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The Authentic Eye: Revisiting Folk Art Masterworks

by Lita Solis-Cohen

Not since Spiritually Moving (the David Teiger collection, Harry N. Abrams, 1998) and American Radiance (the Ralph Esmerian collection, American Folk Art Museum and Harry N. Abrams, 2001) have so many captivating pictures of extraordinary folk art been gathered between the covers of a book. The Authentic Eye: Revisiting Folk Art Masterworks by David Wheatcroft is not one rich man's vast collection; it's a brag book of color images of just 68 works sold by a dealer who for 25 years has sniffed out objects of high aesthetic merit with the nose of a bloodhound and the determination of a prospector, plucking them from sales and shows, dealer stock, and private collections, and parceling them out to appreciative customers.

David Wheatcroft started his business in 1980 when he was 27 years old. The intention of his 25th anniversary book was not just to celebrate the peaks of his pursuits but, as he writes, "to thank and toast the collectors who have been the ultimate off-bearers" of his finds.

Many of the images have never been published before or they appeared so long ago that they merit a new look. There is no explainable order to his gallery of images, except aesthetic, and no text with the images, just the title, artist, medium, place of manufacture, date, and size. A portrait follows a hooked rug. A piece of painted furniture is followed by a fraktur. The book includes redware, stoneware, quilts, and carvings in a random order.

To know more about them, turn to the back of the book. In a short paragraph for each numbered and identified illustration Wheatcroft includes short biographies of the artists, exhibition histories, previous publications, and provenance (minus public sales), and he tells why he is passionate about that object.

For example, he explains, "The word theorem refers to an 'expression of relations in an equation or formula.'" He goes on to say about a circa 1820 example, "This theorem transcends the formulaic and contains all the best elements of the genre: clarity, vibrant color and a rhythmically exciting display of the elements."

He notes that in Mattie Mast Kauffman's Amish crazy quilt, made in Arthur, Illinois, 1910-20, the "visual structure…is as sound as the most ambitious Abstract American painting from the mid 20th century."

As for William Edmondson's ram, he points out its timelessness, saying it "exudes a powerful sense of the archaic realized by an intuitive modern master."

The rooster by the Deco-Tex carver is an "elegant balance of refined form and whimsy." It is as much a masterpiece as Ammi Phillips's portrait of James Mairs Salisbury and his dog, in which "Compositional unity as well as a clear simplicity are significant attributes…." Phillips's placid portrait of a boy in a blue dress has a quiet intimacy and simple perfection that appeals to modern eyes in the same way Hans Memling's portraits thrilled those who saw them recently at the Frick Collection.

Mr. G. Willson's watercolor portrait of a doctor is as "striking in its use of bold color, complex composition and detailed description" of his medical books and medications as the "catalogue of wild and domestic animals, fruits, flowers and mythological figures" in the borders of George Geistweite's fraktur watercolor illustrating a poem to a nightingale.

The pair of early 18th-century portraits of unknown sitters by an unknown Connecticut limner on the catalog cover (one is on the front, the other on the back) demonstrates that naïve American portraiture can be expressive, decorative, and visually compelling art.

The Authentic Eye is more than a record of a fantasy exhibition of objects that can never be brought together in a show. It can teach the novice to see the art in folk art. It can train the eye. Moreover, the color illustrations can be used as measures against which other works can be judged. (Other dealers could do similar books. The production is costly.)

The privately printed book is available for $50 from David Wheatcroft Antiques, 26 West Main Street, Westborough, MA 01581, (508) 366-1723. Add $5 for shipping and handling.