THE
COL
L
EC
TI
ON:
A
CLOSER
LOOK
BY LEE KOGAN
he White House (c. 1855), painted by an unidentified artist and found in Pennsylvania, depicts a residential property on the banks ofa narrow river. The generalized scene may well describe a specific place, but that information remains obscure.The flat landscape is serene: well-tended lawns,tidy shrubs and floral plantings, a wide variety oftrees, a meandering path,a tethered rowboat,the orderly cluster of white houses across the river. Two couples are seemingly engaged,both in conversation and by the pleasant surroundings, while a single woman rests, with head tilted downward,on a shaded bench.The white house, however,a well-proportioned three-story gabled structure, assumes a commanding presence, not only because ofits centrality on the canvas but also for its compelling luminosity It glows with light reflected by the unseen setting sun,and yet appears to be itself the source of the beautiful, suffused light ofthe water and the twilit sky In contrast,Justin McCarthy's Jim Thorp (1968),similarly situated on a meandering river, pulses with restless energy and the bloom ofspring.The aerial view ofJim Thorpe (formerly Mauch Chunk),on the west bank ofthe Lehigh River in Carbon County,Pennsylvania, as seen from Flagstaff Mountain in the western Poconos,offers a broad glimpse of the region; the towns of Upper Mauch Chunk and EastJim Thorpe,linked by a bridge, are seen in the background. McCarthy,in his vigorous, painterly fashion, takes liberties with the contours ofthe topography, distorting the geometry ofthe buildings and the lumpy surrounding hills. This
T
30 SPRING/SUMMER 2004
THE WHITE HOUSE Artist unidentified Probably Pennsylvania c.1855 Oil on canvas 123 / 4 • 173 / 4" American Folk Art Museum, (lift of Robert Bishop and Cyril I. Nelson, 1992.10.14
scenic vista has been well documented, and McCarthy himself painted several versions of the locale. It is a dramatic landscape laden with personal connections for the artist. Justin McCarthy was raised in the nearby town of Weatherly,to which he returned after a five-year stay at an Allentown hospital, where he was committed after a nervous breakdown in early adulthood. He made his living peddling homegrown vegetables to the community,among other odd jobs; he also worked in area steel mills for a time.The scene,with its prominent buildings ofindustry docks, a barge, and train tracks (for the Lehigh Valley and Central Valley lines), celebrates the primary role the land once played in the livelihood ofso many of Pennsylvania's inhabitants: mining,steel mills, and the railroad.* Lee Kogan is director ofthe Folk ArtInstitute and curator ofspecial projectsfor the museum's Contemporary Center.
FOLK ART
JIM THORP Justin McCarthy (1892-1977) Weatherly, Pennsylvania 1968 Oil and tempera on board 23/ 3 4 x 23./4" American Folk Art Museum, gift of Elizabeth Ross Johnson,1985.35.31