Folk Art (Fall 2007)

MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICK

COLLECTION

CURATING

SE Z5 TAUGHT OUTSIDER FOLK

VINTAGE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY OBJECTS OF DESIGN AND MYSTERY

RICCO MARESCA . corn WILLIAM HAWKINS 529 WEST 20TH STREET NEW YORK CITY 10011 212 627 4819

HENRY DARGER WILLIAM EDMONDSON BILL TRAYLOR MARTIN RAMIREZ

DESIGN INSTALLATION

RICCO MARESCA

aLIE J141:11111:0 ANTIQUES, INC_

Patrick Bell / Edwin Hild PO. Box 718, New Hope, PA 18938-0718

By Appointment 215-297-0200, Fax: 215-297-0300 Email: info@oldehope.com

Visit us on line at: ww.v.OldeHope.com

Please contact us to receive a copy of our fifth annual catalogue.

Exhibiting at the 54th Annual Winter Antiques Show, January 17-27, New York City

The finest American country antiques and folk art.

MANISA) American Folk Art Quality American Folk Art for over 30 years

Without question. the folkiest comb box we've ever seen or owned. Late 19th or early 20th century. This box was originally found on the Wisconsin and Minnesota border.

Measures 12- x 16.- Private collection.

An outstanding carving of a dapper gentleman in late 19th century attire, originally found in central Maine. This carving is somewhat similar to -Gentleman with Cane" pictured in the book. -Flowering of American Folk Art" by Jean Lipman and Alice Winchester. Measures 10- in height. Private collection.

Ken. Ida Kate Manko, Proprietors /14207 646-2595 Visit our barn gallery in Moody. Maine, or our new website: www.mankoamericanfolkart.com

ERNEST CAVALET • Stone Dog • carved granite • Tippletown, Pennsylvania • circa 1930 • 37 in. high x 43i/ in. long

DAVID WHEA CROP' _Antiques 26 West Main Street • Westborough, MA 01581 • Tel: 508.366.1723

davidwheatcroft.com

American Folk and .Outsider Art Susan Baerwald and Marcy•Carsey 2346 Lillie Avenue i PO Box 578 Summerland, CA 93067 (805)969-7118 T www.justfolk.com i (805) 969-1042 F

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R1vooN REEK at Oley Forge

Antiques, L.L.C.

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George R. Allen • Gordon L. Wtickoff 208 Spangsville Road, Ole,PA195+7 raccooncreek@msn.com Website: www.raccooncreekantiques.com Phone:(609)689-2200

New Galleri9 is Open Appointment

Three Reclware Slip Decorated -Script" Plates,

Mid 19th C. Norwalk Connecticut Origin.

JOAN R. BROVVNSTEIN AMERICAN FOLK PAINTINGS

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The Musser Family Portraits Attributed to Jacob Maentel A rare and beautifully conceived family group of watercolor portraits, these paintings include images of George Musser and his wife, Elizabeth Szveitzer, and their three children. The parents are shown in three-quarter length profile portraits, each seated in a decorated yellow zvindsor side chair. The youngest child, Carolina, is shown in a full length profile portrait seated in a similar yellow rocking chair. Children Sarah and Edward are portrayed in full length profile portraits within detailed landscape settings. All the children were painted on October 23, 1826.

Reanistown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Accompainied by the Musser family record.

All images are in matching period, and probably original,frames which measure 101/2" x 141/4".

24 PARKER STREET NEWBURY, MA 01951 WWW.JOANRBROWNSTEIN.COM

(978) 465-1089

JEFFREY TILLOU ANTIQUES Please visit our three-story gallery to view our extensive collection of American Furniture, Paintings, Folk Art and Decorative Accessories.

Located "On the Green" in Litchfield, Connecticut 39 West Street, Box 1609, Litchfield, Connecticut 06759 Tel: 860.567.9693 Fax: 860.567.8526 www.tillouantiques.com email: jeffrey@tillouantiques.com Monday, Wednesday thru Saturday 10:30 AM - 5:00 PM, Sunday 11 AM - 4:30 PM

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Rare Birth and Marriage Record of Cornelius and Rebecca Adams SI New England, probably Massachusetts, c. 1804 M Inscribed on verso, "This Record is drawn for 10 x 12 glas I have been long enough about it, but every thing comes in the right time excepting Old Maid wedding days and seasonable rains, For it is very dry at this time June 20th [signed]T Prince"

Watercolor on paper. Provenance available. 88 13 3/4 in. high x 11 3/4 in. wide with frame

FOLK ART VOLUME 32, NUMBER 3 / FALL 2007

FEATURES

Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel

42

Murray Zimiles

The Construction of a Carousel: Clues to an Industry from the Frederick Fried Archives

52

Cara Zimmerman

The Man of Many Vases:John Hewson, Calico Printer

58

Kimberly Wulfert

Stonewares Light and Dark:The Nature and Importance of the Kirkpatricks' Anna Pottery

70

Richard D. Mohr

it... made for love of creation": Thoughts on the Art of Eugene Von Bruenchenhein

82

Lisa Stone

DEPARTMENTS

Cover: LION (detail), Marcus Charles Illions,1910, Mary Lawrence and Walter Youree Collection, photo by Paul Foster (see pages 42-43)

Museum Information

12

Books ofInterest

96

Editor's Column

12

Museum News

100

Director's Letter

15

Obituaries

104

Miniatures

20

Public Programs

106

Conversation

30

Donors

108

The Collection: A Closer Look

38

Index to Advertisers

112

Update: Culture in Context Symposium

92

Fo/kArt is published annually by the American Folk Art Museum.The museum's administrative office mailing address is 49 East 52nd Street, New York,NY 10022-5905,Tel.212/9777170,Fax 212/977-8134. Prior to Fall 1992, Volume 17,Number 3,Folk Artwas published as The Clarion. Annual subscription rate for members is included in membership dues. Copies 0 are mailed to all members. Single copy 88.00. Published and copyright 2007 by the American Folk Art Museum,45 West 53rd Street,New York, NY 10019-5401.The cover and contents 1. imam ofFolk Art are filly protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those ofthe American Folk Art Museum.Unsolicited manuscripts or photographs should be accompanied by return postage. Folk Art assumes no responsibility for the loss or damage ofsuch materials.

Change ofaddress: Please send both old and new addresses to the museum's membership department at 49 East 52nd Street, New York,NY 10022-5905,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 ofservices 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 ofobjects or services advertised in its pages.The museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation offolk art, and it is a violation ofits principles to be involved in or to appear to be involved in the sale ofworks ofart. 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 ofplacing an advertisementThe publisher reserves the right to exclude any advertisement.

FALL 2007 FOLK ART 9

FOLK ART Tanya Heinrich Editor and Publisher Mareilce Grover Managing Editor

AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM Maria Ann Conelli Director

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Executive Committee Laura Parsons President/Chair ofthe Executive Committee

Linda Dunne Deputy Director/ChiefAdministrative Officer

Barry D.Briskin Vice President

Benjamin J. Boyington Copy Editor Eleanor Carlow Advertising Sales

The Magazine Group,Inc. Jeffrey Kibler Design Mary Mieszczanslci Production Manager Denise Butler Production Artist Anita Handy Advertising Traffic Coordinator

Publishers Press Printer

ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE Robin A.Schlinger ChiefFinancial Officer

DEVELOPMENT Christine Corcoran Manager ofIndividual Giving

Susan Conlon Assistant to the Director

Pamela Gabourie Manager ofInstitutional Giving

Madhukar Balsara Assistant Controller

Katie Hush SpecialEvents Manager

Angela Lam Accountant

Carly Goettel Development Coordinator

Irene Kreny Accounts Payable Associate

Ethan Gould Membership and SpecialEvents Assistant

Danelsi De La Cruz Accounting Assistant/Membership Assistant

Wendy Barreto-Greif Membership Clerk

Katya Ullmann Administrative Assistant/Reception

EDUCATION Sara Lasser Manager ofSchooland Docent Programs

COLLECTIONS & EXHIBITIONS Stacy C.Hollander Senior Curator/Director efExhibitions Brooke Davis Anderson Director and Curator of The Contemporary Center and the Henry Darger Study Center MUSEUM ADDRESS 45 West 53rd Street New York, NY 10019-5401 212/265-1040 www.folkartmuseumurg ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES 49 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10022-5905 212/977-7170,Fax 212/977-8134 info@folkartmuseurn.org BOOK AND GIFT SHOP 45 West 53rd Street New York, NY 10019-5401 212/265-1040,ext. 124 STAFF Assistant to the Director ofMuseum Shops: Sandy B.Yun Shop Managers. Dorothy Gargiulo,Louise B. Sheets,Pierre Szczygiel, Marion Whitley Book Buyer:Evelyn R. Gurney Staffi Andrea Gillcey, Hironai ICiyama, Sylvia Parker BRANCH LOCATION/BRANCH SHOP 2 Lincoln Square (Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets) New York, NY 10023-6214 212/595-9533 STAFF Weekend Gallery Manager:Ursula Morillo Security: Kenneth R. Bing, Bienvenido Medina

Ann-Marie Reilly ChiefRegistrar/Director ofExhibition Production DEPARTMENTS Susan Flamm Public Relations Director Marie S.DiManno Director ofMuseum Shops Richard Ho Manager ofInfirrmation Technology Alexis Davis Manager of Visitor Services Christine Rivera Assistant Manager of Visitor Services Nicole Whelan Manager ofPhotographic Services

Jennifer Kalter Museum Educator and Coordinatorfor School Partnerships and Programs Lee Kogan Curator ofPublic Programs and Special Exhibitions Jenifer P. Borum Folk Art Studies Coordinator Madelaine Gill Family Programs Coordinator FACILITIES Michael O'Shea Director ofOperations Daniel Rodriguez Office Services Coordinator

Lucy Cullman Danziger Vice President Edward V.Blanchard Jr. Treasurer Taryn Gottlieb Leavitt Secretary Didi Barrett Joyce B. Cowin R.Webber Hudson Joan M.Johnson Michelle L. Lasser Selig D. Sacics Members Akosua Barthwell Evans David L.Davies Jacqueline Fowler Patricia Geoghegan Robert L. Hirschhorn Kristina Johnson Robert I. Kleinberg Andrew McElwee Bonnie Strauss Richard H.Walker Elizabeth V.Warren L.John Wilkerson Trustees Emeriti Ralph 0.Esmerian Chairman Emeritus Joseph F. Cullman 3rd (1912-2004) Samuel Farber Cordelia Hamilton Frances Sirota Martinson Cyril I. Nelson (1927-2005) George F. Shaslcan Jr. Gerard C.Werticin Director Emeritus

PUBLICATIONS Tanya Heinrich Director ofPublications Mareike Grover Managing Editor

Jane Lattes Director ofVolunteer Services Caroline Kerrigan Lerch Executive Director of The American Antiques Show

AMERICAN

0 Li MUSEUM

10 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

ALLAN KATZ Americana

Shoemaker's Trade Sign For H.M. Thron Rome, New York White pine and poplar.

Original painted and gilt decoration Two-sided Ca. 1850. Measures: 19" x 26.

Allan & Penny Katz

By Appointment 25 Old Still Road

Woodbridge,CT 06525 Tel.(203) 393-9356 folkkatz@optonline.net

0 21 101101111

American Folk Art Museum 45 West 53rd Street New York City 212/265-1040 www.folkartmuseum.org

MUSEUM HOURS Tuesday—Sunday Friday Monday ADMISSION Adults Students/Seniors Children under 12 Members Friday evening 5:30-7:30 Pm

10:30 Am-5:30 Pm 10:30 Am-7:30 Pm Closed $9 $7 Free Free Free to all

SHOP HOURS Saturday—Thursday

10 Am-6 Pm

Friday

10 AM-8 PM

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

Folk Art Revealed On continuous view Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses:

The Synagogue to the Carousel Through March 23, 2008

Darger-ism: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger Apri115—Sept. 14,2008

Asa Ames Apri115—Sept. 21,2008

BRANCH LOCATION/BRANCH SHOP 2 Lincoln Square(Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets), New York City 212/595-9533 Admissison:$3 suggested donation Hours:Tuesday—Saturday, noon-7:30 PM; Sunday, noon-6 Pm A Legacy in Quilts: Cyril Irwin Nelson's Final Gifts to the American Folk Art Museum Through Feb. 24,2008 Earl Cunningham's America March 4—Aug.31,2008

TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS Martin Ramirez Milwaukee Art Museum 414/224-3220; www.mam.org Through Jan. 13,2008

Ancestry & Innovation: African American Art from the American Folk Art Museum Multiple venues through summer 2009; see www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibits/ ancestry_and_innovation/main.htm

12 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

EDI

TOR'S

COLUMN

TANYA HEINRICH

hen I was growing up, my parents rented the garage behind our house to a potter who converted the space into a studio.In addition to throwing functional pots, she created exquisite, sensuous ceramic sculptures,firing her wares in a brick kiln she had constructed in our backyard. Working in the late 1800s, Cornwall and Wallace Kirkpatrick were more commercial than our friend but no less racy for their day.The CARBONDALE DISTRICT FAIR DIRECTORY JUG success ofthe brothers'pottery in Anna,Illinois, enabled Cornwall Kirkpatrick (1814-1890) them to hire employees to mine the clay and make the Anna Pottery, Anna, Illinois pots,thus freeing them to express their social and political 1884 Salt-glazed stoneware with fly ash beliefs in more artful, decorated vessels,some ofwhich 181/2 x11" are sexually and scatologically explicit. Richard D.Mohr's University Museum, Southern Illinois careful examination ofthe Anna Pottery's idiosyncratic snake University-Carbondale, 80.20/1 jugs, pig flasks, and commemorative vessels challenges their conventional interpretation as temperance propaganda; please turn to page 70.

About a hundred years later, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein,another Midwesterner, also expressed his interests using clay. His leafy vessels and delicate crowns, which he fired in a coal stove, were painted with pretty shades of house paint. He also created four other distinct bodies of work: otherworldly oil paintings,large cast-concrete masks,fowl-bone chairs and towers, and thousands of photographic portraits of his wife.The spindly bone towers led to a late-1970s series of paintings ofsoaring modern buildings,in which he captured the essence ofsteel and glass by stamping patterns with the edge ofcorrugated cardboard. Lisa Stone's musings on the artist and related works begin on page 82.

The technique of woodblock printing textiles is not dissimilar to Von Bruenchenhein's experimentations.John Hevvson,who immigrated to Philadelphia from London in 1773, was a master woodblock printer ofcalicos, and the business he established in this country is recognized as one ofthe preeminent printed-textiles manufactories in early America.To date,28 Hewson pieces have been identified, most featuring floral motifs, birds on leafy branches, and butterflies. Kimberly Wulfert relates Hewson's history and the discovery of his extraordinary textiles, one ofwhich is a recent gift to the museum's collection; please turn to page 58.

"Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses:The Synagogue to the Carousel," on view at the museum through March 23,2008, highlights another immigrant experience—that ofEastern and Central European synagogue carvers who came to the United States, mostly New York, beginning around 1870.These Jewish artisans, including renowned carousel carvers Charles Carmel,Marcus Charles Illions, and Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein, brought with them a vital and meaningful visual tradition that helped bridge the transition from the Old World to the New. For guest curator Murray Zimiles's overview, please see page 42.

Illions worked in the Coney Island shop ofWilliam F. Mangels before he established his own carousel-carving business in 1909. Ledger books, drawings, blueprints, photographs, newspaper clippings, and other remnants of Mangels's business are held in the vast Frederick Fried Archives. Cara Zimmerman,who was raised amid a collection ofcarousel horses and who until recently served as this magazine's terrific assistant editor, carefully mined this material to trace the development of a magnificent Illions-Mangels collaboration,from blueprint to final delivery to an amusement park in Pennsylvania. Her essay begins on page 52.

Three recent Folk Art covers have received recognition in the past year—two by Print magazine and one by the Society of Publications Designers. Hats offto our longtime designer,Jeffrey Kibler of The Magazine Group,for this well-deserved honor.

I wish you all a wonderful fall.

W

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Navajo pictorial rug with scene of the Hogback Trading Company featuring unusual depiction of airplane and vehicles.

Circa 1930

NATHAN LIVERANT AND SON •ANTIQUES • ESTABLISHED 1920

168 SOUTH MAIN STREET • PO Box 103 • COLCHESTER, CT 06415 •(860)537-2409 www.liverantantiques.com

-

PHILADELPHIA WIREMAN POWER OBJECTS

OLLMAN GALLERY 1616 WALNUT ST. STE 100, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103 tel: 215.545.7562 / www.fleisher-ollmangallery.com

DIR

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LET

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MARIA ANN CONELLI

he last few months have been anything but quiet at the developed over the course of his distinguished career will assist the muAmerican Folk Art Museum.The highlight ofthe summer seum as it faces new challenges in the 21st century.I am delighted to was the museum's first comprehensive rug show since 1974. welcome Andrew McElwee to board service and am grateful to him for Organized by Lee Kogan,curator of public programs and his commitment to the museum. special exhibitions,"The Great Cover-up: American Rugs on The museum also welcomed Michael O'Shea as its operations Beds,Tables, and Floors" generated much media attention,including a director. One of his first tasks has been the renovation ofthe museum's stellar review in the New York Times. branch at Lincoln Square.Thanks to the generous support of trustee "Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses:The Synagogue to the Carousel" Joyce B. Cowin and trustee emerita Frances Sirota Martinson, the opened the fall season at the museum on Oct.2.The show traces the ar- gallery will be updated and readied for new exhibitions and programs tistic development ofJewish woodcarvers and other artisans from Eastthis fall.The first installation, on view through February,is highlighting ern and Central Europe in America.Their exuberant artworks reveal a exceptional quilts recently gifted to the collection from trustee surprising link that was forged between the synagogue and the carousel emeritus Cyril I. Nelson (1927-2005), many ofwhich are exhibited as symbolic visual elements were transferred into this vernacular Ameri- for the first time. can idiom. Guest curator Murray Zimiles and senior curator Stacy C. Since my arrival at the museum in 2005,1 have had the chance to Hollander deserve much praise for the exhibition and the accompanyshare with you my pride in our visually stunning,innovative exhibitions ing catalog; the project has been as much a labor oflove as it has been a and our educational programs. Rarely do I have the opportunity to celscholarly pursuit. ebrate the talents ofthe museum's "Gilded Lions and Jeweled administration, but the time is just Horses" also served as the theme right for lauding such praise.This for the museum's annual Benefit past year,I worked closely with Gala,"On the Carousel," held Deputy Director Linda Dunne on Oct. 16.Three dear friends and ChiefFinancial Officer Robin ofthe museum were honored: Schlinger to balance the museum's trustee Joyce B.Cowin;Edgar M. budget and start a campaign to Cullman Sr.,former chairman secure the institution's financial ofthe General Cigar Company; ti future.I am pleased to report and Richard D.Parsons, chairthat the museum is on a path to i man and chiefexecutive officer good health.I am indebted to Trustee Joyce B. Cowin Edgar M. Cullman Sr. Richard D. Parsons of Time Warner. them both for their ingenuity and I am proud to announce that thoughtful financial planning. My the museum has launched its new certificate program in Folk Art gratitude also goes out to Tanya Heinrich, director of publications and Studies.Through lectures, discussions, examination of artworks on editor ofFolk Art magazine. Her creativity and resourcefulness are esview in the galleries, and field trips, participants will acquire a deep sential for the museum to find new ways to offer our constituency more understanding ofsubject matters and issues important to the field. information more quickly through the use of new technologies.In the While the courses are concise enough to fit into the schedule of a busy coming months, you'll see dramatic changes to our online appearance, professional, they are designed to impart a thorough knowledge and including videos and podcasts.The museum will publish Folk Art in an understanding of the material. A series of Saturday seminars is also annual format and will produce an article-rich American Antiques Show offered.The museum welcomes Jenifer P. Borum as the program's cocatalog in addition to exhibition catalogs.I hope that the advances the ordinator. A PhD candidate in art history at theGraduate Center ofthe museum is making to bring you new and exciting access to its collections, City University of New York and an MFA student in creative writing at exhibitions, and programs will delight you.

New York University, as well as a longtime contributor to this magazine, January is always an exciting time,and 2008 looks bigger and she will also work closely with the museum to expand other educational brighter than ever.The American Antiques Show Gala Benefit Preview programs. is scheduled for Jan. 16,2008; the show will run Jan. 17 to 20. Reserve At a time when the museum's board of trustees is growing in new your tickets now. On Jan. 24,the Outsider Art Fair will open with a directions,it elected Andrew McElwee as a new trustee. McElwee is Preview Gala to benefit the museum.The fair will welcome visitors the executive director ofChubb &Son and works as the chief operating Jan.25 to 27. officer for Chubb Personal Insurance. Prior to joining the personal I want to thank all of you who made this year's Annual Appeal such insurance division, he was the manager ofinternational field operations a success. Your generosity sustains the museum,while your thoughtfuland as such was responsible for Chubb's growth in 32 countries on ness supports the efforts ofa dedicated staff. It's a wonderful time to be four continents. McElwee also holds a law degree.The experience he a member and friend ofthe institution. I'll see you at the museum!* IMOTHY GREENFIELD-

T

FALL 2007

FOLK ART

15

CLAUDE & ALVAN BISNOFF COLLECTION

OCTOBER 27,2007 MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE NORTHEAST AUCTIONS

AMERICA'S LEADING ANTIQUE SAMPLER AND NEEDLEWORK DEALER

Outstanding St. Joseph's Academy Silk Embroidery by Elinor Theresa Kelly, 1826.

Emmitsburg, Maryland; Published as fig. 577 in Betty Ring's Girlhood Embroidery, Vol. II. Framed size: 26.5 by 32.25 inches.

est. 1947

M.Finkel

Daughter.

936 Pine Street • Philadelphia, PA 19107• tel: 215-627-7797•fax: 215-627-8199 www.samplings.com • mailbox@samplings.com

AMERICAN GARAGE PURVEYORS OF AMERICAN COUNTRY • FOLK ART • RUSTIC & OLD HICKORY

19TH CENTURY CAST ZINC FIGURE OF LADY LIBERTY WEARING A FLOWING GOWN WITH BUTTON AND FRINGE DECORATION AND A TRADITIONAL PHRYGIAN CAP SHOWING A CENTRAL SIX POINTED STAR, WITH GREAT DETAIL TO HER FACE, HAIR, HANDS AND FEET, ALL IN A WEATHERED SECOND SURFACE RED OVER AN EARLIER GOLD WITH SILVER PAINTED SKIN TONE. THIS PIECE WAS ORIGINALLY MANUFACTURED AS A GAS LIGHT AND IS ATTRIBUTED TO DEMUTH OR MOTT, WITH SIMILAR EXAMPLES PICTURED IN THE BOOK, ARTISTS IN WOOD BY FREDERICK FRIED. 35" HIGH X 9.5" WIDE X 7.5" DEEP. 7934 W. THIRD STREET • LOS ANGELES • CALIFORNIA 90048 323.658.8100 • FAX: 323.658.8688 EMAIL: AMERICANGARAGE@EARTHLINK.NET • WWW.AMERICANGARAGEANTIQUES.COM

DIANA DOUGLAS

MICHAEL J. OGLE

131 OlivE NtItH-R(A snit» (H. FLoRkN(l. Only) 1944 WISCONMN ORIGIN OH ON CANVAS 50— H x 40"W 10.9155 10111\ LH \NA HR. \ 245 (14o tot -107

MINIATUR

ES

NEK CHAND CONFERENCE From Nov.6 to 11,the Nek Chand Foundation(www.nekchand.org) will host Keeping the Dream Alive: An International Folk Art Conference in Chandigarh,India.

Featuring lectures on defining, preserving,financing, and promoting folk art, the conference and diamond-jubilee celebration of the foundation will emphasize the importance of the art ofthe self-taught within the art world.

The conference will also include an exhibition of photographs offolk art environments from around the globe.

WILD THINGS "Wild Things: Selections from Kate Manko's Collection of American Folk Art Animals" will be on view at the Brick Store Museum(207/985-4802; www.brickstoremuseum.org) in Kennebunk,Me.,through Dec.29. Many ofthe objects in the exhibition were found in camps throughout Maine and date from the late 19th to the late 20th centuries.The collection, which Manko began to assemble as a child,includes both decorative pieces and utilitarian objects such as decoys and weathervanes.

FRAMES AS ART The art offraming paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs is celebrated by the Chrysler Museum ofArt(757/664-6200; www.chrysler.org) in Norfolk, Va. Open through Jan.6,2008, "The Secret Lives ofFrames: 100 Years of Art and Artistry from the Lowy Collection" highlights diverse periods and movements in the often-overlooked history offrame-making.The exhibition features antique frames dating from the 16th to the early 20th centuries.

20 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

RICARDO MARTINE

BY JULIA A. BARBER

BELT OR RIBBON LOOMS / Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Austria /17th-19th centuries / wood / 5-11" h. / Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, MNM, DCA

NEEDLES AND PINS Textiles and costumes in the permanent collection of Santa Fe's Museum ofInternational Folk Art (505/476-1200; www.moifa.org) will be on view through April 13, 2008."Needles and Pins:Textiles and Tools" also showcases the instruments and techniques used to create needlework and woven textiles all over the world.

COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG SYMPOSIUM Remembrances of a young nation are the subject of a symposium at Virginia's Colonial Williamsburg (800/603-0948; www.colonial williamsburg.org/conted)from Oct.28 to 31."Remember Me When This You See": Embroidered and Painted Arts ofthe New Republic will feature notable speakers Laura Pass Barry,Linda Baumgarten,Peter Benes,Davida Deutsch,Amy Finkel,Betsy Garrett, Ronald L.Hurst, Kimberly Smith Ivey,and Carolyn Weekley.Workshops and tours will delve into the fashion and conservation of18th- and 19th-century textiles, paper,and paintings.

STITCHED STARS Guest curator Patricia T. Herr explores a familiar theme in textiles from the Heritage Center Museum (717/299-6440; www.heritagecentermuseum.com)in Lancaster,Pa. "Stars over Pennsylvania," on view through Dec.31,showcases quilts, pincushions, and other starred textiles as a rumination on the enduring cultural fascination with this simple icon.

EVA ZEISEL Ceramicist Eva Zeisel's marriage of handicraft and design for mass production ran at the forefront of many ofthe trends ofinternational design in the 20th century. Her work is celebrated in the exhibition "Eva Zeisel: Extraordinary Designer at 100," open through Dec.30 at the Craft and Folk Art Museum (323/937-4230; www.cafam.org)in Los Angeles. Organized by the Mingei International Museum,San Diego,the retrospective charts Zeisel's countless contributions to the world ofindustrial design and includes dinner services, tea sets, and other objects that have defined the concept of modern design.

SUGAR BOWL AND CASSEROLE / Eva Zeisel (b.1906)/ United States / 1955; manufactured 1957

by Hall China Company, East Liverpool, Ohio / glazed earthenware / 4/ 1 4 x 5/ 1 4x5/ 1 4"; 71/2 x 10/ 1 2x fr/ 1 2 "/ collection of Jim Drobka

MEMORIAL TO GEORGE WASHINGTON / Catharine Townsend Warner (1785-1828)/ Warwick, Rhode Island / c.1809 / silk, metallic cord, silver metallic thread, and paint on silk in a gilded frame with reverse-painted glass mat with gold leaf /163/8 x 133Ae / Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Museum, Williamsburg, Virginia, gift of Florence R. Kenyon, 1938.604.1

WONDERFUL WOODEN WHIMSEY Carved and polychrome-painted bird and acorn whimsey - recently discovered in a summer home in Jamestown, Rhode Island. This piece has the look of an early 20th-century Pennsylvania carving. The birds and acorns have a gold finish, with most of the other components painted a dull red. It measures 26" h. X 13" w. X 9" d.

RICHARD'S V-0- WIZ SINCE 1988

RICHARD DONNELLY

•

401-245-1060

RICHARD@RICHANTIQUES.CON1

WWW.RICHANTIQUES.CONI

A world of wonder awaits...

MINIATURES

SNAPSHOTS The point-and-shoot camera has long been an inexpensive and readily available means ofvisual expression.The Newark Museum (973/596-6550; www.newarkmuseum.org)in Newark, NJ.,will host an examination of the snapshot as both a visual representation and an artistic expression. Organized by Marvin Heiferman,"Now Is Then: Snapshots from the Maresca Collection," on view from Feb. 12 through May 11,2008,will feature more than 200 photographs from the holdings oflongtime collector and dealer Frank Maresca.

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Kentucky Folk Art Center 102 West First Street Morehead, KY 40351 606.783.2204 KFAC is a cultural, educational, and economic development service of Morehead State University.

www.kyfolkart.org 22 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

ORNAMENTAL WOODCARVING AND PAPERFOLDI NG The Peabody Essex Museum (978/745-9500; www.pem.org)in Salem,Mass.,is showcasing ornamental woodcarvings ofnoted Salem architect Samuel McIntire through Feb.24,2008.

