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COLBY COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART
A Usable Past: American Folk Art at the Colby College Museum of Art
Edited with introduction by Lauren Lessing. Foreword by Sharon Corwin. Text by Seth A. Thayer, Jr., Elizabeth Finch, Tanya Sheehan.
A Usable Past brings together paintings, sculptures and works on paper by self-trained artists working in the eastern part of the US during the 19th century. Produced and originally circulated outside the sphere of fine art, these objects emerged from vernacular traditions that favored decorative aesthetics over mimesis. In the 20th century, artists, scholars and collectors came to believe that artworks like these expressed such supposedly quintessential American values as industriousness and ingenuity, and that they also served as native precursors to modernism. Featuring new scholarship, A Usable Past features highlights of Colby College’s extensive holdings of American folk art.
Featured image is reproduced from 'A Usable Past: American Folk Art at the Colby College Museum of Art.'
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FORMAT: Hbk, 9.75 x 12.5 in. / 163 pgs / 122 color / 15 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $55.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $72.5 GBP £50.00 ISBN: 9780972848435 PUBLISHER: Colby College Museum of Art AVAILABLE: 9/27/2016 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
A Usable Past: American Folk Art at the Colby College Museum of Art
Published by Colby College Museum of Art. Edited with introduction by Lauren Lessing. Foreword by Sharon Corwin. Text by Seth A. Thayer, Jr., Elizabeth Finch, Tanya Sheehan.
A Usable Past brings together paintings, sculptures and works on paper by self-trained artists working in the eastern part of the US during the 19th century. Produced and originally circulated outside the sphere of fine art, these objects emerged from vernacular traditions that favored decorative aesthetics over mimesis. In the 20th century, artists, scholars and collectors came to believe that artworks like these expressed such supposedly quintessential American values as industriousness and ingenuity, and that they also served as native precursors to modernism. Featuring new scholarship, A Usable Past features highlights of Colby College’s extensive holdings of American folk art.
