Army Signalman whirligig,
circa 1865-70. Painted wood.
American
Folk:
By Bob Jackman
BOSTON, MASS. - On April 8 the Museum of Fine Arts cut the ribbon
to the exhibition "American Folk," a blockbuster show of national
significance. Twenty masterpieces from the MFA collection are
sprinkled among another 140 worthy works from the museum's
collection and 60 works from private collections. The
preponderance of works was created during the Nineteenth Century,
although the Eighteenth and Twentieth Centuries are also
represented. Antiques enthusiasts who visit New England between
now and August 5 should consider attending this exhibition.
Curators designed the exhibition for broad appeal and high
accessibility. Americana curator Gerald Ward commented, "The
exhibition will be open in the spring and summer, and we want to
reach the full spectrum of the population. Presentations are
relaxed and engaging. The experts will have different experiences
than the beginners, but everyone will find the exhibition
interesting and stimulating."
The curators adhered to mainstream folk art traditions that
embrace a romanticized version of early America. Folk artists
fashioned objects to speak directly with an engaging beauty and
expressiveness, and that feature confers accessibility to the
show. Although study can elevate connoisseurship, no training is
required to experience the essence of these works.
Curators have avoided crossing new frontiers or displaying works
that are artistically, socially, or politically edgy. They
present the objects with a bit of information garnered from
previous research, but without presenting new research. Curators
have avoided suggesting daring new flavors for folk art taste,
and their bent is sometimes more to realism than visual lyricism
or poignant expressiveness.
Chest (Kitscht), circa 1800-1840. Wood and brass by an
unidentified artist.
The exhibition is a great experience. At one end of the
experience spectrum, folk art connoisseurs feast their eyes on
masterpieces and obsess over objects that relate to their
specialized interests. At the other end of that spectrum, guests
on their first museum visit find the exhibition pleasing and
stimulating. Many parents and grandparents will utilize this
beguiling setting to gently expose the next generation to the
lure of art and antiques. While traditionally summer is a season
of intense enthusiasm for New England folk art, this exhibition
is likely to drive that interest to a frenzy.
Everyone discovers some surprises. Folk art specialists find some
familiar objects that have been seen elsewhere in recent years,
such as the star hooked rug formerly owned by Stephen Score or
the Archer Baltimore quilt. However, there are other masterpieces
that have not been exhibited in a generation, such as the Mary
Wilson watercolors and Powers quilt, and these are like fresh
discoveries.
As visitors enter the Gund Gallery they encounter a Baltimore
quilt. Novice visitors notice that most of the 25 squares present
floral bouquets of stunning beauty and realism. The central
square features a dynamic Federal eagle and flowing American
flag. A couple of other patriotic squares emerge. Lady Liberty
stands within a lyre-form bouquet in the square above the eagle.
To the bottom right is a powerfully graphic star. Two scenic
squares charmingly depict lowland and upland hunting.
Experts recognize this as the Archer quilt (named for previous
owners Joe and Mary Archer) that was exhibited at the Baltimore
Museum of Art in the show "Baltimore Album Quilts." The MFA
acquired the Archer quilt in 1999. Along with the quilt at the
Metropolitan Museum, they are considered the two finest extant
examples of Baltimore album quilts. Experts draw close to the
masterpiece to savor the sophisticated synthesis of appliqué,
background quilting, embroidery, and watercolor painting.
The Eighteenth Century Room
In the Eighteenth Century room, most of the pieces of furniture
are painted chests, and all are intriguing. A unique example was
painted using a stencil around 1720 in Connecticut. All the
stencils were less than four inches long. Several different
colors were applied over a black field. The painter applied white
as his final color. Around the perimeter of each motif, he dabbed
through the stencil on each of four sides to create a square. The
effect was to create a loose gird of white squares that have
abstractly colored interiors. The chest delivers a strong graphic
statement.
Another rare object in this room is a circa 1795 bed rug
attributed to Eunice Williams Metcalf of Lebanon, Conn. By
today's conventions, a bed rug would be thought of as a large,
heavy blanket. Sometimes an Eighteenth Century family slept in a
single bed, and in the cooler months their heat was conserved
with a bed rug. This example has a dense, beautiful design that
utilizes a scrolled running vine that connects floral blossoms
that are each about 18 inches wide. It is a masterpiece.
This room also offers the first group of Fraktur and related
watercolors in the exhibition. Drawings and watercolors are the
most consistently lyrical component of the show. The Fraktur in
this room underscore the historical role of the Pennsylvania
Dutch and Germans in the folk use of the watercolor medium.
Watercolors were the recording medium of the first explorers and
military surveyors. In the Eighteenth Century, naturalists such
as Mark Catesby expanded the scientific use of watercolors.
