Folk Art Art

Chickadee sings. 1982. Paper, linocut, 25x34 cm imprint size 13x26 cm total page size 25x34cm Dainis Rozkalns (1928 - 2018) Artist, graphic artist, illustrator of folklore and fict...

Standout whimsical vintage life size hand carved jaguar decorated with its distinctive rosettes in a faux fierce expression.

Fishing boat. Double sided. Paper, linocut, 21x27,5 cm imprint size 13,5x20 cm total page size 21x27,5cm Dainis Rozkalns (1928 - 2018) Artist, graphi...

Herdsman's misdeeds, vices. 1979. Paper, linocut, 19x33 cm imprint size 7x25 cm total page size 19x33cm Dainis Rozkalns (1928 - 2018) Artist, graphic artist, illustrator of folklor...

“Kolovrat”, cycle "We Are" Nowadays, many sacred knowledge have been lost, but Kolovrat has passed through the centuries! Kolovrat was of great importance for our ancestors, since t...

Charming acrylic painting on canvas of a group of colorful figures in a tropical setting executed in a naive style. Signed Osnel in the lower right and presented in the original wood...

Drag Queen on the Rocks By Tim Southall [2021] limited_edition and hand signed by the artist etching Edition number 75 Image size: H:20 cm x W:30 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:0.01 cm x W:32 cm x D:42cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look Drag Queen on the Rocks is an allegorical print by Tim Southall. It depicts a drag queen focusing all her charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent on negotiating a very rocky and uneven landscape. The title alone suggests that it might be all over for the Drag Queen: she is in difficulty and likely to fail; in tatters, ruined, and perhaps beyond repair. But never underestimate a drag queen. The fact that she has the nerve to wear stiletto heels while rock climbing...

TARNOPOL (Rus. Ternopol), city in Ukraine, formerly in the province of Lvov, Poland. The city of Tarnopol was at times part of Poland, Russia, Galitzia, Austria, and the Western Ukra...

oil on linen on mounted board *ABOUT Stephen Basso Stephen Basso's highly original pastels and oil paintings are romantic, yet thought provoking fantasies. His whimsical works a...

Oil on board signed on reverse (frame included at no charge) ABOUT Stephen Basso Stephen Basso's highly original pastels and oil paintings are romantic, yet thought provoking fanta...

Cracow Poland Etching of Polish Synagogue, Jewish temple. From very rare small edition. Most are signed in Hebrew and /or English. some are marked AP some are numbered. please see ph...

Statue of Liberty by Vick Vibha Date: 1978 Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 150, AP 20 Size: 26 in. x 20 in. (66.04 cm x 50.8 cm)

Oil painting on board executed in a distinctive naive folky style of a French cafe with figures dressed in Belle Epoque attire. Signed by the noted artist Fernand Boilauges...