"Samuel Mdntire: Carving an American Style" celebrates the artist's neoclassical ornamental carvings for buildings,ships, and furniture. On Nov.3 and 4,in conjunction with the exhibition,the institution will host a symposium,Carving in America,during which noted scholars will share new research about American woodcarving,including furniture, sculpture,and architecture.

Also at the Peabody Essex Museum is "Origami Now!" On view through June 8,2008,the show highlights the work ofcontemporary origami artists Satoshi Kamiya,Michael LaFosse, Robert Lang, and Jeannine Mosely, among others.The ancient Japanese tradition of paper-folding not only has found a cultural renaissance in the West but also has been introduced to fields such as space technology and mathematics.

INNOVATIVE QUILTS Improvisation, asymmetry, and experimentation in quiltmaking will be explored in a new exhibition at the Memorial Art Gallery ofthe University of Rochester (585/473-7720; magsochester.edu) in Rochester, N.Y. "Wild by Design: Two Hundred Years ofInnovation and Artistry in American Qpilts," on view from Jan.20 through March 16,2008, will present 25 quilts dating from 1825 to 1989 whose makers pushed the boundary between conventional quiltmaking and "painting with fabric," a subtle practice that transcends the traditional limits of the medium.

COMPASS QUILT / artist unidentified / probably Pennsylvania / c.1850-1870 / cotton /86 x 65"/ Ardis and Robert James Collection, International Quilt Study Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1997.7.949

Robert Cargo FOLK ART GALLERY Self-taught, visionary, and outsider art of the South African American quilts • Haitian spirit flags

NAVAJO SADDLE BLANKET / artist unidentified / United States / 1860-1880/ tapestry weave / 50 x 32"/ Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe, Department of Cultural Affairs, donation of Mrs. Phillip Stewart, 9124/12

MYTH OF THE SPIDER WOMAN The familiar myth ofthe connection between the spider and the loom takes new form in an exhibition highlighting weaving in the Southwest."Spider Woman's Gift," on display through April 6,2008,at the Museum of Indian Arts& Culture(505/476-1250; www.miaclab.org)in Santa Fe, explores the extraordinary history and mythology ofweaving and its significance in the Navajo culture.The show features more than 40 classic Navajo textiles dating from 1860 to 1880,including woven blankets, dresses, and sarapes, and examines the enduring connection between myths and textiles.

PURVIS YOUNG IN NEW YORK Self-taught artist Purvis Young discovered and began to study art while incarcerated in the Florida State Penitentiary as a young man.The series ofworks shown through March 30,2008, at the National Museum of Catholic Art and History(212/828-5209; www.nmcah.org)in New York were inspired by the angels Young believed came to visit him in prison, and whom he still thinks of as his guardians."Purvis and His Angels"showcases the artist's very personal vocabulary ofsymbolic and narrative imagery, which is unmistakably steeped in his spirituality.

SOUTHERN SELFTAUGHT ARTISTS Carl Mullis's passion for Southern folk art led him to collect paintings, sculptures, and other objects that moved him on a deeply personal level. In "Amazing Grace: Self-Taught Artists from the Mullis Collection," on view through Jan.6,2008,the Georgia Museum ofArt(706/542-4662; www.uga.edu/gamuseum)in Athens spreads Mullis's enthusiasm for Southern visionaries, including Thornton Dial, Howard Finster, Sister Gertrude Morgan,and several lesserknown Georgia self-taught artists.

The exhibition sheds light on the wide spectrum ofthese artists'influences, including spiritual and visionary imagery as well as pop culture and politics.

Leroy Almon, "Hell,"1988 reliefcarved, painted wood panel with rhinestones insetfor eyes, 36x 22

www.cargofolkart.com Caroline Cargo 110 Darby Road • Paoli, PA 19301 info@cargofolkart.com •610-240-9528 Main Line Philadelphia • By Appointment Only PEOPLE AND DOG IN A CAR/ Mose Tolliver (c.1920-2006)/ Montgomery, Alabama / C. 1974 / house paint on plywood /24 x 22"! collection of Carl Mullis

FALL 2007 FOLK ART

23

MINIATURES

Going West!

QUILTS and COMMUNITY Now through January 21,2008 Going West! features 50 quilts that reveal the importance of quiltmaking in the lives of women on the frontier.

Smithsonian American Art Museum e%BO' " ) Renwick Gallery

Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street Washington, DC Open io a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily AmericanArt.si.edu (202)633-1000

The Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of Helen and Peter Bing for this exhibition.

Sara Barbary Good Boldon, Wagon Wheels Crazy Quilt (detail), Craig, Burt County, Nebraska, about 189o, wool; pieced,tied, pressed, and embroidered. Lent by the Burt County Museum,Tekamah.

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CUNNINGHAM AND QUILTS "Earl Cunningham's America,"open through Nov.4 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (202/633-7970; americanart.si.edu) in Washington,D.C.,presents examples of this self-taught painter's brightly colored landand seascapes—works teeming with vitality SUMMERTIME AT FORT SAN MARCOS/ and a keen sense ofthe joy ofliving.The Earl Cunningham (1893-1977)/ St. exhibition draws the viewer into a Technicolor Augustine, Florida / C. 1970/ oil on Masonite / 16 x 24"!The Mennello world,where happiness and fantasy reign.It Museum of American Art, Orlando, will travel to the American Folk Art Florida, gift of Michael A. and Museum's branch location at 2 Lincoln Marilyn L. Mennello, 2001-12-66 Square beginning March 4,2008.

Also on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum is "Going West! Quilts and Community." Organized by Sandi Fox and open through Jan. 21,2008,the show investigates the heightened importance ofthe roles quilts played for pioneers crossing the early American frontier.The exhibition features more than 50 quilts used by families traveling the Great Platte River Road to the Nebraska Territory, weaving together the practical and personal aspects of these heirlooms to shed light on the lives ofthe brave women who made them.

ARTISTS' BOOKS "Production Not Reproduction:The Influence of Offset Printing on Artists'Books," an exhibition at New York's Centerfor Book Arts(212/481-0295; www.centerforbookarts .org),catalogs the rise and fall ofoffset-printed artists' books. Offset lithography,the most common technique in commercial printing since the mid-20th century,became popular among print artists about 50 years ago but was largely abandoned in these circles by the late 1990s.

Open through Dec. 8,"Production Not Reproduction"features prints by artists such as Dieter Roth and Ed Ruscha; works from small, nonprofit presses; and offset-printed artists' books from the 1980s,including works by Johanna Drucker, Clifton Meador,and Buzz Spector.

ENGRAVED POWDER HORNS A collection of75 powder horns are on display through Dec.30 at Historic Deerfield (413/775-7214; wvvw.historic-deerfield.org) in Deerfield, Mass.

Powder horns made from hollowed-out cow horns are some ofthe nation's most expressive and personal artifacts from the Revolutionary and the French and Indian EDWARD Wars,when they were used by American soldiers SHERBURNE'S who could not afford cartridge boxes to carry POWDER HORN / their gunpowder."Engraved Powder Horns from attributed to John Gay (act. the French and Indian War and the American 1758-1787)/ Revolution:The William H.Guthman ColCambridge, lection" showcases a wide variety of horns Massachusetts / carved by diverse craftsmen,identifiable hollowed-out cow by their distinct styles ofintahorn / 3 x 17" / The William H. glio calligraphy and Guthman Collection design.

of American Powder Horns at Historic Deerfield, Deerfield, Massachusetts, 2005.20.63

Jimmy Hedges

MR. & MRS. HAROLD HEALY SYMBOLICALLY SKETCHED/FIRST PRIZE, FIRST ANNIVERSARY / Achilles G. Rizzoli (1896-1981)/ San Francisco / 1936 link on rag paper / 36 x 25"/ courtesy The Ames Gallery, Berkeley, California

A.G. RIZZOLI Isolation finds a new expression in the fantastical world of Achilles G. Rizzoli(1896-1981),which can be seen through Jan.5,2008, at Intuit:The Centerfor Intuitive and Outsider Art(312/243-9088; www.art.org) in Chicago. Organized by Jo Farb Hernandez,"A.G. Rizzoli: Architect of Magnificent Visions" highlights the artist's origins as a draftsman in San Francisco and his transformation of the principles of architectural drawing into exquisite cityscapes honoring those he loved.

SUGAR CHESTS Builtto protect frontier-dwellers'supplies of expensive sugar, Kentucky sugar chests are now prized as one of America's most distinctive kinds of antique furniture.

These chests, along with sugar desks and boxes, are on view through Dec.2 at the Speed Art Museum (502/634-2700; vvvvw.speedmuseum.org) in Louisville, Ky. "For Safekeeping:The Kentucky Sugar Chest, 1790 —1850"is the first exhibition to showcase these iconic objects that were once proudly displayed in dining rooms and parlors on the Western frontier as symbols ofrefinement and wealth.

Georgia Blizzard vessel. "First Glimpse at Life" "Birth Blooms Death. Death Blooms Eternity"

SUGAR DESK / artist unidentified / vicinity of Bourbon County, Kentucky / c.1820/ cherry with tulip poplar / 341 / 2 30%>. / Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, gift of Mrs. Hattie Bishop Speed, by exchange, 1994.1

Julia A. Barber served as an intern in the museum'spublications and development departments in the summer of2007. She is pursuing her BA in art history and French at Swarthmore College.

Please visit our NEW we site: www.risingfawnfolkart.com 3745 Scenic Highway Rising Fawn,GA 30738 risingfawnfolk@aol.com (706) 398-2640

FALL 2007 FOLK ART

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CARL

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EDGAR TOLSON Temptation Scene, Carved and Painted Poplar Wood. Signed. c. 1975. 15 x 14 x 12 inches.(Provenance available)

Exhibiting: The American Antiques Show January 16 — 20, 2008 Metropolitan Pavillion 125W. 18th St., NYC

The Outsider Art Fair January 24 — 27, 2008

Art Chicago April 24 — 28, 2008

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Iron coiled snake with old paint The tour de force of coiled iron was made of joined sections, the thickness of my wrist and weighing 42 lbs by an unknown iron worker.

14x14x13in. c.1900 Visit our new website www.americanprimitiveicorn

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Chilkat Dancing Robe, Tlingit, c. 1875

DAVID DC COOK ,„, 303.623.8181

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me that wonderful objects could be found anywhere. Objects in our collection have to challenge me on multiple levels. Given that,I can find as much beauty and visual interest in a rusted object I pick up on the street as I can in a work by any artist. This is actually a surrealist way ofseeing the world.

I love things for their intrinsic beauty, and in our home,an old obscure farm implement with incredible form might hang next to a work by J.B. Murry or David Butler, an anonymous snapshot, or a photogravure by Peter Henry Emerson. Our love ofart is quite broad.There is nothing really new or special in this. All artists and visually astute people can make connections to things. Consider the work ofJoseph Cornell,for example—the metaphors and narratives he created by the juxthis curiosity I had,searching for taposition offound objects in his and trying to define for myself boxes were just genius. Common, this yearning I had to find things everyday things in collage,for exthat were honest and unconample, have been used for the last trived. I knew "something" was century. Ofcourse,the American out there that I needed to learn Folk Art Museum has always recmore about.Then,when I saw ognized and displayed anonymous the work of Howard Finster for art. All artworks should be evaluthe first time in the early 1980s, ated for their visual strength, I was just blown away. Also,the honesty, and power—that's it. flea markets were beginning to reveal these incredible anonymous TH Was photography initially part ofyour collecting interest? Or things,so it was like this whole did that come later? JF Photognew world was beginning to open raphy was a big part of my up for me. TH You have a strong interest in "anonymous" art. What early studies,but collecting photography did not come until quite is it about works by unidentified a bit later. For my undergraduate artists that appeals to you? JF work,I was fortunate to have The anonymous artist represents studied photography and painting all ofus, the uncelebrated "everyvery seriously, and that crossman" artist. That the makers are pollination between the two disciunknown simply adds another plines instilled this intense desire level of mystery and wonder to the piece.The obvious caveat here to merge the two,to experiment.

By 1974,1 was making photois that the object has to be extraordinary, or I am not interested. emulsion canvases, so photography became an integral part of Great art is great art. Unsigned, my artistic expression. TH One of uncelebrated art ofwonderful design or form always validated to your early projects involved taking

John and Teenuh Foster have been collecting vernacular photography in earnest for ten years, an interest that evolved from their longtime passion for art and objects by anonymous makers. Part of their collection is currently touring in the exhibition "Accidental Mysteries." John Foster was a founder and past-president of ENVISION, a Missouri-based nonprofit organization that mounted and hosted exhibitions of the work of self-taught artists. He also served as editor of the organization's journal for ten years. In January of this year, Foster presented highlights of his photography collection at the American Folk Art Museum's annual symposium Uncommon Artists: A Series of Cameo Talks. Our conversation was sparked by some of the images he shared with the audience. i-i When did you first start collecting art, and what are some of your early finds? JF When I was a boy,I started out collecting things that didn't cost any money, mainly because I didn't have much ofit.I grew up in Winston-Salem,North Carolina, in the 1950s and '60s, and my summers were spent exploring the creeks and woods around my house,collecting things from the natural world that interested me.

Life was just very experiential for me.I can remember one summer day going through the neighborhood yards and collecting one of every variety offlower I could find,just because I was amazed at the differences in their color, shape,texture,size—even their fragrance.I collected rocks,leaves, bird eggs, bottle caps, and,later, the more common things,such as baseball cards,comic books, and coins. As an adult artist, I was always drawn to flea markets, looking for the things most people weren't looking for. It was just

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details from found X-rays. What was your intention with that project? JF I exhibited large photographic prints made from found X-rays at my MFA thesis exhibition in 1976 at Washington University in St. Louis.To me,these medical X-rays were extraordinary found objects just waiting to be reinterpreted. Here was something that at one time was used by doctors for making medical analyses about broken bones or a disease, and here I was looking at the same information completely out ofcontext. My eyes saw only the accidental aesthetic material that was left behind.I was fortunate back then to have been able to experience Claes Oldenburg's Mouse Museum,a"museum within a museum"that dealt with the obsessiveness ofcollecting and of collections and how we see things.

Oldenburg appropriated more than four hundred found objects, forcing viewers to make associations with these objects in a new way.It was the "ray gun" section of his mini-museum that was so eyeopening for me. Oldenburg had arranged hundreds offound objects, all roughly in the shape ofa ray gun.These were sticks, rocks, wire,old gloves,tar paper,fortune cookies,rusted debris, anything that remotely followed his notion ofthe right-angled, handle/barrel ofthe "gun"shape.To this day,I see still "ray guns" on the street, hikes,everywhere and anywhere an object has the accidental fortune to mimic that shape.The Oldenburg experience just reaffirmed my connectedness to the found object. TH Can you describe the first snapshot you acquired? JF A family portrait (page 32)started it all. It's really pretty incredible. Compositionally, it's wonderful.It has many levels and angles.I love the way the

ALL IMAGES 0 JOHN AND TEENUH FOSTER,

BY TANYA HEINRICH

woman's arm hanging over the fence echoes the diagonal rooffine and the tree branches and at the same time seems to point to the boy in the foreground.What got me as well was the intent. Did the photographer compose the shot this way,or was it a serendipitous moment? Ifit was just an image ofthe boy and his father,I never

would have kept it. But the woman and the other guy standing at the door in the far rear seem to have just popped in the frame,and that makes it great. TH Have your criteria evolved as the collection has grown? JF It's all about the image.I am,for the most part, not at all interested in a picture for its historical context or genre or even

subject matter.I look for that overall graphic quality that rises way above the genre.Take tintypes,for example.There are thousands and thousands ofcentury-old tintypes out there with straightforward,standard portraits that I find incredibly boring,for the most part. But show me a tintype ofa man dressed in drag and

I have to have it. Have my criteria evolved? Oh yes, absolutely. If they hadn't,I wouldn't be growing.I do not exaggerate when I say that I probably look at and consider,ifeven for a split second, around three hundred to five hundred snapshots a week. And from that number,I might be lucky to find five or ten that I consider

FALL 2007

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worthy enough to keep.You see, with snapshots,finding a great picture is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. And looking at that many pictures a week will do wonders for one's ability to evaluate an image quickly. I go through a box ofloose snapshots like a person dealing cards. I have to, or I'd never get through them. TH Many of your photographs display real compositional strength, albeit sometimes

"Accidental Mysteries" is on view at the Peabody Essex Museum (www.pem.org) in Salem, Mass., through Jan. 27, 2008. The exhibition will be on view next at South Shore Arts, William J. Bachman Gallery, Center for Visual and Performing Arts (www.southshoreartsonline.org) in Munster, Ind., from March 23 to May 4, 2008. A book of the Foster collection is scheduled to be published by David R. Godine Publishers in 2009. For more information and additional images from the collection, see www.accidentalmysteries.com.

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with atypical—or accidental— proportions, the so-called mistakes that actually make a mundane scene interesting.Those that are particularly askew almost feel as though they are details cropped from a larger image— there's a pull toward what might be occurring just outside the frame. Some ofthe photos have incredible double exposures,others have hot spots or errors in lighting that create ghostly apparitions. Sometimes the photographer's shadow appears within the frame. Smaller subjects, such as pets or children, are frequently photographed from what must have been a crouched position, creating interesting angles and perspective.These "accidents" you've salvaged don't betray a sense ofvicious humor—you're not poking fun at bad photos or funny-looking people. It's refreshingly kitsch-free. JF I never want to make fin of a bad photo or a funny-looking person,though sometimes it's just downright humorous and there's no getting around it. Sometimes people do things for the camera for the attention,like climb up on top of a telephone pole to be photographed.There's nothing funny about a person with a disability, and for the most part I won't collect those. Ifone like that is within my collection,it is usually something else I am interested in.

A finger in front ofthe lens is a common mistake,as are double exposures. But these "mistakes" do not guarantee a great picture.To the contrary, most ofthese mistakes guarantee a pretty bad photo. TH In addition to artful compositions, many of your photographs are mid-motion,candid moments not typically captured in what would be considered a "good"snapshot,in which one poses, and smiles, and waits for the shutter click_ In a few ofthe portraits—the boy with his head on a pillow,the very pretty girl

is the magic ofa great photographic portrait. It's rare and it is one ofthe most fleeting and elusive attributes. When I see it,I feel fortunate to be able to even recognize it. My heart actually races when I see these special images.The great trained photographers can capture this, and even then, you have to wonder how many pictures they take ofa single subject to get that one perfect image. So,to find one ofthese in a vernacular photo is just rare, rare, rare. TH I especially love the shot ofa curving mountain road (below),its perfect symmetry broken only by an old sedan on what appears to be along,solitary journey. It's a banal landscape, perhaps a hasty vacation snapshot taken from a scenic overlook, but it's moody and atmospheric and beautifully framed—the stark bed ofrocky shale in the foreground, the mysterious shadow on the left, the hazy vista blending into a wide, pale sky that carries a real

with ringlets (both above)—the subjects hold an arresting gaze that communicates something extra to the viewer(and the photographer), a level ofemotion or shared intimacy of a sort that doesn't always appear in posed portraits. What are you looking for in the photos with people?

JF Oh,you have definitely hit a sweet spot for me with this question! What you are talking about

weight. Do you have a lot oflandscapes in your collection? JF I have fewer landscapes than people shots, but great landscape snapshots are fairly rare.The one you speak ofis just out of this world.

In fact,it looks as if that car is nowhere on this earth. And when you think about it, the car couldn't have been placed more perfectly, at the far right side ofthe picture plane. It's simply perfect!*

www.gravescountry.corn

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Presented by 01 Roff

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Graves'Country Gall

Call 01 Roff at(209)368-5740 or(209)473-7089

NAME... and inspire others to do the same. Join the FOLK ART CIRCLE and see your name in the museum and in Folk Art. With a gift of $2,500 to $25,000, you can sponsor the display of an object, or underwrite an exhibition or publication.

To join the museum's quickly expanding circle of friends or for other named-giving opportunities, please contact Christine Corcoran, manager of individual giving, at 212. 977. 7170, ext. 328, or ccorcoran@folkartmuseum.org.

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LIEBESBRIEF (detail)/ Christian Strenge / East Petersburg, Pennsylvania / c.1790 / watercolor and ink on cut paper / American Folk Art Museum, gift of Ralph Esmerian, 2005.8.37 / photo by Schecter Lee

FALL 2007 FOLK ART 33

www.ifravescountrv.corn

Represented by 01 Roff

Juanita Leonard of Louisiana

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Juanita Leonard of Louisiana Email 01 Roff at graves@gravescountrycom

Graves'Country Gallery Call 01 Roff at(209)368-5740 or(209)473-7089

S EVENT TE PRIVA AT THE AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM Host a private event in the museum's award winning building at 45 West 53rd Street in midtown Manhattan. ° Cocktail receptions for up to 250 guests ° Seated dinners for up to 100 guests Auditorium with full range of audio/visual technology for meetings and conferences

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For more information and to arrange a site visit, please contact Katie Hush, special events manager, at 212. 977. 7170, ext. 308, or khush@folkartmuseum.org.

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Felix "Fox" Harris (1905-1985) On permanent exhibition in the newly-dedicated "Fox" Harris Gallery.

Experience a re-creation of the folk art environment created by this SoutheastTexas self-taught artist. Full color catalogue available.

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A.G. Rizzoli Architect ofMagi/ went i'isioiis Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

Chicago

Sept. 14, 2007—Jan. 5,2008

GIa‘NTIO SYMBOLIC FIGURE1 TIME: "Apir

The Ornament, 1936, ink on rag paper, 17-7/8 x 8-7/8

Works by contemporary, visionary, self-taught and outsider artists including Eddie Arning, Julio Garcia, Ted Gordon, Harry Lieberman, Dwight Mackintosh, Alex Maldonado,A.G. Rizzoli,Jon Serl, Barry Simons, and others. Early handmade Americana including canes, tramp art, tintypes and vintage photos.

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ystery plays were episodic religious stories enacted in Europe during the Middle Ages by members of trade and crafts guilds, which each took responsibility for one presentation in a cycle that might include several chapters from the Old and New Testaments.In Elizabethan England, morality plays that were descended from such religious pageants brought home Shakespeare's trenchant observation that all the world's a stage.

Capitalizing on the strength of dramatic or comedic performance as a way of disseminating basic truths, performers conveyed religious and moral lessons in a popular way that could be understood and appreciated by a broad segment ofsociety.

Eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury puzzle books functioned in a similar manner,amusing young children while at the same time offering instruction.

Handmade in both Germanand English-speaking communities in America,these books were based on printed German and English prototypes that featured religious and moral verses in rhyme. Similar to today's flip books,in the early nineteenth century they were called "turn-ups"; they are also known as metamorphosis books because the pictures and verses change as the leaves are turned up or down.

This late-eighteenth-century example featuring a lion turning

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These popular American editions, produced from at least 1787 through 1820,were often copied and hand-colored,sometimes by children or young adults.The verses contained in this version

and many ofthe Sands editions paraphrase the text of The Beginning and Progress ofMan(London: E.Alsop,1654).The initial verse ofthe first book calls"Adam... first upon the stage," harking back to its roots in religious performance.The mythological and biblical references in rhymed verse reinforce the religious precept of life in early America: From original sin to the inevitability of death, the only real reward was not material wealth on earth but salvation through Christ in death.*

Inscriptions: panel one: A Lion rousedfrom his Den /On pirposefor to range/he is Turnd into another Beast/ Turn up and See how Strange/PP; panel two:A Griffin Shape you do Behold/Halffowl halfBeast to be/Do but the Lower leafunfold/and a Stranger Sight you See; panel three: Behold within the Eagles Claws/An Infant here doth Lye/which he has Gotten as aprey/with wingsprepared to.fly

38 FALL 2007

FOLK ART

METAMORPHOSIS (Lion) Artist unidentified Probably New England 1794 Watercolor and ink on paper 6'716 x 33/16" American Folk Art Museum, promised gift of Ralph Esmerian, P1.2001.253c

CERTIFICATE COURSES Course fee: $350 Museum members receive a 10 percent discount FALL 2007 American Folk Painting I American Folk Pottery I American Folk Textiles I Special Topic: The Artist WINTER 2008 American Folk Painting II Special Topic: The Exhibition

FOLK ART STUDIES CERTIFICATE PROGRAM IN AMERICAN FOLK ART STUDIES The American Folk Art Museum's certificate program offers a concentrated study of American folk art and related subjects to help students develop expertise in the field without having to meet the extended requirements of a standard degree program. Each series of courses is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of a specific topic in the field, through careful consideration of the form, iconography, and cultural context of artworks.

Definitions, connoisseurship, and history are considered through lectures, discussions, examination of artwork on view in the museum's galleries, and field trips.

Courses taken toward this certificate are not applicable to any degree, and are not for credit. To receive a certificate in American Folk Art Studies, a total of 140 hours must be completed: 100 hours in required coursework and an additional 40 hours in special topics. Each class meets five times, once a week for two hours, for a total of ten hours.

For more information and to register, please contact Jenifer P. Borum, Folk Art Studies coordinator, at jborum@folkartmuseum.org

AMERICAN

American Folk Art Museum

?> 45 West 53rd Street, New York City 7:1 0 212. 265.1040

MUSEUM

www.folkartmuseum.orq

SPRING 2008 American Folk Pottery II American Folk Textiles II Twentieth Century and Beyond I Special Topic: Defining Folk Art FALL 2008 Twentieth Century and Beyond II American Folk Sculpture I Collectors and Collecting I: Public and Private Religious Folk Art I Special Topic: The Painted Surface WINTER 2009 Special Topic: Latin American Folk Art Special Topic: European Expression: Folk, Naive, Art Brut, Outsider SPRING 2009 American Folk Sculpture II Collectors and Collecting II: Public and Private Religious Folk Art II Special Topic: Folk Art Traditions in Eastern Pennsylvania

COURSES BEGIN OCTOBER 15, 2007 Course descriptions and schedule details at www.folkartmuseum.org

SATURDAY SEMINARS Select Saturdays,9 AM-1 PM Not for credit

Seminar fee: $100 Museum members receive a 10 percent discount African Retentions in the Americas Appraising Folk Art Collecting Folk Art Curator's Choice A Day with Darger Folk Art in Context Public and Private Collections Vernacular Photography What's in a Name? Art Brut, Outsider, Visionary, Self-Taught When Is It Folk Art?

SEMINARS BEGIN OCTOBER 6, 2007 Seminar descriptions and schedule details at www.folkartmuseum.orq

="1 co r•-•

20th Century Wooden Flag 39 1/2" w x 25 3/4" h

19th Century Barber Pole.

7'11"tall. base 101/2" square Metal cap on top to prevent rotting.

Age appropriate checking.

www.outsiderfolkart.co

THURSTON NICHOLS AMERICAN ANTIQUES

yarn sewn tcre'le rug Portrait of galloping horse on landscape. Eye dazzling border with great overall color. Rug is sewn on early linen and is in mint condition.

American, dated 1894. Measures 28" tall by 44" wide.

Thurston Nichols american

antiques

Thurston Nichols American Antiques LLC 522 Twin Ponds Rd, Breinigsville, PA 18031 phone. 610.972 4563 fax: 610.395.3679 tn@thurstonnichols.com www.thurstonnichols.com

Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses

The Synagogue to "Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel" is on view at the American Folk Art Museum through March 23, 2008. The exhibition travels to the Fenimore Art Museum, New York State Historical Association, and the Farmers' Museum, Inc., Cooperstown, New York, from May 24 to September 1, 2008.

The presentation at the American Folk Art Museum is supported in part by Michael Steinhardt; Kekst and Company; the David Berg Foundation; the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation; the Smart Family Foundation; the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation, Allentown, Pennsylvania; the Betty and John A. Levin Fund;the Robert Lehman Foundation; the Nathan Cummings Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts; and the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Museum exhibitions are supported in

2

part by the Leir Charitable Foundations in memory of Henry J. & Erna D. Leir, the Gerard C. Wertkin Exhibition Fund, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

42

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he Carousel

By Murray Zimiles

LION Marcus Charles !filar, (1865/1874-1949) Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York 1910 Paint on wood with glass eyes 51 ,84,20" Mary Lawrence and Waite.

Youree Collection, Oregon

The magnificent wooden and masonry synagogues of Eastern Europe that were filled with elaborately carved arks housing the sacred Torah scrolls are largely lost to the world. Surviving gravestones in nearby cemeteries display the carvers' pictorial and typographical artistry and lead the curious to guess at the wonders of the vanished houses of worship. Great artistic skill was also displayed in many Eastern European Jewish homes, which were decorated with some of the finest papercuts. These traditions of the Eastern European shtetl, handed down through families of craftsmen, evolved and flourished over hundreds of years.

