An interview of James and Beth Arient conducted 1988 April 27-29, by Betty Blum, for the Archives of American Art.
The Arients describe their backgrounds and talk about their initial interest in art and early collecting, their philosophy of collecting, their discovery of Eskimo sculpture and their first awareness of folk art. They comment on meeting Howard Finster and their subsequent relationship with him, Finster's relationship with collector Jeff Camp, the marketability of folk art, a 1987 exhibition of part of their collection at Northern Illinois University Art Gallery, and folk art patronage. They recall William Dawson and Derek Webster.
Biographical / Historical:
James Arient (1946-) and Beth Arient (1946-) are folk art collectors from Chicago, Illinois. James Arient is a dentist.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 29 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Interviews Search this
Folk art -- Collectors and collecting -- United States Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
The Andy Nasisse files relating to self-taught artists measure 0.8 linear feet and date from 1979 to 1986, with additional undated materials. Included are artist files on twenty-five self-taught artists. Files consist primarily of black and white photographs of artists, their artworks, and photographs of unidentified artworks. Also included is a letter discussing artist Howard Finster's first dealer, Jeffrey Camp, and in which Nasisse offers his advice to Finster to limit production of his work. An audio recording of an interview with Miles Carpenter conducted by Nasisse, and a documentary about J. B. Murray, A Video Documentary of an Artist and His Work, are also present in these files. The documentary features many of Murray's paintings and drawings, as well as his comments on his art and visions.
The artists included in the files are Eldren M. (E. M.) Bailey, Miles Carpenter, Tessie Carroll, Emanuel "Litto" Damonte, Samuel Perry (S.P.) Dinsmoor, Sam Doyle, John Ehn, Howard Finster, Laura Pope Forrester, Dilmus Hall, Irene Hall, Bessie Harvey, St. EOM (Eddie Owens Martin), Jeff McKissack, John Milkovitch, J. B. Murray, Grandma Tressa Prisbrey, Dow Pugh, W.T. Ratcliffe (or Ratliff), William Carlton Rice (Mr. Rice), Royal Robertson, James "Son Ford" Thomas, Mose Tolliver, Frank van Zant (Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder), and Brother Joseph Zoetl.
Scope and Contents:
The Andy Nasisse files relating to self-taught artists measure 0.8 linear feet and date from 1979 to 1986, with additional undated materials. Included are artist files on twenty-five self-taught artists. Files consist primarily of black and white photographs of artists, their artworks, and photographs of unidentified artworks. Also included is a letter discussing artist Howard Finster's first dealer, Jeffrey Camp, and in which Nasisse offers his advice to Finster to limit production of his work. An audio recording of an interview with Miles Carpenter conducted by Nasisse, and a documentary about J. B. Murray, A Video Documentary of an Artist and His Work, are also present in these files. The documentary features many of Murray's paintings and drawings, as well as his comments on his art and visions.
The artists included in the files are Eldren M. (E. M.) Bailey, Miles Carpenter, Tessie Carroll, Emanuel "Litto" Damonte, Samuel Perry (S.P.) Dinsmoor, Sam Doyle, John Ehn, Howard Finster, Laura Pope Forrester, Dilmus Hall, Irene Hall, Bessie Harvey, St. EOM (Eddie Owens Martin), Jeff McKissack, John Milkovitch, J. B. Murray, Grandma Tressa Prisbrey, Dow Pugh, W.T. Ratcliffe (or Ratliff), William Carlton Rice (Mr. Rice), Royal Robertson, James "Son Ford" Thomas, Mose Tolliver, Frank van Zant (Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder), and Brother Joseph Zoetl.
Biographical / Historical:
Andy Nasisse (1946-) is a ceramicist sculptor, potter, and former professor at the University of Georgia. Starting in the 1970s, he visited self-taught artists and photographed their art, environments and, in some cases, conducted interviews with them. He has had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia and is the recipient of the Art Regional Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Miles Carpenter (also known as Miles Burkholder Carpenter or Miles B. Carpenter) (1889-1985) was a sculptor active in Waverly, Virginia who carved figures and animals from wood and referred to some as "advertisements."
Tessie Carroll was an Oklahoma folk artist known for her rock sculptures and carvings.
Eldren M. (E.M.) Bailey (1903-1987) was an African American sculptor and painter from Atlanta, Georgia whose sculptures were influenced from his background making grave markers.