Lisa Houck is a highly established artist from Boston, recently re-located to Maine, with a very large following devoted to her exceptional paintings, watercolors, mosaics and prints reminiscent of Folk Art, Matisse and Aborigine art. Houck is widely admired and recognized for a gorgeous sense of color and a sensibility both playful and serious that is uniquely her own. This is one of her 3 most recent large format bird prints in various shades of blue and aqua in a series which now consists of a total of 10 related prints. They are outstanding installed individually or as groups. Houck's highly sophisticated and complex sense of pattern and design is delightfully whimsical, as well as extraordinarily compelling for its knowledge of so many artistic forms which the artist is miraculously able to reference and incorporate, while maintaining a style so distinctively recognizable as her own. Lisa Houck "Flittering and Fluttering" 2023 Linoleum Block Print Edition 10 35.25 x 23.25 Inches This print is not framed. Lisa Houck has an outstanding reputation for not only her work as a printmaker but for achievements in painting, watercolor, mosaic and textiles as well. She has executed many large permanent public art commissions for interior and exterior sites in Boston and nationwide including ambitious murals for Dana Farber, The Children's Hospital, Frieda Garcia Park and numerous libraries, playgrounds and other public buildings. Her works have been featured in many museum and gallery exhibitions and are included in a multitude of public and private collections. Artist's Statement: "I work in watercolor, oil on wood, ceramics, mosaics and etching. Each medium allows me to invent new ways to express my view of nature through color and pattern. My artwork has been exhibited widely, and is in numerous public and private collections, including The Boston Athenaeum, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Fidelity Investments, four libraries in Broward County Florida, Hale and Dorr, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston." LISA HOUCK Education and Professional Affiliations: Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA: M.F.A. 1989. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI: B.F.A. 1975. Boston Printmakers Selected Solo Exhibitions: Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA 2017, 2021 Cambridge Arts Council, Gallery 344, “A Long Walk with No Destination”, Cambridge, MA 2016 Patricia Carega Gallery: “White Line Woodcuts,” Center Sandwich, NH 2014 Rivers School, Weston, MA 2008 Bentley College: “All About the Square,” Waltham, MA 2003. Barton-Ryan Gallery: “Improbable Botanicals and Landscapes,” Boston, MA 2000. Randall Beck Gallery: Boston, MA 1993, 1991. Barbara Singer Fine Art: Cambridge, MA 1991. Coyote Gallery: Cambridge, MA 1989. Tufts University: “MFA Thesis Exhibition,” Cohen Arts Center, Medford, MA 1988. Modestino Gallery: Cambridge, MA 1987, 1986. New England School of Art and Design: Boston, MA 1986. Mott House: “The Comet and Other Phenomena,” Washington, DC 1986. Selected Group Exhibitions: Cove Street Arts, “Menagerie a Trois”, Portland, ME, 2022 Fuller Craft Museum: “Mosaics Today”, Brockton, MA 2022 Turtle Gallery, “Summer Show”, Deer Isle, ME 2022 Gallery Twist, Lexington, MA “impressions” 2019 and 2020 Boston Athenaeum, New England on Paper, Boston, MA 2017 Cotuit Center for the Arts: Marking Time: 70 Years of the Boston Printmakers, Cotuit, MA 2017 Arsenal Center for the Arts, Big Prints, Watertown, MA 2016 FPAC Gallery, Fort Point Channel, “Mosaic Muse”, Boston, MA 2016 Art of Mosaic: Piecing it Together, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA 2013 Highfield Hall, National Mosaic Exhibit on Cape Cod, Falmouth, MA, 2011 Fancy Plants: Bentley University, 2010 Contemporary Mosaics: Attleboro Arts Museum, 2010 Boston Children’s Museum: “I See Trees,” 2009. Somerville Museum: “Art of Mosaic,” 2009. Milton Academy: “Design/Build,” 2009. Danforth Museum: Members Show, 2007 Boston Printmakers: North American Print Biennial, 2005. Peabody Essex Museum: “In Nature’s Company,” Salem, MA 2004. Cambridge Art Association: “Hot Colors,” (Best in Show Award), Cambridge, MA 2002. Tufts University: “Alumni Exhibition,” Aidekman Gallery, Medford, MA 2001. Acacia Gallery: Gloucester, MA 2000. Wiggin Gallery: “Women in Watercolor,” Boston Public Library, Boston, MA 2000. New Art Center: “Lasting Impressions: Looking at the Land,” Newton, MA 1997. Bernard Toale Gallery: “The Pet Show,” Boston, MA 1996. Albers Gallery: Memphis, TN 1994, 1992,1991. Pritam & Eames: East Hampton, NY 1992. Boston Center for the Arts: Boston, MA 1989. DeCordova Museum: “Explorations in Handmade Paper,” Lincoln, MA 1989. Fuller Museum of Art: “RISD Alumni in Boston,” Brockton, MA 1989. lisa houck Selected Collections: The Boston Company The Boston Public Library Brigham and Women’s Hospital Brunnier Museum, Ames, IA Coopers & Lybrand Fidelity Investments Fogg Art Museum Goodwin Procter Harvard Business School Harvard Community Health Plan Grants/Projects: Herman Miller Lahey Clinic Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts Mutual Corporation Montgomery Watson Harza Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Neiman Marcus New England Medical Center State Street Bank and Trust Valley Hospital, NJ Wrapped a Radiology room with art at Boston Children’s Hospital 2019. Project consultant: Betty Bothereau, L’Attirude Gallery Boston “City Square with Reflecting Pool,” 6’ X 6’ mosaic for Iron Street Park in Boston. Located on the corner of A Street and Iron Street in Boston, commissioned for this new park in Boston by a private client in 2014. Children’s Hospital, Waltham, MA: eleven-panel, oil-on-wood painting for the lobby, 2005. Grant from Massachusetts Cultural Council, 2005. For a ceramics program in the public schools, sponsored by the Dedham Cultural Council. John Hancock Financial Services: Frieda Garcia Park. Commission to create two mosaic murals incorporating children’s art from the community, 2004. Murals are 8’ X 10’ and 8’ x 22’. Broward County Cultural Affairs Office/Public Art Department, Florida: Public Art Commission to create paintings and printed materials for four libraries in Broward County, 2003. Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Jimmy Fund Clinic, Boston, MA: eight panel mosaic for the reception area. Architect: Miller, Dyer, Spears, 2003. Massachusetts Port Authority, Logan International Airport, Terminal E, Boston, MA: Six digital reproductions of paintings. Project Coordinator: Urban Arts Institute, 2001. ”The Rare Tropical Cod,” part of the Cavalcade of Cod, a school of 5’5” fiberglass fish sculptures which were displayed throughout the city of Boston in the fall of 2000. Sponsored by Boston’s B2K Committee. Poster and button and display banners for First Night Boston, 1998. Grant from the City of Cambridge to create murals for the Cambridge Senior Center, 1995. Administered by the Cambridge Arts Council. Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, 1994. Administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts. Grant from Arts on the Line, Cambridge, MA for temporary art in the subway including a 36-foot painting for the Kendall Square subway station, Cambridge, MA 1988. Grant from the Cambridge Arts Council for a mural for the Cambridge River Festival, installed in Inman Square, 1987. Poster for the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 1987. education and professional affiliations Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA: M.F.A. 1989. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI: B.F.A. 1975. Boston Printmakers New England Mosaic Society Publications: Maine Gallery...