FALL 2007 FOLK ART 43

When Jewish artisans emigrated from Eastern Europe Eastern European Jewish Gravestones to the New World near the end of the nineteenth century, Jewish gravestones that date from the same period as they brought with them carving iconography and tech- carved synagogue arks and Jewish papercuts are part of niques in their hearts, minds, and hands. Immigrant carv- the very same artistic tradition. Unlike many arks and ers decorated many American synagogues, created intricate unlike papercuts, however, gravestones were not pierced and colorful papercuts, and found new uses for their skills through but cut in bas-relief; their imagery and lettering in the secular urban environment. Carvers of ark lions are therefore denser and heavier. Some gravestones were supporting wooden replicas of the Decalogue—the Ten even painted with symbolic colors to further enhance Commandments written on stone tablets—became carvers the sculpted images. The same vocabulary of Messianic of carousel animals, now much sought-after examples of symbols, especially appropriate to all the waiting dead, is also found on these gravestones. In addition, the stones American folk art. feature signs and symbols, words and verses that relate to the deceased person and his or her manner of life, and Eastern European Synagogue Carvings The Bible devotes many often highly detailed verses to prayers, psalms, and sayings selected by the bereaved. An descriptions of the Ark of the Covenant, the chest holding 1872 gravestone (below), for example, features a rampant the Decalogue. An object of magical power that was carried lion ofJudah guarding a Torah crown and the five books of by the Levites during their wanderings and housed within the Bible, or Pentateuch,indicating that the deceased was a the Tabernacle, it offered protection against snakes and scholar ofthe Torah.

The Hebrew lettering on the enemies and worked wonders against gravestones is often beautifully formed obstructions such as mountains and and frequently achieves typographieven the walls ofJericho, until it came cal strength and elegance. Originality, to rest behind a veil in the innermost playfulness, and craft all combine to part of the great Temple built by the lettering, whose source enhance Solomon. and inspiration could have been the The Eastern European ark was calligraphy on marriage contracts, dense with visual references to the Ark books, and illuminated manuscripts. of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and 'Mc The epitaphs, sometimes in Yiddish Solomon's Temple. The eighteenthand often flowery and laudatory, are century ark of the synagogue in 11:4 ' "61‘tk7 joined with quotations from the Bible Olkiennilci, Lithuania (opposite),is an and the Talmud that speak of the deawe-inspiring example. The ark was ceased as pious, learned, charitable, or elaborately usually crafted as a large, righteous. carved structure consisting of three or four distinct levels and reaching • Eastern European Jewish heights of thirty or more feet. If the Papercuts top the enough, high not was ceiling F, To this day, papercutting is thought level ofthe carved ark was arranged so of as a Polish tradition, so pervasively that it followed the pitch of the roof, 3 were papercuts used in Polish homes. looming over the congregation.

Central and eastern Poland, where The arks featured an astonishing array of symbolic animals carrying the meaning of the the greatest number of Polish Jews lived, was the center Messianic age as described in the Old Testament, as well as of papercutting, which was practiced by Jews and Gentiles mythical creatures, plants and foliage, fruits, crowns, hands alike. Most of the known Polish papercuts date from the with fingers splayed in the act of priestly blessing or heal- second half of the nineteenth century, when paper had ing, endless knots, columns and pediments, Decalogues, become relatively inexpensive. In 1856, aniline dyes were and Hebrew inscriptions, all densely worked and sometimes discovered and quickly became the chief agent for colorbrightly painted and gilded. Specific animal groupings refer ing paper. The peasants' love of color and pattern could to descriptions in Isaiah 11:6, including "[T]he leopard now be satisfied more easily and cheaply than with textiles. shall lie down with the kid ... ," and to a much-loved Papercuts were used to decorate walls, ceiling beams, and quote from the Talmud,Pirke Avot(Ethics of the Fathers) windows, and for weddings and both Jewish and Christian 5:20:"Be bold as a leopard,light as an eagle, swift as a deer, holidays. Mizrahs (such as the example on page 47), were and strong as a lion, to do the will of thy Father who is in made mainly for domestic use and hung in the home to heaven." The mythical creatures—Leviathan (often repre- indicate the direction ofJerusalem and of prayer. It always sented as an ouroburos, a coiled serpent swallowing its own contains the word mizrab(East) itself or a phrase for which tail), the bird monster Ziz, the land monster Behemoth, mizrab is an acronym.

Jewish papercuts are steeped in Jewish symbolism and the phoenix, and the unicorn—gave range to the creativity ofthe artist, delighting the viewer's eye and reminding even imagery and were made primarily by schoolboys, their the humblest person that his or her actions, here and now, teachers, and grown men from all walks of life. They have could hasten the coming of the Messiah, and to prepare a much in common with the skillfully carved synagogue arks. Just as the pictorial elements of the papercuts are held place at the celestial banquet in the "world to come."

44 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

Ark of the synagogue in Olkienniki, Lithuania, eighteenth century

1872 gravestone, Siret, Romania

,

I MENORAH AND HORNS OF PLENTY Artist unidentified United States Late nineteenth or early twentieth century Paint on cut paper 221 / 4 x 191/2 Free Library of Philadelphia, Rare Book Department

weeeff,..(#11 vifni tive.

4104 . A.A.AAA VLADIMIR MAIKHIN

MIZRAH Artist unidentified Ostrow-Masowiecka, Poland 1890-1891 Ink on cut paper 21 x 201 / 2" The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 036.011.010

rAW Mr MR9101M520K V + V + W + 4.1 17

together by a tracery of connecting plant forms or webs of delicate lines, carved arks were often pierced, allowing light to shine through and turn the elements into silhouettes when backlit. Papercuts also feature many of the same ritual and symbolic motifs found on arks, but certain elements,such as menorahs(see above and left), endless knots, and idealized depictions ofJerusalem, appear more often in papercuts. Lettering is also far more abundant, since the function of a papercut often is to supply verses and prayers for the holidays. Some papercuts are adorned with magical Kabbalistic formulas, acronyms, and diagrams. Often, uncut areas of the paper were painted with watercolors to depict animals, plant motifs, and even the human form.

The final image was then attached to a colored sheet that acted as a contrasting background.

New World Synagogue Carvings In a short period ofjust thirty-five years, from about 1890 to 1925, the greatest era of American Jewish carving was born, flowered, and died. It is difficult to know how many of the synagogues that were newly erected or established

in existing church buildings by immigrant Jews contained carved arks or even papercuts. Thousands may have; hundreds certainly did. Examples exist in small towns and in larger cities across North America. Unfortunately, so much was destroyed, and so much was abandoned, that little remains to be seen.

In the Old World,the ark was guarded not only by lions but by other creatures, both mythical and real. In North America, Australia, and England, where Jews immigrated to escape persecution, paired lions became the primary guardians. A spirit less fantastical and more realistic seems to have come into play immediately in the New World.

The pressure to expect and to bring about Messianic deliverance was not the same; the "world to come" was perhaps less urgently awaited. Attention turned to the hope and promise ofthe here and now.

New World lions are depicted in myriad ways but are, almost without exception, gilded. Many are fierce guardians with straining muscles and threatening expressions—mouths open,painted red and revealing sharp teeth, and protruding eyes fixed in a hypnotic stare, painted red

FALL 2007 FOLK ART 47

LIONS, DECALOGUE, AND EAGLE Artist unidentified Scranton, Pennsylvania c. 1920 Paint and gold paint on wood with lightbulbs 74 85 x 111 / 2" Collection of Rabbi David A. Whiman

AUGUST SANDAL

or embellished with red glass or even electric lightbulbs gave way to the American bald eagle as a crowning symbol. (see above), which serve to draw the viewer's gaze toward Centrally located, wings evenly spread, fearsome and mathe ark and the Decalogue. Some lions, however, such as jestic, the eagle watches over the congregation. the pair attributed to Isaac Sternberg (opposite), are docile, almost sweet creatures, beasts that seem more inclined to The Sacred to the Secular The names of a few Jewish woodcarvers who immigrated charm than to fight.

These sentinels on either side of the Decalogue are to America have been rescued from obscurity and some typically supported by elaborate floral scrollwork, adding facts of their lives and works are known. Abraham Shulkin rhythm, color, and ornament to the ensemble. The plant (1852-1918) came from what today is Belarus and settled as a cattle dealer in Sioux City, Iowa. More than forms usually derive from classical and baroque most carvers in the New World, Shulkin retained traditions, in the form of stylized acanthus vines the look and feel of the Old World carving and and leaves, as in the ark expressions in Eastern cutting styles. In 1899, he carved one of European synagogues. The Decalogue itNorth America's greatest known arks,for self displays the Ten Commandments in the Adas Yeshurun Synagogue in Sioux Hebrew, typically in the order listed in City (now in the collection Exodus. The script is callirVIP14(1 1.1 of the Jewish Museum, graphic and usually painted gerte, New York). In this ark, gold, and the background IlitiTruvrti+rpr a delicate tracery of is most often painted vines and shoots enblue, for heaven, or traps the animals and white, for purity. More AUGUST SANDAL vases. Leaves, grapes, elaborate assemblages feature the hands of a kohen in the act of priestly blessing and flowers bend to fill the empty spaces in the tight com(see above). Crowns are depicted as bejeweled, splendid position. Some elements, such as the interlaced menorah objects above the Torah, carved in high relief or as flat, and the Star of David, show Shulkin's familiarity with truncated heart shapes resting on an ornate base. A few papercutting. It is likely that he made papercuts as prelimicrowns are topped with a large Star ofDavid, a motif rarely nary plans for his arks.

Samuel Katz (1885—?) was born near L'vov in seen on Old World crowns.

The eagle also assumed a place of prominence on present-day Ukraine and was trained,just as his father and American arks, but the double-headed imperial eagle of grandfather were, as a cabinetmaker. Seeking economic Russia, Prussia, and Austria and Poland's single royal eagle opportunity and fearful of being drafted into the czarist

48 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

LIONS, DECALOGUE, AND HANDS OF A KONEN FROM ANSHE EMETH SYNAGOGUE Marcus Charles Illions (1865/1874-1949) Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York c. 1920 Paint, gold paint, and gold leaf on wood with glass eyes 323 / 4 x 713/8 x 9" The Sea Breeze Jewish Center, Brooklyn, New York

LIONS OF JUDAH FROM SHAAREI ELI TORAH ARK Attributed to Isaac Sternberg (Itzok the Schnitzer)(dates unknown) Philadelphia c. 1918 Paint, metallic paint, and gold leaf on wood 47 x 25 / 11" each National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, gift of Congregation Shaarei Eli, 1984.32.1a, b

GAVIN ASHWORTH

army, Katz left his family and sailed to America in 1907, that can also be found in the pair oflions Sternberg carved settling in Troy, New York, where his cousin and sponsor for the ark of Congregation Shaarei Eli(above). lived. By 1910, he had saved enough money to bring over Shulkin, Katz,and Sternberg exemplify the many anonhis wife and children. That same year, he carved his first ymous immigrant carvers in the New World who contintwo American arks, for synagogues in Albany and Saratoga ued working in an Old World religious tradition. There Springs, New York. Throughout the 1920s and '30s, Katz were others, however, who bridged the gap between the inbuilt the arks for approximately two dozen congregations sular world of pious Jewish life and the raucous commercial in the greater Boston area. The average cost of an ark, and secular world all around them. In the process of acclinegotiated according to its size and the number of animals mating to a new life, and in spreading out from the points commissioned, was about $700, a sum that was often paid of first landing, the artisans encountered the commercial in installments. Katz usually started carving without hav- world of advertising and entertainment. Many immigrant ing created models or preliminary drawings. The average artists and craftsmen took up the business of producing ark took two to three months to complete. When finished, shop signs, cigar-store Indians, circus wagons, carnival the sections were transported to the synagogue for instal- booths, and figureheads of all kinds. And they experienced lation. Katz, like most of the artists in Eastern Europe, did secular approaches to leisure time,which for many began to not sign his arks, considering them, no doubt, to be sacred replace the ordained rest of the Sabbath. work. As far as can be determined, he was the most prolific With newly created trolley and subway lines in New ark builder in America; thus far, twenty-three arks have York, it was now possible to transport the urban populace been attributed to him. to nearby beaches and to amusement parks such as those It is not known who carved the main part of the great emerging in Coney Island at the time. Entrepreneurs had ark of the Shaarei Eli Synagogue in Philadelphia (now begun building these contained parks because of the inin the collection of the National Museum of American credible potential of the entertainment market for a growJewish History, Philadelphia). It is known, however, that ing working and middle class. Conceived and constructed Isaac Sternberg (dates unknown), also known as "Itzok the as architectural fantasies, they featured domed buildings, Schnitzer," carved the ark lions and that he was influenced lagoons, and minarets whose silhouettes were illuminated by the work ofthe Philadelphia Toboggan Company and by at night with hundreds ofthousands ofsmall electric lights, G.A. Dentzel, Steam and Horsepower Carrousel Builder— becoming apparitions against the dark sky. The amusement enterprises that specialized in making carousel animals. parks catered to families by creating exciting and relatively Expressive, realistically depicted animals and highly ornate, wholesome entertainment. imaginative, and skillful woodcarvings were hallmarks of Competition to attract the masses of visitors spurred the Philadelphia Style of carousel carving—characteristics owners to hire carvers and painters to make elaborate

FALL 2007 FOLK ART

49

entrances. Rides inside the park and carousels all required the skills of such craftsmen to create near-life-size horses and chariots and to decorate walls with fantastic beasts and complex scrollwork_ Many of the artisans were skilled Jewish craftsmen from Eastern Europe—and some of these were the same men who carved the sacred arks in American synagogues.

Glorious carvings came to life in the workshops of the carousel makers, a number of which were, in fact, established by Eastern European Jews.The best known and most innovative of those artists may have been Lithuanian-born Marcus Charles Illions(1865/1874-1949),whose horses are spirited creatures with realistic expressions (some even baring bad teeth). They seem exhausted from their eternal gallop—tongues hanging out, wild eyes protruding, disheveled manes cascading or flying in the air—and one can almost feel the lather on their skin.This sense of realism was based on Illions's intimate knowledge of equine behavior and movement. A lover and owner of horses, he was often seen at the racetracks, where he studied the young thoroughbreds. Before starting to carve a new animal, Illions made life-size preliminary drawings that he sometimes transferred to cardboard and used to determine the size of the laminated blocks to be carved. A stickler for perfection, Mions carved all the heads himself and often finished the bodies as well. His carousel horses (see opposite, bottom) are characterized by their energy, classical proportions, exquisitely carved ornate trappings, and precise anatomical detail. He took great pride in his achievements and was one of the few carvers to sign his name; he even carved his own portrait on the horses he admired the most. Illions never ceased to innovate.In order to bring out the dramatic chiaroscuro effect of his carvings and to make them glisten under the carousel lights, he pioneered the use of gold and aluminum leaf on manes and trimmings. Illions's trappings show his creative ingenuity at work, and styles from different periods are often combined on one horse.

Illions, along with other distinguished Jewish immigrant artisans of the Coney Island Style of carousel carving, such as Charles Carmel (1865-1931) and partners Solomon Stein (1882-1937) and Harry Goldstein (18671945), revolutionized the level of artistry associated with the American carousel.Their memories of the magnificent, towering Torah arks, gravestones, papercuts, and other liturgical forms that imbued life in the Old World were part of the shared experiences they brought to bear in a fresh arena. The pervasive visual iconography of lions, deer, eagles, Leviathans, and other symbolic creatures was newly manifested in the animals and decorative elements of amusement-park rides and carousels.The deeply gouged and fully dimensional carving techniques, pierced-through scrollwork, and foliate forms that adorn sacred carvings and papercuts are echoed in pierced manes, garlanded flowers, and feathered ornamentation.The traditional ark lion, with its fiercely expressive face, open mouth, and bared teeth, its wild mane curling in snakelike tendrils or layered like fish scales or leaves, was a familiar motif that was reinterpreted in the flying manes of the horses, which might be similarly layered or tangled as gnarled roots, and then gilded like those ofthe ark lions.

50 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

Stylistic continuity is seen most dramatically in Illions's carousel lions (see pages 42-43). As in his ark lions, tails project and sharply return to rest on backside flanks. Lifelike manes cascade down the necks and are finely modeled, and the paws are clearly delineated. The ark lions (see page 48) strain as they lean against the Decalogue, and their musculature,like that ofthe carousel lion, is more detailed and less stylized than the work of other carvers. The animals' claws are extended, and their expressions are animated, presenting a forbidding aspect. These are not animals to be trifled with. Illions brought to both his ark lions and his carousel animals a skill of carving that has rarely been equaled. It is somewhat ironic that he was the only Coney Island carver who is actually documented as having also carved for synagogues,given the fact that he—in contrast to Carmel, Stein, and Goldstein—spent much of his life removed from the primary center oftraditional Jewish life.

With laws ending the era of mass immigration in the mid-1920s, the onset of the Great Depression, and the upward mobility and Americanization of the immigrant Jews and their children, the great era of American Jewish religious and secular woodcarving came to an end.We shall never know all that we long to know of the Jewish artisans, but we do have a sense of what they brought in their hearts and memories from the vanished Eastern European towns.

We can see the exuberant life that burst forth from their chisels and brushes when they found it was possible to live and, yes,flourish as Jews in America.* Murray Zimiles, the guest curator of "Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses.- The Synagogue to the Carousel,"is an artist and Kempner Distinguished Professor atPurchase College, State University ofNew York, where he teaches in the School of Art and Design.

From left: Solomon Stein, Harry Goldstein, Charles Carmel, unidentified, Marcus Charles Illions, and unidentified, 1906, collection of the Frederick Fried Archives, photo courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York

JUMPER WITH PATRIOTIC TRAPPINGS AND AMERICAN EAGLE Charles Carmel (1865-1931) Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York c. 1910 Paint on wood with jewels, glass eyes, and horsehair tail 541/2 60,13" The Charlotte Dinger Collection, C-13

CAROUSEL HORSE WITH JEWELS Marcus Charles Illions (1865/1874-1949) Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York c. 1915 Paint on wood with leather, metal,jewels, glass eyes, and horsehair tail 461 / 2 42 10" American Folk Art Museum, gift of the City of New York, Department of Parks and Recreation, 1982.42

I

By Cara Zimmerman

The Construction of a

Car usel WILLOW GROVE PARK CAROUSEL Photographer unidentified Willow Grove, Pennsylvania 1910 Sepia-tone photograph (right), and hand-painted enlargement for "Wm. F. Mangels Co. Carousel! Works Catalogue No. 7," 1913-1914

Clues to an Industry from the Frederick Fried Archives William F. Mangels (1866-1958) is an established name in amusement-park literature. His factory, the Wm. F. Mangels Company in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York,invented and manufactured many attractions in the first half of the twentieth century, including popular rides such as the Whip and the Tickler, and a major part of the company's business was attributed to its revolutionary approach toward carousel construction. Beyond patenting the internal mechanisms with which carousels are still constructed today and working with some of the most established craftsmen of his time, Mangels was an innovative and talented businessman. A vast number of carousels are attributed to his factory over a fifty-year period, with twenty-three ofthem still in use today.' Further, an examination of his business model offers great insight into the world of early twentiethcentury industry, communications, and art. The ledgers, blueprints, sketches, and photographs that survive within the Frederick Fried Archives offer a unique glimpse into Mangels's successful company.

All works collection of Frederick Fried Archives, courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT FLYNN

FALL 2007 FOLK ART 53

After founding the American Museum of Public Recreation at Coney Island in 1927, Mangels contributed many of his workshop's documents and materials to the institution.

The museum closed in 1955, and Vermont-based historian Frederick Fried (1909-1994) acquired a portion ofthe collection: Bought all remains ofarchive of the/ Wm. E Mangels Carousell Works/and some remains ofobjects, etc. /from his (Mangels)

Maintained by Fried until his death in 1994, the archives are now kept, in part, at Ricco/Maresca Gallery in New York, where they occupy several flat files, numerous boxes, and countless shelves. The archives are unmatched in scope. Though many of the threedimensional objects were auctioned off by Sotheby's upon Fried's death, the remaining drawings, watercolors, blueprints, and photographs offer a wonderful glimpse into the visual whole of the amusement-park experience.' Importantly, the archives still

requirements. With the aid of this ledger, it is possible to track the process of a carousel's creation from the initial order to its use as a promotion for Mangels's services. The story of the construction of the Willow Grove Park carousel in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania,just outside Philadelphia (illustrated on pages 52 and 53), gives a sense of the business as revealed by the ledger and the artistry as seen through blueprints and photographs that the Mangels factory employed to please its clients nationwide.

qltgitittl's„

Museum. /Also original Coney Island blueprints, ofhistoric Luna Park,/Dreamlands original architects7drawings ofDreamland &/countless others—all of/ the building ofConey Island' The Fried Archives, which also contain the histories and remnants of many other Coney Island attractions, show the extent and range of the work created by the Mangels shop between the late 1800s and the mid-1900s.

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hold the Mangels Company's address books, purchase orders, catalogs, and newspaper clippings, all of which allow a contemporary audience to understand the business behind the painted ponies.

One particular ledger provides a record of Mangels's clients and sales between 1908 and 1915. The book reveals intricate details of some jobs yet little information on others. At times, it offers just enough material to get a sense of a client's desires and

The Willow Grove Park carousel, built for the American Amusement & Construction Company (later Ryan Amusement Company) under president Thos. J. Ryan in 1910, first appears in records as an order placed on January 27,1910: Jan 271910/To contract to build (54ft. Diameter)/ Combination Galloping horse Carousel//as per

CAROUSEL DRAWING Wm. F. Mangels Company Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York n.d.

Ink and pencil on paper 153 / 4 x 29"

agreement 12,000.00/... to be delivered &set up complete/on or before May 25th 1910/Penalty $100.00 per dayfor/each day O'er above date/allowance over 8 days in transit'

CAROUSEL BLUEPRINT Wm. F. MangeIs Company Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York n.d.

Cyanotype 153 / 4 29"

The detailed statement of price, delivery date, and transport demonstrates a focus within the ledger on logistical and monetary aspects of the construction and installation process, with little regard for the artistic requirements for the particular piece. The overall

and below) are for a similarly styled frescoes. These scale drawings work permanent four-row carousel, and the in a lyrical way, clearly intended to rounding board (the decorative panel provide a glimpse of the outcome circling the upper rim of a carousel) of the project rather than solid enfeatures the same pattern of mirrors gineering guidelines—to convey the and frescoes. Indeed, the panels on feel rather than the how. They allowed the center pavilion depicted on the each participant in the construction blueprint are very similar in shape and process—the engineers, carvers, and style to those on the Pennsylvania car- painters—to understand not just the ousel, for which, at one point in time, plans for his particular job but also the a blueprint probably existed. objective ofthe entire finished piece.

The archives contain various blueIt can be inferred that these deprints and drawings of carousels, rang- tailed drawings were not necessary to ing from utilitarian technical drawings, the step-by-step completion of the

emphasis appears to have been on a timely delivery, as the client clearly wanted the carousel for the upcoming summer season.

Blueprints were likely created for each carousel order, and some were perhaps circulated among clients as well as craftsmen. The extant blueprints in the Fried Archives are not direct matches of the Willow Grove Park carousel but contain many of the same elements. One early drawing and its corresponding blueprint (opposite

detailing specific parts ofa mechanism, carousel. Carousel makers gradually to aesthetically focused full-carousel outsourced blueprint drawings, and renderings likely intended for the cli- the depictions of the horses became ents' eyes. Examples ofthe former bear more and more abstracted and simpenciled figures and diagrammatic plified. A comparison between the markings that show its use over the c. 1910-1915 Mangels overhead blueyears. The latter are carefully executed, print and an overhead drawing created artistic pen-and-ink drawings that in 1974 for a Kansas manufacturer evoke a feeling of beauty and move- (see pages 56 and 57) demonstrates ment through their detail, showing that such an artistic rendering was both the grace of the internal carousel not necessary, yet the earlier drawing mechanism and the skill required to was clearly a product of great care and create the carved animals and painted detail—each horse has been drawn

FALL 2007 FOLK ART

55

with precision, and no two are exactly alike. The outside standers are larger than the inner horses, and some show indications of decorative adornments. In contrast, the 1974 drawing does not even depict horses. Instead, a boatlike shape, indicating simply the presence of an object rather than the object itself, represents each animal.

While the Mangels factory created the mechanical components of their carousels, they outsourced woodcarving and fresco painting to artisans in their roster. For the Willow Grove Park carousel, Mangels collaborated with the renowned carver Marcus Charles Mons, who by then had established himself as a principal artist within the field.' In 1909, Illions had formed M.C. Illions and Sons with his four sons and his daughter in the venture; the six family members, along with other relatives who assisted them,would have been responsible for carving and painting all of the horses and chariots on the Willow Grove Park carousel.'Mons took great pride in his horses and was known for staying ahead of carving trends and techniques. By having Illions and Sons work on this carousel, Mangels and the client were assured that the carvings on the finished product would be magnificent and unusual.

Mangels's records on the American Amusement and Construction Company (as noted in the ledger) also offer a clue as to who may have erected the carousel once it was transported to Willow Grove Park. While a list of construction laborers is not noted for any of the jobs completed when the carousel was installed in 1910, the 1911-1912 roster of workers induded an overlapping cast of characters, including the recurring names Bartolo, Rudolph, and Ward (as well as more common names such as George, Chris, Frank, and Tony,which perhaps also— though not as definitively—indicate overlap)? The information in the ledger does not specify whether these same people were involved in the engineering process at the Mangels factory or were employed solely to install the finished product.

The archives contain no note of delays in the delivery of the Willow Grove Park carousel, implying that

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the entire process, from blueprint to could not be depicted from the discarving to painting, took less than tance required to capture the entire four months. After its completion, structure. In addition, because of the Mangels clearly considered this long exposure necessary at the time, to be one of his finest carousels to it would have been likely that some date, as he used an image of the in- of the elements in the photo would stalled piece as an illustration of the appear blurred, as the people pictured most extravagant carousel his fac- on the horses could not be expected tory could offer, the Combination to stay entirely still. So, in order to Palace Galloping Horse Carouse11, prepare the photo for illustration in the in the "Wm. F. Mangels Co. catalog, a slightly cropped enlargement Carousel! Works Catalogue No. was painted over with a finely detailed, 7" (circulated between 1913 and outlined wash drawing (see pages 52 1914). Described as "the highest and 53). While all the main elements

'el

CIIANCI WO.[0.

061974 Lbrd

type of mechanical construction ... insuring durability and a large margin of safety," this carousel was promoted not only for its mechanical reliability but also for its aesthetics: "the decorations are most elaborate....The horses are ... highly finished and decorated."'

As remarkable as the Willow Grove Park carousel was, a photograph could not be used for promotional purposes without alteration.

Due to the architecture of the building in which the carousel was housed, the full height of the rounding board

of the carousel remain the same, the artist who touched up the original image carefully removed blurred details and unsightly patterns that would distract from the horses and sharpened dark and light highlights for effect.

Most dramatically, he painted in part of the top portion of the rounding board that was obscured by the ceiling sin the original photo.In this same catalog, Mangels also listed testimonials from satisfied clients, stating the durability of the mechanics and the business the carousels brought in. He

OVERHEAD CAROUSEL DRAWING J. Worrell, Chance Mfg. Co. Wichita, Kansas 1974 Ink and pencil on paper 161/ ,,211 / 4"

OVERHEAD CAROUSEL BLUEPRINT Wm. F. MangeIs Company Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York c. 1910-1915 Cyanotype 241/8 x 233/8"

not only showcased his finest work but also focused on the positive responses inspired by the reliability and universal appeal of his amusementpark products.

The craftsmanship of the Willow Grove Park carousel, as well as the published promotional material, brought new business to the factory.

The ledger documenting the Willow Grove Park order also lists a 1911

seen the Willow Grove Park carousel firsthand (which could have been possible, given the proximity of the two amusement parks). Regardless, Mangels's business model is clear: By creating an artistically dynamic product, delivering it on time, and promoting it following construction, he grew his company's reputation for reliaIility and fine craftsmanship and thus brought in new orders and IS

order placed by Joseph Geeller for Hollywood Park in Baltimore:

innovation-seeking customers from around the country.

Though the Willow Grove Park carousel has been dismantled and the horses dispersed among other stillactive carousels and private collections, the drawings, blueprints, ledgers, and photographs from the Frederick Fried Archives have lent life to this Mangels and Illions collaboration long after it stopped spinning.*

1911/Sept 22/to Agreement/ to Build Carousell/(similar to Willow Grove Park Phil)/. . .

imoaoo 9 It is unknown whether this client placed his order after having studied the factory catalog or after he had

Cara Zimmerman is pursuing an MA/ PhD in American art at the University of Delaware. Until recently, she served as assistant editor in the American Folk Art Museum'spublications department.

She holds a double AB in visualand environmentalstudies andfolklore and mythologyfrom Harvard University.

Notes 1 "The NCA Census of Operating North American Carousels," National Carousel Association, www.nca-usa.org/ NCAcensus.httn1(accessed Aug. 10, 2007).

2 'this quote is handwritten on the inside front cover of a Mangels ledger labeled "Name and address book ofsuppliers, etc.

Wm.E Mangels Company W.8th St Coney Island"(Frederick Fried Archives, courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York).

