THREE CENTURIES OF CONNECTICUT FOLK ART: an exhibition organized by Art Resources ofConnecticut by Alexandra Grave; AMERICAN FOLK PAINTERS OF THREE CENTURIES. 1st ed.by Jean Lipman; Tom Armstrong; PERSPECTIVES ON AMERICAN FOLK ART. 1st ed. by IanM.G. Quimby; Scott T. SwankReview by: Lynette I. Rhodes and Jack Perry BrownARLIS/NA Newsletter, Vol. 9, No. 1 (DECEMBER 1980), pp. 26-27Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27946439 .

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26 A RLISI NA Newsletter, December 1980

and one looks forward to the realization of these investigations in

subsequent publications. Unpolished (with an incredibly inept cover seemingly crafted with sticky letters rather than typesetting) and uneven, Dada Spectrum is also unpretentious and fun to read. If more symposia were remembered by such cottage-industry pub lications, rather than either dropped in the abyss of forgetting or the monumentalizing forms of university presses, we would all be better off.

Richard Martin Fashion Institute of Technology;

Arts Magazine

PERSPECTIVES ON FOLK ART & PUB LISHING Cirave i^lexandra THREE CENTURIES OF CONNECTICUT FOLK ART: an ex hibition organized by Art Resources of Connecticut. New Haven, Art Resources of Connecticut, cl979. 104p., illus. (some col.). LC 79-124442; no ISBN $7.50.

Lipman, Jean and Tom Armstrong, eds. AMERICAN FOLK PAINTERS OF THREE CENTURIES. 1st ed. New York, Hudson Hills Press; trade distrib. by Simon & Schuster, cl980. 233p., illus. (some col.). LC 79-21212; ISBN 0-933920-06-7 (Whitney Museum pbk.), 0-933920-05-9 (Hudson Hills cased) $35.00 (cased), $15.00 (pbk.).

Quimby, Ian M.G. and Scott T. Swank, eds. PERSPECTIVES ON AMERICAN FOLK ART. 1st ed. New York, published for the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Del. [by] Norton, cl980. xvii, 376p., illus.

(A Winterthur Book) LC 79-24889; ISBN 0-393012-73-5 These three books on American folk art are examples of the

major approaches to research and scholarship in the field today. Three Centuries of Connecticut Folk Art offers an eclectic sur

vey of that region's past and present folk art, but remains essen

tially an introduction to the 293-piece exhibition it accompanied. It follows the common folk art show catalog format: objects are

grouped in terms of media, function, or a similarity in imagery or artistic motivation. Each classification is treated as a chapter beginning with a brief, very generalized essay followed by a selec tion of photographs and a brief description of the individual pieces. Only a portion of the exhibit is presented and, although the book stimulates an interest in Connecticut folk art, it is frustrating in its lack of scholarly information and documentation. This is remedied somewhat by an extensive bibliography which includes general folk art texts as well as a number of books dealing specifically with Connecticut's history. This publication is of limited value to librar ies outside of New England.

American Folk Painters of Three Centuries is also an exhibition

catalog, but it is more than that. It stands on its own as a major study. For the first time the lives and work of the country's untrained painters are presented in a comprehensive, scholarly manner. The thirty-seven artists studied represent the editors' choices of the foremost American folk painters, limited to those whose lives can be documented and who left a substantial body of work. Many of them?The Beardsley Limner, Erastus Salisbury Field, Edward Hicks, and Joseph Pickett, for example?are fami iar folk art figures. Others, however?such as Rufus Hathaway, Jose Rafael Aragon, Hannah Cohoon, and Henry Church?are less commonly known and the accounts of their lives and work are

engaging, informative contributions to the growing understanding of American folk painting. The biographies are grouped by century and arranged alphabetically within each. The majority of the artists are from the nineteenth century. In fact, the small number of

twentieth-century painters included is indicative of the editors' discernment.

This book is especially valuable because in most cases the out

standing authority on each artist was invited to contribute a chap ter, drawing on previously published material as well as new research. Thus much formerly scattered information is now access ible in one place. In addition, the unique style and subject approach

of each author has been maintained so that it is a scholarly work that is also enjoyable to read. A general bibliography is provided, and a most helpful, specialized bibliography follows each chapter. Many larger well-reproduced color photographs accompany the text. American Folk Painters of Three Centuries is highly recom

mended for either general or art-related libraries. American folk art was first "discovered" by collectors, scholars,

and the general public in the 1920*s. Since then, debates concerning its cultural significance and aesthetic merits, as well as attempts to establish it as a credible field of study with an appropriate metho

dology and workable definitions and boundaries, have been on

going and for the most part fruitless. Perspectives on American Folk Art, an anthology comprised of eleven papers originally presented at a 1977 Winterthur Museum conference, is a move

toward remedying that. It brings together the viewpoints of museum people and art historians with those of anthropologists and folklorists and, not surprisingly, examines some of the basic

assumptions about folk art in essays that are more ethnographic and theoretical in nature than aesthetic.

