART SOCIETY OF AMERICA CONVENTION OCTOBER 18-20, 1996 IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA AND KENTUCK FEST IN TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA Visit your local Folk Art Gallery for "The Beaver's" Paintings.

WANDA'S QUILTS P.O. Box 2012• Oldsmar, Florida 34677 (813) 855-1521

• •••''

i)i• ToviutAilx.

LOvc

in early 19th century pin inscribed riendship the Fountain ofLove" from the Museum of American Folk Art provided the inspiration for these new pewter folk art designs. Each piece is handcrafted and is part of our Museum Collection.

DANFORTH PEWTERERS For information call (800)222-3142 P.O. Box 828 Middlebury, Vermont 05753 Museum of American Folk Art CollcctionTm

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 71

Stepping Out of the Framer.

Dynasty Dolls

ALICE J. HOFFMAN AND MARYANN WARAKOMSKI

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART COLLECTION Andrews & McMeel

Representing over 300 years ofAmerican design,from the late 1600s to the present, the Museum ofAmerican Folk Art CollectionTm brings within reach ofthe public the very best ofthe past to be enjoyedfor generations to come.

New Directions The Museum welcomes its newest licensee: * American Pacific Enterprises has rejoined the Museum's family of licensees. How wonderful to have an old friend back. Soon to be available are quilts, shams, and pillows.

News from Museum Licensees Look for the many new products from our family of licensees, featuring new designs inspired by the Museum's collection. * Andrews & McMeel will have you singing a song, strumming a guitar, or tickling the ivories. Classic Songs ofAmerica features illustrations from the Museum and the music and lyrics of favorite folk songs, hymns, spirituals, patriotic songs, barbershop ballads, and work songs.

Images of quilts, weathervanes, woodcuts, paintings, and whirligigs provide fanciful complements throughout the book. * Concord Miniatures spent more than 40 days and 40 nights to create Noah's Ark, the newest addition to the Museum's miniature furniture and decorative accessories collection. The ship's deck lifts off to reveal a removable Noah, his wife and children, and nine pairs of animals. Colorfully painted and carefully detailed, Noah's Ark will make a perfect stocking stuffer this Christmas or a welcome addition to any folk art collection. * Danforth Pewterers,Ltd., sends their love. A Hand with Heart pendant, keyring, and

72 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

brooch and Friendship frame— perfect gifts with a heartfelt sentiment—are now available.

Inspiration for these new pewter products comes from the Museum's Friendship is the Fountain ofLove pin. * Enesco Corporation wants to know if you've been naughty or nice. The Museum's collection of decorative accessories, celebrating the traditions of Christmas, will be available next year. * Takashimaya Company brings Museum-licensed products to Japan. Throws, pillows, and tote bags by Dakotah and wrapping paper by Abbeville are just a few of the newest items to be featured in the Museum of American Folk Art Shops located in Takashimaya department stores throughout Japan.

Special Events Hooray for the red, white, and blue! The Museum and QVC celebrated July 4 together during an hour-long show that aired at 8:00 P.M.(EST). It was a smashing success. A framed art poster of Situation ofAmerica, 1848 sold out in less than 5 minutes.

Gerard C. Wertkin, the Museum's director, was the on-air guest host. We continue to receive calls from viewers thanking Gerry for sharing his knowledge and love of folk art with them. We thank all of you who bought items offered during the show. Your purchase of Museum-licensed products directly benefits the cultural and educational activities of the Museum. We also extend a

Classic Songs of America

warm and heartfelt welcome to all of our newest members who learned about us for the first time through QVC. Doer Customer Thank you for participating in the Museum's continuing efforts to celebrate the style, craft, and tradition of American folk art. If you have any questions or comments regarding the Museum of American Folk Art Collection,TM please contact us at 212/977-7170.

Mary Myers Studio

Family of Licensees American Pacific Enterprises(212/9446799)quilts, shams, and pillows. Abbeville Press(212/888-1969) gift wrap, book/gift tags, and quilt note cube.* Andrews & McMeel(816/932-6700) traditional folk art songbook. Carvin Folk Art Designs,Inc. (212/755-6474)gold-plated and enameled jewelry.* Concord Miniatures(800/888-0936) 1"-scale furniture and accessories.* Dakotah, Inc.(800/325-6824) decorative pillows, woven throws, wall art, and totes.* Danforth Pewterera,Ltd.(800/222-3142) pewter jewelry and accessories, buttons, ornaments, and keyrings.* Dynasty Dolls(800/888-0936) collectible porcelain dolls.* Enesco Corporation (800/436-3726) decorative giftware. Gallery Partners,Ltd.(718/797-2547) silk, cotton, and chiffon scarves, wool shawls, and pill boxes.* Imperial Wallcoverings,Inc. (216/464-3700) wallpaper and borders. James Hastrich (800/962-2932) miniature painted furniture reproductions in limited editions. The Lane Company,Inc., including Lane/Venture and Lane Upholstery (800/447-4700)furniture (case goods, wicker, and upholstered furniture) and mini-chests. Limited Addition (800/2689724)decorative accessories. Mary Myers Studio(800/829-9603) nutcrackers.* Reining-

ton Apparel Co.,Inc.(203/821-3004) men's and women's ties.* Saunders & Cecil (212/662-7607) paper and stationery products. photo albums,calendars, and journals. Sullins House(219/495-2252) peg-hook wall plaques; gift, desk, and vanity boxes; decorative mirrors, and fire and dummy boards.* Takashhnaya Company,Ltd.(212/3500550)home furnishings accessories and furniture (available only in Japan). Tyndale,Inc. (312/384-0800)lighting and lampshades. Wild Apple Graphics,Ltd.(800/756-8359)fine art reproduction prints and posters.* Workshops of Jonathan Wiegand (804/645-1111) handpainted and stenciled wood planters; wall plaques; pegboards; clock shelf; gameboards; wall and table decor; candle, needlework, and wall boxes. *Available in Museum of American Folk Art Book and Gift Shops.