3 Frank Maresca,interview by the author, March 30,2007.

4 Mangels dient ledger, 1908-1915, I. 274-275,Fried Archives,op. cit.

5 That Illions carved this carousel is established by Fried's handwritten notes within his archive, as well as by the National Carousel Association, which notes that some ofthe Illions horses originally created for the Willow Grove Park carousel are currendy on other, stillfunctioning r ca ousii els; see www.nca-usa .orecensuskensus-CLA.html(accessed Aug. 10,2007).

6 Charlotte Dinger,Art ofthe Carousel (Green Village, N.J.: Carousel Art,Inc., 1984), p. 129. Other .111 such as the website of the International Museum of Carousel Art,wvvwcarouselmuseum.com/ business.html (accessed Aug. 10,2007), claim that M.C. Mons and Sons was fdd in 1908 Th t time pid lloMollaboaon deo bated. In Painted Ponies:American Carousel Art(Millwood,N.Y.: Zon International Publishing, 1986), p. 125,William Manns, Peggy Shank,and Marianne Stevens state that Illions had left the Mangels shop by 1909, while Fried argues in A Pictorial History ofthe Carousel(New York: A.S. Bames,1964), p. 101, that their collaboration was only just beginning at that time.

Records for this carousel indicate that Mons carved for Mangels in 1909 and 1910.

7 Mangels client ledger, op. cit., pp.276 and 366.

8 "WE Mangels Co. Carousell Works Catalope No.7"(1913-1914),p. 4,Fried Archives, courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York.

9 Mangels client ledger, op. cit., p. 388.

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57

The Man of Many Vases

JOHN HEWSON, CALICO PRINTER

By Kimberly Wulfert

If you ask a decorative arts professional or textile collector about eighteenth-century woodblock printers in America, it is almost certain you will hear about the Philadelphia printer known by his polychrome calico displaying an ornate vase filled with naturalistic garden flowers, appointed with butterflies and birds. Today, his textiles are usually seen in the center of bedcovers. That printer was John Hewson, a passionate man, an independent thinker, and a risk taker who became an important developer of the textile industry in early America.•John Hewson was born in December 1744 to a London woolen draper who descended from a colonel in the English Civil War of 1642-1651. This ancestor signed King Charles I's death warrant, becoming HEWSON-CENTER QUILT perhaps the first Hewson to fight monarchical power. (detail) unidentified; center John Hewson challenged the monarchy in his own Artist block printed by John (1744-1821) way: From the American Revolutionary War through Hewson United States 1785-1812 the duration of his career in Pennsylvania as a calico c.Cotton with block-printed cotton piecework printer, dyer, and bleacher, he promoted America's 97% x 913 / 4 " The Design Center at rebirth as a free nation that could stand alone and Philadelphia University, gift of John Seder and Robert Blum,1983.41 prosper economically.

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59

Hewson worked as a dyer and bleacher for Olive and Talwin, a leading textiles printworks, at Bromley Hall, London.' Many printers had settled on the River Lea around Bromley-by-Bow, particularly at Bromley Hall, a brick manor house constructed in the 1490s and later converted into factories. Where Hewson learned to block print is unknown, however, because there is no evidence of woodblock printing at Bromley Hall in the early 1770s.2 The locations of his children's births suggest where he may have learned the technique. His first two children were born in the parish of West Ham— John Jr. in 1767 and Sarah in 1769— and his third,James, in the parish of Crayford in 1771. Both locations had calico and bleaching factories. Mary, Hewson's fourth child, was born in the parish ofBromley in 1773.

Five months after Mary's birth, when Hewson was 29, he and his family sailed to America along with a work associate, Nathaniel Norgrove, to set up a print, dye, and bleachworks factory in Philadelphia. At the time,there were few cotton and linen printers established in the British North American colonies. No doubt Hewson was persuaded to immigrate by the absence of duties levied on cotton textiles and restrictions on printing them. The burgeoning city of Philadelphia welcomed industrious immigrants who wanted to start businesses and services in the colonies. These businessmen faced numerous opportunities without the burden of limiting practices and traditions formed over generations back in England.

Perceiving that a flourishing textile industry in America would threaten English manufacturing and exporting, and hence jobs, English manufacturers had been developing machinery and processes in secret.

After the restrictions on printing cotton cloth were removed in 1774, their industries expanded. Schematics and operating procedures were kept confidential to prevent competition, and in time laws were enacted to prevent information, machinery, and trained people from crossing the Atlantic.

The challenge to compete with English fabrics in terms of quality, price, and colorfastness enticed Hewson. He used space in his first advertisement to make comparisons between his goods and those from Bromley Hall, as if to say the quality of his textiles was as high as the quality of those imported from the renowned printing and bleaching establishment.' Adding that he had worked at Bromley Hall before coming to America reinforced his image as a skilled manufacturer. This powerful marketing strategy

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undoubtedly increased Hewson's customer base and helped his business succeed.

Hewson never returned to England. In 1774, his wife, Mary,died following the birth oftheir fifth child,Jonathan; a year later, Hewson married Zibiah Smallwood. Hewson fought for America in the Revolutionary War, and, like many Philadelphians, he quickly moved his family and important possessions away in September 1777, when notice of the British intent to besiege Philadelphia was made known.The family fled across the Delaware River to New

Jersey, where Zibiah and her brother, a lieutenant of the Patriot army, were from.With his brother-in-law and other rebels, Hewson helped get provisions to the Americans and patrolled the waters to prevent Tories from getting their provisions to the British in Philadelphia. Six months later, they were taken as prisoners of war near the mouth of Rancocas Creek. For half a year, Hewson was held captive by the British in various locations. In his diary, he described his harrowing escape across the water from Long Island to the New Jersey Shore and his overwhelming worries for his wife and children:"[M]y feelings and sensibility

BEDCOVER John Hewson Philadelphia c.1790-1800 Block-printed plain-weave cotton " 104% x 102/ 3 4 Philadelphia Museum of Art, gift of Joseph B. Hodgson Jr., 1930-100-1

QUILT TOP Zibiah Smallwood Hewson (1745-1815); center block printed by John Hewson Philadelphia 1790-1810 Plain-weave cotton with block-printed cotton center and appliqué and piecedwork borders 104 118" Philadelphia Museum of Art, gift of Miss Ella Hodgson, 1934-16-1

of mind I then labored under, were so exquisitely painful as its captain from 1780 to 1781.Exactly what they did is unto prompt one to the most dangerous enterprise."' Sadly, known; existing records do not list Hewson as having been upon his return, Hewson learned that his daughter injured, imprisoned, paid for his service, or given a penCatherine Washington (named after his mother and sion.'In October 1780, Hewson petitioned to be a Vendue General George Washington), born shortly after the fami- Master, an auctioneer or vendor appointed by the Supreme ly's move to New Jersey, had died while he was in prison.'

Executive Council of Northern Liberties of Pennsylvania.

In spite of the destruction the British caused to his He explained to them his capture and escape, which left factory, Hewson resumed his small indigo-dyeing opera- him "now so unfortunate as not to have the Income of tion with pattern maker and block cutter William Lang. Twenty Dollars Currency per Diem to maintain himself a Fortunately, Hewson had taken his woodblocics, patterns, wife and six children."' His petition was not accepted. In July and August 1781, Hewson ran multiple notices in the Pennsylvania Journal announcing that he was reopening his printing factory, and this time he added,"White silk handkerchiefs, new or half worn, may be printed and made to look almost as well as India."'

When the Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts offered an award to encourage excellence in calico printing, Hewson took up the challenge; his work was chosen as the best in the state in 1789.10 His factory was also contracted to provide bleaching and printing services for the American Cotton Manufactory.This was an experimental factory established by the society's manufacturing committee in the hope of producing cotton and linen cloth that would rival imported cloth, thereby breaking the state's dependence on England's goods, which had only grown stronger since the war had ended.' Britain glutted the market with fabrics they had stockpiled during the war, willingly selling them at a price below their cost in order to keep the competition from gaining ground.12 This, coupled with England's prohibitions against exportation of textile machinery, parts, and know-how, made it very difficult for the society to meet their fiscal objectives:3 In February 1793, Hewson sent several yards of his printed cotton to the president and his wife printing tables, and other equipment with him when the with a letter asking if Mrs. Washington would please family was forced to flee Philadelphia in 1777, although have a dress made of his elegant chintz to wear to social much had been left behind. Unlike the 1774 advertisement, events in an effort to convince affluent Philadelphians that in which Hewson felt it necessary to cite Bromley Hall, his American-made chintz was of fine quality and they should November 9, 1779, notice in the Pennsylvania Packet states place their orders with domestic rather than foreign printthat there was enough of his cloth in town now to prove that ers, as was their habit:4 his product was as colorfast and durable as Europe's goods: Unfortunately, there are no known sample books, led"Little need be said as to the abilities of the subscribers, as gers, or records from Hewson's business to provide an there are numbers of yards now in wear, done by them...." accurate account of the other textiles his factory produced Hewson rejoined the American war effort in 1780, or sold. The only information available about his wares building a militia of the Continental Army and becoming is what can be found in the advertisements he placed in

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61

Philadelphia newspapers. As a result, none of the indigo checks and prints, neat gown prints, dress goods, single- or double-purple calico prints, velverets, janes, or nankeens for waistcoat and breeches or saddle cloth he listed are recognized as his work today, if they still exist. Hewson's advertisements relate that he also offered linen bleaching, re-dyeing or printing faded linen, and preserving sailcloth with a treatment to prevent mildew formation!'

Hewson also advertised that he customized orders.This explains the variety in design layouts and color choices seen in the vase, flowers, butterffies, and birds he is identified with to this day. Ten of the center panels are printed with the same motifs and layout, and two more identical panels also have a floral vine border. This suggests that Hewson's factory preprinted panels for direct sale and customized others to specifications from the customer. Trendsetters would have enjoyed making their panels unique by picking which motifs they wanted, but if the compositions were left to the eye of an experienced designer such as Hewson, the panels probably would not have been printed as densely. The "less is more" concept would describe the repeated panels.

Given the high regard in which Hewson's work was held, it is likely that women purchased center panels without having immediate plans for their use. In accordance, needle holes are noticeable around the edges of some individual panels, indicating they were removed from an earlier textile to be saved for later use in another piece or for another purpose.

In addition to inviting customers to his factory two miles outside of town, Hewson's advertisements referred interested parties to merchants conveniently located around Philadelphia who had Hewson's sample books on view for placing orders.

Twenty-eight textiles displaying Hewson's printing have been documented at this time: fourteen quilts, four quilt tops, three bedcovers, four individual panels, two handkerchiefs, and one fragment that was once a pillow top. With the exception of both quilts, the vase-and-flowers motif took center position in the panels and bedding textiles. Ten quilts, two quilt tops, and the four individual panels all display the vase and flowers as Hewson originally printed them; on three quilts and both quilt tops, the vase and flowers were cut out and appliquéd. The bedcovers, each a single layer of fabric with finished edges for use in warm weather,were completely printed,induding the borders. At least three of the quilts are dated in the stitching-1807 and 1809 on one, 1811, and 1848. The finished and as-is textiles are estimated to have been made between

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1780 and 1890, the majority from 1790 to 1830 as recorded by textile professionals!' The following is an overview of textiles composed of Hewson's prints, presented in an order approximating their presentation to the general public via museum and auction catalogs, books, magazines, and exhibitions.

The first two Hewson textiles to come to the attention of the decorative arts community were owned by Hewson's great-grandchildren, who donated them to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1930 and 1934. The earlier gift is an all-printed bedcover stylistically comparable to Indian palampores printed for Europeans; the second

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is a center-medallion patchwork quilt top, attributed to Hewson's wife, Zibiah.17 These two textiles (see pages 60 and 61) have become icons of Hewson's work and tangible illustrations of America's decorative printing artistry at the end of the eighteenth century. They were discussed and illustrated in an early quilt book, Old Quilts, by William Rush Dunton Jr." In 1953, quilt historian Florence Peto brought the two textiles to a larger audience in an article in The Magazine Antiques, in which she also introduced an unusual patchwork quilt in her personal collection featuring Hewson's

QUILT TOP Artist unidentified, center probably appliquéd by Mary Gorsuch Jessop (1767-1832)and corners by her daughter-In-law, Cecelia Barry (dates unknown); center block printed by John Hewson Vaux Hall Plantation, Baltimore County, Maryland Center panel, 1800; corners, c. 1830 Cotton 2" 1 4 x 63/ 1 63/ Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., 292866

descendants to the Atwater Kent Museum, Philadelphia.

The two handkerchiefs, however, aren't blue with white spots, as Hewson had described his handkerchiefs in advertisements. Instead, wide decorative borders surround a tiny neat print, and they average about ten inches larger than the individual panels made for quilt tops. A quilt in the collection of the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, would very likely have been included in her count,but it wasn't delineated in the text.

Four years later, Patsy and Myron Orlofsky introduced three new textiles in their book Quilts in America: a printedcenter-medallion quilt from the Orlofslcys' personal collection that contains four frames of Delectable Mountains patchwork blocks and fancy stuff-work, a quilt in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum, of which only a detail of the printed center medallion is illustrated, displaying the familiar vase of flowers surrounded by birds on leafy branches and butterflies; and an all-appliquéd quilt top, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., which includes Hewson's vase, flowers, and various bird-onleafy-branch motifs, as well as English chintz prints of flowers and fern fronds (see opposite)." It also includes illustrations of the Spencer Museum's quilt, which has a printed center medallion surrounded by patchwork star blocks, and a full image of Winterthur's floral quilt, showing appliqués of floral swags or festoons encircling Hewson prints cut out and appliquéd in the center.

In 1975, Conover Hunt, the director and curator of the Daughters of the American Revolution(DAR) Museum, Washington, D.C., presented another textile attributed to Hewson.' The DAR Museum considered the quilt in their collection to be one of the most important textile gifts received in their eighty-five-year history.

Originally, this textile was an all-printed bedcover, but it is now a pieced quilt in a class by itself. It was printed differently than the three bedcovers identified to date.' The outer border matches the other bedcovers, but the innermost printed border is unique to this piece.'The vase-andflowers print is centered in a large rectangle surrounded by printed motifs not seen on Hewson's other textiles, with one exception: a bird crouched on a gnarled branch that DENNIS COWLEY

center medallion printed without the vase and flower motif." The quilt ultimately entered the collection of the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan, but it was destroyed in a fire in 1971."

By the time Florence M. Montgomery published her book Printed Textiles: English and American Cottons and Linens, 1700-1850, in 1970, ten Hewson textiles had been identified: "two handkerchiefs, two complete spreads, and six patchwork quilts."' Montgomery provided extensive background and details about Hewson and his textiles, which inspired historians and quilt enthusiasts to acknowledge Hewson's place in American textile history and honor

TEXTILE John Hewson Philadelphia 1780-1810 Block-printed plain-weave cotton 28 x 32/ 3 4" Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, bequest of Elinor Merrell, 1995-50-30

his mastery of woodblock printing. Her book includes illustrations of a printed center-medallion quilt with fancy stuff-work in the collection of the St. Louis Art Museum that bears the dates 1807 and 1809 and the initials E.G.; a medallion patchwork quilt featuring Hewson's printed panel, appliqués of cut-out chintz motifs, and a chintz outer border in the collection of the York County Heritage Trust, York, Pennsylvania; images of two textiles in the collection of the Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware, an all-printed bedcover and a detail of a floral appliqué quilt; and the handkerchiefs, which were donated by Hewson's

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63

Hewson-Center Quilt in the Museum's Collection n 2006, the American Folk Art Museum acquired an extraordinary quilt with fabric printed by John Hewson. Gifted to the museum by Jerry and Susan Lauren, this quilt is likely the earliest pieced example in the museum's holdings. It is constructed of ninety-four blocks around a large central medallion. At first glance, it appears highly complex, but upon closer analysis the organization is consistent with the center-medallion style associated with early American pieced quilts. Typically, a center block would be surrounded by a series of borders or frames that might be continuous printed patterns or pieced. The center medallion was often embellished with appliquéd elements cut from furnishing fabrics, but fabrics were also specifically printed for use as centerpieces in quilts. Hewson specialized in such center blocks, many of which share an impressive vase overflowing with flowers and sheaves of wheat.

Additional elements of sprays of leafy branches, butterflies, and birds were carved on separate blocks, thereby granting Hewson the flexibility to arrange them in various fashions.

The center block on the museum's quilt is enclosed by a border of pieced triangles of alternating indigo fabric and block-printed crewellike sprigs of flowers. This is surrounded by a border of alternating blocks of plain fabric and simple star piecing. An additional row on the left and right sides and two additional rows on the top and bottom display alternating blocks of plain fabric and pieced blocks in an elongated nine-patch pattern. The whole is framed by a floral fabric with a rich red ground and selfborder in a pattern of small running leaves. The blue leaves and flowers are hand penciled using indigo dyes and may have outlasted a fugitive yellow overprinted to make a green color. The quiltmaker's ingenuity in shortchanging some pieced blocks to fit the overall width is evident

I

in the blocks whose patterns are incomplete.

The quilt is bound at the outside edges with an elaborate and tightly woven linen tape.

Most of the fabrics in the quilt appear to be block printed. In this technique, a relief design is carved into a block of wood. The raised areas are covered with a dye or a mordant(a substance that fixes the dye to the fabric), and the block is hammered onto the surface of the fabric. Once the mordant is transferred in this manner, the cloth is passed through a dye bath.

The application of different mordants produces various shades or colors from a single coloring agent. For additional colors, several blocks might be used; however, if the blocks were not perfectly registered, there might be an area of white left between the design elements. Today, these uncolored areas around a motif are a good indication that a fabric is block printed.

Little is known of the printed fabrics that Hewson produced throughout his career. Before and after the Revolutionary period, he engaged in madder-style printing with mordants and was able to produce three shades of reds and browns. During the war, when his equipment was destroyed, he was forced to abandon the madder-style mordant printing and concentrate on indigo vat dyeing, printing resist-style handkerchiefs with deep blue grounds and white spots. Many of the fabrics used in this quilt are hand-colored in a technique known as "penciling." Women and children were often employed in this aspect of calico production, especially in penciling the indigo blues. This is most easily seen in the lush fabric used as the outside border. Other than the center block, the textiles in the museum's quilt cannot be absolutely attributed to Hewson. However, they provide a wonderful window on the fabrics of the 1790 to 1810 period.

—Stacy C. Hollander

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HEWSON-CENTER QUILT WITH MULTIPLE BORDERS (and details) Artist unidentified; center block printed by John Hewson United States 1790-1810 Cotton and possibly linen 85/ 1 2x 76" American Folk Art Museum, gift of Jerry and Susan Lauren, 2006.5.1

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QUILT Artist unidentified; center block printed by John Hewson United States c.1800 Cotton 86 x 75" Nellie Crater Collection

000 PHOTOGRAPHY, WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA

textile.' In the auction house's online description of the lots, however, the panel was attributed to Hewson and said to have come from a private collection in New Jersey.

There is no confusion as to where it is today—in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Another panel was purchased that same year by Historic Deerfield, Deerfield, Massachusetts, and is said to include signatures in colored inks below the panel motifs.' The remaining two panels are held in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York (see page 63), and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Philadelphia panel has a delicate printed border of a trailing vine with tiny flowers on four sides not seen in the other three individual panels; however, this border is printed on the panel in the quilt owned by the York County Heritage Trust. Although similar in delicacy and size to one of the two handkerchief's borders, it is not the same print.

A small textile fragment printed with one large bird on a leafy tree branch had been a pillow top at one time, and it was donated by a Hewson descendant to the Winterthur Museum.' The three remaining textiles of the twentyeight currently identified are two quilts and a quilt top,each family-owned and passed down through the generations, yet there is no confirmation of their first owners or makers.

All display a center medallion, but two are completely different from the others described so far and represent two different time periods. One, from the collection of Nellie Crater, descended in her husband's family in New York (see opposite). It is one of the earliest Hewson quilts and shows the most wear and noticeable color loss, appearing pink and aqua with some deterioration around the brown-dyed areas on the bird-on-leafy-branch motifs, yet the integrity of the majority of prints are intact. The custom-printed center panel is surrounded by large triangles made from a calico forming star points, which is rather difficult to see due to fading; this is a unique setting for a Hewson panel. A red copperplate toile printed in England c. 1780-1790 forms a very wide border."

A Hewson quilt top made about a hundred years later than the Crater quilt was found in Maryland, and its condition suggests it had been safely packed away for years.

The maker appliquéd the vase-and-flowers motif and a few birds and butterflies, along with many other fabrics with identifiable motifs printed on them, into the center using red floss in the herringbone stitch to finish the edges.

She mixed motifs cut out of glazed chintz fabrics made in the early nineteenth century with conversation and cretonne prints, large-scale pastoral prints seen in the Victorian period. These fabrics were also cut out and appliquéd to pieced blocks that formed rows around the center portion, creating a very unusual medallion-andblock quilt. This specimen, in the Cooley family collection, has been preserved so well it offers the best visual of the original colors Hewson printed. The colors on the vase's reeds and flutes from left to right are red and brown, gold and blue, and two shades of brown. The pearls are yellow and blue, the serpent handles are brown and gold, and the figural masks are red, brown, and yellow."

MARTIN CAP

is also seen on Zibiah Smallwood Hewson's quilt in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's collection (see page 61) and in the quilt that was in the Henry Ford Museum's collection. Before this quilt came to the DAR Museum,the wide vertical borders had been cut in half; and a patchwork strip had been inserted to widen it. The patchwork features a dark-brown-background chintz printed with a small potshaped vase holding a large bouquet. This is similar to one of the unique motifs Hewson printed on the panel and complements the colors in the quilt so well that the alteration is not easily apparent on first glance.

Images of three more printed-center-medallion patchwork textiles, held in private collections, were published in two books recounting quilt history in the early 1990s.

One, a large quilt top with glaze intact on some of the block- and roller-printed fabrics, was discovered in a heap on top of a file cabinet at Craftex Mills, a furnishingsfabric design and weaving mill in Philadelphia. After an appraisal, this important textile (see page 59) was acquired

by Philadelphia University's Design Center. The second quilt has multiple pieced and chintz borders surrounding the panel, which has fancy feathered garland quilting; this is unusual but similar to the St. Louis Museum quilt, whose quilting is also stuffed with cotton to raise the design. It was found at a Texas flea market, but it went unrecognized as a Hewson for some time; Pennsylvania textile collectors Donald M. and Patricia Herr acquired it in 1985." The third is a wonderfully preserved quilt that was discovered in Indiana in 1989, and it is the most recent Hewson textile to change hands from a private collection to a museum: Susan and Jerry Lauren, American folk art collectors living in New York, donated it to the American Folk Art Museum in 2006 (see sidebar and illustrations on pages 64 and 65).28 Later in the 1990s,fine early chintz quilts from a private collection were displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's Renwick Gallery in the exhibition "Calico and Chintz: Antique Quilts from the Collection of Patricia S. Smith," including one with appliquéd Hewson prints in the center of a medallion-appliqué quilt that subsequently entered another private collection.' This brought the total to nineteen documented Hewson textiles published in books, catalogs, and magazines by the century's end.

In 2001, the Winterthur Museum purchased an American-made, cut-out chintz appliqué quilt with a large Tree of Life motif and seven birds, butterflies, and flowered stems that match those printed on Hewson panels. Shortly after purchase, the quilt was illustrated in The Magazine Antiques.' Since then, eight more Hewsonprinted textiles have been identified, and more are expected to surface as a result of greater public exposure, museum exhibitions, and published research. The public demand for and renewed interest in Hewson's work, no matter the size or form of the print, continues to this day.

Four of these textiles are individual center panels, all / 2 by of which are in museum collections. They average 311 341 / 4 inches. In 2005, one sold at auction at Bonhams & Butterfields's San Francisco venue in a frame under glass, where it had been kept over the years. It was described in the sale catalog, but it was not identified as a Hewson

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The last quilt to be brought to the public's attention was discovered in Vermont and displayed for the first time at the Vermont Quilt Festival, in St. Johnsbury, in 2006.

In this textile, now held in New York in the same family of descendants, LeMoyne star patchwork blocks and plain squares are set around the Hewson-printed John Hewson produced colorful and decorative textiles at a time when the industry of printing fast colors on cotton and linen was in its infancy in America. He continued through difficult political and economic times, when most printers could not, acquiring an excellent reputation.

Hewson retired in 1810, passing his business to his oldest son, John Jr. Hewson's second wife, Zibiah, died on September 30, 1815, and Hewson died on October 11, 1821, shortly before his seventy-seventh birthday. He left his factory to John Jr. to carry forward and all his worldly goods to his children and close friends. His reputation as both a dedicated Philadelphian and a fine printer during a time of great change in America will live on through his cherished printed textiles for generations to come.

Acknowledgments I am indebted to two people for information and

many explanations they shared over the course of my research, which began in 2002: Kenneth W. Milano, a Philadelphia genealogical and historical researcher specializing in Kensington, the town in which Hewson lived, and Todd Fielding, a Hewson descendant by marriage,who has become a Hewson family genealogist and recorder.* Kimberly Wuyert,PhD,formerly a clinicalpsychologist, is an independent researcher and speaker on quilt history. She resides in Ojai, California. For more information, see www.antiqueguiltdating.com.

Notes 1 Jeremy Elwell Adamson, Calico and Chintz:Antique Quiltsfrom the Collection ofPatricia S. Smith (Washington, D.C.: Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1997), p. 36; and "Olive &Talwin,1763-1783,"in Wendy Hefford, The Victoria &Albert Museum's Textile Collection: Designfor Printed Textiles in Englandfrom 1750 to 1850(London: V &A Publications, 1992[1999 printing]), p. 156.

2 Adamson,op. cit., pp.21-23,shows the progression from woodblock printing to plate printing in the late 1750s at Bromley Hall. Florence M.Montgomery,in Printed Textiles:English and American Cottons and Linens,1700-1850(New York Viking Press, 1970), p. 97,found no block printing from Bromley Hall.

3 Harrold E. Gillingham,"Calico and Linen Printing in Philadelphia," The Pennsylvania Magazine ofHistory and Biography 52, no. 2(1928): 100(reprint published by the Historical Society ofPennsylvania).

4 Ibid., p. 101; and Sarah Alcock,A BriefHistory ofthe Revolution with a Sketch ofthe Life ofJohn Hewson (Philadelphia: selfpublished, 1843), pp.25 and 29,courtesy Manuscript Collection, Historical Society ofPennsylvania,Philadelphia. My thanks to Todd Fielding for providing a copy ofthese pages.

5 Hewson Family papers, Doc.#203,Joseph Downs Collection, Winterthur Library, Winterthur, Del.The collection includes a copy of Hewson's record of his children's information in the family bible.

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6 Gillingham,op. cit., p. 102.

7 Francis B. Heitman,Historical Register ofOfficers ofthe ContinentalArmy during the War ofthe Revolution,April, 1775, to December, 1783(1914,1932; rept, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1973), p. 288.

8 Microfiche ofthe original petition at the Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg,Pa., RG 27 PA's Revolutionary Govts.,17751790, Roll 33,Frame 1192; Appointments File: Political(F-S).

9 Hewson's advertisements appeared on July 21,25, and 28,and Aug.4 and 8.

10 Montgomery,op. cit., pp. 93-94. Hewson announced his receipt of a gold medal for this honor in the Pennsylvania Packet, March 24,1790.

11 Federal Gazette and Pennsylvania Evening Post, November 8, 1788, no.34,pp. 1-2.

12 Adamson,op. cit., pp. 35-36.

13 Montgomery, op. cit., pp. 93-94.

14 John Hewson,letter to George Washington,Feb.27, 1793; George Washington Papers, 1741-1799, Series 4, General Correspondence, 1697-1799, Library of Congress, Washington,D.C. 15 Pennsylvania Gazette,July 20,1774,and July 25,1781, and Pennsylvania Packet, March 23,1790.

16 Kimberly Wulfert,"John Hewson's Printed Textiles-Twentyeight and Counting," 2006,unpublished manuscript written for the Winterthur Museum's Textile History Forum seminar.The seminar, which was scheduled for Oct. 15,2006,was canceled, and the paper is in the author's possession.The research presented furthers the understanding of Hewson's work and textiles via information and observations gathered beginning in 2002.

17 The announcement ofJoseph B. Hodgson Jr.'s donation of the bedcover appears in "Accessions and Loan to the Museum September 1,1930,to December 15,1930," Bulletin ofthe Pennsylvania Museum 26, no. 138(January 1931): 31,and it was first illustrated in Gillingham,op. cit., p.94,fig. 1.The patchwork quilt top is illustrated in Frances Little, Early American Textiles (New York Century Co.,1931), pp. 194-197,fig. 47,and in the museum's bulletin announcing Ella Hodgson's gift a few years later, in which it is referred to as a patchwork bedspread made by Hewson's wife from cottons he printed; see "Accessions of the Year.

Works of Art Received by the Museum April 15,1934-April 15, 1935," Bulletin ofthe Pennsylvania Museum 30, no. 167(1935): 71, fig. 69. Also listed as a donation from Ella Hodgson at that time was a "`Mezzaro,'or shawl,of printed cotton with design copied from an East Indian palampore, made by Speich in Cornigliano, near Genoa,about 1800,and originally owned by John Hewson."