The first essay reviews and re-examines the origins and develop ment of folk art collecting. It is followed by five essays investigating the cultural context and implications of some specific regional or ethnic art forms?the Michigan folk art project, the folk arts of the

Norwegians in America, the survival of traditions in Pennsylvania German baptismal certificates and gravemarkers, the rejection of traditions by German immigrants in Texas, and the arrival and survival of Afro-American traditions.

The last five essays in the book are especially important. They expand the perimeter of folk art theory by suggesting new approaches to the sensitive problems of definition, interpretation, and evaluation. For example, the essay "Folk Art: The Challenge and the Promise" by Kenneth Ames explores some of the ways people relate to objects they consider art?folk or not. Roger

Welsche's "Beating a Live Horse: Yet Another Note on Definitions and Defining" examines the nature of scholarly definitions?the

process, the benefits, and the limitations. And, in "The Arts: Fine and Plain," George Kubier suggests a study model for the "plain" arts by examining both the fine and popular arts as cultural "binomal expressions."

Like those in the Whitney catalog, the contributing authors in this anthology are recognized spokesmen in their fields. A few of their viewpoints are somewhat esoteric, but for the most part they present their hypotheses and criticisms, as well as the facts, in a

concise, easily-understood manner. Ample footnotes provide thor

ough documentation and direct the reader to a variety of addi tional resources. Unfortunately, some of the black-and-white

photographs lack detail and are too small to be truly helpful. Ultimately, Perspectives does not resolve the folk art debates.

Instead, it offers some serious and much needed challenges to folklorists and folk art historians alike.

Lynette I. Rhodes Author of Folk Art: From the

Traditional to the Naive

In New York recently I visited Paul Anbinder, President of Hudson Hills Press, trade publisher of American Folk Painters of Three Centuries. An ARLIS/NA member, Anbinder is probably best known to Newsletter readers as the president of Abrams in 1974-75. Prior to that he worked at Shorewood, and afterwards at

Random House/Knopf/Ballantine. After a decade spent in large publishing companies, he founded Hudson Hills Press in 1978. (For an interesting summary of the publishing trends toward

mergers and conglomerate ownership, see Thomas Whitesides' article beginning in the September 29, \9S0New Yorker. Abrams is now owned by Times-Mirror, while Random House has become a

conglomerate of its own.) Hudson Hills Press is at the opposite end of the spectrum, an end

which Anbinder has sought out by choice. The staff consists of two or three, and three books came out last year under his imprint. Anbinder envisions growth, but definitely will not become a YSE company. Whitesides says that publishers now consider books

products, like vacuum cleaners or fast food, and absentee directors of major trade publishing houses are chiefly in search of block buster titles and profits akin to the movies!

However, at a time when 60% of trade publications are produced

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ARLIS/NA Newsleiter, December 1980 27

by ten firms, the total number of publishers in the U.S. is increas

ing. These smaller publishers, who do not necessarily carry on the

genteel unconcern for profit and loss stereotypically associated with publishing prior to 1960, do keep a close and personal interest in the books they do produce.

Although Hudson Hills exists in the same universe with large scale publishers (text printed in one country, plates in another,

subsidiary rights acquisitions at Frankfurt, etc.), talking to Paul Anbinder one can feel his affection and care for "his" books, such as the volume on the Liechtenstein royal collections (due November 1980). Large publishers can and do produce many excellent books, but it is pleasing to see a press with the personal imprint of the publisher on it, too.

J.P.B.

ART "DOWN UNDER Germaine, Max. ARTISTS AND GALLERIES OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. Lansdowne Editions, A Division of Paul Hamlyn Pty Limited (c/o Mereweather Press, Inc., Suite 12?2, 420 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10017), 1979. 646p., color illus. ISBN 0-868-32-0196 $45.00.

A welcome and ambitious new art reference directory has been added to the resources of libraries, dealing with contemporary activities in Australia and New Zealand. The volume is a "bio

graphical dictionary and who's who of living Australian and New Zealand painters, sculptors, printmakers, art personalities, galler ies, institutions, bodies, and awards in the field of visual arts..." An incredible amount of information has been included in the text, the editor having achieved a high degree of cooperation from respond ents and colleagues. The citations include the usual place and date of birth, artistic media specialties, and also entries under studies,

exhibitions, awards, commissions, where represented in perma nent collections, and bibliographies and publications. The work

unfortunately is difficult to use because it lacks any indexing or content divisions and includes some peculiar logic in its alphabeti zation. An example of this is the "Alice Prize" which is found under "The..." For the "Biennale of Sydney" you will have to turn to "Third..." A query concerning information about institutions, awards, etc. may have to be initiated through other sources in

conjunction with this work, although information on grants, deal

ers, and such may not be found in book form in any other source. The text also has some other considered weaknesses in its coverage of libraries and their fine arts collections. Chief among these is the lack of entry under the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne,

which houses one of the largest fine arts collections in Australia. Other areas of consideration which might be strengthened in future editions might be the inclusion of small special library collections such as the B.J. Ball Ltd. Graphic Arts Library in Richmond.