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

MAIN STREET ANTIQUES and ART Colleen and Louis Picek Folk Art and Country Americana (319)643-2065 110 West Main, Box 340 West Branch, Iowa 52358 On Interstate 80

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

FALL

AMERICANA

An old memory ware house model.

11" x 10 1/2" x 10 1/2"

WEEKEND

IN

YORK

YORK TAILGATE ANTI Q_U ES SHOW NOVEMBER 1 & 2, 1996 Over 100 Select Dealers

HOLIDAY INN • EAST MARKET YORK,PENNSYLVANIA Early Buyers Preview $20 Friday, November 1, 8:00 am - 11:00 am

General Admission $6• with this ad $5 Friday, November 1, 11:00 am - 8:00 pm Saturday, November 2,9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Country, Folk, and Formal Antiques in Distinctive Indoor Settings b4rTIME, Inc. • Barry M. Cohen, Manager • P.O. Box 9095, Alexandria, Virginia 22304 • 703/914-1268

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 73

ill

0

r 7

NEW ENGLAND'S ULTIMATE FOLK ART SHOW & SALE!

.

OG... .

I

4 X

m Y A roar #7 6 87071 5 5/2

.0.

Exceptional artisans featured in EARLY AMERICAN HOMES' Traditional American Crafts Directory, will be offering for sale museum quality reproductions of American country & formal furniture & accessories, contemporary folk art & country crafts.

CYRIL BILLIOT

SULTAN ROGERS

SAINTE-JAMES BOUDROT

EARL SIMMONS

ARTIST CHUCKIE BURGESS DULANEY HOWARD FINSTER GLASSMAN REV. J. L. HUNTER

BERNICE SIMS 1 C ISAAC SMITH ; LAMAR SORRENTO JIMMY LEE SUDDUTH BIG AL TAPLET

JAMES HAROLD JENNINGS

MUSE TOLLIVER

MC 5( JONES

ANNIE TOLLIVER

R. A. MILLER

DANIEL TROPPY

REGINALD MITCHELL

RUBY WILLIAMS

IKE MORGAN B.F. PERKINS ROYAL ROBERTSON

ROYAL PLAZA TRADE CENTER

$•-1

..9.z, .

•.?6,..? .,

ONIS WOODARD AjercA PURVIS YOUNG AND MORE

CONCRETE HEAD BY BURGESS DULANEY

1-495 & Rte. 20, Marlborough, Mass.

FRI., OCT. 25,6PM-10PM $6.00 SAT., OCT. 26, 10AM-6PM $5.00 SUN., OCT. 27, 11AM-5PM $5.00 ***************************************

SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE Renowned American folk artist, Will Moses... great-grandson of Grandma Moses -PLUS-

A SPECIAL LECTURE Saturday, Oct. 26, 1:30PM Achieving a Period Look: Mixing Antiques & Reproductions

By Mimi Handler-Editor Early American Homes Magazine

IN777VVVVVVVVV7VVVVVVVVVVE 4 200+ Antique Quilts 4 4 1780 - 1940 4 Specializing in that 'one of a kind' quilt 4 4 10, Expert custom hand quilting Antique quilt tops,blocks and vintage fabrics 1 1780 - 1950 .4 I. 1 Total QUILT RESTORATION using lo. VINTAGE fabrics. Restoration of hooked rugs 4 and woven coverlets. All work fully guaranteed 4 I.4 and completely insured 4 4 Come visit us at the Vineyard Antique Show 1 July 18 - 21, 1996 4 4 Edgartown School Edgartown, MA 4 4

Rocky Mountain Quilts

Country Folk ArtFestival Judy Marks PO Box 134 Glen Ellyn, IL. 60138 (630)858-1568 FOR TRAVEL & LODGING ONLY: 1-(800) 653-2222 AND MENTION THE COUNTRY FOLK ART FESTIVAL

74 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Po

Betsey Telford 3847 Alt. 6 & 24 Palisade, CO 81526 1-800-762-5940 catalog $7 refundable with purchase

4 4 4 4

4 4 4 10.

4 LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM

OUTSIDER ART FAIR January 24 - 26, 1997 FRIDAY 12 - 8pm - SATURDAY 11-7pm - SUNDAY 11- 6pm

selF taught visionary intuitive outsider art brut PREVIEW JANUARY 23 Thursday, 5:30 - 8:30pm $50. includes preview, two re-admissions & catalog

The Puck Building LAFAYETTE & HOUSTON STREETS - SOHO, NEW YORK CITY DAILY ADMISSION - TEN DOLLARS

Symposium: Uncommon Artists V Saturday, 2 - 4pm Information: Lee Kogan, Museum of American Folk Art 212 977-7170 Fair I nFo rmati on: SANFORD L. SMITH & ASSOCIATES 68 EAST 7T" STREET NEW YORK, NY 10003 212-777-5218

MUSEUM

NEWS

A Knight at the Museum he Museum's director, Gerard C. Wertkin, was appointed a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit

by King Harald V of Norway in recognition of his exceptional service to Norwegian culture.

Wertkin was cited for his efforts on the exhibition "Norwegian Folk Art: The Migration of a Tradition" and its many related cultural programs. In a ceremony held at the Museum on Monday, June 10, Jan Flatla, consul general

T

of Norway in New York, presided over the investiture and decorated Wertkin with the silver insignia of the order.

Wertkin gave his acceptance eloquently in both English and Norwegian to the delight of the more than 160 guests who were present to witness this proud occasion. Among Wertkin's family and many friends was his granddaughter, Emily Cecelia Wertkin, who presented him with a bouquet of flowers.

Quilt And Doll Exhibitions Open conjunction with the exhibitions n opening reception for the exhibitions "An at the Museum, Nezin ran an allday quilts, dolls, and wearable art American Treasury: Quilts from the Museum of Amer- seminar on June 3 for Quilt Connection members and friends. The ican Folk Art" and "The Art of Quilt Connection is a separate the Contemporary Doll" was held category of membership offered at the Museum on Monday, May by the Museum. For information, 6, bringing together an enthusiascall the membership office at tic mix of quilt lovers and doll 212/977-7170. aficionados.