Emanuel "Litto" Damonte (1892-1985) started collecting hubcaps in 1957 and created an art environment on his property in Napa Country, California, known as Hubcap Ranch.
Samuel Perry (S.P). Dinsmoor (1843-1932) was a Kansan sculptor who designed a sculpture garden at his home called the Garden of Eden," consisting of over 200 concrete works reflecting his religious and political beliefs.
Sam Doyle (1906-1985) was an African American artist born on St. Helena, an island off the coast of South Carolina, whose colorful paintings document the island's people and Gullah culture.
John Ehn (1887-1981) was a former trapper turned sculptor who decorated the landscape of his Californian motel, Old Trapper's Lodge, with sculptures depicting myths and the Old West.
Howard Finster (1916-2001) was a Georgian folk artist and Baptist minister known for his former home, Paradise Garden, consisting of constructions, found objects and sculptures.
Laura Pope Forrester (1873-1953) was a sculptor who created figurative works in her Georgian garden that depicted notable women and fictional characters.
Dilmus Hall (1896-1987) was an African American artist whose sculptural works are associated with religious customs that combine African traditions and Christianity.
Irene Hall was an Oklahoman artist who decorated her home with sculptural works she had made with found objects.
Bessie Harvey (1929-1994) was an African American folk artist from Tennessee who created wooden sculptures often inspired by nature.
Eddie Owens Martin "St. EOM" (1908-1986) was a Georgian artist who created a visionary art environment called Pasaquan.
Jeff McKissack (1902-1980) is the creator of The Orange Show, an art environment constructed in Houston Texas to honor his favorite fruit.
John Milkovitch (1912-1988) was a retired upholsterer who constructed the Beer Can House, by decorating his home with over 50,000 fattened beer cans.
J. B. Murry (1910-1988) (also known as J.B. Murray) was an African American painter who incorporated illegible text in his work which he interpreted with the use of a bottle of well water.
Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey (1896-1988) constructed numerous structures out of bottles and found objects at her home creating what became known as Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village.
Dow Pugh (1906-1993) was an artist from Tennessee who created paintings and sculptural works.
W. T. Ratcliffe was an engineer who, in the 1930s created sculptures in Boulder Park in Jacumba, California.
William Carlton Rice (1930-2004) was a self-ordained minister who created a Cross Garden around his home in Alabama.
Royal Robertson (1936-1997) was an African American artist and self-proclaimed prophet from Louisiana whose work incorporated biblical themes, and references to "girlie magazines" and comic strips.
James "Son Ford" Thomas (1926- 1993) was an African American sculptor and blues musician from Mississippi who is known for his clay skull sculptures.
Mose Tolliver (1919-2006) was an African American folk painter from Alabama who painted with house paint on wood.
Frank van Zant "Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder" (1921-1989) was an Oklahoman artist who created a park in Nevada dedicated to the American Indian known as Thunder Mountain Monument.
Brother Joseph Zoettl (1878-1961) was a monk who constructed a miniature city of famous religious buildings at St. Bernard Abbey known as Ave Maria Grotto.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Photographs and videos of self-taught artists; Willie Ann Wright photographs; Howard Finster papers; John F. Turner research material on Howard Finster; Howard Finster interview and recordings; Videos and slides on Dilmus Hall, Mary T. Smith, and J.B. Murry; Willem Volkersz interviews; and J. B. Murray drawings. There is also an oral history interview with Howard Finster conducted by Liza Kirwin in 1984.
The California State University, Channel Islands holds the Prisbrey bottle village collection. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill holds the Judith McWillie papers. The University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries holds the Howard Finster collection and the Howard Finster Tapes.
Provenance:
The Andy Nasisse files relating to self-taught artists were donated to the Archives of American Art by Andy Nasisse in 1985.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
Video on J.B. Murray: Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Andy Nasisse. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The Willem Voklersz interviews measure 2.6 linear feet and date from 1975-1985. The collection consists of twenty-nine sound cassettes containing thirty-one interviews of folk artists conducted by Volkersz for a personal research project, a monologue, and readings by Volkersz of notes on individual artists. Subjects include folk artists such as Howard Finster, Jesse Howard, and St. EOM (Eddie Owens Martin). Also found are thirty-seven transcripts of the recordings.
