Originally published in 1989, The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture proved extremely popular but was a lap-buster of a book, weighing in at over eight pounds (half the weight of a shot). For The New Encyclopedia, the editors wisely decided to publish it in twenty-four separate volumes. Interestingly, folk art was not one of the original categories; eighteen essays in the earlier Folklife and Art and Architecture sections covered this topic. The main reason for this new volume is the explosion of interest in so-called self-taught or outsider artists across the South, individuals like Howard Finster, Clementine Hunter, and Raymond Coins.
Folk Art, volume 23 in the series, is organized into three parts: an introduction, fifty-two thematic articles, and more than 200 shorter, mostly biographical entries. Editors Carol Crown and Cheryl Rivers set the stage with a lengthy, well-documented essay on “Folk Art of the American South.” They trace the initial recognition of American folk art, beginning in the Northeast in the early twentieth century; the lack of interest in the South until the second half of the century; the “term warfare” generated by the discovery of self-taught artists (i.e., folklorists vs. art scholars and museum professionals); and the growing awareness of the living traditions of the South. Altogether, this is a valuable read, particularly as it draws heavily on exhibitions and catalogues, sources that are typically more ephemeral than books and articles.
In exploring the varied meanings of folk art, the editors recognize that the term now encompasses two distinct meanings: “traditional folk art” and “contemporary self-taught art” (22). Folklorists might well object to the second category. However much their work may reflect their life experiences or religion, artists such as Grandma Moses or James Hampton did not acquire their singular forms and skills through communally shared traditions. Accordingly, they do not have mentors nor do they pass on their vision to others. Essentially, their work is intensely personal in form, execution, and meaning, and frequently requires considerable explanation for audiences. The work of traditional folk artists (a redundant term), such as cabinetmakers or quilters, is immediately familiar and readily understandable within its community.
Most of the fifty-two thematic articles, which vary in length from one to eight pages, cover topics that folklorists would readily accept as folk art. There are multiple essays on furniture, pottery, and quilts, and individual pieces ranging from baskets, canes, fraktur, gravestones, and musical instruments to rugs, toys, trade signs, and weathervanes. Other entries focus on ethnic groups rather than genres, for example, “African American Protective Arts,” “Cajun and Creole Folk Art,” “Caribbean American Folk Art,” “Jewish Ceremonial and Decorative Arts,” “Latino Folk Art,” and “Moravian Material Culture.” Some of the more unusual topics include “Art Cars” (lowriders and hot rods), “Bottle Trees,” “Fraternal Societies” (the Freemasons or Odd Fellows), “Prison Art,” and “Soldier Art of the Civil War.”
The largest section of the volume contains biographical sketches ranging from one to four pages in length. There are plenty of traditional artists here: wood carvers (E.A. McKillop, Elijah Pierce, Edgar Tolson), potters (from early Moravian Gottfried Aust to Lanier Meaders and Burlon Craig), quilters (Harriet Powers, Lucinda Toomer, Pecolia Warner), decoy carvers (the Cobb and Ward families), and fraktur artists (Henry Heltzel, Jacob Strickler). However, the majority of entries are of twentieth-century self-taught artists, painters, and sculptors who worked with an extraordinary range of forms and materials. Their artistic careers were often triggered by personal trauma—retirement, religious conversion, loss of a loved one, injury, or depression—and their work was initially made for themselves, not for the marketplace. Some created memory paintings or objects representing an imagined earlier life (Clementine Hunter, Queena Stovall, Mario Sanchez); some were visionaries who explored new and mysterious worlds (Minnie Evans, Sister Gertrude Morgan, George Kornegay); still others embellished their entire homes and yards, imbuing them with religious, ethnic, or esoteric personal meanings (Kenny Hill, Eddie Owens Martin, William Blevins Tripp).
Clearly, the definition of folk art is fluid and evolving, with different meanings for different audiences. This volume seems more aligned with the “fine” arts, the notion that painting and sculpture are the primary genres of aesthetic activity. The introductory essay contains no mention of leading folklorists who have written about art, like Michael Owen Jones and notably, Henry Glassie. Glassie, for example, has asserted that the universal folk arts are architecture (shelter), textiles (clothing), and ceramics (food). This definition would have produced a very different volume, including many parts of Volume 14 of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Folklife (which, in fact, contains many of the same topics: basket making, decoy carving, face jugs, grave markers, lowriders, musical instruments, pottery, quilting, walking sticks, wood carving).
One minor criticism concerns the lack of illustrations, which are essential to any work on the visual arts. There is a small number of black and white photographs scattered throughout the text as well as twenty-nine in color in the center of the book. More would have been desirable, but at 480 pages, this is already a very substantial volume. And the essays, all of which are clearly written, offer extensive bibliographies for further exploration.
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[Review length: 858 words • Review posted on February 19, 2014]