Virginia Avery, noted quilt instructor, and Donna Wilder, director of retail marketing for Fairfield Processing Corporation, enjoyed a tour of some of the Museum's most magnificent textiles, including the Sarah Ann Garges AppliquĂŠ Quilt, a 1988 gift of Time Warner, the exhibition's sponsor.

Actress Demi Moore, herself an avid doll collector, graced the cover of the June/July 1996 issue of George magazine, costumed as Donna Wilder and Pannier, one of the dolls in the Virginia Avery in front of exhibition. Pannier, standing 28 the Sarah Ann Ganges AppliquĂŠ Quilt inches high, including powdered wig and hoop skirt, was made by doll artist Nancy Wiley of Hoboken, New Jersey. Wearable art designer Marjorie Nezin glided Dena Zemsky and her daughter, Diana, view through the exhibition in her own Beth Cameron's tender imaginative ensemble. In addition vignette, The Velveteen Rabbit. to the many programs held in

Gerard C. Wertkin and Jan Flatla

A

76 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Emily Cecelia Wertkin presents her grandfather with flowers at the end of the ceremony.

Wearable art designer Marjorie Nezin

Photography by Matt Flynn

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

By Appointment(212)226-7316

WANTED PAINTINGS BY

SISTER GERTRUDE MORGAN

William Peltier 376 Millaudon Street New Orleans, LA 70118 (504) 861-3196

Ai OROGONAL IIT GETS

Justin McCarthy 1892-1977 "Jack Holt, Movie Star" 9"x18,ink on o/b, 1921

Jesse Aaron

Popeye Reed

Rex Clawson

Max Romain

Antonio Esteves

Bill Roseman (Estate)

Contemporary folk art

by Kentucky's most exciting artists "Adam and Eve"

Artist: Tim Ratliff

Victor Joseph Gatto (Estate)

Jack Savitsky

S.L. Jones

Clarence Stringfield

Lawrence Lebduska

Mose Tolliver

Justin McCarthy

Chief Willey

The Museum Store of Kentucky Folk Art Center, Inc.

Inez Nathaniel

George Williams

119 West University Boulevard Morehead, Kentucky 40351 606/783-2204

Old Ironsides Pry

Luster Willis

OPEN MON-FRI 8:30-4:30 SAT 9:00-5:00

and other classic American outsiders

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 77

•K

(25 e0 CD 4)4)

ri)

ct. <15

cr) cD

4> C1) CD CD

They're here!

RARE DUCK & FISH DECOYS

MUSEUM

Folk ki Explorers at the home of artist Raymond Reynaud (front row in beret)

April in Paris 1996 wenty-nine Museum of American Folk Art members and guests toured Paris, Lyon, and Aix-en-Provence with the Museum's Folk Art Explorers' Club.

The group stayed in a hotel near the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees and began their tour with a visit to the studio of trompe-l'oeil painter Henri Cadiou arranged by Museum member Francoise Leroy Garioud, who recently completed her Ph.D. on this artist at the Sorbonne. At the Halle Saint Pierre in Montmartre, the group was given a guided tour of the exhibition "Art Brut et Compagnie: La Face Cachet de l'Art Contemporain"(Art Brut and Company: The Hidden Face of Contemporary Art) by curator Laurent Danchin. Museum members Bernard and Therese Lauze welcomed the group to their Paris apartment to see their wonderful quilts. Sightseeing in Paris included trips to the Eiffel Tower and the Luxembourg Gardens. A day trip took the group to Versailles for a tour of the famous palace and then to the city of Chartres. The elegant Chartres Cathedral was a wonderful contrast to Maison Picassiette, the

T as reported in

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

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

47 CD cb c11) cD 4D

(11)

78 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

c11) 41). (11)

r8

c:D

(111 , 117 cD

NEWS

home and folk environment of artist Raymond Isadore located just a few miles away.

En route to Lyon,the group toured the Musee Rural des Arts Populaires in Laduz, which houses the extensive folk art collection of Raymond and Jacqueline Humbert. Museum member and quilter Elisabeth Christophe hosted a wonderful day in the small town of Chatillon, including a luncheon of local specialties at a nearby farm, a tour of the town's Folk Art Museum, and a specially arranged exhibition of antique and contemporaty quilts.

The day ended with a reception attended by local politicians, le Club de la Platiere(a quilt guild), and many townspeople. It was a unique opportunity to exchange ideas with French citizens interested in quilting and folk art.

A stop in the town of Hauterives included a visit to the Palais Ideal, the world-famous folk environment created by local postman Ferdinand Cheval. The director of Palais Ideal, Pascal Cambrillat, and well-known French art critic Pierre Chazaud led a tour of the site. Afterward, the group was invited by the assistant mayor to the town hall for a reception.

CRAIG FARROW Cabinetmaker

The last leg of the journey included Aix-en-Provence and the beautiful surrounding countryside. A rainy Sunday was spent in l'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue at the flea market and nearby antiques shops. On the final tour day, a visit to the Souleiado Museum in Tarascon was the first stop and the afternoon was spent visiting artists Raymond Reynaud and Danielle Jacqui.

The visit to Raymond Reynaud got off to an exciting start as the bus was shepherded to Reynaud's home by an official police escort and the group was welcomed by Senas's mayor and cultural director. After viewing Rey-

naud's many paintings; the group enjoyed refreshments prepared by his wife. Shortly after, the tour continued on to a visit with painter Danielle Jacqui. Jacqui and her husband, Claude Leclerq, welcomed the group to their home, where the artist has embellished nearly every wall, floor, and piece of furniture with her artwork. Delicious French cuisine and regional specialties were a memorable part of the entire tour, and the gala last-night dinner, held at a sixteenth-century chﾃ｢teau, was no exception.

Beth Bergin and Chris Cappiello of the Membership Department would like to thank the Museum's members in France for their help in making this an unusually personal tour. Folk Art Explorers' Club tours are open to all Museum members and their guests. Scheduled jaunts for the fall include trips to Cooperstown, N.Y.(October 2-3), and Texas (October 29窶年ovember 3). Information on future trips to Mississippi and Norway is available from the Membership Office, 212/977-7170.

