Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Though the pieces are timeless, folk art emerged as a collecting genre only in the 1920s. Then as now, collectors focused on American artifacts. The earliest were prompted in part by the awareness of a nation changed: in that decade, for the first time the majority of U.S. citizens lived in cities, rather than on farms and in small towns. At the same time, the ascendance of modernism in art and design was countered by promoters of the Colonial Revival style. That movement drew from attics and barns old hand-carved furniture, stilted 19th-century family portraits, weathervanes and butter churns.
The best folk art items were purchased by an odd mix that included bohemians and intellectuals, along with J.P. Morgan and members of the Chrysler and Rockefeller families (who began funding, for instance, the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia in the 1920s). If nostalgia played a role, the primary motivation for folk art collectors was — as it is today — a recognition of the artistic merit and cultural significance of pure, honest expressions of the human impulse toward beauty.
Simplicity is its hallmark, yet folk art defies a simple definition — and covers a vast amount of ground. Folk art has been called "the art of the everyday": objects created by people, with no formal training in the arts, for use in their daily lives. These include everything from tools and toys to quilts, baskets, jugs, dowry chests and duck decoys. Folk art is generally made by hand; works might be carved, sewn, chiseled, knitted, hammered, woven or embroidered and more. Such techniques were passed down through the generations — one reason folk-art collecting has been described as "a kind of archaeology." Folk art reveals the inherent values and traditions of a community, through time-honored crafts, decorative motifs and pictorial subject matter.
All folk art intrinsically reflects a sense of pride. "Americana" is folk art that does so overtly: through work that honors civic ideals and celebrates national and local achievements. Americana includes flags, bunting, carved bald eagles, and needlework with allegorical figures representing Liberty and Democracy; or helmets and buckets used by a volunteer fire brigade; or the trappings of fraternal organizations such as the Oddfellows. Collectors of Americana typically also collect American antique furniture that, while made in the workshops of a master cabinetmaker or joiner, reflects regional stylistic traits, tastes and quirks.
Almost all folk art is anonymous — and the prominent exception being signed work by early 19th-century itinerant portrait artists like the New Englander Ammi Phillips, whose 1835 portrait of a young girl and her pets was the first piece of folk art to sell for $1 million at auction. Until relatively recently, work by Phillips and his ilk was the prime focus of folk art collectors: the folk art of the Northeast defined the category. But recently, more attention and more scholarship have been devoted to the folk art of other regions: to the South, and the artwork of enslaved African Americans and their descendants; and to the Southwestern and early Latino folk art. Born in a time of change, folk art collecting is changing along with the nation.
1780s American Chippendale Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Brass
1780s American American Colonial Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Brass, Wrought Iron
1780s American American Colonial Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Brass
1780s American American Colonial Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Brass
1930s Vintage Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Iron
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Wood
1810s English George III Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Mahogany
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Walnut
19th Century Federal Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Brass
Early 20th Century American George III Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Mahogany
Late 20th Century American Campaign Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Brass
19th Century English Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Metal, Brass
1760s French Country Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Wrought Iron
Late 18th Century American Chippendale Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Cherry
Early 20th Century American Federal Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Mahogany
Early 19th Century American American Empire Antique Americana and Folk Art Antiques and Collectibles
Glass, Cherry, Mahogany, Burl
