Folk Wisdom
January 2007
Until recently, American folk art was relegated to second-class status in the art world due to its “humble” origins. The painted chests, carved weathervanes and family portraits that today fetch six to even seven figures at auctions and private sales were considered simply “decorative” or “utilitarian,” the handiwork of artisans and craftsmen. Collectors had little time or interest in folk art, except perhaps as a bit of whimsy in a room full of Philadelphia Chippendale and other “serious” antiques.Since the late 1970s, American folk art has gone from blue-collar to blue-chip. As is often the case, American artists who had studied in Europe focused attention on this indigenous artistic expression. As far back as 1908 Electra Webb, founder of Vermont’s Shelburne Museum, bought her first folk sculpture, a cigar store figure, when she was just 19. By the 1940s, she was buying from Edith Halpert, one of the most prominent folk art dealers in New York City. In the 1920s and 1930s, a handful of astute collectors, including Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and Juliana Force, the director of the Whitney Studio Club (the predecessor of the Whitney Museum), were drawn to American folk art and became avid collectors.
Marked by directness, originality and stunning simplicity, American folk art represents a period roughly from 1776 to 1900. The field is extensive, ranging from cigar-store Indians to ornamental eagles and roosters, but it is also finite. Unlike contemporary art, folk art comprises a limited number of works, yet new material does continue to surface on occasion. Although interest among collectors and curators has grown exponentially, the supply of great material has not. Consequently, competition for top pieces is keen.
Folk art tells the story of how Americans lived in towns and villages since Colonial times. Basic necessities of everyday life drove painters, wood and stone carvers, weavers, cabinetmakers and potters to create objects for daily use. For the most part, they were itinerant artisans who were hired on the spot to paint a family portrait or build and paint a chest. As most were not academically trained, their work was relegated to “low” rather than “fine” or “high” art.
In the early 1960s and ’70s, one could still browse in galleries and rural mom-and-pop antiques shops for authentic American folk art. New York had several galleries and an active group of dealers. “Fast-forward to 2006, and many of the small independent dealers in New York City have disappeared,” says Nancy Druckman, director of American folk art at Sotheby’s New York. “The balance has shifted to buying at auctions and big antique shows as new collectors enter the field at very high levels.”
Today these works are widely appreciated as a uniquely American art form: powerful examples of individual expression reflecting the singular talents of the artist. Not only have elaborately carved weathervanes and eagles for the thriving maritime trade or home decoration reached phenomenal new levels at high-end auctions, but excellent pieces of American folk art, regardless of medium, are fetching top prices. “The market has been smoldering for the past 15 or 20 years,” says New Haven, Connecticut, dealer Fred Giampietro. “Now we are waking up to $100,000 as common fare, while some pieces just hover around the million-dollar mark.”
The American Folk Art Museum, with its splendid new building in midtown Manhattan, has played a major role in spotlighting the inherent beauty of these everyday objects. “The American Folk Art Museum takes folk art very seriously as a significant art form of expression in all its manifestations,” says senior curator Stacy Hollander. “We set very high standards for the material, and our hope is that when people visit the museum, they re-evaluate preconceived notions they may have of folk art as something simple and not complex.”“As prices for American folk art have risen dramatically, the field has become widely publicized and attracted widespread interest,” notes dealer David Wheatcroft of Westborough, Massachusetts. The best of the best in almost every category—whether Shaker boxes, painted furniture or cigar-store figures—are now commanding prices unheard of five or 10 years ago. At a 2005 auction at Samuel T. Freeman in Philadelphia, a painted-pine candle box with an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000 fetched a scorching $744,825. “That was a unique piece,” says Wheatcroft. “It was a great masterpiece in color, condition and design.”
The world record at auction for an American folk art painting was set in a 1999 Christie’s New York sale of a painting by Edward Hicks (1780–1849), a “Peaceable Kingdom,” with a hammer price of $4,732,500. According to Woodbury, Connecticut, dealer David Schorsch, Hicks’ paintings routinely sell for more than $1 million. “His religious, allegorical paintings have a devoted following,” says Schorsch, but he adds, “minor Hicks works still can be had for considerably less.”