Before Madison Avenue n Thursday, June 27,in celebration of the Smithsonian Institution's 150th anniversary, the Museum of American Folk Art offered an intriguing lecture on American advertising in the late 1800s.

"Advertising Products of the Past" was presented by Rhoda Ratner, the head librarian of the History, Technology, and Art Department of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

Ratner's talk focused on how early trade catalogs advertised products bought and used by Americans, revealing much about

the culture of the times. She pointed out how catalog illustrations, often executed by the best artists and engravers of the day, provide examples of printing history and reveal the workplace and labor conditions in which the products were made."Advertising Products of the Past" was presented as part of the Museum's free lecture series. Free public programs are supported in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and a generous grant from NYNEX.

From the sketchbook of tour participant Dean Graves of Shawnee Mission, Kansas.

O

History and Artistry in Wood 17th and 18th Century American Furniture Reproductions P.O. Box 828 Woodbury, CT 06798

Please call 860-266-0276

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 79

MUSEUM

NEWS

REPRESENTING

AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN OUTSIDER ART

A Celebration of Quilts

WORKS BY (CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT) CLEMENTINE HUNTER, HOWARD FINSTER, WALTER ANDERSON,HOWARD FINSTER AND BILL TRAYLOR.

JUDY A SASLOVV GALLERY 300 WEST SUPERIOR STREET SUITE 103 CHICAGO ILLINOIS 60810 3129430530

S'iety OrloW The to\* voerIca

t4

• A group of artists, scholars, dealers, collectors, museum professionals and others who share an interest in self-taught art • Receive the informative "folk Art Messenger" • Attend the exciting Annual Conference • Receive discounts on books and merchandise Call or write for membership information:

1-800-527—fOLK P. O. Box 17041 Richmond, Va. 23226-7041

80 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

FOLK ART SOCIETY \ \II ki,

uilt Weekend at the Museum was once again an enormous success.

This year's symposium, held on Saturday, June 1, featured Cuesta Benberry, Sharon L. Einsenstat, Jennifer Faulds Goldsborough, Elizabeth V. Warren, and Shelly Zegart. Members of the Empire Quilters, the Long Island Quilters' Society, the Quilters Guild of Brooklyn, and the Quilters of Color Network demonstrated quilting techniques, displayed their quilts, and answered questions from an enthusiastic and inquisitive audience. The all-day workshop, held on Sunday, June 2,explored printmaking as surface design. The workshop, which was led by quilt artist Karen Berkenfeld, was completely sold out.

During May,June, and July, the Museum's Thursday-evening lecture series was devoted almost entirely to quilt-related topics. In "A Conversation with African American Quiltmakers"(May 30), speakers Cuesta Benbeny and Drunell Levinson discussed traditions, current trends, and new discoveries in the field of African American quilts; Esperanza Martinez served as the evening's moderator.

In "Quilts of Conscience: Names Project AIDS Memorial

Quilt"(June 20), Lee Kogan, director of the Museum's Folk Art Institute, discussed quiltmaking contextually, linking it to two American traditions: one as a means of memorializing the deceased and the other as a medium to raise social consciousness on specific issues. Fiber artist Peggy Hartwell spoke movingly of her aunt who died of AIDS and of the quilt she made in her memory. Others talked about AIDS quilt panels they helped to create. The entire AIDS quilt(which is the size of 30 football fields) will be on display on the lawn of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.,from October 11 through 13.

Cuesta Benberry, scholar and author of Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts

Kristina Johnson Goes to Washington useum Trustee Kristina Barbara Johnson, Esq., spoke before a gathering of more than 200 prominent collectors and museum professionals in Washington, D.C. She was invited by the Smithsonian Institution to participate in a panel discussion and give an address at a three-day conference, held May 9-11 to mark the 10th

M

anniversary of Art Forum,its national support network for museums and collectors of American art.

Johnson spoke eloquently from the perspective of a collector of American folk art and the paintings and sculpture of contemporary self-taught artists and emphasized the importance of this work to American culture.

TRAVELING

EXHIBITIONS

JOHN C. HILL ANTIQUE INDIAN ART AMERICAN FOLK ART Mark your calendars for the following Museum of American Folk Art exhibitions when th the coming months: June 1—October 20, 1996 Norwegian Folk Art: The Migration of a Tradition State Historical Society of North Dakota, North Dakota Heritage Center Bismarck, North Dakota 701/328-2666

November 10, 1996— February 2, 1997 Norwegian Folk Art: The Migration of a Tradition Minnesota Museum of American Art Saint Paul, Minnesota 612/292-4380

August 25—October 6, 1996 Amish Quilts from the Museum of American Folk Art Flint Institute of Arts Flint, Michigan 810/234-1695

January 19—March 2, 1997 Amish Quilts from the Museum of American Folk Art Arkansas Art Center Little Rock, Arkansas 501/372-4000

6962 E. FIRST AVE., SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85251

(602) 946-2910

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

Folk Art Institute Graduates and Docents Honored The Institute's graduation ceronunencement Exercises emony is traditionally the occafor the Museum's Folk sion of the Museum's annual Art Institute were held on Esther Steven Brazer Lecture, Monday,June 3,to honor Gradugiven in honor of the gifted artist ating Fellows Arlene Kreisler and and scholar who inspired the Irene N. Walsh. The Museum founding of the Historical Socialso presented five-year docent ety of Early American Decoraawards to Bernice Berkower and Joan Bloom and three-year docent tion (HSEAD). Jack L. Lindsey, curator of American decorative awards to Deborah Ash, Beth arts at the Philadelphia Museum Connor, Dale Gregory, Roberta of Art, lectured on "Early Dutch Rabin, Linda Simon, and Rachel and German Influences in PennStrauber for their invaluable sersylvania Decorative Arts." His vice as Museum volunteers. talk was accompanied by a beauLee Kogan,the Institute's tiful slide presentation. director, and Joan D. Sandler, the The event was well attended Museum's director of education by family and friends of the honand collaborative programs, orees, as well as Museum spoke with enthusiasm about the Trustees, staff, and members. scholarly pursuits of the Institute graduates and of the debt of grati- Light refreshments were served. tude owed to the Museum's docent corps.