However, the Pennsylvania Dutch culture was the first in America
to produce an extensive body of folk watercolors. A particularly
fine example in this room is a birth and baptism certificate by
Georg Friederich Speyer (active 1785-1800) with two mermaids at
the tip of a heart.
Another masterpiece in this room is the circa 1750 Hannah Otis
embroidery depicting Boston Common. Most Eighteenth Century
schoolgirl embroideries were based upon a composition available
at the school. Possibly smitten with the hub of activity on
Boston Common, the country girl from Barnstable chose to
embroider a large scene of her own design. The definition of her
task was extremely ambitious, and the final product is a high
point for creative needlework in colonial America.
Family Album and Domestic Life
In the room entitled Family Album and Domestic Life, the heavy
emphasis is upon two-dimensional art. The painting that creates
the most interest is Erastus Salisbury Field's portrait of the
Joseph Moore family. It was Field's most ambitious portrait in
complexity and size. It is almost eight feet wide. In this
instance Field had unlimited access to the sitters and props
since they were his neighbors in Ware, Mass. Field's masterpiece
of portraiture was donated to the MFA by its renowned benefactors
Maxim Karolik and Martha Codman Karolik.
The presentation of this painting is exciting. American painting
curator Carol Troyen commented, "We think visitors will find this
alcove particularly interesting. The Hitchcock chairs, the stand,
and the jewelry shown here are possessions that the family posed
with for the portrait. Mr Karolik purchased the furnishings
directly from the Moore family."
Another exhibit presents a comparison between folk and formal
furniture. It features a Massachusetts coastal chest-on-chest,
and a Major John Dunlap chest-on-chest created in Bedford, N.H.
This will assist some visitors in conceptualizing the differences
that characterize the two schools. Visitors who arrive with a
crystallized concept of the schools take delight with the
consideration of the Dunlap's extreme bundy legs and dense use of
space. Then there is the yellow ochre and brown grain painting.
The paint is about 40 years younger than the chest, but it is a
marvel.
Another alcove is devoted to a half dozen watercolors by Mary Ann
Wilson (active about 1800-1825) of Green County in upstate New
York. The watercolors are lyrical expressions and great fun. They
are also highly significant.
Little is known about Wilson. In 1943, 20 of her works were
discovered along with a letter from the mid-Nineteenth Century
that contained a brief account of Wilson's life. By 1948 the
group reached a New York City dealer who mounted an exhibit of
the letter and watercolors.
Print and drawing curator Sue Welsh Reed described the path of
the watercolors to the MFA. She stated, "By the 1940s the
Karoliks were closely cooperating with museum curators as they
continued to build new collections that would ultimately come to
the museum. When the Wilson watercolors became available, Maxim
Karolik worked with then-curator Henry Rossiter. They jointly
agreed on Karolik's purchase of six Wilson watercolors and the
associated letter. Later they decided to acquire four more
watercolors."
This current show is the third public exhibition of Wilson's
work. The first was the New York sale, and the second was an
exhibition at another museum. They are significant because Wilson
was among the earliest folk watercolorists outside of the
Pennsylvania Dutch community. Her palette seems closely related
to that of the Dutch, and her introduction to watercolors may
have been linked to the Dutch. That letter, found with 20 of her
works, reported, "Their paints or colors were of the simplest
kind, berries, bricks, and occasional 'store paint.'"
Dealers should become familiar with her style since she
apparently produced many more than the 20 works discovered in
1943. This show will create a substantial market for her work.
Land and Sea, Birds and Beasts
Outdoor objects and images are featured in the next gallery.
Several of the walls are devoted to images of the land and sea.
At the center of the room is a serpentine display that abounds
with birds and beasts. Terrestrial beasts prowl along one side of
the display. On the other side of the wall is a pond with decoys
and other appropriate fauna. The end wall presents a barn façade
with weathervanes.
One masterpiece in this room is a large (333/4 inches long)
peacock weathervane from the 1860 to 1875 period. Construction
details indicate that it is from the tradition of commercially
manufactured and marketed vanes. In the manner of the time, the
entire surface of the new vane was gilded. A bright, reflecting
surface emphasized the silhouette of the bird.
Today the vane expresses a magnificent simplicity and elegance.
Time, weather, and history have imparted to this vane a graceful
lyrical essence that greatly exceeds the manufacturer's intent.
The surface has become a myriad variation of color, texture, and
reflectivity. That surface superbly complements the bird's form.
When viewed closely, the surface reveals a history of use.
