ArtPage on Folk Art

folk art - Art made by people who have had little or no formal schooling in art. Folk artists usually make works of art with traditional techniques and content, in styles handed down through many generations, and often of a particular region.

Paintings, sculptures, ceramics, metalwork, costume, tools, and other everyday objects all may be folk art.

Examples of folk art:

English, Beaded Picture, 1650-70, embroidered linen, glass beads, 10 3/4 x 13 1/2 inches (27.3 x 34.3 cm), Cincinnati Art Museum, OH. See folk art.

American, 18th Century, Birth and Baptismal Certificate of Anne Andres, c. 1783, National Gallery, Washington, DC.

Mary Jones (Pennsylvania), Dresden-Work Sampler, 1795, silk and cotton embroidery on linen, 15 1/4 x 13 1/4 inches (38.7 x 33.7 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. See sampler.

John Leidy (American, Pennsylvania German, at age 16), Plate, October 1797, slip-trail decorated earthenware pottery, as rendered by Eugene Shellady, 1938, oil paint on paperboard, .436 x .379 m (17 1/8 x 14 15/16 inches), Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. The design on this dish, representing the traditional Pennsylvania German tulip, was drawn in white, green, and black slip. The inscription around the rim reads: "Rather would I single live than the wife the breeches give."

Sarah Furman Warner Williams (American, New York, NY), Appliquéd Coverlet, c. 1800, linen, cotton, and silk, 103 1/4 x 90 1/2 inches (262.3 cm x 229.9 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Patty Coggeshall (American, 1780-1797, Bristol, RI), Embroidered Sampler, c. 1792, linen embroidered with silk thread, 19 1/2 x 16 5/8 inches (49.5 x 42.2 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Sally Miller (American, Litchfield, CN), Mourning picture, c. 1811, silk painted with watercolors and ink, 28 x 32 3/8 inches (71.12 x 82.23 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Edward Hicks (American, 1780-1949), The Peaceable Kingdom, c. 1833, oil on canvas, Worcester Art Museum, MA. This painting is one of over sixty versions Hicks painted of this subject.

Ammi Phillips (American, 1788-1865)

Milton W. Hopkins (American, 1789-1844), Aphia Salisbury Rich and Baby Edward, c. 1833, oil on wood, .758 x .616 m (29 7/8 x 24 1/4 inches), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Milton W. Hopkins, Woman in Black Dress, c. 1835-1840, National Museum of American Art, Washington D.C.

Milton W. Hopkins, Child with Whip, c. 1845, National Museum of American Art, Washington D.C.

American, 19th century, Bowl of Fruit, early 19th century, National Gallery, Washington, DC. See still life.

Zeruah H. Guernsey Caswell (American, 1805 - c. 1895, Vermont), Embroidered Carpet, 1832-1835, wool, embroidered in chain-stitch, 13 feet x 12 feet 4 inches (396 x 373. 4 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Bill Traylor (American, 1854-1947), Untitled (Anthropomorphic Figure and Cat), 1938-43, pencil on cardboard. See African American art.

Bill Traylor, Untitled (Woman with Purse), 1938-43, tempera on cardboard.

American, Jefferson County, New Jersey, Ripple Flag Fence Gate, 1877-1890, painted wood construction. See flag.

United States, Pennsylvania, ’Contained’ Crazy Quilt, c. 1880, quilted printed cotton, 80 1/8 x 80 inches (203.52 x 203.2 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art. See pattern and textile.

Grandma Moses (the popular name of Anna Mary Robertson Moses) (American, 1861-1961), Early Sugaring Off, 1944, oil and glitter on canvas, 35 x 45 inches, Gihon Foundation. See feminist art.

William Edmondson (American, Nashville, Tennessee, c.1870 - 1951), Crucifixion, c. 1932-1937, limestone, 18 1/8 x 11 x 6 1/8 inches (46.1 x 30.5), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. See African-American art.

William Edmondson, Angel, c. 1932-38, limestone.

Horace Pippin (American, 1888-1946), The Trial of John Brown, 1942, oil on canvas, 16 1/2 x 20 1/8 inches (41 x 51.2 cm), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. This and the following picture are most of a trilogy on the insurrection and execution of abolitionist John Brown. See African-American art and history painting.

Horace Pippin, Interior, 1944, oil on canvas, .612 x .766 x .002 m (24 1/8 x 30 1/8 x 3/4 inches), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Minnie Evans (African-American, 1892-1987),

Earl Cunningham (American, 1893-1977),

James Castle (American, 1900-1977),

George T. Lopez (American, 1900-1993).

Maud Lewis (Canadian, 1903-1970),

Arch Williams (Canadian, 1906-C.1985),

Felipe Archuleta (1910-1991),

Thornton Dial Sr. (African-American, 1928-),

Harriet Bell

C.C.A. Christensen (Danish/American)

Floyd Clark

The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY.
Works on Paper from the Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Also see Aboriginal art, Collyers' Mansion, double loading, ethnic, Index of American Design, naive, obsession, outsider art, paint-by-number, primitive, rustic, and tole.