Scope and Contents:
The Willem Voklersz interviews measure 2.6 linear feet and date from 1975-1985. The collection consists of twenty-nine sound cassettes containing thirty-one interviews of folk artists conducted by Volkersz for a personal research project, a monologue, and readings by Volkersz of notes on individual artists. Subjects include folk artists such as Howard Finster, Jesse Howard, and St. EOM (Eddie Owens Martin). Also found are thirty-seven transcripts of the recordings.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Willem Volkersz is a teacher, collector, and sculptor of Bozeman, Montana, who was born in Holland and came to the United States following World War II. He completed his education at the University of Washington in 1965, and completed a Masters of Fine Art at Mills College in 1967.
Volkersz began researching and collecting work by visionary and naive artists while a professor at the Kansas City Art Institute. His collection is now at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and the Missoula Art Museum, in Missoula, Montana.
Provenance:
Sound recordings of the Willem Volkersz interviews were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1986 by Willem Volkersz, who made them primarily for his own use as a researcher, collector and teacher of folk art. They were transcribed in 1989 for the Archives of American Art by Toni Reineke.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Willem Volkersz interviews, 1975-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institute.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Howard Finster, 1984 June 11. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Howard Finster conducted 1984 June 11, by Liza Kirwin, for the Archives of American Art at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Finster speaks of his early childhood; his earliest vision; working as a preacher and a repairman; the construction of his GARDEN OF PARADISE; his mission in life; dealers and exhibitions; and his Chapel of the World's Folk Art Church, Inc.
Biographical / Historical:
Howard Finster (1916-2001) was a self-taught visionary artist and minister from Georgia. Full name: William Howard Finster.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
The John F. Turner collection of research material on visionary self-taught artist Howard Finster measures 6.9 linear feet and dates from circa 1928 to 2015, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1978 to 1990. John Turner is a California-based curator who compiled this collection in preparation for his book Howard Finster: Man of Visions (1989). Found within the collection are correspondence; numerous interviews with Finster and Finster family members, curators and historians, collectors, and artists; draft manuscripts and research notes; compiled research files on other topics; printed materials and commercial broadcast video recordings; and photographic material, including polaroids annotated by Finster. There is also one series of Howard Finster's papers that include writings by Finster, sound and video recordings of Finster exhibitions and talks by Finster related to those exhibitions, recordings of other speaking engagements, sermons, and other events, a scattering of personal business records that includes a ledger and price list of artwork, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The John F. Turner collection of research material on visionary self-taught artist Howard Finster measures 6.9 linear feet and dates from circa 1928 to 2015, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1978 to 1990. John Turner is a California-based curator who compiled this collection in preparation for his book Howard Finster: Man of Visions (1989). Found within the collection are correspondence; numerous interviews with Finster and Finster family members, curators and historians, collectors, and artists; draft manuscripts and research notes; compiled research files on other topics; printed materials and commercial broadcast video recordings; and photographic material, including polaroids annotated by Finster. There is also one series of Howard Finster's papers that include writings by Finster, sound and video recordings of Finster exhibitions and talks by Finster related to those exhibitions, recordings of other speaking engagements, sermons, and other events, a scattering of personal business records that includes a ledger and price list of artwork, and artwork.
Correspondence mostly consists of letters to John Turner from Howard Finster and Finster family members, folklorist Alan Jabbour, Clay Lancaster, Andy Nasisse, and others. There are also letters to Howard Finster from miscellaneous correspondents.
Numerous interviews with and about Howard Finster are found on 47 sound cassettes, and one partial transcript. In addition to interviews conducted by Turner, there are interviews with Finster conducted by Liza Kirwin and Willem Volkerz. Most of the interviews are with others about Finster, including family members, collectors, curators and art historians, and other artists. Interviewees include Jim and Beth Arient, Jeffrey Camp, Eleanor Dickinson, Rosa Esman, Beverly and Pauline Finster, Allen Ginsberg, Lynda Hartigan, Herbert Waide Hemphill, Alan Jabbour, Phyllis Kind, Jim Nutt, and others.
Writings consist of Turner's research notebooks and a typescript draft for his book Howard Finster: Man of Visions. There are some curator's statements and loose notes possibly written by others.
Research files include printed material compiled by John Turner on various artists and subjects not directly related to Finster, except for bibliographies.
Papers and other materials created by Howard Finster are arranged into one separate series. These include writings; exhibition files, including video and sound recordings; personal business records; artwork, including album covers and posters; and sound recordings of Finster's public and private talks, sermons, and events. Many of the sound recordings were recorded by Finster himself.
