American Folk - Hardcover

Gerald W.R. Ward; Abaigeal Duda; Pamela A. Parmal; Sue Welsh Reed; Gilian Ford Shallcross; Carol Troyen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0878465952 ISBN 13: 9780878465958

Publisher: MFA Publications, 2001

Synopsis

Folk art has been part of the American idiom for nearly as long as America has been a nation. Today it remains one of the best-loved and most fervently collected forms of American art, a diverse and authentic vernacular expression. American Folk presents over 60 remarkable objects from one of the country's most prominent collections of folk art, many of them never before published. Included are paintings, carvings, textiles, prints, frakturs, furniture, and utilitarian objects, dating from the late 18th to the early 20th century. They include such masterpieces as Erastus Salisbury Field's lush The Garden of Eden, E.L. George's surrealistic Child in a Rocking Chair, a complex, monumental quilt by the former slave Harriet Powers, and Wilhelm Schimmel's extraordinary carved animals--as well as a remarkable assortment of whirligigs, windmills, decorated chests, figurines, and even carousel animals. The introductory essay by curator Gerald W.R. Ward discusses the elusive notion of ''folk art'' itself and presents the history of its acquisition by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition at the MFA, American Folk is a vibrant and engaging introduction to one of our proudest cultural traditions.

About this title

About the Author

Gerald W.R. Ward is Katharine Lane Weems Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His previous books include "Elegant Pale: Three Centuries of Precious Metals in New York City", "American Case Future in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University", "The Assembly House, The Peirce-Nichols House, Decorative Arts and Household Furnishings in America, 1650-1920" (with Kenneth L. Ames), and, as editor, "Perspectives on American Furniture" and "The American Illustrated Book in the Nineteenth Century". He lives in New Hampshire.

Reviews

Accompanying the first major exhibit from the folk art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this volume highlights everyday life in 19th-century America. Written by an interdepartmental staff of curators, including Ward (editor, American Furniture with Related Decorative Arts, 1660-1830) and Carol Troyen (Awash in Color: Homer, Sargent, and the Great American Watercolor), the book provides a sampler of the museum's rich collection of American folk art objects made before 1920. Ward's eloquent introduction defines and describes folk art in general, then discusses the collection's evolution at the museum and its New England focus. Organized into five subject sections, the generous color photographs, with selected detailed enlargements, present a sufficient alternative for those who cannot physically observe the exhibit. Accompanying captions complement each piece with both descriptive and historic information. The authors present an informative, well-researched, and visually accessible volume, whetting the appetite for in-depth reading, which is suggested in the selective bibliography. Despite its regional focus, the work should appeal to aesthetes across the country; recommended for libraries with strong folk and early American art collections. Rebecca Tolley-Stokes, Eastern Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: MFA Publications
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0878465952
• ISBN 13: 9780878465958
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144