This reviewer is very sympathetic to the problems of assembling such a directory and feels that the editor and contributors have

accomplished a major step forward in documenting and presenting the contemporary art scene of two vital nations of the South Pacific whose influence is being felt ever more strongly in the rest of the world. The directory is recommended for libraries with major holdings in contemporary arts, for large fine arts libraries, and for collections with strong holdings in Australiana and New Zealand culture and history.

Stanley W. Hess Nelson Gallery/Atkins Museum

Brake, Brian, James McNeish and David Simmons. ART OF THE PACIFIC. New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1980. 240 p., 166 illus. (some col.), index, no maps, no biblio. ISBN 0-8109 0686-4 $29.95.

Art of the Pacific, published in cooperation with the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand, is a collection of beauti ful photographs of the important Oceanic sculpture and painting in the museums of New Zealand. The photographs are accompan ied by detailed and scholarly notes. Interspersed throughout the book are a series of conversations with contemporary inhabitants of the island groups where the objects originated.

Brian Brake's photographs are usually excellent. The color pho tographs especially do justice to the superb skill of the artists and the colors, textures, and exquisite luminosity of the objects them selves. It is most unfortunate that many objects have been dissected

by photographs which show us fine details, but leave us without

any idea of the object as a whole. In relatively few cases, close-ups are accompanied by smaller but more satisfyingly complete photo graphs of the entire object. Many of the black-and-white photo graphs are absurdly dark and dramatic, especially a New Caledonia roof spire (#60) which barely emerges from clouds of shadow.

The catalog entries by David Simmons, Chief Ethnologist at the Auckland Institute and Museum, are detailed, up to date, and

extremely useful. His analysis of the characteristics of regional styles in New Zealand is especially interesting.

The most unusual feature of the book is the collection of conver sations with contemporary Pacific islanders, recorded by James

McNeish. Although these conversations are quite interesting as documents of the dramatic changes which have taken place in the Pacific with the arrival of Europeans, they are of little interest in a book devoted to the sculpture produced in the period before contact with the West. I found myself constantly tempted to skip this material and to move on to the next group of objects. It also seems unfortunate that so little space is devoted to the excellent notes by David Simmons, while so much space is consumed by conversations of peripheral interest to the object-oriented people who would otherwise enjoy this book.

Art of the Pacific is well designed, printed, and bound, and is not

particularly expensive by recent standards. It is probably most useful to a library with an established collection on Pacific art as a source of illustrations of important objects in remote museums. It is of very little value as a general introduction to the arts of the

Pacific, a role played far better by the catalog of the recent exhibition "Art of the Pacific Islands" by Peter Gathercole and Douglas Newton.

Berndt, Ronald M. and E.S. Phillips, eds. THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL HERITAGE: AN INTRO DUCTION THROUGH THE ARTS. Sydney, Australian Society for Education through the Arts, 1978. 320 p., 302 illus. (some col.),

bibliog., index, maps. ISBN 0-7254-0461-2

OENPELLI PAINTINGS ON BARK. The Australian Gallery Directors Council for the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council. Sydney, no date. 50 p., 19 illus., short bibliog., map. ISBN 0-908130-007 (paper)

In terms of focus, scope, and intent, these two recent Australian

publications are diametrically opposed, although their subject matter is the same - the traditional arts of the Australian Abori

gines. The Australian Aboriginal Heritage is a scholarly, compre hensive, well planned introduction to all of the many traditional art

forms of the Aborigines. This is the second edition of a major publication which first appeared in 1973. The original edition was intended for use by primary and secondary school teachers in

Australia, and was accompanied by recordings and slides for use in

teaching. Its publication was heavily subsidized and its distribution was very limited. The second edition has been updated, and authors have made amendments and corrections. Records and

filmstrips which are intended to accompany the text may be ordered from The Educational Technology Center, Adelaide, S.A. Australia.

The book has been planned in six major sections. Part one

describes the social beginnings of art. Part two is concerned with oral literature, including myths, stories, and songs. Part three deals with rock art, both painted and engraved, prehistoric and contem

porary. Part four deals with painting and sculpture on bark and wood. Part five describes songs and chants with musical accom

paniment. Finally, part six discusses the future of Aboriginal art. Each of these large sections is further broken down into chapters which deal with specific themes or problems. The individual chap ters have been written by a number of the most respected Australi an scholars of Aboriginal culture. Each is thorough, detailed, and

accurate, but with a great deal of care to use vocabulary which can be understood by interested non-specialists. Each chapter is illus trated liberally with good quality photographs of the art which is

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