Printed material consists of newspaper and magazine clippings about Howard Finster, exhibition catalogs, announcements, magazines, and art periodicals. There are also 2 videocassettes of commercially released television appearances and music videos.
Photographic material includes photographs, slides, negatives, and transparencies of Howard Finster and his artwork. There are images of Finster and his family, artwork, exhibitions, openings, and events. Some of the images are annotated by Finster.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1967-2005 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Interviews, 1977-circa 1989 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1980-circa 1989 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)
Series 4: Research Files, circa 1971-2015 (0.5 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 5: Howard Finster Files and Sound and Video Recordings, circa 1970-2001 (1.6 linear feet; Boxes 3-5, OV 9, 11)
Series 6: Printed Material, circa 1975-2010 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 5-6, OV 10)
Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1928-circa 2000 (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 6-8)
Biographical / Historical:
John F. Turner is a writer and curator who lives in California. Turner has written books on photography and folk art and is an adjunct curator at the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum. He has also worked for NBC news and documented the lives of folk artists for many years.
Turner befriended visionary, self-taught artist and Baptist minister Howard Finster sometime in the late 1970s. The research material in this collection was compiled over a decade for Turner's book Howard Finster: Man of Vision (Alfred A. Knopf, 1989).
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also has the Barbara Shissler Nosanow materials relating to Howard Finster, circa 1981; an oral history interview with Howard Finster conducted on June 11, 1984 by Liza Kirwin; and an interview with Howard Finster conducted by James Arient and Howard Finster's own sound recordings of himself from 1981-1982.
Provenance:
The John F. Turner research material on Howard Finster was donated by John F. Turner in 1987 and 2016.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Use of archival visual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
U-matic videocassette recording Howard Finster exhibition opening: Authorization to quote or reproduce for the purposes of publication requires written permission from John Turner. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of art collector and dealer Jimmy Hedges and the records of his Rising Fawn Folk Art Gallery measure 23.5 linear feet and 15.63 GB and date from 1969-2016, with the bulk of the material dating from 1991-2013. The collection documents Hedges's career as a dealer of outsider art and as an advocate for self-taught artists. Records include administrative and sales records, correspondence, artist files, collector and gallery files, exhibition and art fair files, regional files, printed and digital material, photographic material, and unidentified sound and video recordings. The bulk of the collection consists of artist files and color photographs documenting hundreds of artists that Hedges visited at their homes and studios, including Georgia Blizzard, Howard Finster, Homer Green, Bessie Harvey, Danny Hoskinson, Paul Lancaster, A.J. Mohammed, Charlie Simmons, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Mose Tolliver, and Purvis Young, among many others.
Scope and Contents:
The records of art collector and dealer Jimmy Hedges and his Rising Fawn Folk Art Gallery measure 23.5 linear feet and 15.63 GB and date from 1969-2016, with the bulk of the material dating from 1991-2013. The collection documents Hedges's career as a dealer of outsider art and as an advocate for self-taught artists. Records include administrative and sales records, correspondence, artist files, collector and gallery files, exhibition and art fair files, regional files, printed and digital material, photographic material, and unidentified sound and video recordings. The bulk of the collection consists of artist files and color photographs documenting hundreds of artists that Hedges visited at their homes and studios, including Georgia Blizzard, Howard Finster, Homer Green, Bessie Harvey, Danny Hoskinson, Paul Lancaster, A.J. Mohammed, Charlie Simmons, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Mose Tolliver, and Purvis Young, among many others.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 9 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Administrative and Sales Records, 1969-1971, 1991-2015 (Boxes 1-4; 3.9 linear feet, ER01-ER03; 0.134 GB)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1974, 1981, 1990-2013 (Boxes 4-5; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 3: Artist Files, 1985-2014 (Boxes 5-9, 31, 33, OV 32; 4.6 linear feet, ER04-ER15; 5.35 GB)
Series 4: Collector and Gallery Files, 1992-2014 (Boxes 9-10; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 5: Exhibition and Art Fair Records, circa 1992-2013 (Boxes 10-11; 1.3 linear feet, ER16-ER18; 1.52 GB)
Series 6: Regional Files, 1976, 1980s-2012 (Boxes 11-13; 1.7 linear feet)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1980-2013 (Boxes 13-16, OV 32; 2.2 linear feet, ER19; 0.833 GB)
Series 8: Photographic Material, circa 1990-2011 (Boxes 16-30, 34-35; 7.9 linear feet, ER20-ER35; 7.79 GB)