This flat shadow puppet was created by an unknown Indonesian artist. This shadow puppet, 25" high with movable arms, was used in Indonesian Wayang Klitik puppet shows. Wayang (Krama Javanese: Ringgit ꦫꦶꦁꦒꦶꦠ꧀, "Shadow"), also known as Wajang, is a form of puppet theatre art...

"En el Ser" (In The Being). Symbolic paint. Folk Art Landscape with figure by spanish artist Raquel Fariñas. Acrylic mixed media/ wood panel, 40 x 50 x 4 cm. In inches: 15.75" x 16....

Afterword. Nr. 2. 1984. Paper, linocut, 20x34 cm imprint size 12x25 cm total page size 20x34cm Dainis Rozkalns (1928 - 2018) Artist, graphic artist, illustrator of folklore and fic...

Cracow Poland Etching of Polish Synagogue, Jewish temple. From very rare small edition. Most are signed in Hebrew and /or English. some are marked AP some are numbered. please see ph...

Óbuda was a city in Hungary that was merged with Buda and Pest on 17 November 1873; it now forms part of District III-Obuda-Békásmegyer of Budapest. The name means Old Buda in Hungar...

Cracow Poland Etching of Polish Synagogue, Jewish temple. From very rare small edition. Most are signed in Hebrew and /or English. some are marked AP some are numbered. please see ph...

Cracow Poland Etching of Polish Synagogue, Jewish temple. From very rare small edition. Most are signed in Hebrew and /or English. some are marked AP some are numbered. please see ph...

Tom Carapic (born 1939), full name Tomislav Sava Čarapić, is an artist who specialises in found object artwork. He also does street art. A prominent Outsider Artist he was a featured artist in the American Visionary Art Museum's End is Near Exhibit. His work was also featured in the exhibition catalog. His work has been sold at Slotin Folk Art. Carapic was born in Velisevac, Serbia (then Kingdom of Yugoslavia). He was educated at a military school in Herzegovina in the 1950s, and served as a sergeant in the Yugoslav People's Army. Afterwards he was denied a college education, possibly because he was not a member of the Communist Party, illegally crossed into Italy in 1961, and, from there, emigrated to the United States. In 1965, he began attending classes at the New York Art Students League, but dropped out soon afterwards, eventually attending the Wilfred Academy of Beauty Culture. He was unable, however, to find steady beauty parlor employment, and worked in menial labor while attending classes in Spanish Education at Manhattan Community College. Due to a problem with accreditation, he was forced to switch to classes in the field of studio art. There he experienced hallucinatory visions that explained his repeated failures to obtain a degree. In the late 1970s, Carapic began experiencing more hallucinatory visions; claiming that his degree problems were caused when "the evil marriage bureau massed the troops" against his college and proceeded with "an Air force bombardment" of the school. After receiving other visitations, he began making and showing his art. Most of his art is centered on found objects, most famously computer keyboards, especially those by IBM. Most of his art consists of these objects, marked with black Sharpie markers, and with green thumbprints and handprints along the objects. His most famous exhibit in New York City is "Big Bang Theory," a doomsday warnings painted on computer keyboards and shoes and construction debris. Bears similarity to the Art Brut movement made famous by Jean Dubuffet. He was inluded in The End is Near! an exhibit which included an unprecedented group of noted thinkers, from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Stephen Jay Gould to Reverend Howard Finster and Apocalypse culture expert ,Adam Parfrey, visionary artists brought together by curator, Roger Manley, for an amazing exhibition at the American Visionary Art Museum, the world’s largest ever mounted on the subjects of Apocalypse, Millennium, and Utopia. The End is Near! featuredwork from the following visionary artists amongst others: William Adkins Z.B. Armstrong Bill Bruley Frank Bruno Harry Leroy Brunson Tom Carapic Pierre Carbonel Howard Finster Tim Fowler Mary Mac Franklin Victor Joseph Gatto Robert Gie Patrick Gimel Hugo Hempel Oskar Herzberg Vojislav Jakic Norbert Kox Charles Keeling Lassiter...

