This oversized black and white oxford may have been meant for interior display, as it is painted cardboard and leather. The rubber heel is imprinted with the image of a winged foot, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber company logo. The symbol was first associated with Goodyear's shoe heels in 1914. The sign was probably in use as late as 1920–1940.
:America's main streets and crossroads have long been fertile ground for image-makers. Where billboards and golden arches now stand, Federal eagles and Greek muses once lent a sense of the theatrical. Originally created primarily for the service of commerce as trade stimulators, these figural wooden carvings and metal castings have today transcended into the arena of American folk art.
"Sidewalks to Rooftops: Outdoor Folk Art," on view at Colonial Williamsburg's expanded and newly reopened Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, features more than 89 pieces of outdoor folk art. Through the exhibition, commerce and personal expression have been given a venue in which they can once again perform their silent, attention-getting acts before a welcoming public. The exhibit is on long-term viewing and will run through 2013.
The visual cues that drove a largely illiterate population to retail counters and professionals were a part of the American landscape from colonial days through to the early Twentieth Century. As the carved wooden and zinc cast signage gave way to more modern forms, astute collectors swept in to preserve all that had not been claimed by time, weather or neglect.
Curated by Barbara Luck, curator of paintings, drawings and sculpture, and Laura Pass Barry, associate curator, prints, maps and paintings, the exhibit presents show figures and signboards that run the gamut from figureheads and tobacconist's Indians to carousel animals and architectural ornaments. Items of personal expression include weathervanes, whirligigs and masterpieces of contemporary outdoor folk art.
William Rice made this double-sided sign for Allen Hawley. Because the chained lion is paired with Federal eagle, it is believed that Rice intended the work as a celebration of American independence. The sign retains the original wood framing and iron brackets.
According to Luck, during preparations for the show, conservators determined that owners intent on refreshing their signs with new paint jobs had misinterpreted several of the historic pieces. Some have been returned to their original coloration. More will undergo restoration as time permits. Still others on view bear the scars of their service.
"Sidewalks to Rooftops" offers an insightful look at a continuum that began with maritime artists and has not yet found its end, at least not on a personal level. This is the story of America's carvers, virtuosos adept at transforming wood into animated figures, caricature symbols, even puns. It is also the story of imaginative entrepreneurs on both sides of the commercial proposition who understood the value of polychrome come-ons.
By the Nineteenth Century, carvers had been elevated to the status of artists, although they fiercely maintained their place as tradesmen. Wood, rather than marble, was their medium. Their works were marketed through catalogs and sold across the country.
The genesis of the art is rooted in maritime carvings. Figureheads had long been seen as devices to ward off dangers at sea. They often also reflected the spirit of the crew. The Vikings, for instance, put dragons on the prow. The British thrust the lion rampant up front. American ships often sailed behind the Federal eagle.
