OBJECTS / SCULPTURE:

Born in 1907, Leroy Person was an African American artist from Mud Castle of Occoneechee Neck, North Carolina. Raised on sharecropped farmland, Person worked his adult life at a sawmill and retired due to work-related respiratory issues.

After retirement, Person began carving into fence posts, the clapboards, and moldings of his house. With encouragement from a neighbor, he started creating freestanding sculptural works made with discarded wood that he carved and then colored with wax crayons.

Person’s art is clearly an extension of the African cultural diaspora, yet his work is fully singular. It doesn’t look like anyone else’s, and no one else’s looks quite like his.

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A dynamic carving of a nude male and female embraced in a kiss with the man’s hand on her upper thigh. She is not resisting, but her slight push may be a signal to slow it down a bit.

Carvings as such in limestone are quite rare in that this small sculpture packs a lot of life into the stone. The work is carved in-the-round, and the figures have remarkable tension between them.

Though the work has elements not found on the carvings of William Edmondson, it certainly has some stylistic similarities.

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Update: G. F. Kenney identified! George Francis Kenney (1867 - 1943) of Saugus, Massachusettes was a teacher and patent holder (for a mallet, 1902). Thinking outside the box or sculptural plane, as it were, it’s hard to talk about this piece without first addressing the articulated arm that literally hangs off the main body of the carving as an appendage. This inventive addition is compelling and brings the sculpture alive—genius!

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Though made as a utilitarian bee-keeper's mask / hood, as an art object it is one of the most compelling Folkl Art masks we have seen. It realli is a stunner! Made in the early 20thC of heavy canvas and welded metal, its bird-like visage is both haunting and enigmatic.

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I first saw these large knockdowns when I walked into the office of the legendary collector Mickey Baton. As he spoke to me, I had trouble listening to anything he said, as they had my full attention.

Each of these large and expressionistically painted knockdowns has its brut personality. They have an early Jackson Pollock palette and line quality, à la "The She-Wolf." Their in-use paint history is analogous to the working and reworking of expressionist painters.

The large lollipop forms have lead-weighted eyes that would roll back when it took a bean bag to the head.

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A rare set of four puppet heads made by the same hand—each constructed the same, but with a different look and personality. Three have glass marbles as eyes, except for the skull (makes sense). The clown head is quite awesome with a fantastic paint surface and brilliant blue marble eyes. The skull has a full grin and has painted sutures along the cranial plates. The other two men feature dark hair and thick eyebrows and well carved ears.

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This is a mysterious object. It’s made in the manner of an ice fishing decoy or lure with a bobbing head, articulated legs, and a lead-weighted torso—a Leadbelly, if you will. However, the human design is impractical as a decoy and would not fool any fish. The nature of the figure relates to Ojibwe midé figures found in medicine bundles which were used in healing practices.

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The explicitly carved male and female figures are idiosyncratically carved. All are without arms, and each has robust legs (many with black painted boots), genitals, painted nipples, dark hair, most with rosy cheeks; and many of the larger adult figures have small, removable dowels atop their heads, the males with phallic pegs and the females with miniatures naked torsos.

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The following work is an early sculpture by the renowned Japanese artist Shinichi Sawada. Born in 1982, he works at Nakayoshi Fukushikai, a social welfare organization for disabled individuals.

  His work is characterized by fantastical figures and animals, intricately crafted with a raw and primal energy. His thorny creatures pass between the animal and spirit worlds. They blend mystery and intensity, challenging preconceptions about ability and expanding the boundaries of contemporary art.

  Sawada was shown at the 2013 Venice Biennale and is currently having his first solo museum exhibits at The Mint Museum in North Carolina and the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis.

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Brigid Berlin (1939-2020), Andy Warhol’s bestie, was best known for her film work with Warhol in the 60s and her documentary Polaroids. However, in the late 1990s/early 2000s, she created bold needlepoint pillows of contemporary New York Post covers. Combining a pop sensibility and a “woman’s craft” on a comfortable domestic object, Berlin gave quiet permanence to the sensationalist but ephemeral news cycle. I think they are the best things she did—I love them.