Series 9: Unidentified Sound and Video Recordings, undated (Boxes 30-31; 0.5 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
James R. "Jimmy" Hedges III (1942-2014), was an artist, art collector and dealer of Outsider Art and Folk art in Tennessee and Georgia. Hedges established the Rising Fawn Folk Art Gallery, Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
Born into a prominent family from Chattanooga, Jimmy Hedges was a lifelong philanthropist as a trustee of his family's Tonya Memorial Foundation. His true vocation, however, was as an artist, collector, and dealer of outsider art and as an advocate for self-taught artists. Hedges discovered his love of wood carving as a teenager, when he created song birds, and returned to making art at age forty. Using a chain saw, he carved sculptures of Southerners he had encountered in his travels, including artists. His colleagues in this sector of the fine art craft world were predominantly southern African American self-taught painters, sculptors, potters, and carvers. Befriending them and collecting their work led Hedges to establish Rising Fawn Folk Art Gallery in 1993, building a gallery space in the early 2000s on his 500-acre farm in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
An unconventional art dealer, Hedges would hand-deliver work to collectors' homes, driving his truck through backroads and stopping along the way to visit with artists and purchase more works to sell. He was an active presence at the Outsider Art Fair and self-taught artist exhibitions throughout the U.S., as well as at Slotin Folk Art auctions and prison auctions. His aim was to improve the economic condition of fellow artists and raise their profiles among curators and critics. Hedges' development of an archive was essential to this goal.
Provenance:
Donated 2016 by James R. Hedges IV on behalf of the Hedges Descendants Trust and in 2018 by James R. Hedges IV on behalf of Wildcat Asset Managment, LLC.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual records or born digital records with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Howard Finster. Howard Finster postcard to John Turner, 1980 February 2. John F. Turner research material on Howard Finster, circa 1928-2015. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Howard Finster and Willem Volkersz. Transcript of interview with Howard Finster, 1977 March 17. Willem Volkersz interviews, 1975-1985. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Howard Finster. Howard Finster letter to Barbara Shissler Nosanow, 1981. Barbara Shissler Nosanow materials relating to Howard Finster, [ca. 1981]. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Howard Finster. Howard Finster letter to Herbert Waide Hemphill, ca. 1978. Herbert Waide Hemphill papers, 1776-1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of folk art collector and museum curator Herbert Waide Hemphill date from 1776-1998, bulk 1876-1998, and measure 26.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, personal business records, files documenting his collecting, writings, art work, minutes of meetings, a scrapbook, printed material including exhibition and auction announcements and catalogs, and miscellaneous artifacts. The collection also contains numerous photographs of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues, exhibitions, travel, and art work. Sound and video recordings include interviews of Hemphill.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of folk art collector and museum curator Herbert Waide Hemphill date from 1776-1998, bulk 1876-1998, and measure 26.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, personal business records, files documenting his collecting, writings, art work, minutes of meetings, a scrapbook, printed material including exhibition and auction announcements and catalogs, and miscellaneous artifacts. The collection also contains numerous photographs of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues, exhibitions, travel, and art work. Sound and video recordings include interviews of Hemphill.
Biographical material includes photocopies of Hemphill's birth certificate and passport, social security cards, and international health card, genealogical notes, an evaluation of his school work, membership cards, award certificates, address books, and an engagement calendar containing very brief annotations of his activities.
Correspondence documents Hemphill's affairs with miscellaneous museums and art institutions, discussing his presentation of lectures, exhibitions, and loans from his collection to organizations including the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, the Folk Art Society of America, the Museum of International Folk Art, and the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum.
Hemphill's correspondence with friends and colleagues discuss collecting activities and pursuit of newly discovered folk art and artists. Many of the letters are from artists. Correspondents include Varick A. Crittenden, Michael D. Hall, A. Everette James, Daniel C. Prince, Neal A. Prince, and artists Rev. Maceptaw Bogun, Mary Borkowski, Tim Fowler, Joseph Victor Gatto, S. L. Jones, Gustav Klumpp, Roy Little, George Lopez, Kevin Orth, and Malcah Zeldis. There are also scattered letters from artists Miles Burkholder Carpenter, John W. Fancher, Rev. Howard Finster, William Hawkins, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Mr. Imagination, Mattie Lou O'Kelley, Clayton Patterson, St. EOM, and Mose Tolliver. One letter from Stephanie and John Smither is etched on a bone.
