CONVERSATION
OUTSIDER ART WEEK Join us for a weeklong series o presentations, panel discussions, field trips, tours, and receptions sponsored by the American Folk Art Museum beginning January 24. Make sure to visit the museum's booth at the Outsider Art Fair! For more information, call the museum at 212. 265. 1040, ext. 102 or 104. OUTSIDER ART FAIR BENEFIT PREVIEW THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2006 AMERICANFOLK ART MU OUTSIDER ART ANUARY 27-29, 2006
BLACK HORSE OF REV.(detail) / Bess4-, Harvey (1929-1994) / Alcoa, Tennessee / 1991 / painted wood with shells, wooden beads, and miscellany / 54 x 45 x 15" / American Folk Art Museum, gift of Avalie Saperstein in memory of Elyse Saperstein, 2004.23.1
32 FALL 2005
FOLK ART
East Side, Gracie Mansion,P.S. 1-type things. It was less expensive than SoHo,and the galleries were open on Sunday.I'd seen the Eric Fischl show at the Whitney Museum [1986] and it knocked me out,and for the first time I realized I could own art as well as collectibles. Around that time,I also sobered up, and because I liked the cover he did for the Talking Heads'record [Little Creatures, 1985],I telephoned Howard Finster and asked if he had any art to sell. He said,"Sure I do,send me a check," and I was off. I think many ofus owe Reverend Finster a debt. From Finster, it was an easyjump to Mose Tolliver and the African American artists from the show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art ["Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980," 1981]. I hit the road and visited as many artists as I could.Jane Kallir, who runs Galerie St. Etienne, which has represented Grandma Moses for decades,thinks interest in folk artists rises and falls every 20 years or so.I took advantage of that and started buying everything left under the front porch. Like everyone,I used the Herbert Waide Hemphill book [Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists, with Julia Weissman, 1974],the Rosenaks'book [Museum ofAmerican Folk Art Encyclopedia ofTwentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists, 1990], and such to shape my eye. I just applied my research skills to finding artists at the end ofthe road. It didn't take long to find Hemphill or collector Sterling Strauser either, and I began trading things around. TH What's drawn you to African American artists? JL They seemed part of a deeper well and had a consistency, and the work even shows a continuum from the 19th century
'44 PAPER DOLL / probably northeastern United States / late nineteenth century / ink on paper / 8" high / collection of Jim Linderman
to the 20th.I also found similarities with the blues music of my youth. After all, whether visual or musical,they are art forms coming from the same place. Many of the other artists seemed to belong by themselves. Peter Schjeldahl, the art critic ofthe Village Voice at the time, once wrote that many of the "outsiders" belonged in "communities ofone."That made sense to me. By their very definition, the outsider artists belonged to no group, and it didn't seem appropriate to put them in my own arbitrary group. After a while itjust seemed patronizing and odd.They created in isolation—who are we to decide they belong next to each other on the wall? TH You and I tend to disagree about this point! JL I have criticized the juxtapositioning of one self-taught artist next to another. At any rate, the scarce and less prolific artists were ofthe most interest. I formed a triumvirate ofthose I find the most interesting: Herman Bridgers, Leroy Person,and Dilmus Hall. To me those three were the real deal—the most profound, authentic, and not at all decorative. TH I've always loved your Herman Bridgers figures in particular. Your collection leans toward the sculptural. JL Hemphill told me it took a more sophisticated collector to see "in