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Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr.
Herbert Waide "Bert" Hemphill Jr. (January 21, 1929 – May 8, 1998) was an American collector of folk art. Hemphill was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His father, Herbert W. Hemphill, Sr., was a businessman who had made his fortune with a fleet of wicker rolling chairs on the Atlantic City boardwalk; his mother, Emma Bryant Bradley Hemphill, was the niece of William Clark Bradley. She died when her son was ten. She collected Dresden china, which fired in him his own interest in collecting. As a youth he accumulated marbles, stamps, duck decoys, puzzle jugs, and glass bottles. For a time he lived in Columbus, Georgia, where he attended the Wynnton School. Later he attended the Lawrenceville School and the Solebury School, where he evinced an interest in art and theater. In 1948 he spent time at Bard College working with Stefan Hirsch. Hemphill moved to New York City in 1949 to begin a career as an artist, but he quickly found himself more at home with collecting. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art are typically trained within a popular tradition, rather than in the fine art tradition of the culture. There is often overlap, or contested ground with naive art, 'naive art'. "Folk art" is not used in regard to traditional societies where ethnographic art continue to be made. The types of objects covered by the term "folk art" vary. The art form is categorised as "divergent... of cultural production ... comprehended by its usage in Europe, where the term originated, and in the United States, where it developed for the most part along very different lines." For a European perspective, Edward Lucie-Smith described it as "Unsophisticated art, both fine and applied, which is supposedly rooted in the collective awareness of simple people. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weathervane
A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , meaning "flag". Although partly functional, wind vanes are generally decorative, often featuring the traditional cockerel design with letters indicating the points of the compass. Other common motifs include ships, arrows, and horses. Not all wind vanes have pointers. In a sufficiently strong wind, the head of the arrow or cockerel (or equivalent) will indicate the direction from which the wind is blowing. Wind vanes are also found on small wind turbines to keep the wind turbine pointing into the wind. History The oldest textual reference in China to a weather vane comes from the ''Huainanzi'' dating from around 139 BC, which mentions a thread or streamer that another commentator interprets as "wind-observing fan" (, ). The Tower of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sister Gertrude Morgan
Sister Gertrude Morgan (April 7, 1900 – July 8, 1980) was a self-taught African American, African-American artist, musician, poet and preacher. Born in LaFayette, Alabama, she relocated to New Orleans in 1939, where she lived and worked until her death in 1980. Sister Morgan achieved critical acclaim during her lifetime for her folk art paintings. Her work has been included in many groundbreaking exhibitions of visionary and folk art from the 1970s onwards. Early life Sister Morgan was born Gertrude Williams in Lafayette, Alabama, to mother Frances "Fannie" Williams and father Edward Williams. She was the seventh child of a poor rural family. For reasons unknown, Sister Morgan left school before completing the third grade. Around 1917 her family moved to Columbus, Georgia, where she worked as a servant and nursemaid in a private home. Marriage Gertrude Williams married Will Morgan on February 12, 1928. She lived with her husband at 1324 North Avenue in Columbus, GA. While th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bessie Harvey
Bessie Harvey (born Bessie Ruth White; October 11, 1929 – August 12, 1994) was an American artist best known for her sculptures constructed out of found objects, primarily pieces of wood. A deeply religious person, Harvey's faith and her own interest in nature were primary sources for her work. Early life and family Born Bessie Ruth White in Dallas, Georgia, she was the seventh of 13 children born to Homer and Rosie Mae White. At the age of 14, Bessie married Charles Harvey and settled in Buena Vista, Georgia. She divorced Harvey in 1968 and relocated independently to Alcoa, Tennessee, where she was raising 11 children by the age of 35. As a child, she recalls making "something out of nothing," often creating her own toys and dolls. In addition to having 11 children, Harvey had 28 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Career In 1977, Harvey began working at Blount Memorial Hospital as a housekeeper. For extra income, at night while everyone was asleep Harvey wou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jon Serl
Jon Serl (1894–1993) was an American artist. He is best remembered as a painter like the American artists Grandma Moses and Edward Hicks. He also worked in other roles and under several different names. These included as a vaudeville artist named Slats; as a voiceover performer for Hollywood named Ned Palmer, and as a migrant fruit collector, better known under the name Jerry Palmer. Early life Jon Serl was born as Josef Searls in 1894 in Olean, New York. He was the fifth child of seven. He grew up in a vaudevillian theatrical family. This contributed to his early artistic talents, including performance, acting, dancing, singing and as a female impersonator. Jon Serl was one of his several pseudonyms. In his young adult days he worked as a peripatetic female impersonator performer known as "Slats". He was called Jerry Palmer when the silent film era ended in the late 1920s with the first Sound film. He was a voiceover artist for actors whose voices did not fit well in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Finster
Howard Finster (December 2, 1916 – October 22, 2001) was an American artist and Baptist minister from Georgia. He claimed to be inspired by God to spread the gospel through the design of his swampy land into Paradise Garden, a folk art sculpture garden with over 46,000 pieces of art. His creations include outsider art, naïve art, and visionary art. Finster came to widespread notice in the 1980s with his album cover designs for R.E.M. and Talking Heads. Early life Finster was born at Valley Head, Alabama, to Samuel and Lula Finster, and lived on the family farm as one of 13 children. He attended school from age six into the sixth grade. He said he had his first vision at the age of three years, when he saw his recently deceased sister Abbie Rose walking down out of the sky wearing a white gown. She told him, "Howard, you're gonna be a man of visions." He became "born again" at a Baptist revival at the age of 13 and began to preach at 16. He gave the occasional sermon at loc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martín Ramírez
Martín Ramírez (January 30, 1895 – February 17, 1963) was a self-taught artist who spent most of his adult life institutionalized in California mental hospitals, diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic. He is considered by some to be one of the 20th century's best self-taught masters. Biography He was born on January 30, 1895, in Rincón de Velázquez, Tepatitlán, Jalisco, Mexico. He married María Santa Ana Navarro Velázquez in 1918. Ramirez migrated to the United States from Tepatitlan, Mexico to find employment, leaving behind his pregnant wife and three children. He worked on the railroads in California between 1925 and 1930. He knew no English and after six years he ended up unemployed and homeless. This led to him being detained by the police and institutionalized in 1931. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, leaning towards catatonia. Ramírez spent over 30 years being institutionalized; first at Stockton State Hospital in Stockton, California, then, beginni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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