Personal business records include both legal and financial documents. There are wills for Hemphill, his mother, and for his friend Neal A. Prince. The records also include leases, insurance records, contracts, grant proposals, loan agreements, deeds of gift, price lists, consignment records, tax records, and miscellaneous receipts. Cancelled checks relate to Hemphill's collecting interests and activities, and include payments to artists for their work. There are court papers documenting a lawsuit by Hemphill's landlord who was attempting to evict him.
Art work consists of a sketchbook by Roy Little, a set of hand-cut Japanese mask designs, a collage of Polaroid photographs taped to glass created by Rev. Howard Finster, a hand-made book by Nancy Josephson, and miscellaneous drawings, watercolors, and prints by various artists including Justin McCarthy, Inez Nathaniel, and Nellie Mae Rowe.
Notes and writings include card files of artists, extensive bibliographic card files, and scattered notes on artists including Miles Carpenter, Raymond Coins, Rev. Howard Finster, Mattie Lou O'Kelley, Royal Robertson, Veronica Terrillion, Mose Tolliver, and Bill Traylor. Also found are lists of artists, patrons, and art work, miscellaneous notes, and minutes of meetings. Writings by Hemphill and others including Michael D. Hall, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, A. Everett James, and Julia Weissman, consist of reports, typescripts, and poems concerning a wide range of art-related topics and travel.
A scrapbook consists of unbound pages of clippings and newsletters about Hemphill, his collection, and exhibitions of folk art.
There is extensive additional printed material illustrating Hemphill's many interests. This series primarily consists of clippings and exhibition announcements and catalogs for mainstream artists as well as folk artists. Also included are auction announcements and catalogs, announcements for festivals, press releases, and calendars of events. Numerous booklets, brochures, programs, menus, business cards, and novelty postcards concern a variety of topics including worldwide travel, the sale of art work, miscellaneous galleries, museums, organizations, conferences, schools, lectures, antiques and craft shops, films, publications, restaurants, household items, historical topics, and miscellaneous artists including Miles Carpenter, S. P. Dinsmoor, Lonnie Holley, Clementine Hunter, and Veronica Terrillion. There are also autographed copies of booklets The Black Swan and Other Poems by James Merrill, and The Blood of Jesus by Thomas Jefferson Flanagan. Novelty postcards range from photographs of Elvis Presley to cards with amusing captions or cartoon jokes. There is also sheet music by Charles Trenet. Miscellaneous printed material includes several eighteenth-century newspapers and a 1776 thirty shilling note from New Jersey.
Photographs are of Hemphill, family members, his residences, friends and colleagues including style editor Carrie Donovan, artist Rev. Howard Finster dancing at an exhibition opening, actress Alice Ghostley, Michael D. Hall, circus performers Vernon Goins and Tiny Hicks, Smithsonian curator Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Neal A. Prince, and Jim Spies. Photographs of exhibitions include stereographic views of the International Exhibition in Philadelphia and the Exposition Universelle in Paris, and photographs of Hemphill's donation of his collection and its subsequent exhibition at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum. Travel photographs include views of South Dakota, Texas, the American West, Japan, Mexico, and The Netherlands.
Numerous photographs of art work sometimes include images of the artists with their work including Bruce Brice, Raymond Coins, John W. Fancher, Rev. Howard Finster, Theora Hamblett, Bessie Harvey, William Hawkins, James Harold Jennings, John Jordan, Charles Lisk, Alexander Maldonado, St. EOM, Fred Smith, Edgar Tolson, Hubert Walters, and Purvis Young. Some photographs of unattributed art work has been arranged by the state in which it is located and includes a Mardi Gras parade in Louisiana, a Mummer's parade in Pennsylvania, Lucy the Elephant-shaped building in New Jersey, and Holy Ghost Park in Wisconsin. Other photographs of unattributed art work include works on paper, paintings, sculpture, signs, collages, needlework, glass, ceramics, and architecture.
Sound and video recordings include a cassette from Hemphill's phone answering machine that contains only Hemphill's message to callers, cassette recordings of interviews with and concerning Hemphill, artist St. EOM, painter Robert E. Smith discussing his work, and the tour narration for a Smithsonian exhibition Made With Passion. There are videotapes about Hemphill and about artists Gayleen Aiken, Miller and Bryant, and Malcah Zeldis, and miscellaneous African American artists. There is also a videotape of an American Museum of Natural History tour group arriving in a succession of villages in Melanesia and Papua New Guinea where they are greeted by the native people and given the opportunity to purchase their art work.