C

Pima six petal squash blossom basket, 12'

dia.

Museum Collections to Expand Through Direct Purchases he Museum of American Folk Art is pleased to announce the formation of the Jean Lipman Fellows. This new organization, named in honor of noted folk art scholar and collector Jean Lipman, will be devoted to supporting and expanding the Museum's collections. Through its efforts, the group will make an annual purchase of an important artwork to be presented to the Museum of American Folk Art. In the spirit of Jean Lipman's wide-ranging interests and high standards, outstanding objects

T

from all eras and disciplines will be considered by Curator Stacy C. Hollander and the Museum's Collections Committee. The Lipman Fellows invite submissions of museum-quality works of art, represented by a slide or photograph and accompanied by a letter of description. Submissions should be directed to the attention of Stacy C. Hollander at the Museum's administrative offices at 61 West 62nd Street, New York, NY, 10023, and received no later than September 30, 1996.

FALL 1996 FOLK ART 81

TRUSTEES/DONORS

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Executive Committee Ralph 0. Esmerian President Frances Sirota Martinson, Esq. Executive Vice President and Chairman, Executive Committee Lucy C. Danziger Executive Vice President Bonnie Strauss Vice President Joan M.Johnson Vice President Peter M.Ciccone Treasurer Jacqueline Fowler Secretary Anne Hill Blanchard

RECENT

MAJOR

$100,000 and above Estate of Daniel Cowin Ralph 0. Esmerian Ford Motor Company Estate of Laura Harding The J.M. Kaplan Fund,Inc. The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conjunction with Norwegian Visions Jane & David Walentas Anonymous 550,000—$99,999 The Coca-Cola Company Lucy Cullman & Frederick M.Danziger Howard and Jean Lipman Foundation, Inc. David L. Davies & Jack Weeden Johnson & Johnson Joseph Martinson Memorial Fund NYNEX Corporation Anne Wright & Robert N. Wilson Anonymous

510,000—$19,999 AEA Investors Inc. William Arnett

OF

AMERICAN

Members Edward Lee Cave Joyce Cowin David L. Davies Samuel Farber Vira Hladun Goldman Susan Gutfreund Kristina Barbara Johnson, Esq. Susan Klein George H. Meyer, Esq. Cyril I. Nelson Julie K. Palley David C. Walentas L. John Wilkerson, Ph.D.

FOLK

ART

Honorary Trustee Eva Feld Trustees Emeriti Cordelia Hamilton Herbert W.Hemphill, Jr. Margery G. Kahn Jean Lipman George F. Shaskan, Jr.

DONORS

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

820,000—$49,999 Arista Records, Inc. Mary & Peter M. Ciccone Joyce Cowin Susan & Raymond C. Egan Virginia S. Esmerian Jacqueline Fowler Joan M.& Victor L. Johnson National Endowment for the Arts Julie K.& Samuel Palley Restaurant Associates Industries, Inc. Barbara & Thomas W. Strauss Fund Time Warner Anonymous

MUSEUM

Bear, Stearns & Co.Inc. Anne Hill & Edward Vermont Blanchard Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Edward Lee Cave Country Living The Dietrich American Foundation & H. Richard Dietrich, Jr. William B. Dietrich & William B. Dietrich Foundation Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson Vira Hladun Goldman Mr.& Mrs. John H. Gutfreund Susan & Robert E. Klein The LEF Foundation Anne & Vincent Mai Merrill Lynch Kay & George H. Meyer, Esq. Morgan Stanley Foundation The New York Community Trust The Peter Norton Family Foundation The Pinkerton Foundation Schlumberger Foundation, Inc. Barbara & L. John Wilkerson $4,000-89,999 The American-Scandinavian Foundation ARTCORP The Beacon Group Big Apple Wrecking & Construction Company The Blackstone Group Michael R. Bloomberg Clarissa & H. Steve Burnett John R. and Dorothy D. Caples Fund Virginia G. Cave Christie's Cravath, Swaine & Moore Mr.& Mrs. Joseph Cullman 3d Debevoise & Plimpton Department of Cultural Affairs, City of New York Duane, Morris & Heckscher Ernst & Young The F1NOVA Group Inc. Gallery 721 Goldman, Sachs & Co. Ellen E. Howe

Mr.& Mrs. Ronald S. Lauder Naomi Leff and Associates, Inc. MBNA America, N.A. Linda & Christopher Mayer Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth J. McAlley New York State Council on the Arts The New York Times Company Foundation Park Avenue Cafe Philip Morris Companies Inc. Leo & Dorothy Rabkin Frank Richardson William D. Rondina The William P. and Gertrude Schweitzer Foundation, Inc. Joseph E. Seagrams & Sons,Inc. Mr.& Mrs. George F. Shaskan, Jr. Herbert & Nell Singer Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher,& Flom Sanford L. Smith & Associates, Ltd. Sotheby's 82,000-83,999 American Folk Art Society David & Didi Barrett Patrick Bell & Edwin Hild Bergen Line, Inc. Ellen Blissman Robert & Kathy Booth Lois P.& Marvin Broder Edward & Margaret Brown Capital Cities/ABC Mr.& Mrs. John K. Castle Lily Cates Laurie Churchman Cigna Barbara & Joseph Cohen Mr. & Mrs. Edgar M. Cullman Peggy & Richard M. Danziger Davida & Alvin Deutsch Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Michael & Janice Doniger Nancy Druckman Margot & John L. Ernst Helaine & Burton M Fendelman Jay & Gail Furman (Continued on page 84)

82 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

AT AUCTION October 28 & 29 1996

THE BARBARA JOHNSON COLLECTION The Finest Private Library on Every Aspect of Whaling Worldwide Travel & Exploration • Early Printed Books Illustrated Books • Nautical History Economics • History • Literature Children's Books • Ephemera Ships and Major Merchants Registries Archives of Correspondence of Key Whaling Figures Illustrated Catalogue $40 US/$50 Overseas Inquiries: Gary Garland, tel. (212) 254-4710, fax (212) 979-1017

IA0 Member International Association ofAuctioneers

SWANN GALLERIES 104 East 25 Street, New York, N.Y. 10010 •(212) 254-4710

Your Treasury ofAmericana Deserves Special Protection.