Titled: Pop (Samuel Rothbort) in our living room. Bears estate stamp of his father, famed American folk artist Samuel Rothbort. one of only about 10 in total large scale mosaics that...

Cracow Poland Etching of Polish Synagogue, Jewish temple. From very rare small edition. Most are signed in Hebrew and /or English. some are marked AP some are numbered. please see ph...

Cracow Poland Etching of Polish Synagogue, Jewish temple. From very rare small edition. Most are signed in Hebrew and /or English. some are marked AP some are numbered. please see ph...

A summers day walk in the countryside looking across the field of flowers with the scarecrows standing guard :: Painting :: Folk Art :: This piece comes...

Textile painting hand-embroidered Unique work Hand-signed and dated lower left by the artist “I sew like some people recite mantras. I don't decide anything in advance. Images emerg...

Artist: Branko Bahunek, Croatian (1935 - ) Title: Cancan Year: 1989 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed Size: 18 in. x 15 in. (45.72 cm x 38.1 cm)

"Honeymooners" is a colorful and playful print by Chae Tong Yull, Korean (1951). The Screenprint is signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 250 Size: 30 x 26 in. (76.2 x 66.04 cm)

“Sex, lust, desire, high fashion, and a tumultuous young life are the main motifs of my work. I didn’t have the easiest upbringing, but my experiences are what I illustrate through m...

Gift II by Vick Vibha Date: circa 1978 Etching, signed in pencil Edition of AP Image Size: 20 x 15 inches Size: 26 in. x 21 in. (66.04 cm x 53.34 cm)

"El camino a casa", (The way home") Symbolic Folk Art, Acrylic and mixed media on wood panel. Dimensions cm : (H) 90 x (W) 122.5 x (D) 4 cm. The pictures of Raquel Fariñas are pre...

This is a signed portrait painting done in an outsider, folk art, expressionist style. it is signed in Hebrew, also marked with a Jewish star. this is from a collection of works by the same hand. they are all signed. Some have markings to the back of the paper. they have some age to them. They bear similarities to artists as dissimilar as Moshe Tamir, Mane Katz and an Israeli version of Purvis Young. In this piece the artist choice of colors is muted yet powerful. Israel has had a Vibrant Folk Art, Naive art scene for a long time now, artists like Yisrael Paldi, Nahum Guttman, Reuven Rubin and even Yefim...

Artist/Designer; Manufacturer: Justin McCarthy (American, 1891-1977) Marking(s); notes: no marking(s) apparent Materials: board/panel Dimensions (H, W, D): 24"h, 16"w Additional Info...

Watercolor on paper, signed lower right Agustus Knoller and dated 1884. Inscribed on the reverse in pencil "This trotting came off Aug 15th 1884 at Belmont Park...