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I bought this table from the venerable dealer, Pam Boynton at set up during the 2006 ADA Show in Historic Deerfield. Pam bought it at Morrill’s in Maine in 1975 and immediately sold it into one of her best clients collection—she just got it back before the show and then I bought it. I’ve had it as my dining room table from then until this past summer. So it’s never really been "out" since 1975.

It is the only hutch table that I’ve seen with scroll carved arms like a Windsor chair. It is beautifully made—a real craftsman’s piece with dovetailing, wood pegs, mortise and tenons, and balance.

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This remarkable African-American Folk Art textile is rich with representational and abstract appliquéd figures, animals, and shapes. The large work comprises numerous blocks of homespun remnants and scraps of domestic and imported cotton, wool and silk fabrics. According to textile expert Jan Whitlock, no remnant is older than 1850, and a couple similar imported silk fabrics have been found on folk art textiles from Baltimore.

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A strong and quietly complex quilt composed of orange/red, brown and tan overlapping rectangular pieces of wool composed to create a harmonic composition. Great size (not so huge).

African American “bars variation” quilts are a vibrant and culturally significant form of textile art that has deep roots in the African American community. These quilts are characterized by their striking geometric patterns, often featuring bold, contrasting colors and intricate stitching. The term "bars variation" refers to the distinctive use of bars or strips of fabric, which are creatively arranged to create visually captivating designs. These quilts have a rich history dating back to the time of slavery when African Americans used their quilting skills to communicate messages and preserve their cultural heritage. Over the years, this art form has evolved and adapted, reflecting the diverse experiences and creativity of African Americans. Today, African American bars variation quilts continue to be a powerful expression of identity, history, and artistic innovation.

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A strong and compelling work by James ‘Son Ford’ Thomas with the red paint smears being the result of Thomas, with paint-soaked hands, picking the head up and leaving his handprints upon its’ face. The sculpture’s bald head is boldly signed “In Leland [Mississippi] James Thomas 1984.”

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“God put no color or quality in souls, so I’ll put no color on my pots.”—George Ohr. In Ohr's later phase he largely abandoned glazing as he felt it interferred with the sculpture of his pottery. This remarkable example features Ohr's in-body twist and ruffled rim—it's beautiful in its movement. The bottom is highly inscribed and importantly, it informs us that the pot was made from mud collected from the streets of New Orleans (where he apprenticed as a production potter), its date, "1905," and it is inscribed "Times Democrat" which was a New Orleans newspaper and here Ohr hints at his progressive political leanings.

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This large George Ohr mug features a large snake/serpent that wraps itself halfway around the body. The body of the snake is heavily scored to represent an exaggerated slinking of the reptile. Ohr regarded himself as an artist and his work challanged the utility of the ceramic craft, he aimed to create intimite sculpture that challenged traditional notions of pottery.

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An exceptional and eye dazzling Folk Art table mat composed of various pieces of wool stacked and stitched buttons with numerous cutout hearts, water pitchers, open hands and a sheep in the center. The ground is burlap. Truly a masterwork.

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A rare life sized aluminum female fashion form from the Art Deco era with elegant, modern lines and a streamlined form. Maintaining an exceptional, untouched, complex surface.

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An extraordinary box in the form of a human skull (slightly larger than life-size) with a hinged door in the forehead. The open-work door is carved in the shape an early Christian IX monogram. The top of the skull features a Christ Enthroned; the back with a church and the sides with pierced words one of which reads, “CHARITAS.” A most remarkable mememto mori!

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Beautifully carved set of arms reaching through the clouds ➡️ towards the heavens. One arm is sleeved (St. Francis) and the other is bare (Christ). Made for the Order of the Friars Minor (an order of the Franciscans, or Saint Francis of Assisi). Though they appear to have a lot of volume, the whole is just an inch and a half deep. Original paint and surface.

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A remarkable document comprised of a photograph and caged fragments of a brick and melted glass soldered on a brass plaque (made from a pipe) with letter-punched text recounting the burning of a church by "The Freidenkers" or Free-thinkers in Wisner Township, Nebraska.