Get low cost, all-risk protection for your antique American folk art collection.Applying is easy.And it's available only from the Alton Insurance Agency.

Call us today. 1-800-829-4800

.AcioN

Alton Insurance Agency,Inc. 1735 Jefferson Davis Highway Suite 900 Arlington,Virginia 22202

Insurance is our Profession . . . but People are our Business.

George Washington on Horseback. Photo Courtesy ofShelburne Museum, Inc.

FALL 1996 FOLK ART

83

RECENT

MAJOR

DONORS

(Continuedfrom page 82) Fred & Kathryn Giampietro Peter & Barbara Goodman Ellin & Baron J. Gordon Warren & Sue Ellen Haber Ann Harithas Pamela J. Hoiles Pepi & Vera Jelinek Harry Kahn Steven & Helen Kellogg David & Barbara Krashes Jerry & Susan Lauren Wendy & Mel Lavitt Taryn & Mark Leavitt Patrick M.& Gloria M. Lonergan Macy's East Maine Community Foundation Marsh & McLennan Companies,Inc. Marstrand Foundation Gael & Michael Mendelsohn Keith & Lauren Morgan Norwegian Tourist Board Drs. Jeffrey Pressman & Nancy Kollisch Paige Rense Cynthia V.A.& Robert T. Schaffner Frederic A.& Jean S. Sharf Joseph & Janet Shein Raymond & Linda Simon Louise M. Simone R.Scudder & Helen Smith Richard & Stephanie Solar Peter J. Solomon Lynn Steuer Stanley & Doris Tananbaum Jim & Judy Taylor David Teiger Lynn & Peter Tishman Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum Don Walters & Mary Benisek Irwin H.& Elizabeth V. Warren Peter & Leslie Warwick Susan Yecies Anonymous $1,000â&#x20AC;&#x201D;$1,999 Alconda-Owsley Foundation Mania Anderson R. Randolph Apgar & Allen Black Mr.& Mrs. Thomas Block Tina & Jeffrey Bolton William F. Brooks, Jr. Lawrence & Ann Buttenwieser Meredith & Michael J. Bzdak Chemical Bank Liz Claiborne Foundation Katie Cochran & Michael G. Allen The Coach Dairy Goat Farm Mr.& Mrs. Norman U. Cohn Drs. Stephen & Helen Colen Conde Nast Publications Susan R. Cullman Cullman & Kravis, Inc. Marion Dailey Mr.& Mrs. David Dangoor Michael Del Castello Marian & Don DeWitt Mr. & Mrs. Charles Diker The Echo Design Group,Inc. Mr.& Mrs. Alvin H.Einbender Sharon & Theodore Eisenstat Fairfield Processing Corporation

84 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Mr.& Mrs. Charles Fabrikant Fortgang Brenda & Ken Fritz Mr.& Mrs. Bruce Geismar Dr. Kurt A. Gitter & Ms. Alice Yelen Anne & Eric J. Gleacher Barbara Goldsmith Mr.& Mrs. Robert Goodkind Barbara L. Gordon Howard M.Graff Anne Groves Mr.& Mrs. Walter W. Hess, Jr. Stephen M. Hill Fern K. & Robert J. Hurst Richard H. Jenrette Linda E. Johnson Charmaine & Maurice C. Kaplan Allan Katz Barbara S. Klinger Ricky & Ralph Lauren Fred Leighton Barbara S. Levinson Nadine & Peter Levy Ellen & Arthur Liman Lynn M. Lorwin Sylvia Kramer & Dan W.Lufkin Robert & Meryl Meltzer Cyril I. Nelson John E. Oilman Mr.& Mrs. Jeffrey Peek Anthony J. Petullo Susan & Daniel Pollack Drs. Jeffrey Pressman & Nancy Kollisch Ricco/Maresca Gallery Grace Jones Richardson Trust Betty Ring Amy & Howard J. Rubenstein Stephen Score June & Ronald K. Shelp Mr. & Mrs. David Schneider Mr. & Mrs. Michael P. Schulhof H. Marshall Schwarz Cecille Barger & Myron Benit Shure Mr.& Mrs. Elliot K. Slade Susan & George Soros Ellen & David Stein Patricia A. & Robert C. Stempel Mrs. Richard T. Taylor Mr. & Mrs. Raymond S. Troubh Sue & Edgar Wachenheim,ifi Margot Grant Walsh Sue Ann & John L. Weinberg Bennett & Judie Weinstock Herbert Wells Merilyn Sandin-Zarlengo Marsha & Howard Zipser Anonymous 8500â&#x20AC;&#x201D;$999 Joe C. Adams The Ames Gallery in memory of Alex A. Maldonado Ingrid & Richard C. Anderson Tina & Aarne Anton Deborah & James Ash The Bachmann Foundation,Inc. Dorothy Harris Bandier June & Frank Barsalona Bergdorf Goodman Mr.& Mrs. Peter Bienstock Helen & Peter Bing