Perhaps 20 years after the vane was installed atop a show bird
barn, natural elements wore gilding off the most exposed upper
surfaces. Probably oxidation products bled down the sides of the
bird. The owner had the vane repainted with a thicker, more
durable yellow paint imbedded with bronzing powders. Pigment and
powder crystals in the paint subsequently weathered to create
random flecks of mustard yellow and copper oxide green. With
further exposure, the new paint crazed. Through fissures in that
paint, the original gilded surface glowed through from beneath.
"Good grunge" accumulated in some crevices and pits, and added
flecks of blue, brown, and black to the palette of the surface.
This vane exhibits a great natural surface with which
connoisseurs are greatly enamored.
The vane has a reduced form that so appeals to the graphic school
of folk art collecting. The only details are legs, ribbing in the
tail, a tiny crown crest, and pierced eyes. Otherwise there is an
uninterrupted graceful serpentine form. A gentle swell in the
body of the form makes the form visually precious. The bird is
almost flat, but its gentle swell is amplified by the great
surface.
The myriad layers of colors, textures, and reflectivity each
respond differently to light, and create subtle variations in the
visual expression. On upper surfaces, tiny veins of exposed
gilding reflect light and create highlights. In thin shadows,
crevices trap light and effectively intensify those shadows.
Consequently the visitor observes a dark mustard yellow object
with marvelously subtle highlights and shadows that impart a
beguiling beauty. Men manufactured this vane in a series of about
100 identical objects, but nature transformed it into a unique
work of art with great beauty.
God and Country, Folk Art and Modernism
The magnificent star hooked rug formerly in the Stephen Score and
Virginia Cave collections proclaims a patriotic theme in the next
room. Since Antiques and The Arts Weekly described and
illustrated that masterpiece recently (August 11, 2000), readers
know its features and background.
This room also has a section that underscores the relationship
between folk art and modern art. Generally, European scholars
have written more about this important relationship than American
scholars. Study of the relationship provides insight into the
goals, inspiration, and models for some modern American artists.
One example demonstrates that a 1920 sylvan watercolor by
Marguerite Zorach bears a similarity to a 1773 embroidered
picture.
Visitors familiar with modern art can use this link to assist
them when interpreting earlier folk art. When visitors realize
that folk art was sometimes created more as graphic and/or
lyrical art, then they have an alternative to realism when
interpreting some folk art.
As visitors reach the end of the gallery, they encounter one of
the most creative textiles created in Nineteenth Century America.
It is a circa 1896 15-section appliqué and pieced quilt by
Harriet Powers (1837-1911) of Athens, Ga. Each square has a
graphic narrative depicting the major elements of its story.
Although flat silhouettes, these elements suggest motions and
emotions. For example, Jonah is seen leaving the whale's mouth.
The postures of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene demonstrate
anguish and sorrow.
The narrative elements relate to powerful and memorable stories,
probably passed along by oral history. For example, in 1833 there
had been an unprecedented Leonid meteor shower. As it was
occurring, some people feared that it was the end of the world.
Powers created a square recalling the story of this event, and
placed it at the center of her quilt.
For the meteor square, Powers chose a dark blue sky. She started
the story within the upper right corner of the square with a
large hand, the hand of God. Eight shooting stars with glowing
tails fill the top of the square. Beneath that, two adults and
two children have arms uplifted to gesture, "What is happening?"
The image is completed with a rabbit and a cat standing next to
fallen meteors.
"Three Sisters of the Copeland Family," William Matthew Prior,
1854. Oil on canvas.
Harriet Powers was kissed by an artistic muse. A former slave,
she and her family supported themselves on a four-acre farm.
Without formal training, she created a quilt with many colors
that blend beautifully. The squares are well composed, and the
elements are immediately recognizable. This masterpiece was
created outside the mainstream tradition of American quilting,
but possibly influenced by Arts and Crafts quilters such as L.
Turner.
The exhibition's most serious shortcoming is the absence of a
catalog. In this case, the curators did not have the time to
create a catalog. Gerald Ward commented, "If we had more time,
then we could have produced a true catalog of the exhibit.
[T]here is usually a three to five year planning period for a
major exhibit. We put this exhibit in a little more than one
year."
In the absence of a catalog, the informal publication American
Folk presents 60 objects with beautiful photographs and
several absorbing paragraphs on each object. It also contains an
essay by Gerald Ward that overviews the history of the MFA folk
art collection. The 111-page book is appealing and whets the
appetite.
Visitors should anticipate that this show will have the ticket
issues associated with blockbuster events. Wise visitors will buy
tickets, particularly weekend tickets, in advance. Walk-up
visitors who purchase a ticket at 11 am may find that it grants
the bearer admission at 3:30 pm. On some days tickets may be
entirely sold out in advance.
The Museum of Fine Arts is at 465 Huntington Avenue.
Telephone, 617-267-9300.