I think this one is the Chinese Premier on one side and fingerprints on the outside of the other side. wrapped in plastic. Tom Carapic (born 1939), full name Tomislav Sava Čarapić, is an artist who specialises in found object artwork. He also does street art. A prominent Outsider Artist he was a featured artist in the American Visionary Art Museum's End is Near Exhibit. His work was also featured in the exhibition catalog. His work has been sold at Slotin Folk Art. Carapic was born in Velisevac, Serbia (then Kingdom of Yugoslavia). He was educated at a military school in Herzegovina in the 1950s, and served as a sergeant in the Yugoslav People's Army. Afterwards he was denied a college education, possibly because he was not a member of the Communist Party, illegally crossed into Italy in 1961, and, from there, emigrated to the United States. In 1965, he began attending classes at the New York Art Students League, but dropped out soon afterwards, eventually attending the Wilfred Academy of Beauty Culture. He was unable, however, to find steady beauty parlor employment, and worked in menial labor while attending classes in Spanish Education at Manhattan Community College. Due to a problem with accreditation, he was forced to switch to classes in the field of studio art. There he experienced hallucinatory visions that explained his repeated failures to obtain a degree. In the late 1970s, Carapic began experiencing more hallucinatory visions; claiming that his degree problems were caused when "the evil marriage bureau massed the troops" against his college and proceeded with "an Air force bombardment" of the school. After receiving other visitations, he began making and showing his art. Most of his art is centered on found objects, most famously computer keyboards, especially those by IBM. Most of his art consists of these objects, marked with black Sharpie markers, and with green thumbprints and handprints along the objects. His most famous exhibit in New York City is "Big Bang Theory," a doomsday warnings painted on computer keyboards and shoes and construction debris. Bears similarity to the Art Brut movement made famous by Jean Dubuffet. He was inluded in The End is Near! an exhibit which included an unprecedented group of noted thinkers, from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Stephen Jay Gould to Reverend Howard Finster and Apocalypse culture expert ,Adam Parfrey, visionary artists brought together by curator, Roger Manley, for an amazing exhibition at the American Visionary Art Museum, the world’s largest ever mounted on the subjects of Apocalypse, Millennium, and Utopia. The End is Near! featuredwork from the following visionary artists amongst others: William Adkins Z.B. Armstrong Bill Bruley Frank Bruno Harry Leroy Brunson Tom Carapic Pierre Carbonel Howard Finster Tim Fowler Mary Mac Franklin Victor Joseph Gatto Robert Gie Patrick Gimel Hugo Hempel Oskar Herzberg Vojislav Jakic Norbert Kox Charles Keeling Lassiter...

*ABOUT Stephen Basso Stephen Basso's highly original pastels and oil paintings are romantic, yet thought provoking fantasies. His whimsical works are alive with boundless imagina...

"Descanso" (Rest). Symbolic paint. Folk Art Landscape by spanish artist Raquel Fariñas. Acrylic mixed media/ wood panel, 69 x 60 x 4 cm. In inches: 27.17" x 23.62" x 1.57" The paint...

Signed lower right. Contemporary artist Julian Nemethy is the son of artist Albert Nemethy, and his work can be distinguished from that of his father by the use of fantastical eleme...

An early drawing by this unique visionary artist, post Harvard Graduate School and concurrent with his apprenticeship to Frederick Kiesler

A unique clay mask by Hawaii based artist Ira Ono. Artist: Ira Ono Year: 1982 Medium: Ceramic Size: 10.5 x 5.5 x 3 in. (26.67 x 13.97 x 7.62 cm)

Circle of Constance Howard British School, circa 1950 Cats and Flowers in a Conservatory Applique work picture Framed 60 by 50.5 cm., 23 ¾ by 20 in. (frame size 76 by 66 cm., 30 by 26 in.) Provenance: With Frost & Reed, 1950; Mrs H H Budd (?). The present work, glazed and in this original frame, was with the prominent London fine art dealers Frost and Reed in 1950 suggesting it was a work by a leading exponent of the newly fashionable and artistically acknowledged group of British textile...

Outsider artist Scott Harbison imagines a world of curious alien beings and wide-eyed mutant animals, naively navigating unknown territory. His mischievous figures are activated by s...

Signed, titled and numbered in pencil Edition: 250 (5/250) Signed, titled and numbered in pencil Published by Circle Gallery Ltd. Printer: Atelier Dumas, New York Condition: Very good Atelier Dumas opened in New York printing own work as well as those of Peter Max, Agam, Romare Bearden, Dali, Erté, Peter Hurd, Ting, Karl Appel...

A charming and colorful oil on board painting by acclaimed Mexican American folk artist Martin Saldaña (1874–1965), titled “Farm and Figures.” This unique 20th-century outsider artwo...

To Chicago-based artist Patrick Fitzgerald, his sculptures are a means of traveling through time. Working from found materials, Fitzgerald constructs miniature soap box cars...

