"This publication accompanies the exhibition A Usable Past: American Folk Art at the Colby College Museum of Art, organized by the Colby College Museum of Art, and on view from July 9, 2016 to January 8, 2017." -- title page verso. Exhibition curated by Lauren Lessing. A Usable Past was generously funded by the Mirken Family Publication Fund -- title page verso.
Contents:
Director's foreword / Sharon Corwin -- Introduction: creating a usable past / Lauren Lessing -- "An era of jetté-propulsion:" Edith and Ellerton Jetté collect for Colby / Seth A. Thayer, Jr. -- A certain kinship: folk art and modernism at Colby College / Elizabeth Finch -- Redrawing the lines: American folk and academic portraiture / Tanya Sheehan -- Selections from the collection -- Notes for catalogue entries -- Selected bibliography -- Contributors -- Image credits -- Museum Board of Governors and staff.
Summary:
Produced and circulated outside the elite sphere of fine art, folk art appealed to the middle-class Americans who were eager to express their identities, interests, and social ambitions through these decorative, vernacular objects. This catalogue presents new research on the Colby College Museum of Art's important collection of paintings, sculptures, needleworks, and works on paper by self-trained artists working primarily in the eastern part of the United States during the long nineteenth century. Essays by Seth A. Thayer, Jr., and Elizabeth Finch investigate the formation, evolving interpretation, and intended uses of the American Heritage Collection of Edith Kemper Jetté and Ellerton Marcel Jetté - one of the earliest gifts to enter the Colby Museum and the basis of its folk art collection. A third essay by Tanya Sheehan explores the complex relationship between folk art, fine art, and American visual culture. More than sixty catalogue entries by scholars, curators, and Colby students identify previously unknown makers and subjects, uncover new information about the construction and original contexts of works in the collection, and enlarge our understanding of what these artworks meant for the people who made and displayed them.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.