Mr.& Mrs. Leonard Block Boardroom,Inc. Charles Borrok Nancy Boyd Mr.& Mrs. Joseph Boyle Robert Brill Brown Gale Meltzer Brudner G.K.S. Bush,Inc. Betty W.Johnson & Douglas F. Bushnell Marcy Carsey Maureen & Marshall Cogan Mr. & Mrs. Stephen H. Cooper Monica Longworth & Michael F. Coyne Mr.& Mrs. Lewis Cullman Judy & Aaron Daniels Gary Davenport Keith De Lellis Charlotte Dinger Lynne W.Doss Marjorie Downey Debbie & Arnold Dunn Howard Drubner Mr.& Mrs. Frederick Elghanayan Epstein Philanthropies Mr.& Mrs. Anthony B. Evnin Mr.& Mrs. Robert H. Falk Betsy & Samuel Farber Mr.& Mrs. Howard P. Fertig Daniel M.Gantt Peter Georgescu The Howard Gilman Foundation, Inc. Mildred & William L. Gladstone Harriet & Jonathan Goldstein Marilyn A. Green Dr. & Mrs. Stanley Greenberg Grey Advertising Nancy & Michael Grogan T. Marshall Hahn,Jr. Cordelia Hamilton Pria & Mark Harmon Ellen & Brian C. Harris John Hays Audrey B. Heckler Herbert W.Hemphill, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Richard Herbst Arlene & Leonard Hochman Gerry & Robert D. Hodes Carter Houck Imperial Wallcoverings, Inc. Laura N.& Theodore 3. Israel Guy Johnson Penny & Alistair Johnston Isobel & Harvey Kahn Jaclyn & Gerald P. Kaminsky Cathy M. Kaplan Dr. & Mrs. Arthur B. Kern Diane D.& Jerome H. Kern Mary Kettaneh Jacqueline & Jonathan King Sharon & Ivan Koota Mr.& Mrs. Theodore A. Kurz Robert A. Landau Evelyn & Leonard A. Lauder Mr.& Mrs. John A. Levin Mr.& Mrs. Roger Levin Frances & James Lieu Helen E. Luchars Gloria & Richard Manney (Continued on page 86)

CMBRIDDGE

Repreaentativea ot collect-ore and mueeurne tor the creation and preeervation ol5 wealth.

Thanks CM Briddge says "Thank You" To our co-presenter the Museum of American Folk Art and to all those Museum members and friends who attended our joint seminar "Your Collection: Preserving, Protecting and Planning" held at the United States Trust Company of New York The response from the collecting community was both enthusiastic and gracious.

We truly enjoyed meeting so many people who share our interest in the arts and who want to make well-informed decisions about the future course of their collection.

CM Briddge offers a total resource package for collectors and we welcome the opportunity to help develop strategies for: • Inheritance and philanthropic planning • Enhancing the value of your collection • Creating charitable trusts For those of you who were not able to attend and would like more information, we can be reached at 212-317-0311 or 212-759-6300.

Sincerely,

Richard Manney

Michael Mendelsohn

CM Briddge, Ltd. • 919 Third Avenue • New York, NY 10022 212-317-0311 • 212-759-6300 • Fax: 212-759-6372

RECENT

MAJOR

DONORS

(Continuedfrom page 84) Michael T. Martin Virginia Marx Mr.& Mrs. John A. Mayer Judith McGrath Joyce & Robert Menschel Grete Meilman A. Forsythe Merrick Ira M. Millstein Susan & Victor Neiderhoffer Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Newman David Nichols Paul L. Oppenheimer Dr. Burton W.Pearl Terry & William Pelster Dale Precoda Eugenie A.Propp Mr.& Mrs. F.F. Randolph, Jr. Mr.& Mrs. Milton S. Rattner

RECENT

DONORS

Gifts James Benson Roger Cardinal David L. Davies Ralph & Eva Fasanella Jacqueline Fowler Edwin F. Gamble Ellin & Baron J. Gordon T. Marshall Hahn, Jr. Cordelia Hamilton Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr. Evelyn & Magdalena Houlroyd Nathan & Kiyoko Lerner

JEAN

LIPMAN

Co-Chairmen Keith & Lauren Morgan Don Walters & Mary Benisek Founding Members Mama Anderson David & Didi Barrett Patrick Bell & Edwin Hild Robert & Kathy Booth Lois P. Broder Edward & Margaret Brown Virginia G. Cave Michael Del Castello Michael & Janice Doniger Nancy Druckman Jay & Gail Furman Wendell Garrett Fred Giampietro

88 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Irene Reichert Mr.& Mrs. Peter C. Rockefeller Alyce & Roger Rose Fran Kaufman & Robert C. Rosenberg Marion Harris & Dr. Jerry Rosenfeld John Rosselli Mr.& Mrs. Winthrop Rutherford, Jr. Selig D. Sacks Diane H. Schafer Mr.& Mrs. Richard J. Schwartz Mrs. Stewart Seidman Randy Siegel Francisco F. Sierra Elizabeth A.& Geoffrey A. Stern Rachel L.S. & Donald Strauber Carol Millsom Studer Mr.& Mrs. Myles Tanenbaum James Adams & Ruben Teles

TO

THE

Barbara & Donald Tober Anne D. Utescher Anne Vanderwarker Sue & George Viener Mr.& Mrs. R.A. Wagner Karel F. Wahrsager Gayle & Clifford Wallach Eve Weinstein Daniel Weiss Anne G. Wesson G. Marc Whitehead Jane Q. Wirtz Honey Wolosoff Thomas K. Woodard Mr.& Mrs. William Ziff Rebecca & Jon Zoler Mr.& Mrs. Donald Zuckert

COLLECTIONS

Jean Lipman Frances Sirota & Paul Martinson Gad Mendelsohn Holly Metz Steven J. Michaan Joy Moos Shari Cavin & Randall Morris Museum of Modem Art from the collection of Gordon & Nina Bunshaft Margery Nathanson Cyril I. Nelson Leo & Dorothy Rabkin Marion Harris & Dr. Jerry Rosenfeld

Martin E. Segal Betty Sterling Leslie Sweedler Agnes Lester Wade Susan Yecies Shelly Zegart Bequests Mildred Hart Bailey Trust Laura Harding Anne S. Marsh

FELLOWS

Peter & Barbara Goodman Barbara L. Gordon Howard M.Graff Anne Groves Warren & Sue Ellen Haber Pepi & Vera Jelinek Linda E. Johnson Allan Katz Steven & Helen Kellogg David & Barbara }Crashes Jerry & Susan Lauren Patrick M.& Gloria M. Lonergan Frank Maresca Gad Mendelsohn John E. Oilman Drs. Jeffrey Pressman & Nancy Kollisch Leo & Dorothy Rabkin Betty Ring

Stephen Score Frederic A.& Jean S. Shari Joseph & Janet Shein Raymond & Linda Simon R. Scudder & Helen Smith Richard & Stephanie Solar Lynn Steuer Stanley & Doris Tananbaum Jim & Judy Taylor David Teiger Sini von Reis Irwin H.& Elizabeth V. Warren Peter & Leslie Warwick Susan Yecies (members as ofJuly 15, 1996)

ROI-JUL ROBLIZTSOII A SI. JOHLS A BILL!