Artifacts consist of a scattered assemblage of three-dimensional objects including three wooden "fringe" pieces from cigar store figures, ceramic fragments from a sword handle, a lock of horse hair, and a hand-painted View Master viewer souvenir from the opening of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. The View Master contains a disc of photographs of artists with their work including Vollis Simpson and Mary Frances Whitfield. Also included is a teacher's kit Little Adventures in Art containing four phonograph albums and four short film strips of slides showing art work in animal and bird forms.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series; all series are arranged chronologically:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1916-1997 (Box 1, 28; 12 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1901-1998 (Boxes 1-5, 27- 28, OV 31; 4.0 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Business Records, 1817-1997 (Box 5-7, 28; 2.0 linear feet)
Series 4: Art Work, 1911-1997 (Box 7, 32; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1938-1996 (Box 7-10, 28; 2.5 linear feet)
Series 6: Scrapbook, 1965-1976 (Box 10; 1 folder)
Series 7: Printed Material, 1776-1998 (Box 10-19, 28-29, OV 31; 9.5 linear feet)
Series 8: Photographs, 1876-1997 (Box 19-24, 29; 5.5 linear feet)
Series 9: Sound and Video Recordings, 1986-1991 (Box 25-26; 13 folders)
Series 10: Artifacts, 1968-1995 (Box 26, 30; 0.7 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., (1929-1998) lived in New York city and was a prominent curator, historian, and collector of American folk art. Hemphill was one of the founding members of the Museum of American Folk Art, organized several large exhibitions of folk art, and co-authored Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artist.
Hemphill was born on January 21, 1929 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the son of businessman Herbert Waide Hemphill, Sr., and Emma Bryan Bradley Hemphill whose uncle, William Clark Bradley, was one of the owners of the Coca-Cola Company.
Hemphill was reared in his mother's home town of Columbus, Georgia, and attended Wynnton School. At the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Hemphill's principle interests were in art and theater. In 1948, he spent a year studying fine arts at Bard College under Stefan Hirsch, a painter and folk art collector.
Hemphill developed his interest in collecting while accompanying his mother on her shopping forays searching for Dresden china. His first acquisition was a wooden duck decoy purchased when he was seven years old. His early collections were of glass bottles, marbles, stamps, and puzzle jugs. In 1949, Hemphill moved to Manhattan and began to focus on modern European and American art and African sculpture, but after 1956 he concentrated exclusively on 19th and early 20th century American folk art. He often discovered artists during his extensive travels, especially in the American South.
In 1961, Hemphill became one of the six founding trustees of the Museum of Early American Folk Art, later named the Museum of American Folk Art, in New York City. Between 1964 and 1973, he was the museum's first curator and curated many exhibitions, helping to promote awareness of work created by self-taught or visionary artists. He later served as Trustee Emeritus for many years.
Between 1974 and 1988, Hemphill loaned portions of his extensive personal collection to 24 museums nationwide and in 1976, the American Bicentennial Commission selected works from his collection for a goodwill tour of Japan. He was named guest curator at the Brooklyn Museum in 1976 and at the Abby Aldrich Folk Art Collection in 1980, and often appeared as guest lecturer at various universities, the Smithsonian Institution, and at the Library of Congress. In 1986, Hemphill donated more than 400 folk art works to the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum, resulting in a landmark exhibition Made with Passion: The Hemphill Folk Art Collection of the National Museum of American Art.
Hemphill's publications include books Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists, co-authored with Julia Weissman in 1974, Folk Sculpture USA for the Brooklyn Museum in 1976, and Found in New York's North Country: The Folk Art of a Region, co-authored with Varick A. Chittenden in 1982 for the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute.
Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. died on May 8, 1998 in New York City.
Provenance:
Herbert Waide Hemphill donated his papers in 5 installments between 1988 and 1996.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of audiovisual materials with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Howard Finster, stranger from another world : man of visions now on this earth / Howard Finster as told to Tom Patterson ; photography by Roger Manley... [et al.]
Lehigh University Art Galleries and the Religion Studies Department presents the Worlds Folk Art Church : Reverend Howard Finster and Family : September 5 to October 26, 1986, Ralph Wilson Gallery, Alumni Memorial Building, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania / Ricardo Viera and Norman Girardot, co-curators
Author:
Contemporary American Art Exhibition (31st : 1986 : Lehigh University) Search this