18 William Rush Dunton Jr., Old Quilts(Cantonsville, Md.: self-published, 1946), pp. 252-254.The unidentified third textile he refers to as 34-16-2 is the Italian Mezzaro referenced in the Bulletin ofthe Pennsylvania Museum 30, no. 167. Dunton incorrectly cites the donors as Hewson's great-great-grandchildren.

19 Florence Peto,"A Textile Discovery," The Magazine Antiques 64,no.2(August 1953): 120-121.

20 Before Peto sold this piece to the museum,Electra Havemeyer Webb,founder ofthe Shelburne Museum,Shelburne, Vt., bought it on review, only to return it a short time later when she opted to buy a different quilt from Peto. My thanks to Bets Ramsey for sharing copies of personal correspondence between Peto and Elizabeth Richardson that describes the Webb transaction.

21 Montgomery,op. cit., p. 92.The last detailed discussion and overview of Hewson's life appeared in this book; see frontispiece and pp. 83-96,182-186.

22 Myron and Patsy Orlofslcy, Quilts in America(New York McGraw-Hill, 1974), pp.25,43,46-47. A full image of Cincinnati's quilt is in Robert Bishop and Patricia Coblentz,New Discoveries in American Quilts(New York Dutton, 1975),

p. 24,fig. 21; and Lacy Folmar Bullard and Betty Jo Shiell, Chintz Quilts: Unfading Glory(Tallahassee, Fla.: Serendipity Publishers, 1983), p. 17.The English chintz sewn to the Smithsonian quilt top is illustrated in Carleton L. Safford and Robert Bishop, America's Quilts and Coverlets(New York: Dutton, 1972), p. 176,fig. 258; and Doris M.Bowman, The Smithsonian Treasury American Quilts(Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution

Detail of QUILT, page 67 Press, 1991), p. 13. My thanks to Doris Bowman for correcting previous date attributions to this quilt.

23 Conover Hunt,"A Rare Printed Quilt by an American Patriot," Daughters ofthe American Revolution Magazine 109, no.4(April 1975): 286-288. Hunt states there were thirteen known Hewson textiles at the time of her article,including the

DAR Museum's quilt(which she also refers to as a bedcover and a spread). However,fourteen textiles were known at the time and published (at minimum)in the books and magazines referenced in this article: eight quilts, two quilt tops,two bedcovers, and two handkerchiefs, in addition to the DAR quilt.

24 A third bedcover was published on the Philadelphia Museum ofArt's website, accessed in 2002(www.philamuseum.org/ collections/costumes/1930-100-1.shtml; page no longer available), which stated that it was held in a private collection and is similar to the two previously documented bedcovers. Dilys Blum,curator oftextiles, Philadelphia Museum of Art, confirmed there are three Hewson bedcovers. She viewed the third bedcover many years ago but does not know the collector's name.Blum,e-mail to the author,June 13,2006.

25 Wulfert,op. cit., based on personal observation and study of the three textiles at the museums where they are held.

26 Susan Jenkins and Linda Seward, The American Quilt Story (Emmaus,Pa.: Rodale Press, 1991), pp. 8-9.The appraisal was done by Cora Ginsburg,Inc.,July 29, 1983.

27 Roderick Kiracofe and Mary Elizabeth Johnson, The American Quilt:A History ofCloth and Comfort, 1750-1950(New York: Clarkson N.Potter, 1993), p. 56.

28 Ibid., p.54. Collectors and dealers Kate and Joel Kopp,who found the quilt,identified it as a Hewson.Textile appraiser and dealer Stella Rubin put forth a Virginia provenance for the quilt in her book Miller's Treasure or Not? How to Compare & Value American Quilts(London: Octopus Publishing Group,2001), p.240, based on information that accompanied the photo held by the Kopps'America Hurrah Archive, New York, but a definitive provenance has not been established yet.The Laurens purchased the quilt from the Kopps in the early 1990s,and it was illustrated in ArchitecturalDigest(October 2003):203 and 209.

29 The exhibition was on view from Sept. 13, 1996,to Jan. 12, 1997. See Adamson,op. cit., pp. 48-49. Patricia Smith Melton did not donate this quilt to the Renwick Gallery along with others from the collection, and current collection information cannot be determined; Margarite Hergesheimer, Renwick Gallery, conversation with the author,June 5,2003, and Melton's office, e-mail to the author, March 8,2005.

30 Linda Eaton,"Winterthur's Hand-painted Indian Export Cottons," The Magazine Antiques 161, no. 1 (January 2002): 174.

31 Fine European andAmerican Furniture and Decorative Arts, Bonhams &Butterfields, San Francisco, sale 13101,June 20,2005, lot 6042,p. 28;and Alice Kaufman,"Americana at Bonhams & Butterfields," Maine Antique Digest, October 2005,p. 1-C. E 32 Edward Maeder,"Not Just Another Pretty Quilt," keynote ,!. ° speech, American Quilt Study Group Seminar,Farmington, F„ Conn., Oct. 6,2006.This particular information was shared during dialogue with the audience.

2 33 Claire Herbert Hogan donated the fragment in 1982.Winter,: thur's object file suggests this bird motif may have been cut from a ; corner of a Hewson bedcover, as the motif appears in the comers LI ofthe identified bedcovers.

34 Montgomery,op. cit., p. 252,fig. 249. My thanks to Hazel Carter for referring me to Nellie Crater, and to Tim and Sherry ,•';' Crater for making it possible for me to view and photograph the E quilt in person in 2003.

35 My thanks to Bunnie Jordan for referring me to the Cooley family, and to the Cooleys for making it possible for me to view and photograph the quilt top in person in 2003 and 2004.

36 My thanks to Richard Cleveland for bringing this quilt to my attention in April 2006.It was also briefly displayed at the American Quilt Study Group Seminar,Farmington,Conn., Oct.6,2006. For an illustration, see Richard L. Cleveland,"A Vermont Qnilter's Galaxy," Quilter's Newsletter Magazine 388 (December 2006): 32-36.

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69

Stonewares

LIGHT The Nature and Importance of the Kirkpatricks' Anna Pottery

The 1876 United States Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia— America's first major world's fair—was supposed to celebrate one hundred years ofAmerica's declared independence from Europe. But instead, it became the vehicle for a massive cultural reinvasion of the New World by the Old.

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ofili" PIG FLASK Cornwall Kirkpatrick (1814-1890) Anna Pottery, Anna, Illinois 1865-1866 Salt-glazed brown stoneware 3/ 1 2, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2005.900.7 This dedication piece was given to the editor of the Mound City, Illinois, newspaper before he moved to Virginia, where he was living by January 1866. The earliest dateable Anna Pottery pig flask, it is signed with the pottery building incised on its flank. Its eyes, eyebrows, and penis are cold-painted.

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as texts—as cultural, frequently political, statements. By causing their vessels to speak, by making clay the vehicle for words, the brothers sought to fuse use and meaning, to turn utensils into discourse and to embody discourse in utensils.

The brothers and the City of Brotherly Love survived each other. Philadelphia continued on in its faux foreign ways. The brothers returned home to southernmost Illinois and went right on doing what they had been doing there since 1859, making pots that mattered rather than pots that were pretty—with the consequence, though, that their work fell so far out ofthe national mainstream that their names sank into oblivion by century's end.

SNAKE JUG Wallace Kirkpatrick (1828-1896) Anna Pottery, Anna, Illinois c. 1880 Stoneware with molded, modeled, and incised applied decoration and Albany slip glaze 12 > 10" Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois (Urbana), gift of the Department of Ceramic Engineering, University of Illinois, 1980-5-54

THOMAS A.

Displays from the leading potteries of England twigged America to the possibility that clay might be art, but they also seized and restricted America's vision of what art pottery might be. In consequence of the exhibition, a number of American art potteries sprang up quickly, and a number of studio potters changed their course radically.'

Taking European ceramic finery as points of departure, American potters spent most of the next hundred years trying, with mixed success, to make clay into art by forsaking the useful and the meaningful in order to scramble up the ladder that stretches from the pretty to the beautiful. And many wares by these potteries are beautiful, though for want of the overwhelming, the daunting, and the intractable, few are what aestheticians would call sublime. Often American potters tried to compensate for the missing sublime with meticulous craftsmanship and foreign reference. For the first time on any scale, the 1876 Philadelphia exhibition also introduced America to Japanese design.

Amid all of the swell European gimcrackery at the exposition, there arrived from the tiny Illinois delta town of Anna two appleknockers—the potting brothers Cornwall Kirkpatrick(1814-1890) and Wallace Kirkpatrick (1828-1896). In keeping with the official theme of the fair, they brought with them an outsize stoneware whiskey jug across whose entire surface was incised the text of the Declaration of Independence.' It was pottery with a useful message, a socially engaged pot that hinted more generally that pottery makes a difference, pottery matters. Perhaps unintentionally, the jug also served as a response to the wares the brothers encountered at the fair. The jug was their own declaration of independence from the overwrought, overly florid, quaint, cute, exotic, imitative work that choked the fair's pottery stalls, including the work ofother American potteries.

The Kirkpatrick brothers' exposition wares were through and through indigenous, native, and American but were so without being nationalistic,jingoistic, or folksy. Their vernacular decoration bore no outstretched eagles' wings, no amber waves of grain, no buffaloes. They were not interested in the majestic, the grand, the triumphal. In addition to the Declaration ofIndependence Jug, the brothers brought with them two modeled whiskey jugs circled, pierced, and stoppered with tangles of writhing timber rattlesnakes. They produced still other strange stonewares: whiskey flasks modeled in the shape of pigs and covered with incised railway maps; inkwells and match safes sprouting toads and toadstools and ringed with song titles; frog-filled mugs bearing poetic ditties; and feces-charged chamber pots inscribed to serve as world's fair keepsakes. The Kirkpatricks' world was a squirmy, squishy, swampy,fetid thing, a bit like clay itself, a bit like bayou life. By placing words and signs where one would not expect them, the brothers invited the interpretation of their wares both literally and figuratively

After having worked at a string of potteries across Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois, the Kirkpatrick brothers settled for good in the freshly incorporated, far southern Illinois town of Anna in 1859 and there founded the Anna Pottery, which remained active through 1896.3 Cornwall would go on to serve three terms as mayor. Wallace served informally as the village's social secretary.

The pottery successfully produced straightforward utilitarian wares—crocks, fruit jars, funnels, buckets, drainage pipe, chimney pots, roof tiles, fire brick, and small molded stoneware bowls for smoking pipes. Very few ofthese wares were signed. The pottery business, which the brothers

This Albany-slipped stoneware marvel displays all the classic features of the Anna Pottery delirium tremensjugs: A dozen or so timber rattlesnakes slither out from within and sprawl in tangles across the surface, the largest snake forming the jug's handle. Two "nice young men" dive into the jug through its sides; a third, bearded and bedraggled man emerges from within the jug only to be attacked by a half dozen sets of fangs.

WHISKEY REVENUE COLLECTORS SNAKE JUG Wallace Kirkpatrick 1876 Salt-glazed stoneware with Albany slip glaze 97/8 8" National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., cat. no. 96,673 This jug, presented to the Smithsonian Institution at the 1876 United States Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, exposes and caricatures government corruption. In particular, it holds up to ridicule whiskeytax collectors who have taken kickbacks—they have been captured by timber rattlesnakes and imprisoned in embarrassing poses. The snakes representjustice and righteousness.

supplemented with a commercial clay-mining enterprise, was enough of a financial success that they could hire and train others to do the strenuous and tedious work of preparing clays and throwing crocks.' And so, at Anna,for the first time in their careers, the two could devote a significant amount of time to artistic projects—haunting, witty, politically and sexually charged figural adaptations of traditional stoneware forms.

Snake Jugs The most impressive of the pottery's artwares are delirium tremens whiskey jugs wreathed in snakes. Next to nothing is known of the reception of the Anna Pottery's figural works in their own time, but in the twentieth century, a consensus of scholars took the snake jugs as representing the wages of the sin of liquor consumption. The jugs were read as straightforward propaganda for the temperance movement and held to be sentimental in morals and conservative in politics. More recent interpretations, however, by drawing attention to the grotesque, macabre, sexual, and scatological dimensions of the work, to its humor and selfconsciously extravagant style, have argued that the work is ironic and aims at dethroning Victorian values. If one accepts this reading, the brothers were, like their contemporary Mark Twain, misanthropic liberals.

The Kirkpatricks were Republicans in what was a heavily Democratic town in the most heavily Democratic county in southern Illinois.' It needs to be remembered that in the nineteenth century it was the Democrats who were the social conservatives and the Republicans who were the liberals on social issues. From the Kirkpatricks' wares that address specific political figures, it can be inferred that the brothers were not just Republicans but Radical Republicans or Stalwart Republicans, which is to say that on social issues they were the liberals among liberals oftheir era.

On many of the snake-bearing jugs (only about two dozen are currently known to exist), the snakes are joined by cavorting frogs, grasshoppers, turtles, dung beetles pushing dung balls, salamanders,lizards, spiders, and scorpions.'

Several also feature figures of young men blithely diving through the surface of the jug to imbibe the contents within—only to reemerge old and bedraggled on the other side.

Some jugs incorporate elaborate caricatures, traps, and even moving parts—pivoting tongues,limbs, and eyes that seem to peer out from within the vessels.

Particularly troubling for the temperance interpretation should be the fact that the most common decorated items that the brothers produced were pig flasks, whose very purpose was to facilitate the transport and consumption of whiskey. Though these pig flasks are entirely handmade— the bodies hand-thrown, the features hand-modeled—they were produced by the thousands.' Indeed, the Kirkpatricks accepted special commissions for pig flasks—also for singlesnake jugs and flasks—from distilleries, liquor distributors, and saloons as far away as Georgia. The brothers' collaboration with the liquor industry is wholly incompatible with a movement that demanded total abstinence. There were no innocent uses for such jugs. Clearly those who commissioned the flasks by the thousands and their customers who

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incriminatingly took them home did not see an anti-liquor message.

One could, of course, chalk up the Kirkpatricks' extensive collaboration with the liquor industry to the brothers' own massive hypocrisy. The history of the temperance movement in America is rife with hypocrisy, and charges of such were a standard part of anti-temperance rhetoric and politics.' But hypocrisy seems an unlikely charge to apply to the Kirkpatricks. Wallace was indeed involved briefly with the temperance movement—he was a member of a local temperance group from the autumn of 1876 to February 1878,a period during which he was elected to one office for a six-month term, about which nothing is known,and produced some decorative pottery pieces for three temperance events. But he may have been in as much a dither over the issue of temperance as was Anna itself:"The town changed from wet to dry and back again so many times that today it is difficult to keep track of when it was which."' These gyrations between wet and dry were made possible because Illinois, along with a few other states, by 1840 had adopted what was called a "local option" mandate on alcohol consumption,leaving it to each municipality to set liquor laws and regulations as it saw fit.1° Cornwall himself was bitterly cynical about the temperance movement. In his 1884 "State of the Town" mayoral address, he ironically argued that since the village in its august wisdom had voted to go dry, it had better drill a second public well." With this hint that the good citizens of Anna drank at least as much liquor as water, he charged the town with massive hypocrisy on the issue of temperance.

But if the Kirkpatricks weren't hypocrites, then perhaps their jugs were never temperance propaganda to begin with.

Indeed, there is a paradox built into the very concept of the delirium tremensjugs. Ifliquor has the terrible and inevitable effects on perception that the jugs seem to suggest—the whiskey causes the drunkard's mind to be seized by imaginary but convincing snakes—then there would be no need to represent the snakes; all one would need to do is present the liquor itself, or its metonym, the jug. Further, with their elements of caricature, over-the-top style, and unnatural exaggeration, the jugs exude so much energy and fun, generate such a carnival-like atmosphere—indeed they were presented at fairs and carnivals, even at Coney Island—that they invite the very thing they appear to be condemning." In their riotous form and execution, the Anna Pottery snake jugs are send-ups ofpomposity,religiosity, and puritanism.

The snake jugs are undulating with enough slimy, tubular, penetrating, and bedunged details so as not to let their viewer miss their scatological and erotic suggestions, which are then thrown into the viewer's face through exaggeration and hyperbole. On one extraordinary, early snake jug from the mid- to late 1860s, the Kirkpatricks make scatological and erotic elements startlingly explicit with provocative applied bas-relief moldings of a snake's tail slithering toward a woman's delineated genitalia and of a young man who has broken wind so fiercely that a hole has been blown through the seat of his pants.' Punningly placed, the hole doubles as a vent for escaping hot gases in the kiln firing.The brothers, identifying themselves closely with this jug, signed it by incising on its side an image ofthe Anna Pottery building.

JEFFERSON DAVIS SNAKE JUG Wallace Kirkpatrick c.1865 Salt-glazed stoneware with cold-painted decoration 12/ 1 2x 8Me x 8"Ati" Minneapolis institute of Arts, The Walter C. and Mary C. Briggs Endowment Fund, gift of funds from Mrs. Eunice Dwan,the Fred R. Salisbury II Fund, and the Decorative Arts Deaccession Fund, 2004.122 Salt-glazed drama: A Union soldier brandishes a gun at Jefferson Davis, who lunges at him with a dagger. The front of the jug depicts the arrest of Davis, who at the time was wearing some of his wife's clothing.

The back depicts Northern sympathizers of the South— Copperheads—imprisoning a Union soldier. The snakes represent treason and treachery.

,

These are big concessions, for the "Camp Dubois"jug has all the classic common features of the later Anna Pottery snake jugs—a young man going in, an older man coming out, and a timber rattler that devours him and forms the jug's handle.The man coming out, though, is not contrite, prayerful, or terrorized. He's a bit miffed and a bit goofy looking. The early standing of this jug means that the snake jugs' common features, at their conception, were not intended to represent the wages of sin. The jug therefore weighs heavily against the view that the common features ever represented them. At a minimum, in light of the "Camp Dubois"jug, to presume that the wages of sin are what the classic features represent in later works is an act of moral and aesthetic hijack.

Another recently discovered Civil War—era snake jug flags the ICirkpatricks' Radical Republican commitments.

Perhaps the most intensely narrative of the snake jugs, it parodies the arrest of the Confederacy's president,Jefferson

The earliest dated snake jug that can with full certainty be assigned to the Anna Pottery is self-labeled "Camp Dubois" and is dated January 17, 1862." It depicts in zany fashion Union soldiers at play—drinking, carousing, beating drums, blowing bugles, and carrying on—and was probably commissioned to commemorate a raucous saloon brawl in Anna that took place on New Year's Day 1862." The jug is a wry celebration of masculinity, not a condemnation of liquor consumption. The standard view implicitly concedes as much:"The snake jugs, begun in the early 1860s as jokes or sculptural cartoons, became by the 1870s serious temperance and political statements.'

Davis (1808-1889), who was captured wearing his wife's overcoat (see page 75). The jug is more bold and vicious in its treatment ofDavis than any ofthe dozens of newspapercartoon and broadside caricatures of Davis that swept the country in the weeks after the event." The jug depicts Davis in full drag, complete with fake breasts. It humiliatingly exposes his genitals under his billowing scarlet dress and poses him dramatically lunging at a Union soldier with a dagger. None ofthese things ever occurred either in reality or in print.To add injury to insult, at some point in the jug's history, someone removed Davis's genitals. The backside of the jug depicts snakes that have imprisoned, as though in

76 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

HORACE GREELEY PIG FLASK Cornwall Kirkpatrick 1872 Stoneware with Albany slip glaze 3 4x WA" 3V2 x 2/ Collection of Richard and Pamela Ellis

02000 JOHN BIGELOW TAYLOR. NEW TORN

Admittedly, the snake was a commonly used symbol for the temperance movement. However, the Kirkpatricks never used the movement's other symbols of the evils of drink—skeletons, devils, and demons of all sorts—and they used snakes and snake forms in contexts that no one would take to be part of the temperance movement,such as highly realistic freestanding ceramic snakes, posed ready to strike, that were, for the most part, intended as gags, to be left around to scare the unwary." Wallace collected—even advertised for—live snakes and exhibited them both at the pottery and at fairs. Eventually he sold his snake collections to traveling circuses." What prompted the ICirkpatricks' ceramic herpetology seems chiefly to have been the brothers' interest in the form of the snake, the association of snakes and other reptiles with the liminal forms of earth and clay, and clay's tendency, when manipulated, to form snakelike coils with phallic and scatological suggestions.

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stocks, a Union soldier. The snakes each have a penny-size copper-color dot daubed on the top of their heads: The ICirkpatricks have turned their usual timber rattlesnakes into "Copperheads"—the poisonous snakes that Northern Democrats who supported the Southern cause adopted as their symbol and namesake. Such imprisonments never took place, either. And when the jug was made, the Civil War was already over.The brothers are "waving the bloody shirt"—and doing so in a town that was one of the most Copperhead-leaning areas of the country. They knew how to sling insults at their fellow citizens.

Pig Flasks The droll melancholy found in much of the Kirkpatricics' work is exemplified by their most common handledwares—fright mugs. These are mugs that cradle at their bottoms frogs or a mound offeces and functioned as highrisk party gags. A host filled the mug with liquid, preferably opaque, for a guest who,only after having quaffed its contents, might have at least momentarily believed that he has just ingested something befouled. The fright mugs enacted and fused the pleasures and anxieties ofeveryday life.

At least by 1865, the brothers were putting unspeakable grossness in the consumer's face even more explicitly with their hand-thrown, anatomically correct pig flasks, which were designed so that the user was to imbibe liquids from the pig's anus, as though to consume its waste. On the more elaborate examples, an impressed or incised hand, index finger extended, points to this rear opening,an inscription notes where to find liquor. And, as farmers know, pig excrement is especially foul stuff, itself nearly liquid. So, in the miasmal blend ofliquids and solids, the drinker engaged, took into himself,the dirtiest animal at its dirtiest.

Many of the pig flasks are laced over with incised maps of Illinois and the near Midwest,featuring railroad lines and navigable rivers. Apart from their quirky subjects and often obsessive execution, the most distinctive feature of the individual Midwest railroad maps is that they are in general wildly out ofscale.They place at the center ofimportance and visual gravity—not to mention on the best part of the pig, its hamproducing haunches—their tiny hometown of Anna, usually tagged as TheJug City and sometimes with Anna Pottery incised in a box. Fanning out from Anna,the rest of the world is usually presented in reversed telescopic view.That which is near is disproportionately detailed and prominent,that which is far is sketchy,thinned out.The mouth ofthe jug—the pig's anus—is usually reserved for a derided locale, such as Cairo, Illinois, or San Francisco, California.In their clever geometry, the pig flasks are bursting with local pride.

The Kirkpatricks' political trajectory followed that of the Radical Republican political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902), whom they honored in works both major and minor. Radical Republicans were pretty much the only sector of American politics in the 1870s that viewed government as a vehicle for improved race relations and for guaranteeing justice to African Americans.

So committed to Radical Republican principles were the brothers that they reserved some of their most vicious, while still witty, political attacks for Republicans who were backsliders from the Radical Republican cause.

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4 DIRECTORY VASE FOR TWENTYFIFTH ANNUAL UNION COUNTY FAIR Cornwall Kirkpatrick 1880 Salt-glazed stoneware with incised lines rubbed with cobalt 24/ 1 2\ 11" Collection of Richard and Pamela Ellis The texts on thisjug are incised word for word from the fair's officers directory and prize lists, which were published as a single-sheet supplement to the local newspaper, Farmer and Fruit Grower, in early May. Thejug was made in late .

July for display at the midSeptember fair.

CHICAGO PUBLISHING JUG Po Cornwall Kirkpatrick 1879 salt-glazed stoneware with cobalt-filled incising 201 / 2 12" Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois (Urbana), gift of the Department of Ceramic Engineering, University of Illinois, 1980-4-224 Obsession and whimsy: This jug reproduces as business card facsimiles all the entries for Chicago newspapers and magazines from a fiveyear-out-of-date business directory. More than half of publications were no longer in the business.

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One such example is the pig flask Cornwall Kirkpatrick presented to the local chapter of the Horace Greeley Club (page 76). Horace Greeley (1811-1872), the mercurial founder and editor of the influential New York Tribune who helped found the Republican Party with Abraham Lincoln, became increasingly conservative during and after the Civil War and formed his own party of conservative Republican dissidents, winning the presidential nomination of both that party and the national Democratic Party in 1872.20 He lost the election in a landslide to President Grant's second-term candidacy and died the next month.'

Between Greeley's nomination and defeat, Cornwall was elected the first mayor ofAnna,serving from 1872 to 1877 and again from 1883 to 1885.

As the local Greeley Club had supported Cornwall's mayoral bid, they felt he should return the favor by supporting Greeley's presidential candidacy with a tribute piece. Yet Cornwall used the pig-flask form as a canvas for an unkind cartoon of Greeley—depicting him in profile with his unmistakable stringy hair, beard rug and wire-rim glasses—looking toward a drop-trap with a stick-and-cage mechanism of the sort designed to capture really dumb rabbits. In this case, the cage is Greeley's hat, and the trap's trigger-lever, instead of having a carrot attached to it, has the word Presidency written on it. Incised on the hat, like a voice balloon, is the confident declaration that"who ever says / this is a trap! is a liar." The flask portrays Greeley as an idiot. Apparently, Cornwall felt confident enough in his mayoral victory that he could insult the Greeley Club to its face despite its support for him in his own election.

Directory Jugs Though nothing survives of Wallace Kirkpatrick's grandest works, room-size representations in stoneware of pioneer villages, a few examples survive of Cornwall's largest-scale works—elaborately incised, outsize "directory" jugs and urns that he made, beginning in 1873, primarily as presentation pieces for fairs and expositions. Fairs were the most important social and cultural events of the fall season in southern Illinois. Aside from the jugs' imposing size, their most distinctive feature is that they have overall incised, usually tabular designs consisting of texts copied word for word from quirky yet ultra-mundane published sources, such as city directories, corporate reports, and prize lists for local and regional fairs. Only a dozen of perhaps some forty ofthese directory vessels are known to survive.

One particularly fine directory jug was created for the brothers' booth during the fall 1879 run of Chicago's InterState Industrial Exposition (see page 79). Its incised texts reproduce—in the form of business-card facsimiles—the names, editors, publishers, and addresses of every Chicago newspaper and magazine that was publishing in 1875.

Some entries are in German, Polish, Swedish, or Russian.

The sources of the business cards are the 140 entries listed under "Newspapers and Publications" in the Chicago Business Directory section of the Lakeside Directory ofthe State ofIllinois!' The cards are strewn across the top of the jug like confetti but gradually solidify into contiguous blocks of text toward the bottom. Interstices formed by skewed, overlapping cards are filled with cross-hatching

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Anna Pottery Exhibition Through November 12, the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences(309/686-7000, www.lakeviewmuseum.org) in Peoria, Illinois, is presenting "Highlights of the Ellis Collection of Anna Pottery," featuring snake jugs, pig flasks, fair jugs,frog mugs, chamber pots, and other objects from the largest private collection of pottery wares made by the Kirkpatrick brothers. Richard and Pamela Ellis have been collecting Anna pottery for more than a decade. Many of the wares are being shown in public for the first time.

One of the finest snake jugs on view was made

by Wallace Kirkpatrick in the early to mid-1870s.

One side features a depiction of a man diving into the jug and the inscription Nice Young Man Going In. On the opposite side, the man reappears, his face disheveled and frightened, snakes biting at his head, accompanied by the words The Drunkard's Doom.

THE DRUNKARD'S DOOM" SNAKE JUG Wallace Kirkpatrick Early to mid-1870s Salt-glazed stoneware 4" / 4 x 81 1 2 • 8/ / 101 Collection of Richard and Pamela Ellis

and dots. As on other Kirkpatrick directory wares, every bit Family Tradition, Illinois Transportation Archeological Research Reports No.3(Urbana: University ofIllinois, 1997), pp. 1-10. ofspace is filled with something.

4 On the Kirkpatricks'clay-mining operations,see Jeriah In their outlandishness of concept,iterative style, elabo- Bonham,Fifty Years'Recollections(Peoria, Ill.:J.W.Franks, 1883), ration of a folk medium, use of words as elements, ob- pp. 303-304. sessiveness of execution, and paranoia of the vacuum, 5 William Henry Perrin, ed., History ofAlexander, Union and Cornwall Kirkpatrick's directory wares are harbingers of Pulaski Counties, Illinois(Chicago: O.L.Daskin, 1883), part 5, pp. 73,74; and Anna Union, Aug.9,1876. "outsider art."

II •

The Anna Pottery's body of work, far from being conformist and conservative, is critical and progressive, even as it advances a fairly dark view of the world. For the Kirkpatricks, the underbelly of existence is clammy, dank, and uneasy. It is a world of grotesquery, unstable boundaries, of pollution, abjection, sadness, and horror. Each snake jug, with its self-contained, cyclical whelm of slimy life, is a symbol of the cosmos. Each "nice young man going in" is everyman. The brothers' work is streaked with misanthropy, a gentle, pitying, mournful misanthropy, one that does not abandon humanity as hopeless. It at least goes to the bother ofsubverting social conventions such as it can— sometimes subtly,sometimes by scaring the horses outright.