Years ago, independent dealers often relied on “pickers,” laymen with a knack for spotting valuable items, particularly in private homes. “One of the best worked for the phone company on Long Island,” says dealer Suzanne Courcier of Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts. “He knew which houses had antiques. He could spot things we couldn’t. Most of the pickers had day jobs but were extremely knowledgeable and knew that if they found a terrific schoolgirl sampler, to call M. Finkel & Daughter in Philadelphia or call us for a rare Shaker box,” says Courcier, who regrets not just the loss of pickers due to the lack of material, but the difficulty of keeping the level of inventory she maintained a decade ago.
“The changes in the marketplace are enormous,” says Joan Johnson, an avid collector. “Condition years ago didn’t play as important a role as today. Collectors would prize rarity over condition, but today everything has to be crisp and colorful.” This emphasis on quality makes finding untouched goods in prime condition a problem. “Today, some unscrupulous dealers get painted pieces and have them retouched until they sparkle,” she laments. In a recent inventory of her collection, Johnson found that early bills of sale simply stated what was bought. “More current bills from younger, more scholarly dealers describe who made the object if known, its condition, provenance and similar pieces in other collections,” she says.
As in all markets, what’s “hot” is cyclical. “The quilt market has collapsed, with the exception of extraordinary pieces,” says Margot Rosenberg, head of Christie’s New York American folk art department. However, she notes that decoys and other sculptures in almost any form—especially weathervanes—are in great demand. A rare molded copper Indian chief weathervane, circa 1900, attributed to the J.L. Mott Iron Works Company, sold for an unprecedented $5,840,000, a record not only for a weathervane but for any piece of American folk art ever sold at auction. Jerry and Susan Lauren (featured as one of Art & Antiques’ “100 Top Collectors,” March 2006) were top bidders for this 62-inch masterpiece in prime condition at the Sotheby’s American folk art auction last October. (For more on weathervanes, see “Vane Glory” on page 37 of this issue.) Not just weathervanes, but “carvings in stone, wood, store signage of all kinds, great pieces of pottery—redware and stoneware—are all currently an exuberant part of the market,” says Rosenberg.
Tactile three-dimensional objects have great current appeal, especially carvings. A patriotic eagle by ship carver John Haley Bellamy (1836–1914) fetched $380,000 at the Northeast Auctions Marine and China Trade auction, an annual August event, in Manchester, New Hampshire. At the Northeast Auctions Americana auction, also in August, an 1875–85 carved and painted poodle by William Schimmel (1817–90) went for $314,000, a record price for sculpture by the Pennsylvania carver. It was from the collection of Susan and Raymond Egan of Boothbay, Maine, who consigned nearly 400 items of folk art and furniture from their collection to the Manchester auction. The Egans started collecting in 1966 with refinished pine furniture, which eventually led them to a broader appreciation of waterfowl decoys, weathervanes, scrimshaw, painted furniture and portraits. “I’m collecting Maine redware now,” says Ray Egan, who adds that his new rule is that if a piece is no better than anything he sold or kept, he won’t consider it.
