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Folk Art Fish Decoys |
By Donald J. Peterson |
| Schiffer Publishing, 77 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, Pa.,19310, 1996, pp. 219, $59.95, hard cloth cover. |
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| 'Tis the season to be Schiffer, and Folk Art Fish Decoys is among the publishing company's best offerings for the holidays. Author Donald Peterson, a professor at Loyola University and a loving collector of his subject, begins this guide with an excerpt from Sigurd F. Olson's Wilderness Days (Knoff, 1972): "He wanted, above all, to sit in a `dark house' and watch the circling decoy and the scene below the ice." Romantic, perhaps, but that is drive behind most serious collectors: a passion for what the object represents as well as the object itself; in this case, spearfishing and its accoutrements. No longer just practical lures for pike, fish decoys are now considered pieces of American folk art. Peterson uses both views in his approach while focusing on Minnesota examples and makers. The author provides an accurate, though not encyclopedic, text for the reader using some 500 color photographs and 53 black and white images. Early to contemporary decoys are covered, chosen by the author for artistic merit. Spearfishing origins, decoy construction and use, collecting advice, and the histories of decoy makers are provided, along with information on spear makers and their designs. A price guide is included.
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