Vendedor de pájaros - Bird seller Made with natural clay, copper wire and polychrome painting. Hand-modeled technique and cooked in an oven. LISTING =================================== 1 Ceramic Sculpture of a Bird seller =================================== DETAILS =================================== Time of Preparation: 2.5 months Made: Izuca de Matamoros, Puebla, México. Dimensions: 8" x 10" x 5" in or 20 x 25 x 13 cm Artisan: Taller Alfonso Castillo Orta...

Outsider artist Scott Harbison imagines a world of curious alien beings and wide-eyed mutant animals, naively navigating unknown territory. His mischievous figures are activated by s...

“The Four Winter Months” is a striking 1985 original oil painting by acclaimed Denver modernist Edward Marecak (1919–1993). This evocative work features four abstract, semi-stylized ...

This porcelain sculpture is a playful rendering of a juggling monkey. The monkey's costume lends the animal a sense of performance, and engages the viewers' childhood imagination. ...

Marc Baseman is a visual artist. Marc Baseman has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at The Harwood Museum of Art, University of New Mexico.He has been exhibiting with Dickinson Roundell and Edward Nahem in New York, and Nahem has helped him find an eager audience among collectors in London and Europe. Marc Baseman has Exhibited with these artists: Larry Bell, Lynda Benglis, Vija Celmins, Ronald Davis, Wes Mills, Lee Mullican...

Artist: Viredo Espinosa Title: Tres Musicos Year: 1996 Medium: Engraving, signed and numbered in pencil Image Size: 13.5 x 17.5 inches Frame Size: 22.5 x 26.5 inches

In 2018, I became a painter. An artist. I am a product of the '70s and I spent my life in the fine state of New Jersey—the most wonderful state of them all. As a result of stuff th...

FREE SHIPPING TO WORLDWIDE! Artisan: Zeny Fuentes Mendez MASTERPIECE Made with Copal wood, woodcarving technique gouges, machete and sandpaper, decorated with acrylic paintings with...

Artist: Jaimendes, Brazilian (1939 - ) Title: Veiled Girl Year: 1983 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed and dated l.r. Size: 25.25 in. x 21.25 in. (64.14 cm x 53.98 cm)

Afterword. 1984. Paper, linocut, 20x34 cm imprint size 12x25 cm total page size 20x34cm Dainis Rozkalns (1928 - 2018) Artist, graphic artist, illustrator of folklore and fiction pu...

Johnny Banks (1912-1988) San Antonio Artist Image Size: 14 x 22 Frame Size: 21 x 29 Medium: mixed media Circa 1970s "The Safari Hunt for the Man Eating Tiger" Biography Johnny Banks (1912-1988) In my opinion one of the greatest Texas folk artists of all time. The following information was compiled and submitted by Stephanie Reeves: John Willard Banks, San Antonio, Texas, African American Folk Artist John Willard Banks, black self-taught artist, the son of Charlie and Cora Lee (McIntyre) Banks, was born on November 7, 1912, near Seguin, Texas. At the age of five his parents took him to San Antonio, where he attended Holy Redeemer School until the age of nine, when his parents were divorced and John returned to his grandparents' farm near Seguin. From childhood Banks's favorite pastime was drawing pictures on his Big Chief tablet. He later recalled, "As a kid I used to lie flat on my stomach, drawing and drawing. . . . My mother had to kick me off the floor to sweep." While helping out on his grandparents' farm, Banks completed the tenth grade before striking out on his own. His favorite activities during his youth were singing in a gospel quartet and playing baseball. In his adult years he worked in oilfields and cotton fields, drove a truck, and tended a San Antonio service station. During World War II he joined the army; he held the rank of sergeant and was stationed in the Philippines. After the war he returned to San Antonio, where he worked as a custodian at Kelly Air Force Base, at Fort Sam Houston, and at a local television station. Banks married Edna Mae Mitchell in 1928, and they had five children. The marriage ended in divorce around 1960. In 1963 he married Earlie Smith. His art career began in 1978 while he was recuperating from an illness for which he had been hospitalized. Banks's wife admired her husband's drawings and secretly took several of them to a San Antonio laundromat. There she hung the drawings on the wall, offering them for sale at the price of fourteen dollars. They were purchased and taken to a gallery for framing. Quite by chance, a San Antonio physician and collector of works of art by black artists...