WE HAVE MOVED BUT WE ARE STILL AT HOME. 0 H 0,44e,

f

it ‘

4

Mike Smith

A

MOSE TOLL

GALLfRY CONTIMPORARY AMIRICAN fOLK ART & SELF-TAUGHT ART

4

= =

ER A JIM SUDDUTH A HOWARD FIIISTER

I MELISSA PORMMUS A BETERIJ CARTER A SAR1114 RAKES A CLYDE JOnEs A J.B. 1TIURR9 1 I

At Home Gallery • 3916 Pondfield Court • Greensboro, North Carolina 27410

=

By Appointment Only

5

910/664-0022

n

4

\ JAMES HAROLD

JEnnincs A

BERKELE9 BROOME A MIIREJ T. SMITH A

marrmnn

A I

M. J. M. OUTSIDERS THE MAIL ORDER FOLK ART GALLERY THE PRISON ART OF: Marilyn Dorsey & Melanie McGinnis Painting, drawings, collages, and masks scrounged materials

19th & 20th C. Folk, tramp, obsessive, and outsider art.

Carvings, quilts, paintings and lots more.

rere7-7 -57 r

Zr4raaliTIMMI

"Me and Tea at Tea's House" by Mel "Self-Portrait"

by Marilyn.

118.

Box 256, Mentone, AL 35984 (205)634-4037 http://www.folkartisans.com Home page design & web hosting available.

Free Lists by request. Photos Lent. Specify Interests.

"Spaceman," John Paul Simmons Major Artists and 100 Corners Trench, Tramp, Memory, Masonic and Fish and Fret

By Appointment 118 Main Centre, #186, Northville, MI 48167 (810)349-6956

FALL 1996 FOLK ART

87

JIM LINDERMAN FOLK AND OUTSIDER#ART OFFERING EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLES OF 20TH CENTURY SELF-TAUGHT AMERICAN ARTISTS, ANONYMOUS FOLK ART SCULPTURE, AFRICAN-AMERICAN FOLK ART AND RECENT DISCOVERIES

VICTOR JOSEPH GATTO S.L. JONES LAWRENCE LEBDUSKA JUSTIN McCARTHY SISTER GERTRUDE MORGAN LEROY PERSON ELIJAH PIERCE OLD IRONSIDES PRY MAX ROMAIN JACK SAVITSKY AND SELECT OTHERS 530 WEST 46 STREET NEW YORK, NY 10036 (212) 307-0914

BY APPOINTMENT

INDEX

TO

Lawrence Lebduska (1894-1966), Nude with Bird, graphite and wax crayon on wove paper, 11 x 14, signed and dated lower left

ADVERTISERS

Alton Insurance Agency, Inc. 83 America Oh Yes 64 American Antiques, Inc. 2, 3 American Pie 32 American Primitive Gallery 9 The Ames Gallery 29 Mama Anderson 23 Antique Arts 21 Archer Locke Gallery 13 Barbara Ardizone 20 Artisans 87 At Home Gallery 87 b4rTIME, Inc. 73 Kathryn Berenson 22 Blue Spiral 1 68 Anne Bourassa 65 CM Briddge, Ltd. 85 Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery 12 Caskey-Lees/Sha-Dor 61 Christie's 14 Country Folk Art Festival 74 Country Living Inside Back Cover Danforth Pewterers 71 William Doyle Galleries 26 Dynasty Doll Collection 69 Epstein/Powell 77 Craig Farrow 79

88 FALL 1996 FOLK ART

Fassbender Gallery Laura Fisher Folk Art Society of America Galerie Bonheur Gallerie Je Reviens Sidney Gecker Giampietro Gilley's Gallery Grove Decoys Anton Haardt Gallery John C. Hill Hustontown K.S. Art Knoke Galleries Kurt W. Knudsen June Lambert The LaRoche Collection Jim Linderman M.J.M. Outsiders Main Street Antiques and Art Frank J. Miele Gallery Steve Miller The Modern Primitive Gallery The Museum Store of Kentucky Folk Art Center, Inc.

60 18 80 67 68 22 Back Cover 33 78 28 81 62 25 30 71 27 31 88 87 73 64 8 77

North Shore Folk Art Show 66 Olde Hope Antiques, Inc. 16 Peligro 67 William T. Peltier 31, 77 Pottery Plus 62 Ricco/Maresca Gallery Inside Front Cover Rocky Mountain Quilts 74 Rosehips 33 Stella Rubin 20 Judy A. Saslow Gallery 80 Bruce Shelton 60 Sanford L. Smith & Associates 24, 75 Elliott & Grace Snyder 19 Sotheby's 10 Jet.Steingrebe 63 Swann Galleries 83 Nancy Thomas Gallery 68 Walters/Benisek 17 Wanda's Quilts 70 Weathervane Folk Art Gallery 66 Marcia Weber/Art Objects, Inc. 32 David Wheatcroft 7 Wilton Historical Society 56-59 Woodard & Greenstein 4 Yard Dog 74 Ginger Young Gallery 25

C untry Living

America's

Source

for

Folk

Art

and

See us at the Fall Antiques Show at the Armory A PUBLICATION OF HEARST MAGAZINES. A DIVISION OF THE HEARST CORPORATION

Antiques

American Weatkervanes & Wkirlicjicis Seplemker 25 --

Octaer 26,1996

GIAVPIETRO 25 East 73rd Street New York 10021 Tuesday -- Saturday 11:00 to 5:30 (212) 861-8571 http://www.giampietro.com/folkart