HUDSON, N.Y. — On January 7th, Public Sale Auction House will hold its first auction of 2023, titled “Material Folklore.”
This auction includes folk art from around the world, including a lifetime collection of Asafo flags from 20th C. Ghana, a collection of Americana and other folk art.
Highlights of the sale include a life-size iron shooting gallery target of a man, much in the style of Mangels and other carnival-related items including signs, games and even a couple motorcycle carousel rides.
Classic Americana pieces include quilts, coverlets, baskets and more. The sale includes a great assortment of Adirondack style chairs in various styles from different makers, including a pair from renowned 1950s-era Adirondack cabin builder Earl Woodard. There are several animal diorama figures made by the well known sculpture from New York’s Natural History Museum Louis Paul Jonas. Examples of outsider art include paintings by local artist Earl Swanigan, face jugs, spinners, animal carvings and over 100 different hand painted signs.
Public Sale is especially pleased to showcase a lifetime collection of Asafo flags, a striking folk art mix of traditional West African motifs. Asafo flags were used to identify villages and convey messages, often for protection from rival villages and the Ashante people from the west, and later were used in festivals and ceremonies.
To determine the origin and meaning behind some of the Asafo flags, the
auction house consulted curator Barbara Eyeson, whose family is from the
Fante tribes living along Ghana’s southern coast.
