Wexner Center for the Arts
Ohio State University
Columbus, OH
614-292-0330
http://www.wexarts.org
Self-Taught Artists of
the 20th Century: An American Anthology
A rich, captivating exhibition of more than
200 works by self-taught artists is on view at the Wexner Center through
August 8, 1999. Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century: An 
American
Anthology celebrates one of the most vital spheres
of American art, featuring works such luminaries as Grandma Moses, John
Kane, Martin Ramirez, Bill Traylor, Howard Finster, Nellie Mae Rowe, and
Columbus artists Elijah Pierce and William L. Hawkins. This authoritative
show includes 31 artists overall, spanning the entire century and occupying
three of the four Wexner Center galleries.
Images
from top to bottom: Edgar Tolson, Man With Pony, 1958, carved and
assembled painted wood, The Michael and Julie Hall Collection of American
Folk Art M1969.314; Justin McCarthy, Candlelight in Acapulco Ice Follies
1964, n.d., oil on masonite, 35 3/4 x 32 inches, Museum of American
Folk Art, NY, gift of Elias Getz, 1961.7.4; Elijah Pierce, Crucifixion,
mid-1930s, carved and painted wood with glitter mounted on wood panel, 47
1/8 x 30 1/2 inches, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, museum purchase.
The genre of self-taught art (sometimes called folk art
or outsider art) covers a diverse array of artistic media, styles, and themes.
The artists come from both rural and urban communities, and from a variety
of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Among their subject matter: politics,
social commentary, UFOs, daily life, sex, and personal obsessions. Materials
used range from paint to wood to glitter. All of the artists in the exhibition
worked outside the confines of art schools and museums, and their art --
as Gerard C. Wertkin, Director of the Museum of American Folk Art, puts
it -- has a "self-evident power to elicit responses of wonder and awe.
Elsa
Longhauser, Director for the Paley/Levy Galleries at Moore College of Art
and 
Design
in Philadelphia -- and an authority on self-taught art -- guest curated
the exhibition. Collaborating with Longhauser was noted independent Swiss
curator Harald Szeemann, known for his work on such international contemporary
exhibitions as "Documenta 5" and the Venice Biennale, and for
his work as director of Kunsthalle Bern from 1961 to 1969.
Images from left to right: Steve Ashby, Untitled,
n.d., housepaint on wood with photo and mixed media collage, collection
of Robert A. Roth; Martin Ramirez, Untitled, c. 1950, graphite, tempera
and crayon on paper, 110 x 51 inches, collection of Jim Nutt and Gladys
Nilsson, photo by William Bengston
Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century: An American
Anthology offers the opportunity to see masterpieces
by famous and not-so-famous fiercely independent self-taught artists from
across the country. The exhibition represents an astonishing range of artworks,
varied in tone, subject matter, and materials used. The show includes works
by the legendary Grandma Moses, sculptor/painter Henry Church Jr. from northern
Ohio, and Pennsylvania artist Horace Pippin, considered one of the most
important African-American artists of this century. Pieces by celebrated
woodcarver Elijah Pierce and painter/collagist William L. Hawkins, both
from Columbus, are on view. (Hawkins's Columbus-themed paintings -- of local
landmarks such as Ohio Stadium and Wendy's -- have been specially added
for the Wexner Center's presentation of this exhibition.)
Mexican-born
Martin Ramirez, who worked as an artist during the 1950s while hospitalized
in a California mental hospital, has been named a folk art master -- of
space,
of patterning, and of metaphors mapping psychological terrain. Steve Ashby's
cartoonlike whirligigs made of "found" materials often depict
men and women in amusing sexual scenarios. Jesse Howard's sculptures incorporate
Biblical passages and other phrases. And painter Justin McCarthy's Candlelight
in Acapulco Ice Follies 1964 seems inspired by pure joy. Young artists
Purvis Young, Lonnie Holley and literary painter Ken Grimes are represented
as well, demonstrating that self-taught artists continue to produce important
and relevant art today.
William Hawkins images from left to right: Ohio
Stadium, 1983, enamel on masonite, 36 x 48 inches, collection of Marion
Bolton Stroud, courtesy of Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, photo by Joseph Painter;
Willard Hotel, c. 1987, enamel on masonite, 48 x 60 inches, collection
of Robert M. Greenberg.
Wrote the New York Times of self-taught art, "it
is almost by definition an art of edges and intensities, of 
perspectives often
shaped, harshly, by class or race or psychological isolation, producing
unpredictably faceted pegs that don't easily fit into a dominant culture's
round holes."
Images from left to right: Purvis Young, Locked
Up Their Minds, 1972, paint and 
wood on plywood, 84 x 84 inches includes frame,
The Arnett Collection; Elijah Pierce, Louis vs. Braddock, n.d., carved
and painted wood relief with glitter; mounted on painted corrugated cardboard,
21 x 23 inches, collection of Jeffrey Wolf and Jenny Nisenholz-Wolf, photo
by Gavin Ashworth
The Wexner Center is the last stop on this exhibition's
tour, which began at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, then traveled to the
High Museum of Art in Atlanta; the Amon Carter Museum and the Modern Art
Museum of Fort Worth; and, most recently, to the Memorial Art Gallery of
the University of Rochester.
A catalogue published by Chronicle Books in association
with the Museum of American Folk Art accompanies the exhibition. It features
biographical and interpretive essays on each artist, as well as major essays
by distinguished scholars. Among the writers are Arthur C. Danto, Jane Kallir,
Michael D. Hall, and exhibition co-curator Elsa Longhauser.
Self-Taught
Artists of the 20th Century: An American Anthology
is organized and circulated by the Museum of American Folk Art, New York.
It is presented with the generous support of the Lila Wallace - Reader's
Digest Fund and The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Additional support for the
catalogue was provided by the Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation and Jill and
Sheldon M. Bonovitz. The exhibition is 
presented at the Wexner Center with the support of
the Greater Columbus Arts Council, Honda of America Manufacturing, the Nationwide
Insurance Enterprise Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, Friends of Folk
Art, and the Wexner Center Foundation.
Images from left to right: Nellie Mae Rowe, Untitled
(Two Figures and an Animal), c. 1979-1980, crayon, marker and oil pastel
on paper, 15 1/4 x 11 1/8 inches, Museum of American Folk Art, NY, gift
of Judith Alexander, 1997.1.16; Jessie Howard, Untitled (Voice of the
Bird), 1955, painted wood and metal complanter, 37 x 56 x 18 inches,
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri.
The Wexner Center, a national laboratory for the arts, is a contemporary
arts center dedicated to the visual, performing, and media arts with a strong
commitment to the creation of new work. Its home, designed by Peter Eisenman
and the late Richard Trott, has been acclaimed as a landmark of postmodern
architecture. Since its opening in November 1989, the Wexner Center has
presented an ambitious program of exhibitions, performances, films, and
video screenings.
Location: Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 North High Street at 15th
Avenue, on the campus of The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
For further biographical information on selected artists
cited in this article please see America's
Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.
rev. 10/18/10
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A rich, captivating exhibition of more than
200 works by self-taught artists is on view at the Wexner Center through
August 8, 1999. Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century: An 
American
Anthology celebrates one of the most vital spheres
of American art, featuring works such luminaries as Grandma Moses, John
Kane, Martin Ramirez, Bill Traylor, Howard Finster, Nellie Mae Rowe, and
Columbus artists Elijah Pierce and William L. Hawkins. This authoritative
show includes 31 artists overall, spanning the entire century and occupying
three of the four Wexner Center galleries. 