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An important and remarkable case in the form of an African-European man's head. The portrait features stylized eyes, a well-groomed mustache, a head wrap (turban), or a cap with radiating lines on the top, possibly representing strung pearls or gemstones.

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Elaborately carved gothic-style Folk Art bellows with several strange mythological creatures from wild griffins, the north wind, a bizaare harpy and a figure in a chariot. Probably Italian.

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This complex folk art carving depicts the historic event captured by the Rosenthal photograph (though the men do not exactly follow the composition of the photograph). Six men are individually carved (well four, the last two are conjoined at the pelvis) with great detail to the uniforms and a sense of the action. The carver had a fine understanding of proportion and working in the round - it works from every angle - the whole has tremendous energy. A most remarkable folk art sculpture of an important event in American history.

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A remarkable American Folk Art discovery. Carved from the solid, this compelling work displays a large alligator approaching a sleeping Jack Tar catching an afternoon snooze. Laying with knees up and his hat resting on one, the man lays with his arms under his head ... little does he realize an alligator is inches away from him.

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Rare surgeon’s trade sign for a prosthetic leg 🪵🦵 … and the doctor’s name was Wood 🪵! Dr. James C. Wood was a homeopathic surgeon from Cleveland, Ohio. He was President of the American Institute of Homeopathy, a member of the American College of Surgeons, and Fellow of the British Gynecological Society.

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🐍 🚗 📯 - not something I would have guessed, but this beautifully patinated snake head is from a British made car horn, called the boa-constrictor.

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Modernist sculpture with great textures from the intertwined bronze nest, the faux tree stump and the square eggs.

Gunn (1919-2001) was born in Woonsocket, RI and studied at the Rhode Island School of Design. Gunn was also taught at the Deerfield Academy and is notable for his work on the monumental Greenfield War Memorial and his works for the Boston Symphony Orchestra located at Tanglewood.

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Not many folk art carvings display this much drama and dynamic tension. A masterpiece carving attributed to "The Mansfield Carver," Mansfield, PA. The subject is from Aesop's Fables and has been a subject in sculpture for centuries.

Carved from the solid, a spotted snake is coiled around a lion and is shown at the point before striking. A true tour-de-force of carving and a masterpiece of 19thC vernacular carving.

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A great compliment to the other Mansfield Carver Lion and Snake. This one of a lion cub's encounter with a snake. The carving here is just as dynamic and full of action.

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An unusual piece of American Folk Art - have not seen a similar precedent. A carved and painted naked man wearing a top hat sits upon a coiled green snake on top of a pedestal which when hooked up to a water source would stream water through the snakes mouth and the man’s hat! Must have been something to see. Scattered paint losses to original surface.

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A great salesman sample miniature bath tub made from cast iron and enamel with original brass fittings. All original and complete. English.

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"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired." — Nick Carraway, The Great Gatsby.

An atypical vernacular cane carving, in that the carving of the cane and the figures are not characteristic of the language of other folk art cane carvers—this carving is very much it's own. The monkeys are more anthropomorphic than monkeys usually are and have tension within their interaction. Great piece.

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A beautiful gogotte with a nice linear flow. Both sides present nicely - I see a figure lying in a bed with arms under their head - but like clouds you may see something different - my base maker saw an abstracted raven as depicted in Northwest Coast art.

A gogotte is a millions years old naturally shaped mineral concretion formed of tiny quartz fragments held together by calcium carbonate. Principally found in Fontainebleau, France, these mother-nature made sculptures have inspired artists from Jean Arp, Henry Moore and Louise Bourgeois. Louis XIV favored them and the have been exhibited at Versailles since the late 17thC.

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This is an intriguing piece of ceramic sculpture! A drunkard armed with a bottle and a big mug sits astride a large brandy keg of spirits (àla Slim Pickens riding the bomb in Dr. Strangelove). His exaggerated and distorted face is detailed with slip decoration to his teeth and eyes (as well as his hands, and square rig cap).

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A group of thirteen erotic “Barbie” figures each hand-modeled and painted and some with applied hair to the genitals. The standing figure in the center in the primitive red bikini is likely modeled after Raquel Welch and her fur bikini from One Million Years BC.

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