Since nearly every recognized folk artist created both major and minor works, it is essential to have good advice. Otherwise, you might end up paying a premium price for an unremarkable piece. “The top dealers are extremely knowledgeable, and collectors who have amassed outstanding collections often have close relationships with dealer-advisors,” notes collector Jeff Pressman, president of the American Folk Art Society. Advice from a knowledgeable dealer is crucial when it comes to folk portraiture. In the 18th and 19th centuries, having one’s portrait painted was popular among the emerging middle class. The artist’s name is less significant than with fine art as some of the best work is by unknowns. Generally, the artists focused on the features of the face and head with little shading or background. The poses were most often static, with a flat spatial arrangement, as folk artists often lacked the painterly techniques associated with European portraiture. Collectors of portraiture look for appealing subjects, economy of line, whimsy, and style as well as minimal or no restoration and overpainting. Although the artists were prolific, their work was often uneven. As Giampietro explains, “An Ami Phillips [1788–1865] portrait at the bottom range might bring $4,500, yet a sale of one of his masterpieces could bring $2 million.” Prices for paintings by John Brewster Jr. (1766–1854), an undisputed master of portraits, especially of angelic-looking children, also are off the charts—but only for his very best works.Folk furniture—blanket chests, candleboxes, bookcases, carved mirrors—is somewhat less coveted among collectors today than portraits, according to Courcier, unless very vividly decorative. Another field, schoolgirl needlework samplers and embroideries, remains powerful, with the best examples garnering six figures. But if you are willing to compromise, M. Finkel & Daughter often posts excellent material at considerably more modest prices on its Web site. Typically, girls and young women attending small schools or female academies perfected their sewing skills on samplers and school embroideries. They might be decorated with the alphabet, numbers, a verse of poetry, or even house and lawn scenes. Finkel’s samplers date from 1760 to 1850 and are prized for their pleasing aesthetics as well as their insight into early America.
Another major factor contributing to the dramatic price spikes in the folk art market is that only a handful of American collectors—10 or 15 at most—have pockets deep enough to compete for masterpieces at almost any price. “A lot of new money has come into the market,” says collector Robert Booth, adding that the tendency among these high-end collectors, who often prefer to remain anonymous, is to rely on knowledgeable dealers. For example, Bucks County, Pennsylvania–based dealer C.L. Prickett, representing a private collector, bought a rare 1882 steam locomotive weathervane at the August Northeast Auctions sale for $1.2 million, besting a previous record at that time for a Liberty vane by more than $100,000.
“What we have is a group of people, buying at the recommendation of a few dealers, each with a stable of enormously wealthy collectors, who often don’t do their own research and have the means to buy any masterpiece that comes on the market,” says Johnson.
As in the fine art world, dealers play an important role because the most experienced know how to build and vet a collection. They also can advise as to whether a collector has the best example of a particular genre or whether it’s time to upgrade. “Our clients rely on us to authenticate, analyze, point out restoration, judge a piece on its merits, give quality judgments on a 1-to-10 basis, compare an item to similar other pieces on the market and give appraisals,” says dealer Patrick Bell of Olde Hope Antiques in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
“It’s not enough today to be an antique,” says Courcier. “Collectors are refining their aesthetic. There’s a whole new level of collector chasing the best. Every piece they want has to have something extra going for it—a beautiful form, color, decoration—something extraordinary, and that is what is helping to generate the creation of some superb new American folk art collections.”
Bobbie Leigh is an Art & Antiques New York correspondent.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
American Folk Art Museum, New York, 212.265.1040. www.folkartmuseum.org
“A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster Jr.,” though Jan. 7, 2007.
Allan Katz Americana, Woodbridge, Conn. 203.393.9356.
American Antiques Show, Jan. 18–21. Metropolitan Pavilion, New York. 212.977.7170, ext 319. www.theamericanantiquesshow.org
American Folk Art Museum, New York, 212.265.1040. www.folkartmuseum.org C.L. Prickett, Yardley, Pa. 215.493.4284. www.clprickett.com
David A. Schorsch & Eileen M. Smith,
Woodbury, Conn. 203.263.3131.
David Wheatcroft Antiques, Westborough, Mass. 508.366.1723. www.davidwheatcroft.com
Fred Giampietro, New Haven, Conn. 203.787.3851. www.fredgiampietro.com
M. Finkel & Daughter, Philadelphia. 215.627.7797. www.samplings.com
Olde Hope Antiques, New Hope, Pa. 215.297.0200. www.oldehope.com
Suzanne Courcier & Robert Wilkins, Yarmouth Port, Mass. 508.362.5420.