The Kirkpatricks' work would rest nicely upon a trajectory that picked up Piranesi's Prison series, Blake's From a Globe of Blood Rises Enitharmon, Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son, Whistler's Nocturnes, the Fountain of"R. Mutt," and Mapplethorpe's X Portfolio. These are works whose artists knew that the flowers of heaven are rooted in the soil of the night.* Richard D. Mohr isprofessor ofphilosophy and ofthe classics at the University ofIllinois.

Editor's Note Portions of this essay were adapted from Richard D. Mohr, Pottery, Politics, Art: George Ohr and the Brothers Kirkpatrick

(Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003).

All rights reserved. For more information, please see www.press.uillinois.edu.

Notes 1 Paul Evans, Art Pottery ofthe United States:An Encyclopedia of Their Producers and Marks, 2nd ed.(1974; New York: Feingold and Lewis, 1987), pp. 3,145,310. For an account of the ceramics at the Philadelphia Exhibition,see Nancy Owen,Rookwood and the Art ofIndustry(Athens: Ohio University Press, 2001), pp. 1-4.

2 "Department of Art," Official Catalogue[ofthe] United States Centennial Commission InternationalExhibition 1876 (Philadelphia:John R. Nagle, 1876), section 3, p. 32.The fidl entry for the brothers reads,"Kirkpatrick, C.&W.,Anna,Ill. a) Stone jar with Declaration ofIndependence. b)Snake jug. c) Iron ore. d)Porcelain clay and plastic fire-clay. e) Clay model of stone image."This list is incomplete in at least one instance: Two snake jugs were presented to the Smithsonian Institution at the centennial; they are both still in storage at the National Museum of American History in Washington,D.C.The "Declaration of Independence"jug was presumably made in 1873,for it was displayed that year at the Union County Fair at Jonesboro,Ill. It is thought to no longer exist. See The Kirkpatricks'Pottery atAnna, Illinois(Champaign,Ill.: Krannert Art Museum,1986), p. 15.

3 Bonnie Gums et al., The Kirkpatricks'Potteries in Illinois:A

6 While scorpions do not appear on extant jugs, they are attested to in "The Anna Pottery,"Jonesboro gild Gazette, Sept. 9,1874.

7 Bonham,op. cit., p. 305.

8 Two noteworthy examples oftemperance hypocrisy: George Washington claimed liquor consumption was "the root of all evil and the ruin of half the workmen in the country," but he kept a distillery in operation on his estate to provision himself, as well as his guests, employees,and slaves, with liquor. And nearly half of the 25 original members of America's first temperance association—the Union Temperate Society of Moreau, N.Y.(1808)— were expelled from it for drunkenness. For these examples and a discussion oftemperance hypocrisy in general,see John Kobler, Ardent Spirits: The Rise and FallofProhibition(New York: Putnam, 1973), pp. 21-23,38-41.

9 The Kirkpatricks'Pottery atAnna,Illinois, op. cit., pp. 8-9.

10 Jack S. Blocker Jr.,American Temperance Movements: Cycles of Reform (Boston:Twayne, 1989), p.26.

11 Minutes of the Anna City Council, May 5,1884; see The Kirkpatricks Pottery at Anna,Illinois, op. cit., p.9.

12 On Wallace's three-month appearance at Coney Island in the summer of 1886,see Jonesboro[111.] Gazette,June 19,1886; Aug.7, 1886; Sept. 25,1886.

13 Private collection.

14 Jonesboro fill" Gazette, June 10,1876. On the temperance iconography, see J.C. Furnas, The Life and Times ofthe Late Demon Rum(New York: Putnam,1965), pp. 119,128 (plates); and Arthur and Sybil Kern,"Alcoholism and the Temperance Movement in Early American Folk Art," The Magazine Antiques 153, no.2(February 1998): 292-299.That the Kirkpatricks never used demon or devil imagery should be extremely problematic for Michael D. Hall's argument that the brothers' work is an extension of the American face-jug tradition, whose faces he takes to be devils and whose ideology he takes to be temperance. Hall, "Brother's Keeper," in Stereoscopic Visions:Reflections on American Fine and Folk Art(Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1988), pp. 195-216.

15 For a discussion, see Richard D.Mohr,"Appendix I: Wallace Kirkpatrick and the Temperance Movement,"in Pottery, Politics, Art: George Ohr and the Brothers Kirkpatrick(Urbana and Chicago: University ofIllinois Press, 2003), pp. 165-174; and The Kirkpatricks'Pottery atAnna,Illinois, op. cit., p. 10.

16 Private collection.

17 Ellen Paul Denker,"Forever Getting Up Something New:The Kirkpatricks'Pottery at Anna,Illinois, 1859-1896"(MA thesis, University of Delaware-Newark,1978), p. 86.The four figures on the jug are labeled with their names and military ranks.

18 Ibid., p. 110.

19 For numerous caricatures of Davis under arrest, see Mark E. Neely Jr., Harold Holzer, and Gabor S. Boritt, The Confederate Image:Prints ofthe Lost Cause(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987), pp. 79-96,and Harper's Weekly(May 27, 1865): 336.

20 Suzanne Schulze,Horace Greeley:A Bio-Bibliography(New York: Greenwood Press, 1992), pp. 3-50.

21 For a sympathetic account of Greeley's presidential bid,focusing on its ideas, see Erik Lunde,Horace Greeley(Boston: G.K. Hall, 1981), pp. 104-118.

22 Lakeside Directory ofthe State ofIllinois(Chicago: Williams, Donnelly &Co., 1875), pp. 158-162.

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81

. . made for love of creation"

ii

By Lisa Stone

Thoughts on the Art o

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It has been almost a quarter century since the art of Eugene Von Bruenchenhein came into public view. Since 1983, his photographs, paintings, and ceramic, bone, and mixedmedia sculptures have achieved considerable acclaim; his works are represented in prominent museums and private collections and have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the country. For most of his adult life, imagining, conceiving, and making art was all-consuming, and he left an enormous oeuvre. Von Bruenchenhein's production is astonishing in its scope and originality, for the intensity of focus on serial works in various media, and for its panoptic nature.

UNTITLED (Bone Towers) Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910-1983) Milwaukee c. 1979 Paint on chicken bones and turkey bones with glue, clay, wood, varnish, egg shell, and mixed media 29-54" h.

John Michael Kohler Arts Center Permanent Collection, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Edward Eugene Von Bruenchenhein was born in 1910 in Marinette, Wisconsin,the second ofthree sons of Edward and Clara Von Bruenchenhein.

Clara died when Eugene was 7, and his father remarried. Edward's second wife,Bessie Mosley,was well educated, artistic, and literary, and she became a model ofcreativity and intellectual exploration for the young Eugene. After graduating from high school, Eugene worked as a florist, an experience that surely nurtured his deep interest in plant life and his identity as a horticulturist. He then found employment at a commercial bakery, where he worked until the late 1950s. In 1943, he married Eveline Kalka, whom he called "Marie" in honor ofone of his favorite aunts. Edward Von Bruenchenhein gave the couple the family's house at 514 South Ninety-fourth Place, which evolved into the allencompassing world of Eugene and Marie.'

For about forty years, Von Bruenchenhein worked tenaciously and in virtual isolation, producing many thousands of artworks.' He was a prodigious writer, recording his thoughts, ideas, and theories in poetry and prose throughout his life.

Beginning in the early 1940s, he began a mode of working in which he intensively explored subjects and ideas in specific media. These serial bodies of work reflect a disciplined artistic process in which he probed the expression of an idea through a medium until it reached its culmination, or until it evolved into a new idea and a new series.

Von Bruenchenhein's work engaged the entire house and garden, effectively erasing the line between home and studio, between life and art. His modest house was painted in a patchwork of pastel colors determined by chance—through gifts of cast-off paint from a friend. Inside, all rooms were studios, overflowing with his work. The house reflected a life fully given over to artistic activity, and it is evident that Von Bruenchenhein's home was his art world, the art world.

During his lifetime, the exterior, public art world remained out of reach, a world away.

In contrast with the artistic richness distilled within their home,

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Eugene and Marie lived a solitary, financially impoverished life. According to Eugene's nephew Fritz Von Bruenchenhein, the couple "lived a hard life and never had much in the way of material things. Only what was necessary to get by... ."3 Shortly after the artist's death in 1983, the process that saved his work from obscurity and ruin was set into motion by his

recordings, it is evident that he had yearned for public recognition of his work, which eluded him in his lifetime, although just barely.

Von Bruenchenhein's life revolved around his artistic identity. A hand-incised copper plaque that hung in his home lists his talents and occupations—"Freelance Artist / Poet and Sculptor / Concrete masks, c. 1960s

dear friend and supporter, local policeman Dan Nycz, who brought it to the attention of Russell Bowman,then director and curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Stunned by the discovery, Bowman and the museum staff introduced Ruth Kohler, director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to the work. Equally astonished, Kohler and her staff immediately committed to the documentation of Von Bruenchenhein's entire oeuvre, the acquisition of a comprehensive collection, and an ambitious exhibition program.' By 1985, the remainder of the estate had solid gallery representation. From his writings and audio

The Von Bruenchenhein house, Milwaukee, 1983

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY JOHN MICHAEL HURLER ARTS CENTER ARTIST ARCHIVES, SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN

Inovator / Arrow maker and / Plant man / bone artifacts constructor / Photographer and Architect / Philosopher"—thus providing a window into his identity as a fully engaged Renaissance man. His role as a "Freelance Artist" was optimistic, as it implies that he made a living from his work. It also sheds light on an issue raised in respect to many self-taught

Bone thrones suspended inside the Von Bruenchenhein house, 1983

artists: whether they were making art intentionally for an art audience, and if this intentionality allows the work to be viewed as art, unqualified.' Von Bruenchenhein unequivocally knew he was an artist, and he identified himself as an innovator—a trailblazer of new work and ideas. His artistic selfawareness is underscored by his complete immersion in his practice. This,

LLS

OTOGRAPH

Tabletop display in the parlor of the Von Bruenchenhein house, 1983

and the general inability to negotiate the seemingly monolithic and inaccessible terrain of the public art world—an obstacle shared by so many artists—unfortunately precluded any chance for him to connect with the conventional systems of the sharing and distribution of art.

Around the time of his marriage, Von Bruenchenhein began to

photograph Marie. What may have started as an amorous pastime evolved into a serious pursuit, resulting in many thousands of staged portraits of his wife and muse.In 1954, he created a small group of paintings depicting the frightening effect of the hydrogen bomb. Following this series of literal works, he developed a method of manipulating oil paint on surfaces prepared with white enamel paint, using his fingers and various objects. By eliminating the paintbrush, he closed the distance between artist and material, and from this point forward he engaged a tactile, hands-on approach to his works in all media.In this series, painted images lead to the vast corners

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of his imagined universe. Fueled by his awareness of the magnitude of atomic power, the works portray macromicrocosmic land-, sea-, sky-, and space-scapes that pulsate with pictorialized energy. Von Bruenchenhein sustained this creative continuum, in which he produced his best-known paintings, until it ran its course in about 1959.

It is likely that Von Bruenchenhein dreamed of having his work on view at his hometown "temple of art," and his 1954 painting War Memorial Temple of Art (page 88) might in fact reference the Milwaukee Art Museum. Eero Saarinen's design for a War Memorial annex to the museum—a floating geometric structure with murals of colorful mosaic tile—generated much excitement in the city Although construction did not begin until 1955, Von Bruenchenhein most likely would have been aware of its design and imminent construction.

An intoxicating, elastic sense of nature as an expression of primal energy was evoked in his first major painting series. In his ceramic sculpture (created c. 1940-1980), and later in his bone sculpture (1960s1980s), however, he focused his attention on specific natural forms and growth processes. Diversity within the production of multiples ruled Von Bruenchenhein's sculptural construction. Using clay dug by hand, he first created variations on floral shapes; these evolved into series of botanically inspired, leafy vases and crowns.

His transformation of natural forms into imaginative inventions reached enigmatic proportions in his series of throne and tower forms constructed of carefully prepared chicken and turkey bones. He also created more durable outdoor sculptures in a series of concrete mask shapes, possibly inspired by Southeast Asian or Mayan imagery Von Bruenchenhein was not the only one in the Milwaukee area devoted to all-consuming artistic production. Mary Nohl (1914-2001), another "freelance artist," lived a rich creative life in and around her Lake Michigan shoreline home in Fox Point, a suburb of Milwaukee.

Although Nohl had studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago ! from 1933 to 1937 and was aware of i

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GOLD TOWER C. 1970s Paint on chicken bones and turkey bones 47 • 6 • 7" American Folk Art Museum, gift of Lewis B. Greenblatt, 1999.22.1 GOLD THRONE c. late 1960s Paint on chicken bones and turkey bones 5/ 1 2x 4/ 1 2x 4/ 1 2 " American Folk Art Museum, gift of Barbara Blank and Barry Shapiro, P15.2000.1

SILVER CROWN c. 1965-1975 Paint on clay 5 x 6/ 3 4 x 8/ 1 2 " American Folk Art Museum, gift of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, 1999.193 VASE WITH HEART DESIGN C. 1960-1980 Paint on clay 121/2 x 4/ 1 2 "diam.

American Folk Art Museum, gift of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, 1999.19.1

what was going on in the public art world, she disregarded outside trends and developments entirely, finding her home and yard entirely adequate, in fact the perfect place to work. Like Von Bruenchenhein, Nohl worked fluidly in a variety of media, as a "sculptor, painter, printmaker, jeweler, potter, illustrator, and writer." There are interesting connections between Nohl's and Von Bruenchenhein's work: Nohl created concrete sculptures and placed them around her yard; she was

engaged in serial ceramic production and operated a small commercial pottery (her one foray into the trade world, making slip-cast functional and decorative objects); she embellished her cottage and garage entirely with pleasing patterns of painted wood, transforming conventional structures into lovely architectural statements; and her home and garden flowered into an intriguing and original lakeside art environment.

Nohl's work was known in her lifetime, but not widely, and it was not viewed entirely with respect. Because her life and her home and yard, located in an affluent neighborhood, were unconventional, she became known as the "witch" and was the victim of much derision and vandalism.

Like Von Bruenchenhein, she left a remarkable artistic legacy. Unlike Von Bruenchenhein, however, Nohl had inherited considerable wealth. She lived simply and left a sizable endowment to the community to provide artists and arts organizations the means to pursue their artistic visions.' It is tempting to imagine the friendship and artistic bond Von Bruenchenhein and Nohl might have shared had they been acquainted.

Curiously missing from Von Bruenchenhein's plaque is reference to his presumed royal ancestry. He believed his family was descended from royalty from the German region of Lower Saxony, and he referred to this lineage in writings and other inscriptions, such as one on a self-portrait photo: "Edward the First, King of Lesser Lands + Time Cannot Touch."'

Chicago artist Lee Godie (1908-1994) held a similar and seemingly incongruous allusion to aristocracy. Although she lived outdoors for most of her artistic career and was known as a "bag lady" ("portfolio woman" would have been more appropriate),she adhered to her highborn background and adopted an imposing,patrician demeanor.Many who encountered Godie were unable to square her assumed level ofclass and stature with her unconventional lifestyle, and thus discounted her as harboring delusions of grandeur. However, similar to Von Bruenchenhein, there was a searing authenticity in her identity that was expressed in and substantiated by her work.

Von Bruenchenhein's concern with the trappings and symbols of royalty is reflected in his series of bone chairs (c. late 1960s) and his ceramic-crown sculptures. Using bleached and dried chicken and turkey bones, he created exquisite studies of chair structure, analogs to the human figure in skeletal form. Generally composed of leg and wing bones for chair legs and arms and vertebrae for the backs, they correspond to the human form chairs are meant to support. Their elaborate designs and richly painted surfaces suggest that they are not mere chairs but lofty little thrones. With his characteristic mode of exploring a form serially, he created dozens of bone thrones, no two alike. They were found hanging on lines of string throughout his house, oddly accentuating their sense of being ideas as well as objects. The bone thrones bring to mind the fantastic chairs made by Karl Junker (1850-1912), whose work also unfolded completely within the context of his extraordinary house in Lemgo, Germany, arguably to a greater degree than Von Bruenchenhein's. Erected in 1891, the Junkerhaus was uniquely embellished, inside and out, and filled to the brim with paintings, sculpture, and handmade furniture, all of which blended seamlessly into the carvedwood embellishment that adorned most interior surfaces like woody growth. Like Von Bruenchenhein's tiny thrones, Junker's life-size chairs appear to have begun as human constructions that were taken over by an organic process, ultimately more "grown" than "made."

Von Bruenchenhein's identification as "Plant man" reflected his earlier work in a florist shop and his involvement in the local cactus club, and was also an integral aspect of his artistic expression. His preoccupation with nature and nobility converged in his series of ceramic crowns (c. 19651975), created—but appearing to have grown, like his equally intriguing series of ceramic vessels—of myriad tiny leaf-forms. Fabulous in their physical fragility, the delicate crowns are fit for characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Although they are lifesize (for a small person's head), their inherent fragility suggests that they were not created to be worn but are

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87

symbolic objects, musings on the notion and essence ofthe crown.

In the 1970s, Von Bruenchenhein's manipulation of bone evolved from forms that rest on the ground to forms that reach to the sky. Elaborating on the technique he perfected in the construction of his bone thrones, and challenging his ability to build impossibly delicate objects, he created a series of intricate bone spires, ranging from a few feet to five feet in height.

Resting on bases of structurally stronger leg, wing, and breastbones, the towers grow into lacelike, openwork shafts of vertebrae and smaller bones.

Like the Watts Towers constructed in Los Angeles by Simon Rodia (1879-1965), of which we know Von Bruenchenhein was aware, the bone spires conflate architecture and sculpture, expressing fundamental qualities of both.'The coherence of each tower is emphasized by its painted finish.

He used single or marbleized colors on the surfaces, often gilded with gold or silver spray paint, unifying them as structures while revealing the complex designs that unfold within them.

Had he painted the individual bones separately, they would have become more "decorative object" than "tower."

A few of the bone towers support hollow, painted eggshells placed atop the spires or near the top, bringing them to a perfect metaphorical conclusion. Relating egg to bone, these constructions suggest the facts and mysteries of life: birth, growth, and death (and also the popularly posed "the chicken or the egg" question).The spire eggs bring to mind the Catalan tradition of l'ou corn balk, or dancing egg. Re-created each June at public fountains in Barcelona, l'ou corn balla celebrates the festival ofCorpus Christi in a delicate balancing act: A hollow egg is placed atop an upward spray of water from fountains richly garlanded with flowers and foliage; dancing precariously, the egg has varied symbolic meanings but essentially celebrates renewal and the fecundity of spring.

Resting atop Von Bruenchenhein's bone towers, the eggs evoke the hope and potential of new life.

After a hiatus from painting of nearly two decades, he returned to the medium in 1977 in a succession

88 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

of works he titled "repulse phase" or "rejection phase," before beginning his final series of paintings, a sustained exploration of a new architectural age that lasted from 1978 to 1981.Perhaps a reference to his identification as an "Architect," this series concerns an architectural vision for an age of colored stone, glass, and steel. In painting after painting, colorful tower complexes appear against backdrops of bright blue sky and clouds. To achieve both

optimistic age of architecture is evident in some of their titles: Rise of Empire—complex Wand of the Genii The miracle ofcolor stone and steel When Creation is man's hope; Confederation of Stone and Steel Imperial City Distant View; A pyramid ofYears. A complex of color-stone-glass-steel; Living in clouds/ Edison Complex—Advanced color stone and steel (see page 90); and A self sustained city a complex ofstone and stee1.1° The paintings bring to mind

the illusion of a structure and the feeling of lightness, Von Bruenchenhein stamped patterns onto a prepared cardboard surface with the edge of a strip of corrugated cardboard dipped in paint. As a result of this technique, the vast painted tower complexes appear to have the same airy openwork of his bone towers. The essence of these visualizations of an imaginary

the visionary writings of German author Paul Scheerbart (1863-1915), who imagined an international architectural realm of glass and light in his 1914 books Grey Cloth and Glass Architecture. The futuristic Grey Cloth begins, curiously, in mid-twentiethcentury Chicago, in a fabulous architectural setting of colored glass that the protagonist imagines as a new

WAR MEMORIAL TEMPLE OF ART 1954 Oil and enamel on Masonite 24 x 24" Collection of James M. Zanzi

HIGH RISE WINNIEMERE COMPLEX 1978 Oil on cardboard 34/ 1 2 = 201 / 2" John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

age of architecture. The protagonist travels to the Fiji Islands, the South Pole, Borneo, Japan, the Himalayas, Ceylon, and Arabia, and "everything ends happily with the acceptance of glass architecture around the globe.""

In Glass Architecture, Scheerbart expounds on the attributes and the need for a new architectural age of colored glass architecture.

Like Scheerbart's and others'visions of redemptive architectural ages, Von Bruenchenhein's project is vast in scope and untethered to reality as we know it.

Through titles such as Peace Complex and Liberty Complex in the clouds, we glean a utopian purpose to the project.

The painting Newformula erosion proof colored stone on steelfi-ame work suggests that he considered the practical and material aspects ofthe architectural age.

Another painting, Tribute to Thomas Edisonfor light in the night celebrates invention and the electric age. In The Naczka Expanse, the artist may have intoned an imaginative, towering reference point from which the Nazca Lines of ancient Peru could be viewed. Some paintings in this series are dedicated to women. Ageless Stone and Steel Caroline Complex owner—the Genii and Crimson Queen Complex bring to mind the fantastic architectural drawings of A.G. Rizzoli (1896-1981), many of which are architectural portraits ofindividuals "symbolically rendered.""

Although this last series ofpaintings suggests a futuristic architectural age, it is interesting to consider the architecture of Von Bruenchenhein's time and what some of his references may have been. The 1970s brought the completion of two internationally acclaimed buildings, the World Trade Center in New York (completed in 1973) and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1977), notable for its colorful, structural transparency. The late 1970s and early '80s also brought a plethora of visually mind-numbing steel-and-glass skyscrapers that flaunted corporate vanity across skylines the world over. Von Bruenchenhein may have imagined a more beautiful and uplifting solution to the age of unimaginative glass and steel towers (of which there were a few in Milwaukee).

Von Bruenchenhein must have been aware of works offellow VVisconsonian Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959),

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Eugene Von Bruenchenhein's work is included in the exhibition "Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds: The Built Environments of Vernacular Artists," on view through January 2008 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (920/458-6144; www.jmkac.org), Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The installation features the work of twenty-one additional artists who transformed their homes, yards, or other available spaces into multifaceted works of art: Levi Fisher Ames, Jacob Baker, Emery Blagdon, Loy Bowlin, David Butler, Nek Chand, John Ehn, Nick Engelbert, Tom Every, Ernest Fliipeden, Peter Jodacy, Mary Nohl, Frank Oebser, Carl Peterson, Clarence Powell, Sam Rodia, Dr. Charles Smith, Fred Smith, James Tellen, Stella Waitzkin, and Albert Zahn.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog edited by Leslie Umberger, Erika Doss, and Ruth Kohler, and published by Princeton University Press; see page 97 for more information.

LIVING IN CLOUDS / EDISON COMPLEX— ADVANCED COLOR STONE AND STEEL 1979 Oil on cardboard 40719" Collection of Lewis and Jean Greenblatt

BILL BENGTS N

Environments of Vernacular Artists(New York: Princeton Architectural Press in association with John Michael Kohler Arts Center,2007), pp. 243-273.

2 Von Bruenchenhein's isolation was from the art world,and he was socially isolated to a certain extent as well, due in part to his serious studio life. However,for a number of years, he was active in the local cactus club and,according to his friend Dan Nycz,frequently roamed around Milwaukee and the region to see things of interest. He read newspapers,listened to the radio, and ostensibly watched television.In short, he was by no means isolated from society.

3 Fritz Von Bruenchenhein,letter to the author, November 1994.

4 The retrospective "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: Wisconsin Visionary" was on view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan,Wis.,from March 4 to May 13, 1984,just one year after the artist's death.The next major solo exhibition,"Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: Obsessive Visionary," was also organized by the Kohler Arts Center and was shown at the Milwaukee Art Museum from June 3 to Sept. 4, 1988.

5 Some scholars maintain that if there is no evidence that an artmaker thought of him- or herself as an artist, the work belongs in the category of"outsider art," because the maker is motivated, driven, or informed differently than artmakers who call themselves artists.The issue is central to current debates about self-taught artists.

6 Leslie Umberger and Jane Bianco, "Mary Nohl Interplay," in Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds, op. cit., pp. 274-299.

Author's Note 7 Nohl left a total of $9.7 million to the I would like to thank Jane Bianco, Greater Milwaukee Foundation.The Kevin Cole, Larry Donoval, Amy Mary L. Nohl Fund,administered by the Ruffo, and Leslie Umberger of the foundation, provides grants to nonprofit John Michael Kohler Arts Center, organizations and individual artists for Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Nicole visual arts programs or projects in the Whelan of the American Folk Art Milwaukee area.

Museum; and Russell Bowman, 8 Cubbs, op. cit., p. 10.

9 Umberger,"Eugene Von Louis Greenblatt, Carl Hammer, and Bruenchenhein," op. cit., p.260.

Caelyn Mys for generously providing 10 All five works are in the collection of information and images.* Lewis and Jean Greenblatt.

11 Rosemarie Haag Bletter,"Paul Lisa Stone is curator ofthe Roger Brown Scheerbart's Architectural Fantasies," Study Collection ofthe School ofthe Art TheJournal ofthe Society ofArchitectural Historians 34, no.2(May 1975): 83-97.

Institute ofChicago.

12 Liberty Complex in the clouds is in the collection of the John Michael Kohler Notes Arts Center.The other six works are 1 General biographical information in the collection of Lewis and Jean was gleaned from Joanne Cubbs,Eugene Greenblatt.

Von Bruenchenhein: Obsessive Visionary 13 Bettina Drew,Nelson Algren:A Life on (Sheboygan,Wis.:John Michael Kohler the Wild Side(New York: G.P. Putnam and Arts Center, 1988); and Leslie Umberger, Sons, 1989), p. 78.

"Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: Once Upon 14 Both works are in the collection of a Starlit Midnight," in Umberger (ed.), Lewis and Jean Greenblatt.

Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds:Built

especially his visionary, unbuilt but much reproduced design for the Mile High Skyscraper of 1956. It is also likely that he visited the 1933-1934 Century of Progress Fair in Chicago, an architectural spectacle (described by writer Nelson Algren as "a zig-zag riot of fakery") known especially for its host of modern buildings awash in colored lights at night." Paintings in this series, which engage the expressive use of color as a defining architectural element, are strikingly similar to the light-bathed, chimerical skyline of Emerald City in the film The Wizard ofOz, and Von Bruenchenhein engaged a few Oz-like titles, such as Emerald Complex and Emerald Tower complex.'

Possible sources and references from popular culture aside, Von Bruenchenhein's tower paintings present an optimistic view of grand and colorful massed forms rising to pinnacles in the clouds. The ground plane is noticeably absent in this series. The towers are not connected to the earth— they exist in the realm of the sky— and they convey a feeling of lightness and ascension. As the body of work he focused on until just prior to his death,the paintings can also be read as a prelude to another dimension, an imagined, utopic place for the inevitable and unknowable future.

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OUTSIDER ART WEEK JANUARY 22-27, 2008 Celebrating Self-Taught Artists at the American Folk Art Museum Evening events, symposium, panel discussion, tours & receptions INFO: 212. 265. 1040, ext. 105

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MUSEUM

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UPDATE:

CULTURE

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BY CHARLES RUSSELL AND ALISON WELD

houghts about biography, cultural landscape and context,intentionality and authenticity,and the field's future suffused the two-day symposium Culture in Context: Selftaught Artists in the Twenty-first Century;organized by the museum's Contemporary Center and education department.The symposium,which was sponsored by JP Morgan Chase Bank,was held at New York University this spring.

A range ofself-taught artists, past and present,and of different cultures and ethnidties,were the focus ofthe presentations. Sincerity reigned. Vision abounded.

The first session, Biography/ Presence of Self, raised a critical question in the field: To what degree can the work ofthe selftaught artist or the "outsider" stand alone from its creator?

Pointing out the mainstream art world's dominant belief that art should be understood primarily through objective aesthetics, cultural anthropologist Stephen Huyler asked, Don't we have to look at biography,context, and the subjective awareness ofthe artist as well? Huyler noted, however, that in "outsider art," biography is often of more interest than the visual aspect, a point supported by Monika Jagfeld's observation that the notion of"outsider" tends to stress the biography ofthe creator.

Kent Mintum's talk reminded us ofDubuffet's ambivalence toward the biographical record even as he emphasized the artists'location "outside"the cultural aesthetic. Beauvais Lyons's ironic and humorous cliché-ridden spoof about collectors and their excessive interest in biography,on the other hand,reduced the issue to the absurd. While Jagfeld concluded that both autobiography and art-historical analysis are needed,

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artists, a conflict that has been through Huyler's presentation central to the field from its very ofthree self-taught artists from India, Margaret Parson's introduc- beginnings, as Valerie Rousseau . enifer P. Borum (left) made clear in her presentation of tion to the Hungarian American rson and Brooke Davi Alex Bogardy,and Jagfeld's discus- Dubuffet's conception ofa museum as an "anti-museum"in which an sion ofthe autobiographical work "anti-aesthetic" could be preserved of several trained and untrained and displayed. artists, the audience was chalThe opposition between the lenged to determine when biograperspective ofthe artist and that phy was of more interest than the of the audience proved most visual art, which sometimes lacks problematic in the third session, emotive powers and unique intellect. At times it appears that biog- Authenticity, primarily because it Stephen Huyler is the audience that is usually most raphy is seen as much as an icon concerned with determinations of as the visual art itself; and that authenticity. Yet Bernard Herman certain biographies seem to be presented the views ofthe Gee's more relevant for their social and Bend quilters and quoted their political implications and more discussions oflocal standards and involving than the art object.

This dichotomy continued as a market definitions of beauty and ugliness in their work,raising the subtext in the Awareness of Culcomplex issue of who determines ture/Landscape/Place session,in Randall Morns which aspects ofthe quilts' aesthetwhich Anton Rajer discussed the ics are deemed authentic. Pamela connection of Nek Chand's Rock Sachant described the frustrations Garden to Punjabi culture, and of a self-taught Georgia painter Joyce Cohen stated that Clementine Hunter's and Gayleen Aiken's with seemingly antithetical desires to cultivate an identity as an auworks allow us to "see" their local thentic folk artist and a national cultures. Neither speaker, howreputation as a contemporary artist. ever, was particularly concerned From the perspective of Alexandra with the aesthetic aspects ofthe Npinosa (left) and Coll artists' creations. Indeed,Jenifer P. Plettenberg-Serban,the mental Borum praised the field's rejection illness of the self-taught artist ofa primarily aestheticist orienta- Richard Smith is his "particular vulnerability" but also his "greater tion—as she also condemned a authenticity." Stating that a focus biographical approach focusing on experience and not artistic talon eccentricity and insanity—in ent is important, she declared that favor ofrigorous contextualiza"art ofthe mentally ill and the art tion of the artists within their life ofchildren is authentic art, because worlds,their"home grounds." it relates to the truth ofthe human At the same time,she noted the field's failure to accept sufficiently condition." Alison Weld,however, argued that authenticity is the aesthe reality ofvisionary artists' visions and pointed out the inher- thetically achieved power ofvisual philosophy and power ofthought ent conflict between the practice and emotion,which is evident in all ofscholarly remove and the strong works ofart, whether creatintensity ofthe work they study.

Here,"awareness of culture" high- ed by the trained or the self-taught lights the incompatibility between artist. She demonstrated this by focusing on the visual strategies the cultural position of scholars, of economy and accretion in the museum professionals, and colwork of Bill Traylor and Hawkins lectors and that ofthe self-taught

ho

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELENA BERNSTEIN AND VICTOR N. ESPINOSA

CULTURE IN CONTEXT: SELF-TAUGHT ARTISTS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY April 27-28, 2007 Session 1: Biography/Presence of Self—

N. v.._ _... ' w.1111*111111P m left: Bernardi. Herman, Roger Cardinal, Pamela Sachant, Alison Weld, Lee Kogan, Alexandra Plettenberg-Serban

m left: Valerie Susan Mitchell Crawley

urn, Anton Rajer, Joyce Cohen, Daniel Baumann,

niel Baumann

Kent minturn ,

Charles Russell

Laffoley

Margaret Parsons

Tom Patterson

Bolden. By these standards, it was evident that not all the artists presented in the first day's talks have as yet achieved the realm of authenticity nor are as in touch with their core selves as significantly as Martin Ramirez, whose retrospective exhibition organized by the museum prompted this tenth anniversary commemoration of the Contemporary Center.

The great variety among the artists presented in the session on Intentionality, which opened the second day—James Castle (by Brendan Greaves),Emma R. "Emmer"Sewell(by Charles Russell), Paul Laffoley(by himself), and a host of neuve invention contemporaries(by Tom Patterson)—reminded us of the extraordinary vitality and

potential for the continued growth of the field. Each ofthe papers emphasized the complexity ofthe individual artists' negotiation ofthe charged boundaries between themselves and the greater universe, whether they experienced those boundaries spiritually, culturally, or politically, and always artistically. The talks reaffirmed that although we might engage the artwork via the artist's biography, cultural context, or aesthetic criteria, the work arises first and foremost as an action through which an individual life—the artist's or ours—may be revealed unto itself.

The symposium generated thought and inspiration for artists, intellectuals, and collectors alike. It confirmed,while also challenging, passions and points ofview. Randall Morris and Gary Alan Fine,joined by Brooke Davis Anderson,were respondents to the two-day symposium, putting in context the range of artists and intellectual approaches presented and assessing the state of the field today. As a mark of how successful the program was,the audience had the last say, raising questions stimulated by the talks that require further discussion, perhaps in the next symposium: How do we define quality in this field? How can we engage—or dismiss—the uneven record of other cultural institutions to confront this art? How do we incorporate self-taught artists from the global cultures? * Charles Russell directs the graduate program in American Studies at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. Alison Weld is an artist represented by the Robert Steele Gallery in Manhattan with a longtime involvement with the work ofse(f-taught artists.

Cochairs: Kristin E. Espinosa and Leslie Umberger. Panelists: Stephen Huyler,"Individual Expression within a Constricted Society: Self-taught Artists in India"; Monika Jagfeld,"Artist's Ego or Art Ego:The Relevance of Context Access through the Example ofArt Autobiographies"; Beauvais Lyons, "Biography and Authenticity:The George and Helen Spelvin Folk Art Collection"; Kent Mintum,"Jean Dubuffet's Biographies"; Margaret Parsons, "Memories,Madonnas,and Makeup: Alex Bogardy's Art" Session 2: Awareness of Culture/Landscape/ Place-Cochairs: Daniel Baumann and Susan Mitchell Crawley. Panelists: Jenifer P. Borum,"Cultural Context and the Beyond:The Methodological Challenge ofEngaging the Work of Self-taught Visionary Artists";Joyce Cohen,"Historians in Aprons: Women Self-taught Artists"; Anton Rajer, "Nek Chand's Rock Garden: Cultural Connection and Artistic Authenticity in Chandigarh,India"; Valerie Rousseau, "Revealing Art Brut: Beyond the Impossible Museum" Session 3: Authenticity-Cochairs: Roger Cardinal and Lee Kogan.Panelists: Bernard L. Herman,"Quilts Talking/ Talking Quilts: Art, Authenticity, and Display in Gee's Bend,Alabama"; Alexandra Plettenberg-Serban, "Authenticity and Culture in the Work of Richard Smith";Pamela Sachant,"The Case Study of Billy Roper: Breaking through the Wood Panel Ceiling of Local Renown to National Fame"; Alison Weld,"Authenticity: Economy and Accumulation in Bill Traylor and Hawkins Bolden" Session 4: Intentionality-Cochairs: Victor M. Espinosa and Colin Rhodes. Panelists: Brendan Greaves,"Characters Comely to the Eye:Text and Intention in the Art ofJames Castle"; Paul Laffoley,"The Intentionality of Oneness': Homage to Wendel'One World'Willkie,John 'The One'Lennon,and'The One of Plotinus'";Tom Patterson,"Culture, Counterculture, Authenticity, and Identity in Contemporary Folk/Outsider/ Visionary Art"; Charles Russell,"Art That Protects and Connects:The Yard Show of 'Emmer'Sewell" Closing Session: Where to Now?-Chair: Brooke Davis Anderson. Respondents: Gary Alan Fine and Randall Morris Streaming video ofthe proceedings can be viewed at vvvvw.learningtimes.net/ afamcultureincontext

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BOOKS

OF

INTEREST

BY EVELYN R. GURNEY

he following titles are available at the American Folk Art Museum's Book and Gift Shop at 45 West 53rd Street, New York City.

To order, please call 212/265-1040,ext. 124. Museum members receive a 10 percent discount.

T

Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel Murray Zimiles, with a foreword by Gerard C. Wertkin and an essay by Vivian B. Mann, University Press of New England/ Brandeis University Press in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2007,192 pages, $35 he thousands of Eastern and Central European Jews immigrating to the United States and Canada around the turn of the 20th century brought with them a vital visual tradition that helped them transition from the Old World to the New. As they struggled to balance the continuation of an observant life with the realities of adjusting to a new culture, artisans from their communities responded to the vigorous pull of the spiritual and the secular through the perpetuation of familiar forms and the new application of traditional artmaking skills. It was within this powerful dynamic that a surprising link was forged between the synagogue and the carousel.

Beginning with an exploration of the symbolic imagery that infused traditional Jewish life in 19th-century Eastern Europe, Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses follows the legacy of such symbols, found in ark carvings, on gravestones, and in papercuts, to America, where they were re-created in the newly established Jewish centers. The association between immigrant Jewish artisans and the American carousel industry is embodied by a number of carvers who bridged the gap between the sacred and the secular, creating elaborate Torah arks and ark lions as well as fiery carousel horses with flamelike manes,flaring nostrils, and ornate floral and jeweled trappings. These exuberant carvings stand as testaments to a history of survival and transformation as immigrant Jewish artists transferred symbolic visual elements into a vernacular American idiom.

Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses is the first major study of this important aspect of the Jewish contribution to American folk art and features 112 color plates.

—Mareike Grover

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African American Vernacular Photography: Selections from the Daniel Cowin Collection, Brian Wallis

and Deborah Willis,International Center ofPhotography/Steidl, 2005,120 pages,$25 American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum, Stacy C.

Hollander, Brooke Davis Anderson, and Gerard C. Wertkin, American Folk Art Museum/Harry N.Abrams,2001, 432 pages,$65 American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum,

Stacy C. Hollander, American Folk Art Museum/Harry N.Abrams,2001, 572 pages,$75

Clementine Hunter: The African House Murals, Art

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Shiver and Tom Whitehead,eds., Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches,2005,75 pages, $29.95 The Colorful Apocalypse: Journeys in Outsider Art,

Greg Bottoms, University of Chicago Press,2007, 200 pages,$20 Darger: The Henry Darger Collection at the American Folk Art Museum,

Brooke Davis Anderson, American Folk Art Museum/ Harry N.Abrams,2001, 128 pages,$29.95 Diamonds and Bars: The Art of the Amish People,

Blackstock's Collections: The Drawings of an Artistic Savant, Gregory L.

Florian Hufnagl, ed., Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt,2007,192 pages, $75.00

Blacicstock, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006,144 pages,$19.95

Donald Mitchell: Right Here, Right Now,Cheryl

Bold Improvisation: Searching for African American Quilts; The Heffley Collection, Scott

Heffley, Kansas City Star Books, 2007,128 pages, $29.95 Charley 05,

Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni, All Subotnick, eds., Les Presses du Reel,2007,368 pages,$39.95

Rivers, ed., Creative Growth Arts Center, 2005,92 pages,$24.95 Expressions of Innocence and Eloquence: Selections from the Jane Katcher Collection of Americana,Jane Katcher,

David A.Schorsch, and Ruth Wolfe,eds.,Yale University Press, 2006,428 pages,$75.00

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Forms of Tradition in Contemporary Spain,

James Castle/ Walker Evans: : J Word-play, Signs and N E A d.HE JE DE DE Symbols, Stephen

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From Shaker Lands and Shaker Hands: A Survey of the Industries,

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M.Stephen Miller, University Press of New England,2007,176 pages, $29.95

Bitner, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006,192 pages, $19.95 The Life and Art of Jimmy Lee Sudduth,

Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt, Paul

Arnett,Joanne Cubbs,and Eugene W. MetcalfJr., eds.,Tinwood Books, 2006,224 pages,$50

Susan Mitchell Crawley, Montgomery Museum ofFine Arts/River City Publishing,2005, 96 pages,$29.95 REPRINT NOW AVAILABLE

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Yukiko Koide and Kyoichi Tsuzuki,eds., Imperial Press,2007,112 pages, $25.00 Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts,

Vladimir Arkhipov, Fuel Publishing,2006, 304 pages,$32

Silk Stocking Mats: Hooked Rugs of the Grenfell Mission,

Warren, American Folk Art Museum/ Harry N.Abrams,2003, 150 pages,$29.95

Paula Laverty, McGill Queen's University Press,2005,192 pages,$44.95 Sound and Fury: The Art of Henry Darger,

A Place in Time: The Shakers at Sabbathday Lake, Maine, Stephen

Guion Williams and Gerard C.Werticin, David R. Godine,2006,96 pages, $18.95 The Potter's Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina, Mark Hewitt

and Nancy Sweezy, University of North Carolina Press,2005, 336 pages,$39.95

Brooke Davis Anderson,Marquand Books/American Folk Art Museum,2007, 192 pages,$55 Mascots & Mugs: The Characters and Cartoons of Subway Graffiti,

David "Chino" Villorente and Todd "Reas"James,Testify Books, 2007,224 pages,$39.95 Mingering Mike: The Amazing Career of an Imaginary Soul Superstar, Dori

Hadar, Neil Strauss, and Jane Livingston,Princeton Architectural Press,2007,192 pages,$24.95

Quilts In a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection, Linda

Edward M. Gomez,Andrew Edlin Gallery,2006,74 pages, $50 Sublime Spaces and Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists, Leslie

Thrift Store Paintings,Jim

Eaton, Winterthur Museum/Harry N.Abrams,2007, 208 pages, $40 Sacred and Profane: Voice and Vision in Southern Self-Taught Art, Carol Crown and

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Umberger, Erika Doss,and Ruth Kohler, eds., Princeton Architectural Press,2007; 416 pages,$65

Martin Ramirez,

Sandi Fox and Roderick ICiracofe, Giles/Smithsonian American Art Museum,2007, 144 pages, $45.00 Henry Darger's Room: 851 Webster,

The Perfect Game: America Looks at Baseball, Elizabeth V.

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Tools of Her Ministry: The Art of Sister Gertrude Morgan,

Charles Russell, eds., University Press of Mississippi,2007,312 pages, $50

William A. Fagaly, American Folk Art Museum/Rizzoli,2004, 120 pages,$35

The Shipcarvers' Art: Figureheads and Cigar-Store Indians in Nineteenth-Century America, Ralph

Windsor-Chair Making in America: From Craft Shop to Consumer, Nancy

Sessions,Princeton University Press,2005,240 pages,$75

Goyne Evans, University Press of New England, 2006,508 pages,$65

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Trotta-Bono

Marcy Burns American Indian Arts

Carl Hammer Gallery

Brant Mackley Gallery

Clifford A. Wallach

Harvey Art & Antiques

Judith & James Milne

Cherry Gallery

Heller Washam

Stephen B. O'Brien Jr.

Woodard & Greenstein American Antiques

David Cook Fine American Art

The Herrs

Odd Fellows Art and Antiques

Peter H. Eaton

Samuel Herrup Antiques

S. Scott Powers Antiques

Elliott & Grace Snyder

EDUCATIONAL SERIES ALL EDUCATIONAL EVENTS INCLUDE PROGRAM, ADMISSION TO TAAS 2008, AND A SHOW CATALOG THURSDAY A PREVIEW TOUR OF TAAS WITH CURATOR STACY C. HOLLANDER Thursday, January 17 10:30 Am-noon at TAAS $80 generai, $65 members, seniors, and students, inciudes a light breakfast >> A tour of TAAS highlights before the show opens to the public, led by the museum's senior curator FRIDAY INSIDER'S DAY OF ART AND ANTIQUES: EXCLUSIVE TOURS AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS Friday, January 18 9:30 AM $120 museum members only >> A daylong excursion including a private home collection visit, a curatorial museum tour, an insider's view of TAAS with curator Lee Kogan, and more Lunch is not included in the ticket price, and the itinerary is subject to change. To register or for more information, please call 212. 977. 7170, ext. 328, or e-mail Christine Corcoran at ccorcoran@folkartmuseum.org.

Daily admission $18, includes show catalog and two-for-one admission to the museum. Group rates available.

A café will be open during show hours.

For more show information or to reserve tickets, please visit www.theamericanantiquesshow.org or call 212. 977. 7170, ext. 319.

WHAT'S CONTEMPORARY AT TAAS? A TOUR WITH CURATOR BROOKE DAVIS ANDERSON Friday, January 18 10:30 Am-noon at TAAS $55 general, $50 members, seniors, and students, includes a light breakfast >> A tour of material by self-taught artists with the director and curator of the museum's Contemporary Center SATURDAY A DIALOGUE AND TOUR OF TAAS WITH CURATOR LEE KOGAN Saturday, January 19 10:30 Am-noon at TAAS $55 general, $50 members, seniors, and students, includes a light breakfast >> A discussion and tour of TAAS with the museum's curator of special exhibitions WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS IT WORTH? APPRAISAL DAY Sponsored by Country Living Magazine Saturday, January 19 10:30 Am-noon at TAAS $45 general, $40 members, seniors, and students, includes a light breakfast >> An opportunity for show visitors to learn what their objects are worth, featuring renowned experts Helaine Fendelman, David Gallager, and Jane Willis

FAME WEATHERVANE (detail)! attributed to E.G. Washburne & Company / New York / c.1890 / copper and zinc with gold leaf / 39 k 353/4 k 231/2" / American Folk Art Museum, gift of Ralph Esmerian,2005.8.62 / photo by Gavin Ashworth THE AMERICAN

TAAS is managed by Karen DiSaia

ANTIQUES SHOW

MUSEUM

NEWS

"THE GREAT COVER-UP" OPENING RECEPTION n June 4, members and friends gathered to celebrate the opening of"The Great Cover-up: American Rugs on Beds,Tables, and Floors," the museum's first comprehensive rug exhibition in more than 30 years.

Within just the first few days of its run,the show had earned critical acclaim; Roberta Smith of the New York Times wrote that the works on view are "attention grabbers that first look naive and then start to unfold,revealing a sustaining intuitive intelligence."

The members'opening was preceded by a champagne reception in honor ofthe lenders to the exhibition, which was generously hosted by Jeff Pressman and Nancy Kollisch.Throughout the evening,exhibition curator Lee Kogan and the museum's senior curator, Stacy C.Hollander,were present to discuss the 67 rugs installed on two floors. Guests enjoyed snacks and drinks catered

by Canard,Inc., as well as a live performance by a jazz trio.

Over the course ofthe summer,the museum offered a variety of public programs in conjunction with the exhibition,from curatorled tours and talks on collecting and restoring rugs to a rughooking workshop.The museum is grateful to the Leir Charitable Foundations and to donors to the Gerard C.Werticin Exhibition Fund for supporting "The Great Cover-up."

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100 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

From left: Director Maria Ann Conelli, Linda Dunne, and Joan K. Davidson From left: Gad and Lois Aviqad and Leslie and Peter Warwick

Nancy Druckman (left) and Lee Kogan

Lee Kogan (left) and director Maria Ann Conon'

Lee Kogan (left) and Paula Laverty

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT FLYNN

From left: Jeff Pressman, Nancy Kollisch, and director Maria Ann ConeIli

Trustee emeriti Frances Sirota Martinson (left) andtrustee Joyce B. Cowin

Trustee Elizabeth V. Warren (left) and Marie S. DiManno

Stacy C. Hollander (left) and Marjorie E. Hirschhorn

From left: Trustee Robert L. Hirschhorn and Penny and Allan Katz

From left: Ronnie Newman, Lee Kogan, Edith Garshman, Bob Ipcar, and Jane Landis

From left: Margot Rosenberg, John Hays, and trustee Joan M. Johnson

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MUSEUM

NEWS

DONORS TO THE COLLECTION

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he museum is grateful to the following friends who have donated objects to the permanent collection: Charlotte Adelman and Bernard L. Schwartz; Marilee Asher; Kallia H.Bokser; Riva Castleman; Peter Cecere;Jackie Elder; Marc Fasanella; Kathy Slaughter Fleshman;Jacqueline Fowler; Lewis and Jean Greenblatt; Andrew Guarino; Helen C. Heller; Margot Starr Kernan; Kim ICralj; Susan and Jerry Lauren;Ivan Massar; Wendy Morris; Gina Mostrando; Susan and Leonard Nimoy; David T Owsley; Laura and Richard Parsons; Margaret Parsons; Margaret Robson; Michael Roland; Sean Roland;Tim Roland; Lois and Richard Rosenthal; Helen Slaughter; Edward Thorp and Susan Brundage; Richard Trump; Susan Wendel; and Thea Westreich and Ethan Wagner.

SCHOOL VISITS very year, the museum hosts the Summer Teacher Institute, an intensive weeklong program for teachers that introduces participants to the collection and focuses on integrating folk art into their curricula. One of the goals is to have teachers

his second-grade class at PS 130 in the Bronx the objects and ideas to which he was introduced.

He attended the first Educators' Open House of the 2006-2007 school year in October 2006 to see the exhibition "John Brewster: A Deaf Artist in Early America" and decided to bring his class later that month for an introduction to the museum with a focus on portraiture and Brewster's work. Working in a school that could not afford to pay for the trip, Levin sought out funding through Donors Choose,a webbased organization ofindividual donors who give supplies and materials to teachers who submit their classroom needs via the group's website (www.donors choose.org). Levin asked for and g received funding for a second g museum visit as well, so that his Ivanny Fairweather (left), a student from class was able to see the exhibition PS 130 in the Bronx, working on a portrait "Martin Ramirez"in the spring project with a chaperone during a class visit and focus on the contemporary to the museum aspect ofthe museum's collection. become regular visitors and bring For more information on their students to the museum dur- school programs, please contact Jennifer Kalter, museum educaing the following school year. tor and coordinator for school David Levin, a participant in partnerships and programs,at the summer 2006 course taught 212/265-1040,ext. 381,or by museum educator Jennifer jkalter@folkartmuseum.org.

Kalter, was excited to share with

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From left: Pamela, Joshua, Mitchell, Alec, Noah, and Jeremy Kossoff in front of Hicks painting sponsored in their names

FOLK ART CIRCLE MEMBER PHYLLIS KOSSOFF he museum's Folk Art Circle community wishes to express heartfelt appreciation to member Phyllis L. Kossoff for sponsoring the display oftwo paintings from the collection.

Kossoff dedicated the presentation ofEdward Hicks's The Residence of David Twining 1785 to her family: Stephanie Lynn Kossoff, and Mitchell and Pamela Kossoff and their children,Joshua,Alec, Noah, and Jeremy. She chose to sponsor the display of Young Girl in Blue Dress and White Gloves Holding an Egg, attributed to Sheldon Peck, in remembrance of her daughter, Stephanie Lynn Kossoff.

Folk Art Circle members provide critical funding for the

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museum's daily operations and get the pleasure ofchoosing from an unlimited menu ofsponsorship choices, ranging from the display ofselect artworks to educational programs to entire exhibitions.

Annual benefits include a private curatorial tour for up to six guests and exclusive invitations to private-home collections.To learn more about the quickly expanding circle of museum patrons, whose names also appear in the Cullman/Danziger Family Atrium and in Folk Art magazine, please contact Christine Corcoran, manager ofindividual giving, at 212/9777170,ext. 328, or ccorcoran@ follcartmuseum.org.

ANNUAL BRAZER ME MORIAL LECTURE AND DOCE NT AWARDS n June 18,the museum held the 15th annual Esther Stevens Brazer Memorial Lecture and docent awards ceremony. Each year, the museum presents this program in honor of Brazer, an author and teacher who single-handedly renewed appreciation for the historic tradition of American painted decoration.This year's speaker was Helga Johnson,a certified teacher ofcountry painting with the Historical Society of Early American Decoration. In her talk, she focused on country painting, highlighting major motifs and styles in painted tin, a sampling of which is currently on view at the museum.

Following the lecture, docents Dena Bock,Sherrill Kraus,and Su-Ellyn Stern were honored

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for their eight years ofdevoted service to the docent program.

Docent Louise Kaminow was celebrated for Helga Johnson the hard work and dedication she has brought to the docent program for 15 years.

Currently,39 docents volunteer at the museum. For information on becoming a museum docent, please contact Sara Lasser, manager ofschool and docent programs, at 212/265-1040, ext. 119,or slasser@folkart museum.org.

;IIE H0()

Inter

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Bell-Guilmet Associates; right, detail, Celt'e Cross rug

Stephen T Anderson offers the finest heirloomquality hand-hooked rugs made in America today.

Since 1985 Stephen has taken hand-hooked rug making — one of America's only indigenous folk arts and moved it into the forefront of modern design.

Clients are offered the highest level of customization. Each rug is designed for the individual buyer. Patterns may be chosen from Stephen's extensive repertoire of designs or clients may create their own unique rug design.

Each rug is prepared from wool fabrics handhooked into a linen base in Stephen's NYC studio.

Offering the advantages of custom sizing, from the •uite small tg she renow ed."mansion size," each

g possesses the nuances of coloration and textural subtleties usually found only in antiques.

Self-taught as a restorer of hooked rugs, Stephen gained his first critical acclaim in 1983, when his expert craftsmanship garnered him the title of"the most respected hooked rug restorer in New York" by The New York Times.

Leading designers, architects and collectors from around the world have commissioned Stephen's work. In addition to being featured in some of the worlds finest homes, his work has appeared in the pages of Architectural Digest, House Beautifid, House and Garden, Town and Country, Forbes FYI The New York Times apsi on CNN.

BY APPOINTMENT STEPHEN T. ANDERSON LTD. 1071 FIRST AVE. NEW YORK, NY 10022 PHONE 212.319.0815 FAX 212.980.5453

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OBITUARIES

BY LEE KOGAN

CUESTA BEN BERRY (1923-2007) nternationally renowned quilt historian, author, and curator Cuesta Benberry died on Aug.23,2007,in St. Louis, Mo.,ofcongestive heart failure.

Benberry was a pivotal figure in the quilt world and a great friend and mentor to many quiltmakers and scholars.

In 2004,she donated her extensive library and collection ofarchival materials—books,exhibition catalogs, pattern catalogs, periodicals, individual patterns, kit materials, and quilt-related ephemera—to the museum's Shirley K. Schafer Library.They are an unparalleled resource for the study oftwo centuries of quiltmaking and related textile history. In a second gift that year, she gave to the museum a rare World War I appliqué quilt related to war themes.Titled Poppies ofthe Field, the quilt was made around 1918 by a mother and daughter, Lizzie Forrester and Ann Kirby,in Stone County,Mo. It was inspired by the moving poem "In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row ...," penned by Canadian officer John McCrae, who later died in the war.The original pattern ofrichly colored poppies against a white field recalls the crosses of the military cemetery.

Benberry was born in Cincinnati on Sept. 8,1923,and raised in St. Louis, She taught in the St. Louis public school system for about 40 years and also worked as a reading specialist and school librarian.In 1967,she was awarded

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AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM

WORKS ON PAPER SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2007 9:30 AM-5:30 PM With presentations on topics as diverse as fraktur, Shaker gift drawings, portraits, papercuts, tokens of affection, schoolgirl arts, conservation, and restoration. Followed by a panel discussion.

Sponsored in part by the American Folk Art Society Participants include Joan Brownstein, Davida Deutsch, Ralph Esmerian, Robin Jaffee Frank, Stacy C. Hollander, C.R. Jones, Lisa Minardi, Jeff Pressman, Bernadette Rogoff, Margot Rosenberg, and Gerard C. Wertkin. $130; $115 museum members, seniors, and students Includes continental breakfast, lunch, and wine-and-cheese reception 212. 265.1040, ext.105, or publicprograms@folkartmuseum.org TICKETS 212. 265.1040, ext. 160

AMERICAN

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SPENCERIAN BIRDS (detail)/ students of Miss Lillian Hamm / United States /1850-1900 / watercolor and ink on paper /19 1/2 x 18 1/4" / American Folk Art Museum, gift of Cyril I. Nelson in memory of his grandparents Guerdon Stearns and Elinor Irwin Holden, and in honor of his parents, Cyril Arthur and Elise Macy Nelson,1983.29.4

MUSEUM

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state certification in library science,and in 1973 she earned a master's degree in elementary education from the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Her professional training gave her the expertise and research skills necessary for the building ofa scholarly library.

In 1951,she married George Benberry,and two years later they had a son, George Jr. Having married into a quiltmalcing family, Benberry developed an interest in the origins of patterns, which led her to begin to amass her legendary archives. She published her research in a variety of publications,including Nimble Needle Treasures, Quilter'sJournal, Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, Uncoverings: The Research Papers ofthe American Quilt Study Group, and Women ofColor Quilters Network Newsletter.

Benberry organized or co-organized several museum exhibitions,including "Always There:The African-American Presence in American Quilts" (1992),"20th-Century 1900-1970:Women Make Their Mark"(1997,with Joyce Gross), and "A Piece ofMy Soul: Quilts

by Black Arkansans"(2000).In 1983,Benberry was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in Arlington, Va., and in 2004, Faith Ringgold's Anyone Can Fly Foundation awarded her a distinguished scholar prize.

Plans are currently underway for highlights from the museum's Cuesta Benberry archives to be digitized and made available through the Alliance for American Quilts'website, Center for the Quilt Online (www.centerfor thequilt.org).

Preserve America's Legacy ofPainted Decoration "LEARN authentic Early American decorating techniques; STUDY and PAINT with HSEAD's Master Craftsmen.

New!Painted Clock Dials 4 hrs.(DVD) Traditional Country Painting 3 hrs.(VHS) Stenciling on Tin & Wood / 2 hrs.(DVD) 51 Freehand Bronze Painting 51 / 2 hrs.(DVD)

+DISCOVER benefits of membership in the Society: National and Chapter events, workshops, access to our portfolios of authentic designs; Newsletters and HSEAD's journal, The Decorator.

• SUPPORT the promotion of early American decoration; JOIN HSEAD today and immediately receive 10% members' discount on HSEAD products.

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American Painted Tinware: A Guide to Its Identification New!---\ )(Vol. I, II, III, IV), hard cover Volumely> The only comprehensive history

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For additional information and catalogue contact: HSEAD at the Farmers' Museum PO Box 30, Cooperstown NY 13326 866 -304-7323 or info@hsead.org

MARVIN FINN (1917-2007) arvin Finn, the creator of wooden sculptures ofanimals and machinery, died in Louisville, Ky.,on Jan. 30,2007.

One of 12 children, Finn was born in Clio,Ala.,in 1917. He was the son of a sharecropper and left school before completing first grade to work in the fields. After the outbreak of World War II,Finn moved to Louisville, where he worked a number ofjobs ranging from construction to pumping gas to loading barges.In 1952, he married Helen Breckenridge, with whom he had five children.

Finn had learned to whittle from his father. As a child, Finn made his own wooden toys, and beginning in the 1950s, he further

BILL GLENNON

M

Newfrom HSEAD: Instructional Videos: Videos include printed patterns, color pictures and supply lists.

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developed his creative skills EDDIE BOROS whittling toys for his children.

(1933-2007) When his wife died in 1966, Finn stopped working odd jobs ddie Boros,the creator of and devoted himselfexclusively a curious 65-foot-tall New to raising his children and to York landmark known as artmaking. He created thousands the Toy Tower, died on April 27, ofcolorful wooden animals and 2007, at Mary Immaculate machinery he was familiar with Hospital in Jamaica, N.Y., while from his early farm experience, recovering from the amputation decorating them with stripes, of his legs. dots, and dashes.

Boros,the second ofthree sons In 2001,Finn's works were born to Hungarian immigrant selected as models for a Louisville parents, spent his life in New public art installation in which York's East Village. Shortly after enlarged versions of32 of his ani- becoming a member ofa new mals were rendered in steel and neighborhood community garden painted by a group of artists. at East 6th Street and Avenue B In 2005,Finn was honored in 1985, he began carving large with Kentucky's Folk Heritage wooden sculptures. Controversy Award. Finn's art has been exhiberupted when his creations, which ited at the Speed Art Museum he had placed in the middle of and the Kentucky Museum of Art the garden,encroached on other and Craft, both in Louisville, and gardeners'spaces and blocked at the Kentucky Folk Art Center, the light from some ofthe plots.

Morehead.

Boros was eventually persuaded to choose an area equivalent to that

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and guide to the subject, with text, line drawings and hundreds of color illustrations. $55 each volume (plus S&H) Visa and MasterCard

ofeach participating gardener and started working on his Toy Tower, decorating it with detritus he found on the street. The tower became a quirky tourist attraction but remained controversial among some garden members,who felt it was dangerous and kept sunlight from reaching their plantings. A consensus was found in the 1990s, when Boros and his fellow gardeners settled on a maximum height for the installation.

Boros was the subject of a documentary

by James Dougherty,a member ofthe 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden,which was broadcast on PBS in 1998. He is also profiled in the 2001 book New York Characters(New York: W.W.Norton). Since Boros's death, the fate of his tower remains uncertain.

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PUBLIC

PROGRAMS

HAVE YOU

REMEMBERED THE AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM

IN YOUR WILL?

Join the CLARION SOCIETY. Through a bequest, you can provide enduring support for the American Folk Art Museum. To make an unrestricted bequest to the museum, the following language is suggested: percentage or all of dollars/ I give the residue of my estate to the American Folk Art Museum,45 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019, for its general purposes.

The bequest may be funded with cash, bonds, marketable securities, or property. The museum is a not-for-profit tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) entity.

The museum's CLARION SOCIETY recognizes individuals who have remembered the museum in their wills and through other planned gifts. For more information or to make a specific bequest, please contact Christine Corcoran, manager of individual giving, at 212. 977. 7170, ext. 328, or ccorcoran@folkartmuseum.org.

AMERICAN

0 LA_ MUSEUM ELEPHANT WEATHERVANE (detail)/ artist unidentified / probably Bridgeport, Connecticut / late nineteenth century / paint on pine with iron / 191/2 x 481/4 x1" / American Folk Art Museum, gift of Ralph Esmerian, 2005.8.55 / photo © 2000 John Bigelow Taylor, New York

nless otherwise specified, all programs are held at the American Folk Art Museum,45 West 53rd Street, New York City. Programs are open to the public. Admission fees vary-, program tickets include museum admission. For more information, please call the education department at 212/265-1040,ext. 105,view the museum's website at www.folkartmuseum.org,or pick up the museum's public programs flyer. To purchase tickets, call 212/265-1040,ext. 160.

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EVENING EVENTS

AFTERNOON PROGRAMS

PERSPECTIVES ON JEWISH WOODCARVING

FILM SCREENING:

Wednesday, Oct.24 7:30 PM $15; $10 members,seniors, students Speakers: Murray Zimiles, guest curator, and Vivian B. Mann and Gerard C.Wertkin, exhibition catalog contributors

Wednesday, Nov. 14 1:30 PM Free with museum admission A documentary film by Ric Burns (1991;58 minutes)

SLIDE TALK: AN EXHIBITION JOURNEY Tuesday, Nov. 13 6:30 PM $10; $5 members,seniors, students Speaker: Murray Zimiles, guest curator

SLIDE TALK: IMMIGRATION ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE Wednesday,Dec.5 6:30 PM $10; $5 members of either institution, seniors, students Speaker: Steve Long,executive director,Tenement Museum, New York

SLIDE TALK: GENESIS OF THE CONEY ISLAND HISTORY PROJECT Wednesday, Dec. 12 6:30 PM $10; $5 members,seniors, students Speaker: Charles Denson, executive director, Coney Island History Project, Brooklyn, N.Y. Checkfor additional evening programs in early 2008:a Judaica collectors event and a klezmer performance

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CONEY ISLAND

WORKSHOP: PAPERCUTTING Friday,Jan. 11, 2008 10 Am-1 PM $30; $25 members,seniors, students Instructor: Archie Granot, papercut artist,Jerusalem

SYMPOSIUM WORKS ON PAPER Saturday, Nov. 10 9:30 Am-5:30 PM $130;$115 members,seniors, students Participants:Joan Brownstein, Davida Deutsch, Ralph Esmerian, Robin Jaffee Frank, Stacy C. Hollander, C.R.Jones, Lisa Minardi,Jeff Pressman, Bernadette Rogoff, Margot Rosenberg, and Gerard C. Wertkin Sponsored in part by the American Folk Art Society

"0 4ERS" LIONS WITH DECALOGUE / artist unidentified / United States / early twentieth century / paint on wood / 23 55 5"/ American Folk Art Museum, gift of Daniel M. Friedenberg, 2002.33.1

GAVIN ASHWORTH

An Art Show VISIONARY & COMPULSIVE WORKS OUTSIDER ART • FOLK ART PHOTOGRAPHY SCULPTURE • ART BRUT • TRAMP ART NAIVE ART • VINTAGE & CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS LET'S TALK FOLK ART

FAMILY ART WORKSHOPS

Tuesdays at 12:30 PM at Donnell Library Center,20 West 53rd Street, New York Free admission Speaker: Lee Kogan,curator of special exhibitions and public programs Nov.20 / The Museum Collection Dec. 18 / Memory Painting

Sundays,2-4 PM $10 per family;$5 per member family Coordinator: Madelaine Gill Oct.21 / Bewitched Nov.4/ Swirling Carousel Stencils!

Nov. 11 / Dazzling Designs* Nov. 18 / Home,Sweet Home Dec.2/ Stitch a Sachet Dec.9 / Holiday Patchwork Pillows* Dec. 16/ Paint and Frame *Held at the museum's Lincoln Square gallery, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street, New York City

GALLERY TOURS

Tuesdays at noon Free with museum admission

AFRICAN AMERICAN QUILTS • OBJECTS AS ART • MORE

°-48.*itaro*Iti

GILDED LIONS AND JEWELED HORSES

Nov. 6; Dec.4 Speaker: Murray Zimiles, guest curator FOLK ART REVEALED

Dec. 11 Speaker: Brooke Davis Anderson, director and curator ofthe Contemporary Center

NOVEMBER 17-18,2007 Pier 92 • NYC 52ND TO 55TH STREETS & 12TH AVENUE, NYC Held in conjunction with The Pier Antiques Show on Pier 94 Admission $15 includes both shows To exhibit: 212-255-0020 x306

Major supportfor education isprovided by the Leir Charitable Foundations in memory ofHengj&Erna D.Leir, the William Randolph Hearst Foundations, and the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund. Thefollowing programs are madepossible through the generous support ofour donors: Teen DocentProgram by Time Warner;Free Friday Nights byJerry and Susan Lauren;Family Art Workshops by Mrs. Ralph Meerwarth and Miss Tracy Meerwarth;andAfternoon Programs by Su-Ellyn Stern. Additional _fundingfor education isprovided by Ray Simon in honor ofLinda Simon, Citigroup, Consolidated Edison Company, the New York City Department ofCulturalAffairs, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Download application @ www.stellashows.com/toexhibit Email stellashows@aol.com

Stella Show Mgmt. Co. 212-255-0020

www.stellashows.corn

FALL 2007 FOLK ART

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DONORS

Berenberg Gallery 4 Clarendon Street Boston, MA 02116

$50,000 & Up Edward V. Blanchard Jr. Edith S.& Barry D.Briskin Carnegie Corporation of New York Lucy &Frederick M.Danziger Marjorie 8c Robert L. Hirschhorn JPMorgan Chase Leir Charitable Trusts Nancy &Dana G. Mead Laura &Richard Parsons The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation Margaret Robson Bonnie &Thomas W.Strauss

t 617.536.0800

Robert Kirshnci I ntit/ed (Haiti), L. 1998

www.berenberggallery.corn

OUTSIDER ART: SURVEY 2008 JANUARY 9 - APRIL 1,2008

.==

Gallery Hours: Monday - Saturday 12 - 6pm

OUTSIDER ART WEEK - JANUARY 21 -27 Monday - Sunday I I am - 6pm RECEPTION JANUARY 24,6 - 9pm

THE GALLERY AT HAI 548 Broadway, 3rd Fl. (between Prince & Spring) (21 2) 575-7696

New York, NY 10012 www.hospaud.org/hadgallery.htm

108 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

The American Folk Art Museum is grateful to the following friends who provided generous support during the year July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007:

$20,000-$49,999 Henry M.Alexander Atlantic Health Systems Didi &David Barrett Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund Joyce B. Cowin The David Berg Foundation David L. Davies &John Weeden Deutsche Bank Dewey Ballantine LLP Vivian &Strachan Donnelley Estate of Kathryn R. Lewis Betsey &Samuel Farber The Figge Foundation Jacqueline Fowler Patricia Geoghegan Susan &John H.Gutfreund Horace W.Goldsmith Foundation Nancy ICarch Robert & Luise Kleinberg Michelle & Lawrence J. Lasser Latham &Waticins Jerry 8c Susan Lauren Taryn & Mark Leavitt Frances Sirota Martinson Connie &Andrew McElwee New York State Council on the Arts Terry Lynn Rakolta Lois & Richard Rosenthal Angela & Selig Sacks Sidley Austin LLP Time Warner Kathleen &John Ullmann Barbara &John Wilkerson $10,000-$19,999 The Brown Foundation,Inc. Citigroup Foundation Cleary Gottlieb Steen &Hamilton LLP Con Edison Cravath, Swaine &Moore LLP Credit Suisse Debevoise &Plimpton LLP Dyson Foundation The Estee Lauder Companies,Inc. Agnes Gund Kelly &Webber Hudson Johnson &Johnson Phyllis L. Kossoff Kx Systems,Inc. LEF Foundation Petra &Stephen Levin Raymond J. McGuire New York City Department of Cultural Affairs New York City Department ofYouth and Community Development

Agnes Nixon Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation Dorothea 8c Leo Rabkin Donna & Marvin Schwartz Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Sue Ann Weinberg Anne &Robert N.Wilson $5,000-$9,999 Becky &Bob Alexander Altria Group,Inc. Susan Baenvald & Marcy Carsey/Just Folk Kim &Stephen Bepler Bloomberg The Bloomingdale's Fund ofthe Federated Department Store Foundation Ken & Kathryn Chenault Cotton Incorporated Dorothy 8c Lewis Cullman Kendra 8c Allan Daniel Peggy 8c Dick Danziger Barbara L. Gordon &W.Stephen Cannon William R.Grant Sunny 8c Michael Halperin Ann and James Harithas Audrey B.Heckler Stephen Hessler & Mary Ellen Vehlow J.M. Kaplan Fund,Inc. Joan M.&Victor L.Johnson Kristina Johnson Joseph &Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts,Inc. Penny & Allan Katz Lehman Brothers,Inc. G.H.Lenfest Linda & Christopher Mayer Mrs. Ralph Meerwarth & Miss Tracy Meerwarth Merrill Lynch 8c Co.,Inc. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Mex-Am Cultural Foundation The Nathan Cummings Foundation The New York Times Company Foundation The Overbrook Foundation The R. David Sudarsky Charitable Foundation Linda 8c Raymond Simon Su-Ellyn Stem Sin von Reis Xerox Corporation $2,000-$4,999 Kristen Accola 8c Gary Snyder Dana & A.Marshall Acuff Advantage Security Judy &John Angelo Avenue ofthe Americas Association Anne H.Bass Adele Block Barbara &James A.Block Jill &Sheldon Bonovitz Judy & Bernard Briskin Marc 8c Laurene Krasny Brown Barbara Bundy Country Home Louise & Edgar M.Cullman Susan R. Cullman &John Kirby Ellie & Edgar Cullman Jr. Terry L. Dale 8c Richard Barry Deborah Davenport &Stewart Stender Gary Davenport Colette Donovan Nancy Druckman Andrew Edlin Lori & Laurence Fink

DONORS

$1,000-$1,999 Caralee Allsworth Martha &Thomas G.Armstrong Jody &John Arnhold James Asselstine &Bette J. Davis Lois S.&Gad Avigad Halle & Robert Barish Tania Batley Bell-Guilmet Associates Lawrence A.8c Claire B. Benenson Norman & Alice Berkowitz Virginia &William D.Birch Diana H.Bittel Ronald Bourgeault Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Brown David & Virginia Butters Sharon Casdin Phyllis Collins Cullman & Kravis,Inc. John R. Curtis

Judy &Aaron Daniels Diamond Baratta Design Valerie 8c Charles Diker Kathleen M.Doyle Charles P. Durkin The Durst Organization,Inc. Peter Eaton Barbara &Joseph H. Ellis Blair England Margot &John L. Ernst Ralph 0. Esmerian Robert & Bobbie Falk Helaine &Burton Fendelman Marilyn Friedman &Thomas Block Jill Gallagher Edward Gardner Alice 8c Bruce Geismar Merle 8c Barry Ginsburg Kurt Gitter & Alice Yelen Russ Goldberger Susan &Arthur Goldstone Barbara &Peter Goodman Joan and Donald J. Gordon The Grace Jones Richardson Trust Granite Capital Int'l Group Susan Zises Green Jean &Lewis Greenblatt Gayle & Robert F. Greenhill Nancy &Tim Grumbacher Cordelia Hamilton Debora & Kenneth Hamlett Marian Heiskell Sandra &John C. Horvitz Thomas Isenberg Barbara &Thomas C.Israel Vera &JosefJelinek Linda E.Johnson & Harold W.Pote Paige &Todd M.Johnson Jaclyn & Gerald Kaminsky Jane 8c Gerald Katcher Leigh Keno Phyllis Kind Susan & Mark Laracy Barbara S. Levinson Joyce & Edward Linde Jack Lindsey Randall Lott& Nancy McCall Darlene 8c Edward Lowe Robert Lue Eric Maffei & Steven Trombetti Patience Malone Frank Maresca Michael T Martin Mrs. Myron L. Mayer Barbie &John A.Mayer Jr. Patricia & Samuel D. McCullough Meryl & Robert Meltzer Barry 8c Wendy Meyer Lisa &Buxton S. Midyette Marsha &Jeffrey H.Miro David Muniz Cynthia & Donald B. Murphy Philip V. Oppenheimer David T.Owsley Rolando Perez& Karin Erilcsen Perez Roberta &Jack Rabin Jackie Radwin Alyce & Roger Rose Shelley & Donald Rubin Stella Rubin Joan Salle Peter Schaffer Smith Richardson Foundation Geoffrey Stem

www.art rut.co EVERLY KAYE 15 LORKAINEI/ZIVE W001/KIM,CI

2013875700 artbruteoni by appointment

CONTEMPORARY ART FROM AFRICA AND THE AFRICAN DIASPORA 'Untitled'. by Payas 13X13, acrylic on canvas

Rebecca & Michael S. Gamzon Constance &Dudley Godfrey The Gonda Family Henry Grady Grand Havana Enterprises Carol Henry Catherine & Richard Herbst Ned Jalbert Jason McCoy,Inc. Mr. and Mrs.William Mitchell Jennings Jr. J.F. Kaiser Mary Kettaneh Kelly Kinzle Jo Carole Lauder Betty &John Levin Julie &Carl M.Lindberg Alfred Liggens Maxine &Stuart Frankel Foundation Kay & George H. Meyer Anne Miller Margaret & David Nichols Michael Ogle & Diana Douglas Stephanie & Robert Olmsted JoEllen 8c David Oskin The Oticon Foundation Patricia Parsons Anthonyl Petullo Christen & Duncan Pollock Jeffrey Pressman & Nancy Kollisch Marguerite & Arthur Riordan Margaret Robson Robert A. Roth Phyllis 8c Alfred Selnick Myra & George F. Shaskan Jr. Ann G.&Peter L.Sheldon Joanne 8c Frederick Siegmund Mary Ann & Arthur Sislcind Karen & David Sobotka Jennifer &Jonathan Allan Soros Ellen 8c David Stein Judy & Michael Steinhardt Donald & Rachel Strauber David Teiger Karen K.Thomas Yolanda Turocy Ronald A.Walter Elizabeth V. &Irwin H.Warren Phyllis &Ira Wender Barbara 8c Gerard C. Wertkin Barbara S. Wilkerson Michelle & Robert Wyles Lloyd alderman Rebecca &Jon N. Zoler

Alexandra Huber,Sandy Ws-Iron', Ronald Sloan, Anthony Guyther, Clem Ruggeri°, Ann Harper, Paul Pitt,Theresa Prokop, Purvis Young, Maurice Hansen,Ken Grinies, DeMarco, M.Sesow, C. Es, de.Paintings, collage, sculpture, photography,ink, Pueblo pottery, found objects

RIDGE ART 21 Harrison Street Oak Park, IL 60304 1-888-269-0693 or 708-848-4062 www.ridgeart.com ridgeart@comcast.net

FALL 2007 FOLK ART

109

DONORS WORKS BY

SUSAN SLYMAN Theater Development Fund Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects Dorothy C.Treisman Joan Waricha Theodore Weiler Amy &John S. Weinberg Judith 8c Bennett Weinstock Janis &William M.Wetsman Jan Whitlock Woodard &Greenstein Judy & Arthur Zankel Stuart Zweibel & Rene Purse

CAN BE SEEN AT

FRANK J. MIELE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FOLK ART 1086 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK, NY. 10028 212.249.7250

GALLERIE JE REVIENS 991 POST ROAD EAST WESTPORT CT. 06880 203.227.7716

Simple Is Sophisticated Early American and Colonial Lighting handcrafted in Vermont www.authenticdesigns.com

AUTHENTIC DESIGNS The Mill Road • West Rupert, Vermont 05776 (802)394-7713/(800)844-9416 Catalogues Available

110 FALL 2007 FOLK ART

$500-$999 George Allen &Gordon Wyckoff Anthony Annese Molly E Ashby & Gerald M.Lodge Leslie Baca Jill & Mickey Baten Mary Beck Patrick Bell & Edwin Hild Lee 8c Paul Belsky Anna Bennett Helen Bing Georgina M.Bissell Karin Blake Lenore &Stephen Blank Dena L. Bock Katharine & Robert E.Booth Dr.8t Mrs.Jeffrey S. Borer Linda &James H.Brandi Michael Braun Lois &Marvin Broder Sally &Thatcher M.Brown HI Marjorie B. Buckley Shawn &Brook Byers Dana &Paul Caan Miriam Cahn Lynda Cain Tom Campanella Ann Cannel Sunny &J.Dabney Carr Jr. Charles Carter Marjorie Chester Christie's Douglas & Carol Cohen Gerard & Sherryl Cohen Maggie Cohen Mary Linn Coldiron George Colettis John Collins Stiles Colwill Julie &Jim Dale Alex Daniels Sheena & David Danziger Joan F. DeCoste Janet L.Denlinger Ed &Pat DeSear Douglas R.Wyant Antiques Mary Drysdale Larry E.Dumont Deborah & Arnold Dunn Robert &Joan Easton Elizabeth H.Eisen Elitzer Family Fund Erda G.Erdos Tania 8c Thomas M.Evans Donald & Lynne Flexner Anthony J. Francis Michael &Joan Frankel Margot& Norman Freedman Anthony Freund The Galerie St. Etienne Daniel &Lianna Gantt

Judy &Jules Gard Fred Giampietro Barbara Gimbel Mildred &William L. Gladstone Laura & Mark Goldman Ellin &Baron J. Gordon Nanette 8c Irvin GreifJr. Richard Grubman & Caroline Mortimer Mark Hayden Peggy &Tom Hess Heursch Arlene &Leonard Hochman Lesley &Joseph C. Hoopes Katie Danziger Horowitz 8c Steven Horowitz Kip Horsburgh Bill Houck Elizabeth & Richard R. Howe Laura Hunt Mr.& Mrs.John Hyman Intuit Jill 8c Ken Iscol Jewett-Berdan Virginia Joffe Brad & Kerry Johnson Mr.8c Mrs.Judell Iris Keitel Doris C. Kempner Leslie 8c Emily Keno Carol A. Keyser Ellen Kiam Marcy 8c Michael Klein Barbara S. Klinger Arthur & Kacey Klonsky The Koegel Group LLP Pamela Krasney Evelyn Frank Krems Lindsey & Bruno LaRocca Roselyn Leibowitz Richard Levengood Jonathan Levin Nadine &Peter Levy Robert A.Lewis Shirley Lindenbaum Lena &Joel Lisker Bruce Lisman Stephen Loewentheil Gloria Lonergan Suzanne Lovell Mary P. Mackenzie Margaret Bondy Interiors LLC Mario Nievera Design,Inc. Frank Martin Chriss Mattsson Kathleen McGivney Ellie &Edward R. McLean Pamela & Michael Miles Virginia Millhiser Judith &James Milne Jean Mitchell Clare F. Moorhead Donald Mullen Mark Murphy New York School ofInterior Design Emily Anne Nixon Kenneth R.Page John Parker Geoffrey Paul Betty Pecore Katherine Pedrick Pentana Ruth 8c Leonard Perfido James Pesando Jan Petry Marianne & Robert Polak

DONOR

S

LEAH GORDON SPECIALISTS IN ANTIQUE AND PERIOD JEWELRY, AMERICAN ART POTTERY AND OBJECTS OF EARLY 20TH CENTURY DESIGN. Wayne Pratt Jan Raber Jane Randall Susan & Sy Rapaport Mary Regas Irene Reichert Paull Reiferson &Julie E.Spivack Josephine D'Amato Richardson Melissa Rohland Gail & Michael Rosenberg Joseph B. Rosenblatt Michael Rosenfeld 8c Halley K. Harrisburg Marjorie P. Rosenthal Luise Ross Holly Rothschild Paul &Frances Rubacha Richard Rubenstein Raphael Russo Peter Scott S. Sahlrnan Linda & Donald Schapiro Donna & Herbert Schinderman Frank M.Schmidt Anne 8c Alan Schnitzer Tess L.Schutte Cipora 0.&Philip C. Schwartz Betty-Carol Sellen Jean & Frederic Sharf Susan &Joseph Siegelbaum Hardwick Simmons Barbara 8c Arun Singh Eileen Smiles Lauren Smith Stephanie Smither

Grace 8c Elliott Snyder Joshua Solomon Nildti B. Springer Noreen Stanley Elizabeth A. Stem Gary Sullivan Mr.& Mrs.Donald Sussis Susan Tanaka Judith 'Fuller Upstate History Alliance Peter Van Dyke Victoria Hagan Interiors Meryl &Joseph B. Viener David &Jane Walentas Donald Washam & Kim Heller Jane 8c Philip Waterman Jr. Jessica M.Weber & Alan Peckolick Pat & Donald Weeden Susan Weiler Margie Weingarten Linda 8c Paul Weiss Rabbi David & Larry Whiman William Hodgins,Inc. John &J.Evelyn Yoder Nina &Tim Zagat Mary Zanganas Susan 8c Louis Zinterhofer Jan & Barry L.Zubrow Susan & Donald Zuckert

Newcomb College high glaze vase designed by Mary Williams Butler (1863-1937). 13 3/4"high. Circa 1902.

MANHATTAN ART & ANTIQUES CENTER • GALLERY 18 1050 SECOND AVENUE, AT 55TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10022 TEL: 212.872.1422 • WWW.LEAHGORDON.COM

Donations in Kind Barbara Lovenheim The Magazine Group

Mary Michael Shelley 607-272-5700

THE MUSEUM'S MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

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AMERICAN

www.maryshelleyfolkart.com MUSEUM

Painted low relief woodcarvings since 1973

FOLK ART

111

Mary Whitfield Retrospective September 15- October 30, 2007 Blackworid History Museum, St. Louis, MO

DONHEUR GALERIE Outsider & international Folk Art since 1980 10046 Conway Road, St. Louis, MO by appointment only 314.99.3.9851 gbonheur@aol.com laurie@galeriebonheur.com

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Allan Katz Americana American Garage American Primitive Gallery The Ames Gallery Art Museum of Southeast Texas Authentic Designs Berenberg Gallery Beverly Kaye Carl Hammer Gallery Christie's David Cook Galleries David Wheatcroft Antiques Fleisher/011man Gallery Galerie Bonheur The Gallery at HAI Giampietro Graves'Country Gallery Hill Gallery Historical Society of Early American Decoration Intuit:The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art Jeffrey Tillou Antiques Joan R.Brownstein Just Folk Kentucky Folk Art Center Leah Gordon

112 FALL 2007

FOLK ART

11 18 27 37 35 110 108 109 26 Inside Back Cover 29 3 14 112 108 8 33,34 19 105 94 7 6 4 22 111

Manko American Folk Art Mary Michael Shelley M.Finkel &Daughter Nathan Liverant and Son Antiques Northeast Auctions Olde Hope Antiques,Inc. Oliver's Southern Folk Art Outsider Folk Art Gallery Raccoon Creek Antiques,LLC Raw Vision Ricco/Maresca Richard's Antiques and Art Ridge Art Rising Fawn Folk Art Gallery Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery Sanford L. Smith &Associates Sidney Gecker American Folk Art Slotin Folk Art Auction Smithsonian American Art Museum Stella Show Mgmt.Co. Stephen O'Brien Jr. Fine Arts,LLC Stephen T.Anderson,Ltd. Susan Slyman Thurston Nichols American Antiques

2 111 17 13 16,Back Cover 1 94 40 5 95 Inside Front Cover 21 109 25 23 91 28 36 24 107 28 103 110 41

Inquiries 212 636 2230

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EDWARD HICKS (1790-1849)

The Peaceable Kingdom Sold on January 19, 2007 for $6,176,000 in the Important American Furniture, Folk Art, Silver, Prints and Decoys sale at Christie's Rockefeller Center.

World Auction Record for American Folk Art World Auction record for Edward Hicks

nc. 2007 Principal Auctioneer Christ

Catalogues 800 395 6300

New York 20 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10020

INVITATION TO CONSIGN American Furniture, Folk Art and Decorative Arts

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DINAH & STEPHEN LEFKOWITZ COLLECTION

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AUGUST 4, 2007

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THEJOHN S.DU MONT COLLECTION SUNDAY.AUGUST I1.2007, I LAM. Nolo-limn AUCTIONS

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